When Justin Roiland and Dan Harmon first introduced the adult animated series “Rick and Morty,” the entertainment scenario for grown-ups changed. Since its introduction in 2013, this show has given us five series comprising fifty-one episodes with its distinct dark comedic spirit. But what are the best Rick and Morty episodes? You will find the details about the top Rick and Morty episodes in this article.
A little back-story
This show tells the stories of a mad scientist Rick Sanchez and his grandson Morty Smith. They live on the outskirts of Seattle, comprising Jerry Smith and Beth Smith and their children Morty Smith and Summer Smith. Beth’s father, Rick, an eccentric and mad scientist, lives with them as a guest.
Jerry Smith is simple-minded and insecure, while his wife Beth is a level-headed and realistic horse surgeon. Their daughter Summer, a 17-year-old girl, constantly worries about teenage problems like her position among her peers. On the other hand, the youngest family member, Morty, is a 14-year-old level-headed and kind-hearted boy. He has fixed morals, which is strikingly opposite to Rick’s nature. Despite being the grandfather, Rick is somewhat strange and constantly rants about conventional things like schools, love life, family, relationships, and even society.
The show starts when Rick takes Morty on an adventure in his flying car. The dye has gone into multiple adventures across the multiverse and realities. The two have also met their other versions from different realities. Interestingly, the personalities of Rick and Morty differ across the universes and realities. Similarly, the characters of Jerry, Beth, and Summer also change. Rick Sanchez of the original universe often identifies each as “C-317”. But, they have sometimes moved into different Smith families of various dimensions and universes.
The episodes of the show are standalone, and each concludes differently. Here you will find details about the best Rick and Morty episodes from the five seasons. Each of these episodes is unique and comes with the distinct dark humor of the series that is ideal for adults.
Top Rick and Morty episodes list
1. The Ricklantis Mixup(Season 3 Episode 7, September 10, 2017, IMDB Rating 9.8)
It is one of the best Rick and Morty episodes, with an IMDB rating of 9.8. The episode deals with an alternate version of the Rick and Morty C-137 duo. These two are from Citadel of Ricks and are seeking funds for the redevelopment of the Citadel. The two go on a vacation to the mythical underwater civilization Atlantis. But, their adventure is interrupted when the Rick and Morty of another universe come to seek donations.
Morty wonders what is happening there, and the original duo follows him. In the Citadel, the council of Ricks is disturbed by the repeated deaths of their presidential candidates, and the Morty of Morty party wins the controversial election. This series deals with the life of the Citadel with revelations, including Morty academy, political unrest, and so on. The original duo then comes back home. When Morty is disturbed by his experience in Citadel, Rick assures him there will be no impact on their lives.
It has a dark parody of the Stand By Me song by Stephen King. But, the episode has an ominous ending as the Evil Morty becomes President Morty, displaying that the Citadel will continue to have conflicts.
2. The Rickshank Redemption (Season 3, Episode 1, April 1, 2017, IMDB rating 9.6)
It is in the second position of the best Rick and Morty episodes where Rick from an alternate universe has a sinister plan of emotionally controlling all his family members. This Rick was absent, and the Galactic Federation colonized the Earth in his absence. The federal agency is interrogating Rick for his invention- the Portal gun. On the other hand, Morty takes Summer into another universe that has become a wasteland with zombified humans. But, they are captured by the Smith Family from that universe and are later captured by the Citadel Militia.
Cut to another scene; we see Rick being interrogated by the mind interrogating alien Cornvellious Daniel inside his mind. Rick somehow convinces them to give away his portal gun secret.
With guards down, he steals the body of a navy seal agent and kills others. He then continues infiltrating the Citadel of Ricks agents and teleports the Citadel into the exact location of the federal space station.
Amidst the chaos, Rick finally managed to escape and rescue Summer and Morty. They return to their original universe, and Beth finally leaves Jerry. But Rick still has cards up in his sleeves and reveals to Morty that he planned all these. He said his goal was to become the de facto male influence in Morty’s life.
This episode reveals no original redemption like in the previous episode, and things are darker than one can imagine.
