Rick And Morty Season 3 Episode 9 “The ABCs Of Beth” asks if Beth chooses to clone herself - and leaves the answer deliberately ambiguous. Rick And Morty has attracted a fervent fanbase since it started back in 2013. The show has a Back To The Future-style premise, where a genius scientist called Rick Sanchez takes his grandson Morty off on cosmic adventures.
The issue is that Rick is also a drunken, amoral nihilist, so their adventures often take a dark turn. The show is a perfect melding of comedy and sci-fi, and while it’s not above a poop joke or two, it also takes time to probe the psychology of the main characters. Fans had to wait over a year and a half for the arrival of season 3, which was one of the darkest the show has produced to date. It starts with Beth and Jerry breaking up, with the impact on them and the family rippling throughout the season. It also gave each character an episode where they were the focus, with Rick And Morty Season 3 Episode 9 “The ABCs Of Beth” presenting Beth with a unique dilemma.
Throughout the series, Beth has repressed her issues about her father because she’s terrified he’ll just leave again. Rick And Morty Season 3 Episode 3 “Pickle Rick” highlights this, with Rick intentionally turning himself into a pickle to avoid going to family therapy and confronting his many problems. Ironically, his madcap misadventure forces him to go to therapy anyway, but while the therapist actually presents Rick and Beth with the potential for a breakthrough, they decide to blow it off and get drunk instead.
Rick And Morty Season 3 Episode 9 “The ABCs Of Beth” finds father and daughter on a typically twisted adventure. They head into Froopyland, a fantasy world Rick built for Beth when she was young to find a childhood friend who has been trapped there for decades. This episode reveals Beth was something of a morbid, selfish child and she and Rick have more in common than she thinks. Rick ultimately creates a clone of her friend when he refuses to return, and he offers to make a Beth clone so she can leave her family and mundane life to head off on a life of adventure.
Rick also claims the clone with be an exact replica, down to her memories. The episode deliberately leaves her answer open-ended, with Beth seeming warmer towards her family at ending. This suggests she either is a clone or the real Beth made the choice to stay with her family and is content with that decision. The next Rick And Morty episode “The Rickchurian Mortydate” explicitly revisits this question, with Beth having an existential crisis over whether or not she is the real Beth or a clone.
Rick And Morty Season 3 Episode 9 posed a question the series will likely never fully answer. There’s evidence supporting the suggestion she is a clone, like reuniting with Jerry in the final episode and appearing much happier with life, but again, that could just signal an emotional breakthrough after the events of “The ABCs Of Beth.” In truth, it’s probably better if the show never provides an answer, since the question alone is endlessly intriguing.
Next: How Rick & Morty Season 3 Episode 1 Changed The Series Forever
