The ABC's of Beth
Beth confronts her past in Froopyland while Jerry dates an alien huntress.
"The ABC's of Beth" is the ninth episode of the third season of the American science fiction television series Rick and Morty. It aired on September 24, 2017, and was directed by Juan Meza-León and written by Mike McMahan.
Quick Facts
- Series
- Rick and Morty
- Season
- 3
- Episode
- 9
- Director
- Juan Meza-León
- Writer
- Mike McMahan
- Air date
- 24 September 2017
- Length
- 22 minutes
- Guests
- Thomas Middleditch as Tommy Lipnip
- Jennifer Hale as Kiara
- Brandon Johnson as Mr. Goldenfold
- Kari Wahlgren as Jessica
Facts from the source article.
Plot
Beth discovers that the execution of Tommy Lipnip's father is imminent; he was convicted of murdering and eating his own son. She had always believed she coped with this trauma by inventing a fantasy called Froopyland where Tommy simply wandered off. Rick then admits Froopyland was an actual, child-safe pocket universe he built for her, meaning her memories of Tommy vanishing there are accurate. When they go back to find him, Rick notices the local wildlife has turned aggressive and dangerous, contaminated by human DNA. They figure out Tommy survived into adulthood by mating with these creatures, eating the resulting young, and becoming the ruler of the ones that tasted worst. Tommy’s followers capture them, and he blames Beth for shoving him into a honey swamp out of jealousy, calling it attempted murder—something she denies. After Rick teleports them home, Beth calls him a terrible parent, but Rick fires back that he created Froopyland because she was a violent kid who needed constant distraction. She returns to reason with Tommy but ends up killing both him and his children. Rick and Beth make up, then save Tommy’s father by cloning a new Tommy from a severed finger. Back at the house, Beth is offered the chance to have a clone of herself made, letting her travel freely. Meanwhile, Morty and Summer spend a custody weekend with Jerry and find he is in a rebound relationship with Kiara, an alien hunter. When Jerry tries to break up, he blames the kids, claiming they forced him to end things due to racism. Kiara gets furious and tries to kill Morty and Summer. Jerry finally admits he lied, and the conflict ends when it turns out Kiara was using Jerry to get over her ex, just as Jerry was using her. In the post-credits scene, Jerry’s answering machine has four messages: one from Kiara’s boyfriend threatening to kill Jerry, two from Rick saying he killed that boyfriend and slept with Kiara, and one from a rental store clerk telling Jerry he can keep the machine.
Production
On September 11, 2017, the episode title "The ABC's of Beth" and its release date of September 24, 2017 were revealed. The writing credit of series producer and writer Mike McMahan and the directorial credit of Juan Meza-León were revealed upon the episode's airing. The episode stars series regulars Justin Roiland as Rick Sanchez and Morty Smith, Chris Parnell as Jerry Smith, Sarah Chalke as Beth Smith, and Spencer Grammer as Summer Smith. Thomas Middleditch voices Tommy Lipnip, an old friend of Beth's who became stuck in Froopyland as a child and resorted to terrible means to stay alive; in the end, Tommy is presumed dead and Beth and Rick create a clone of him to return to his parents. Jennifer Hale voices Keara, an alien huntress whom Jerry briefly dates. Brandon Johnson and Kari Wahlgren reprise their roles as recurring characters Mr. Goldenfold and Jessica. Inverse noted that the "biggest Rick and Morty season 4 mystery" of whether Beth or Space Beth is the real clone made by Rick. The article also delved into the concept of evil in the episode, with series creator Dan Harmon saying, "Evil is a construct that Rick doesn't really believe in." In an Inside "The ABC's of Beth" video, writer Ryan Elder said Rick designed Froopyland to both entertain Beth so he didn't have to, but also to protect her from herself. In a review, The A.V. Club called the episode "stellar" and "consistently hilarious, while also touching on the show's biggest theme," with Michael Walsh noting that "once again the show hit hard on its recurring idea that nothing matters."
Reception
The episode was viewed by 2.49 million Americans upon its airdate. The season has an approval rating of 96% from Rotten Tomatoes based on 10 reviews, with an average rating of 8.95 out of 10. IGN commented that Beth and Jerry usually don't play a starring role in given season 3 episodes, and that "The ABCs of Beth" felt like a concerted effort to make up for lost time, and it didn't disappoint. Jesse Schedeen also said the episode contained "some pretty dark stuff" and wondered if the writers went a little too far exploring the dark creature that lurks beneath Beth's pleasant exterior. Den of Geek called the entire season, especially this episode, overstuffed, saying it "loses the plot a little" and that it was unfortunate because this series has been so good about gradually fleshing out all its characters beyond Rick and Morty and this was Beth's time to shine. Writer Joe Matar gave the episode three out of five stars. Jenny Jaffe of Vulture said that if the fact that "The ABCs of Beth" comes right after "Morty's Mind-Blowers" is at all significant, we might conclude that they've done all of this before and they'll continue to do this again, in every conceivable universe, until the end of time, but as Rick or Beth might remind us, it doesn't really matter.
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