3. Total Rickall(Season 2, Episode 4, Aug 16, 2015, IMDB rating 9.5)
It is in third place in the top Morty and Rick episodes list with an impressive IMDB rating of 9.5. This episode is a funny yet dark interpretation of the movie “Total Reckall” with some wid sub stories. On top of that, it is one of the few episodes set in the Smith household. It is a wild dream with parasite aliens and a confused identity.
In the Smith household, everything seems fine when Steve, Jerry’s brother, gives them plane tickets for vacations as the family lets them stay in their house for a year. Suddenly Rick shoots Steve, who is a parasite alien in disguise. Rick then reveals that these aliens multiply and live by implanting false memories inside the human mind. He tells that the original Smith household comprises Rick, Jerry, Beth, Summer, Morty, and Mr. Poopybutthole, a strange yellow creature with a yellow tail.
The family members then experience collective flashbacks with false family members and relatives, all of the memories implanted by the aliens. The lounge is filled with parasitic aliens, all of which convince Rick to lower the house guard. As Morty is about to shoot Rick, he realizes that real family members have both bitter and sweet memories. The whole family comes together and proves their identity as all of them have some bitter and precious memories.
Rick and Morty start killing the parasites with the method of Deduction. The epiphany lies in the fact that aliens cannot inflict bitter memories. That has a deep meaning. A family fights and has conflicts, but that makes them a family.
4. The Vat of Acid Episode(Season 4 Episode 8, May 17, 2020, IMDB rating 9.4)
The Vat of Acid Episode is the fourth Rick and Morty Best episode with an impressive 9.4 IMDB rating. This episode offers a more confident Morty, who learns a hard lesson at the end of it. He is not the meek boy anymore, and he has his own dark side as a growing teenager. But, his growing up is causing conflicts with Rick.
In this episode, Rick and Morty meet alien gangsters to exchange crystals. But, they are forced to play dead in a fake acid vat and betrayed. In turn, Rick creates a portable “Save Point,” which will allow Rick to escape death or mistakes, and excited Morty takes it out without listening to everything. But Morty’s impatience results in breaking up the ruse. He continues to criticize Rick’s plan.
The young kid continues to perform crimes and pranks and reset himself to face a harrowing fate. But eventually, he falls in love with a girl and gets stranded with her after a plane crash. He chooses to rescue himself instead of using the “Save button.” But, Jerry accidentally activates the save point again, and Morty is unable to have a proper relationship with the girl.
Morty finally admits to Rick that the choices make a man. In turn, Rick reveals a shocking truth- whenever Morty pushes the button; he goes to an alternate dimension and takes the place of that dimension’s Morty by killing him. The people of all the dimensions suddenly form a mob and demand Morty’s surrender. Morty is compelled to use Rick’s ruse of a fake acid vat.
5. Rickmurai Jack(Season 5, Episode 10, September 5, 2021, IMDB Rating 9.4)
This cliffhanger episode sets the plot for the upcoming Season 6 of Rick and Morty. In this episode, we see Rick leading a dream-come-true anime life with crows. But, he then abandons this life to de-age Morty (who aged himself to convince Rick to return). But, they are taken by agents Ricks to meet President Morty, who reveals his sinister plan to open the paths of all the multiverses.
The back story reveals another more sinister origin. The Citadel was created by a “Killer Rick,” who invented a portal gun and tried to find his killer across the multiverse. The Sinister Rick also manipulated different versions of Beth and Jerry across the multiverse to ensure they supplied him with enough Mortys.
The Finite Curve is now gone, and Morty may have to understand that Rick is no longer the smartest man. In the meantime, President Morty hacks all the portal guns and causes mayhem. The original Rick and Morty, with a few surviving Ricks, escape in a survival pod through a black hole. President Morty then steps into a yellow portal leading to an unknown destination.
In the post-credit scene, Mr. Poopybttthole wonders about his divorce and finally finds out who are his real loved ones. He also ponders about how fewer time people have in reality. The story is breathtaking and has an impressive IMDB rating of 9.4.
6. Pickle Rick(Season 3, Episode 3, August 6, 2017, IMDB rating 9.3)
The list of Best episodes of Rick and Morty is incomplete without adding “Pickle Rick,” with an IMDB rating of 9.3. In this episode, the mad scientist turns himself into a pickle to escape a school family therapy session. But, he does not get a chance to turn back as Beth has taken the reversion serum.
