As Rick and Morty fans mourn the almost-end of the third season, viewers got to experience Rick's true emotional capacity, especially in terms of his daughter, Beth. Readers who dislike spoilers should stop here. After choosing her father over her husband, Jerry, leading to their decision to get a divorce, Beth now begins to see that her hero was all in her mind. As she began to see and maybe even accept Rick for who he was, Beth seemed to understand her own motivations and complexities. In "The ABCs of Beth", when the strain of her everyday life becomes suffocating, Rick offers her an out.

The options

Option 1: Rick offers to clone her, complete with memories and personality traits, so that she can leave to explore the world and do whatever she pleases.

Option 2: She could stay and use her newfound insight to make her life better.

It almost seems like Rick has made Beth this offer before. His pitch seems rehearsed and although Rick delivers it in his usual bored' demeanour, there seems to be a little bit of resignation there too. It's almost as though he has heard all her doubts, preempts her questions and knows her ultimate decision.

The decision

While the end of the episode features a jovial, almost robotic Beth greeting her children, true to Rick and Morty style, the show left the question unanswered.

After last week's episode, "Morty's Mind Blowers", where viewers got to see the worst of Rick's self-centred actions, this week's episode is a refreshing change. The lengths which he was willing to go through to keep her safe, happy and even entertained were astounding. It even makes a rare reference to Rick's wife, a woman he must have loved more deeply than the show may ever care to show, for even Rick can acknowledge that her death was a major turning point in his life.

A stark contrast to his continuous insistence that nothing in life matters.

Rick and Morty episodes have never been this three-dimensional or introspective. Despite being a cartoon show, the level of depth in the characters and details in the plot are astounding. It is, at times, hard to comprehend the ludicrous plot lines, but at the same time, easy to identify with the flawed and very human characters.

Denial, fear and doubt are epitomised in this episode in Morty, Beth and Rick. Indeed, even Jerry manages to learn a thing or two about himself, giving growth to a character that has been stunted from the get-go.

Perhaps at the heart of the matter, Rick and Morty is a show about the human condition, spiced up by sci-fi characters, inter-dimensional travel and radioactive garage materials. It seems as though Rick's adamant stance that nothing really matters in life is more of a reminder for himself than anything else. For if it were to matter, he would have to acknowledge the fear, guilt and regret he desperately wishes he could forget. But who can blame him, we all wish there were certain memories we could remove. Rick is only human after all, isn't he?