He then goes into a sewer drain and manipulates the cockroaches and rats. With the sewer animals under his control; Rick makes himself an exoskeleton with razors and drills,
As he escapes into a foreign government secret facility, things get wilder, and the agents try to kill him. But, he kills all of them and manages to befriend even a prisoner named Jaguar.
The Doctor concludes that Rick often punishes his relatives for their emotions and vulnerability. In the end, Rick is forced to attend the therapy session with Dr. Wong. On the way back, Rick apologizes to his daughter for his behavior and gets his hand in the Serum to get back to his human form.
The whole episode is hard-hitting and offers a hard realization of how manipulation works in a darker way.
The kids demand to see Dr. Wong, but Rick and Beth ignore their demands. In the post-credit scene, Rick and Morty are saved by Jaguar from the clutches of a villain named Concerto.
7. Close Rick-counters of the Rick Kind(Season 1, Episode 10, April 7, 2014, IMDB rating 9.3)
How can you forget the episode that introduced the Evil Rick in this list of Top Rick and Morty episodes? The original Rick of the C-137 is accused of killing 27 alternate dimension Ricks in the Citadel. But, he denies the charge and takes Morty with him on a journey to find the real killer. In the meantime, the original Smith house is filled with alternate Ricks, and Jerry strikes a bond with the good “Doofus Rick.”
The story then turns sharp when the original duo discovers a secret dome with the lattice of tortured Mortys on its outer shell.
They meet the “Evil Rick” with a facial scar. This evil scientist, along with his Morty(seen with an eye patch), manipulated Morty from all dimensions, brainwashed them, and tortured them. He then captures the real Morty and Rick.
But, Morty turns the table when he leads a rebellion of the captured Mortys, and they kill Evil Rick. But, there comes a plot twist- the Morty with an eye patch was controlling Evil Rick all along. He blends in with the crowd.
Even though Rick can clear his name, the darkness looms in the background. This episode created the whole story base of the Evil vs. Good with the citadel arc, a recurring plot in the upcoming series. Its IMDB rating of 9.3 is no surprise!
8. The Wedding Squanchers(Season 2 episode 10, October 4, 2015, IMDB rating 9.3)
Due to his long adventure list across the multiverse and dimension, Rick has undoubtedly made a few strange acquaintances. This episode tells the story of one of these instances and an odd wedding invitation. It has an IMDB rating of 9.3 and is the eighth in the list of the best Rick and Morty episodes.
The intergalactic delivery system delivers Rick the wedding invitation from the bird people of the planet Squanch. Even though he initially hesitated, he finally attended the ceremony.
The wedding suddenly turns different as the entire system is revealed to be a trap. Th bride Tammy Guterman reveals to be a Galactic Federation agent and starts to kill the guests. The scene where the bride repeatedly fires at the groom is somewhat haunting and bizarre.
Rick manages to escape with his family but is on the run as the Federation is also searching for them. They finally settle on a nameless planet orbiting a screaming sun.
Even though Jerry offers the idea of turning Rick in, others object due to their love for Rick, and Rick finally decides to turn himself in to ensure his family’s freedom.
Jerry gets a job from the Federation, and Earth is seen bustling with alien tourists. On the other hand, Rick is held captive on an unknown prison planet. It is one of the few episodes where Rick shows selflessness. Hence, it is one of the top Rick and Morty episodes in its own right.
9. The Ricks Must Be Crazy(Season 2 Episode 6, August 30, 2015, IMDB rating 9.3)
The next episode in the list of the top Rick and Morty episodes is “The Ricks Must Be Crazy.” This episode is one of the few where Summer travels with the duo. It also raises some serious questions about research ethics comically. Rick has done some nasty things in the past, but creating a civilization just to power up his car? Seems quite unethical!
The story starts when Morty, Rick, and Summer discover that Rick’s flying car does not start due to a battery malfunction. He and Morty keep Summer inside the car and give the Car “Keep Summer Safe” instructions before starting the investigation.
Morty learns that the battery is a miniature universe, which is forced to generate electricity for the car to prevent their destruction in Rick’s hand. The main scientist of that universe is Zeep, who is creating a second universe within the miniature universe for the same purpose. The trio then boards a universe traveling car and gets started on their way towards a third universe.
Here, Zeep and Rick are so much alike but constantly argue comically. Morty abandons them and becomes a native chief. He also forces Rick and Zeep to work together to escape from the universe. Seep is forced to abandon his research on the miniature universes and again goes back to generate electricity. Morty turns into a car and rescues them.
Meanwhile, the car uses violent strategies to keep Summers safe. In the meantime, it stops a human vs. spider war in an alternate universe.
The post-credit scene reveals that Morty again turns into a car in his class.
10. Start Mort Rickturn of the Jerri(Season 4, Episode 10, May 31, 2020, IMDB Rating 9.1)
This episode revolves around the clones of Beth and Rick realizing how bad a father he is. A clone of Beth is seen rebelling against the Galactic Federation. During a medical examination, she finds that she has an implant around her neck. She starts to think that she is alone. Meanwhile, Beth and Jerry go to DR. Wong for family therapy in the original universe. In the meantime, Morty and Summer fight over the invisibility belt.
Both Beths are captured by Tammy and shot into the federation ship. Rick and Jerry go to the ship and kill Tammy before rescuing the Beths. Chaos ensues, and both Beths demand to know who the clone is while the Galactic Federation is in tow.
Rick hesitantly retrieves the memory tube containing his memory of cloning Beth. It turns out that the original Beth and clone Beth swapped their places so many times that no one remembers who is the real one.
After all, parents can also make the gravest mistakes! Rick finally admits he is a “Terrible father” and decides to be a good friend instead of playing the fatherly role. But, he is rejected and left alone.
11. Rick Potion #9(Season 1, episode 6, Jan 24, 2014, IMDB Rating 9.0)
Morty wants to go on a school dance with Jessica and asks Rick for a love potion. Rick can give it to a flu-infected Jessica. The potion with the virus becomes an airborne pandemic, and everything goes chaotic. All people except Morty’s family members are infected by the virus and fall for Morty. This weird zombie apocalypse episode indirectly tells us that shortcuts are never the way towards success.
In the meantime, Rick tries to cure the virus but mutates it more. The people infected by the virus become monstrous “Cronenbergs.” This is a hidden reference to director David Cronenberg, known for his works in Body horror movies.
In the meantime, Jerry visits Beth’s workplace to check if the latter is cheating on him. The two manage to escape the monsters and find Sumer.
Rick and Morty travel to an alternate universe where that universe’s Rick and Morty duo died after curing the Earth from the virus. The two from the original universe assume the roles of the dead Rick and Morty duo of that universe. The scene where Morty and Rick bury their alternate universe dead bodies is creepy yet hard-hitting.
The post-credit scenes reveal that the Smith family consisting of Beth, Jerry, and Summers, lived happily in the post-apocalyptic world.
12. Mort Dinner Rick Andre(Season 5, Episode 1, June 20, 2021, IMDB rating 9.0)
During his adventure with Rick in the ocean, Morty asks his crush Jessica for a date. But, the landing inside the ocean provokes Rick’s nemesis Dr. Nimbus, the King of the ocean and controller of the Police.
Morty tries to juggle his date with Jessica and help Rick to host Dr. Nimbus for a date. But, he ends up in the history of an alternate world where one hour equals a decade. In that reality, Jessica is captured by alien overlords, and Morty becomes a god-like figure.
Rick and Mr. Nimbus keep their differences aside to work together to rescue Morty and Jessica. But, Nimbus discovers how Rick used summer to destroy his increasing strength. The trauma forces Jessica to quit and remain friends with Morty.
13. Meeseeks and Destroy(season 1 episode 5, January 20, 2014, IMDB rating 9.0)
This episode deals with child molestation and somewhat creepy moments. It is way deep than you can think!
Morty complains to Rick that his adventures are always crazy and dangerous. The duo embarks on a new adventure where Morty is in charge.
Morty and Rick visit a giant’s realm, and the teenager decides to steal the giant’s money to give to the villagers. They are arrested on the charges of killing the giant but are ultimately let free. They again visit a new dimension with a fairy pub. The king Jellybean attempts to rape Morty, but Morty escapes. Rick ends up killing the King as he learns about what the King intended to do with his grandson.
In the meantime, the rest of the Smith family spawn wish-granting and exploding creatures called Meeseeks from Rick’s Meeseek box. Jerry asks one Meeseek to improve his golf skills. As this creature is unable to help, it summons more meeseeks.
The horde of Meeseeks then decides to kill Jerry as he does not improve. In the last chance, Jerry shows his improvement, and the Meeseeks explode happily.
14. Morty’s Mind Blowers(Season 3 Episode 8, September 17, 2017, IMDB rating 8.9)
This is a whole episode that deals with childhood trauma and other issues. It has a comical yet thoughtful representation of how humans try to suppress bad memories.
Morty asks Rick to remove some of his traumatic memories. But, Rick reveals that he has released many memories from Morty’s mind as the latter did not want those memories. But, the memory room also contains a few memories that look foolish, and Rick removed them without informing his grandson.
Morty tries to find his erased memories. But the truth compels him to take different thoughts, and he convinces Rick to kill each other. This results in a fight between the duo, which causes both of them to lose their memories. Summer arrives in time and stops the pair.
As per the backup plan, Summer tranquilizes both Rick and Morty and restores their enemies by following written instructions of Rick. The duo wakes up in the living room after Summer drags them. It results in Rick and Morty believing they missed a whole “Interdimensional Cable” episode by sleeping.
15. Edge of Tomorty: Rick Die Rcikpeat(Season 4 Episode 1, November 10, 2019, IMDB rating 8.9)
Next comes the pilot episode of season 4 titled ‘Edge of Tomorrow: Rick Die Repeat!” This episode reveals a twisted Morty who is not so innocent and is free from Rick’s influence. But, his work leads him to believe in Rick’s technologies to make everything right. This episode has a hidden reference to the classic movie Akira with a Tetsuo-like personality.
At the start of the episode, Rick and Morty visit an alien plant to retrieve a special crystal that shows their possible futures. Intrigued, Morty takes one sneakily and learns about his future with Jessica.
Compelled to make that future true, he inadvertently causes Rick’s death. Rick’ Holographic consciousness of Morty to clone his grandfather. But, Morty refuses to do so as he learns doing this will destroy his happily ever after with Jessica.
In the meantime, Rick’s consciousness travels through universes, and all the clones of Rick become fascist and hostile, except for the wasp Rick. Morty is still hell-bent on spending his future with Jessica and kills hundreds of people. He also uses the Ferro-fluid to become a cyborg to fulfill his goal. Even though Rick, Wasp Rick, and holographic Rick turn him back to normal, things turn sour. The fluid bonds with Holographic Rick and others are forced to kill this holographic consciousness.
While the family rebukes Rick, Morty takes responsibility for his action, and the two again make up. The post-credit scene shows that Jessica has planned to become a caregiver for the elderly, making Morty angry that the crystal showed him a misleading future.
16. Rest and Ricklaxation(season 3 episode 6, Aug 27, 2017, IMDB Rating 8.9)
The spa day becomes a nightmare for Morty and Rick. The duo visits an alien spa to take out all their negative traits and relax. The positive Rick becomes more considerate while Morty gains more confidence, even when he starts dating girls. But, as a side effect, the duo fails to form any emotional attachment.
But, the alien spa sneakily transfers their toxic traits into their n physical counterparts- giving birth to Toxic Rick and Morty. Toxic Rick embarks on a revenge journey with Toxic Morty and transforms the Earth into a Toxic version of that.
Clean Rick poisons Toxic Rick, merging clean and Toxic Rick to form real Rick.ut, clean Morty refuses to do so and starts to live a lavish life as a New York stockbroker. But Rick can turn him into the real Morty with the help of Jessica, Morty’s crush.
17. Mortynight Run(season 2 episode 2, Aug 2, 2015, IMDB rating 8.8)
This episode deserves its spot in the list of Rick and Morty best episodes due to its unique storyline. The title song “Goodbye Moon men” is one of the best songs the whole series has offered.
Rick leaves Jerry at the Jerryboree, a daycare specialized for alternate Jerrys, to stop him from boarding his flying car. There Jerry socializes with other Jerrys and spends time.
In the meantime, Rick sells the antimatter gun to an alien assassin. The assassin wants to use this to destroy a gaseous monster called Fart.
While Rick plans to spend the day at a video arcade, Morty decides to stop the assassination plan. Morty decides to kill Fart when he learns about Fart’s genocide plan of all carbon-based life forms. Fart then kills all the guard men and escapes his captivity. They pick up Jerry but are unsure which one is the right one.
18. A Rickle in Time(Season 2 Episode 1, July 26, 2015, IMDB rating 8.8)
The Pilot episode of the second season gets the eighteenth spot in the Top Rick and Morty episodes list. It narrates how the trio- Rick, Summer, and Morty get entangled with the timeline issue. The episode starts after “Ricksy business,” The three are seen repairing the house and having fun while time around them remains frozen. But, the trio ends up in a decaying timeline as time gets back to normal. They also spate into different timelines and become paranoid. A timekeeper creature appears and offers them a collar to integrate all the timelines. But, it also wants to arrest them as Rick stole the time crystal.
The three break their collars and split into sixty-four timelines to beat the timekeeper. In the end, the timeline integrates back as Rick repairs the collar. Beth and Jerry rescue a deer and treat it in their clinic. Even though a hunter claims deer, Beth releases the treated animal in the forest.
19. Rattlestar Ricklatica(season 4 episode 5, Dec 15, 2019, IMDB rating 8.8)
Rick makes Jerry thinner than air and his shoes heavier to save him from injuring himself during the Christmas decoration time. But, Jerry loses his shoe and ends up lost. In the meantime, Rick and Morty are forced to make a halt when their flying car gets a flat tire. A space-traveling snake bites Morty, and Rick is forced to look for an antidote.
Rick learns that the snake is an intelligent space race on the verge of war. Morty, who is sad about the snake’s death, replaces it with a normal earth snake. The snake planet realizes this mistake and time-traveling robotic snakes Smith house in search of Morty.
Rick travels back in time and offers those snakes time traveling knowledge. But, the snakes end up misusing the knowledge, which leads the Time Police to kill the whole civilization.
Jerry manages to get back home but is injured. Rick and Morty meet their future self, who advises them to solve the snake problem to close the ongoing time loop. The post-credit scene reveals Rick punches Morty in the snake planet for disobeying him. This results in future Morty developing a black eye.
20. Rixty Minutes(season 1 episode 8, Mar 14, 2014, IMDB rating 8.7)
Rick connects their home TV with interdimensional cable as he is bored with Earth TV shows. They discover that an alternate Jerry is a successful actor in that reality. The rest of the Smith family use interdimensional goggles to watch their successful lives in different realities.
In one reality, they discover that Beth and Jerry never married and were successful, and summer was never born. Beth’s discoloration about how she conceived Summer unplanned makes the latter sadder.
The three fight and discuss their family lives, holding them back from success. Summer is ready to run away when Morty stops her; He tells her that he and Rick came from an alternate reality. In the end, Beth and Jerry make up as they watch how miserable their single life is and how they end up being together in every reality.
Rick and Morty details
Genre- adult animated sitcom
Season- Total five with 51 episodes. The sixth season is coming
Creators: Dan Harmon and Justin Roiland
Main cast
- Justin Roiland- Rick Sanchez and Morty Smith
- Chris Parnell- Jerry Smith
- Spencer Grammer- Summer Smith
- Sarah Chalke- Beth Smith
- Kari Wahlgren- the space car and Jessica
Ending words
The best part of the show Rick and Morty are that it offers numerous accounts of Rick and Morty with dark and hard-hitting back stories, which are ideal for adult viewers. Each episode is hilarious and thought-provoking at the same time. The show has a multiverse of its own, which also creates some interesting storylines.
The sixth season will soon start, and we can assume that the upcoming seasons will offer some more additions to the list of Rick and Morty best episodes. If you are interested in watching Rick and Morty, all seasons are streaming on Netflix and Prime Video.
