‘Rick and Morty: The Anime’ Spoiled the Only Watchable Scene From Today’s Episode Five Months Ago

Thanks to the ass-kicking abilities of Space Beth, Rick and Morty: The Anime finally delivered on a single scene that’s equally Rick and Morty as it is anime. It’s just too bad that we’ve already seen it.

Last week, the hilariously un-hyped anime spinoff of Adult Swim’s biggest hit blundered its way onto the schedule with a series premiere that confirmed the fanbase’s worst suspicions about Rick and Morty: The Anime. In “Girl Who Manipulates Time,” Rick and Morty die-hards who weren’t completely turned off by the teasers met the paper-thin anime stock characters who replaced the complex and comical cast of the original series in a convoluted and uninspiring opening episode that failed to spark any fresh hope for the nine to follow. However, despite Rick’s reduction to a kooky old inventor spouting pseudo-philosophical drivel and Morty’s relegation to “anime reaction noise maker,” one character from the original series almost resembled her original badass self in today’s episode, which is unambiguously titled “Fighting Mother.”

In the single enjoyable sequence from “Fighting Mother,” Space Beth infiltrates a Galactic Federation spaceship only to fall into a trap set by Tammy, who, in the world of Rick and Morty: The Anime, is both alive and equipped with the cybernetics of Phoenixperson. The two old foes then fight an epic-ish anime battle that would almost earn “Fighting Mother” a low-but-passing grade if Adult Swim didn’t need to spoil the scene in the only Rick and Morty: The Anime preview that wasn't an interdimensional dumpster fire.

Within the context of the episode, the Space Beth vs. Tammy anime battle follows an extended sequence in which Space Beth infiltrates a Galactic Federation cruiser for unclear Rick-related reasons, stealthily dispatching the bureaucrat guards before attempting to hack a science-fiction-y console at the center of the ship. However, as soon as Space Beth connects her smartphone to the space computer, she receives a call from an unknown number, and Tammy tells her old target, “I wouldn't bother putting up a fight if I were you, because I won't hesitate to blow up the whole room if I have to.” It's a generic and childish challenge, but Space Beth takes the bait (literally) and the two tussle in a dynamic anime action sequence that, thus far, is the highlight of the entire series.

The marketing department cutting and releasing a trailer that spoils an exciting scene isn't a problem that's unique to Rick and Morty: The Anime – in fact, it's sadly the industry norm in 2024 – but it's supremely disappointing that, with 20% of the series in the can, only about one minute and 30 seconds' worth of Rick and Morty: The Anime has been worth watching, and we already watched it back in March.

Concerningly, the spoiler issue isn't even the worst part of the best Rick and Morty: The Anime scene yet. At the end of the fight, when Space Beth has the most hated agent of the Galactic Federation tied up and defeated, the murderous renegade version (and possible clone) of Beth Smith chooses to release the antagonist whom Rick killed in the real Rick and Morty after Tammy hunted down and kidnapped both Space Beth and terrestrial Beth. Why would the vengeful badass who devoted her new life to targeted mass murder spare and release her most formidable antagonist without so much as snarky one-liner? Well, because they're both mothers, of course!

Seriously. At the end of the fight, with the ship burning down around them, Space Beth releases Tammy back into the Galactic Federation's ranks simply because, “I know what it's like to have kids.” The entire premise behind Space Beth's introduction to Rick and Morty was that Rick offered his daughter the opportunity to release herself from her family responsibilities on Earth and explore the greater cosmos unencumbered by morality, just as her original Rick had done decades ago. Meanwhile, Tammy was happy to let Birddaughter rot in prison because of Bird Person's “crimes” rather than raise her own child. And, yet, the writers of Rick and Morty: The Anime looked at two ambitious, complicated and stone-cold killers and decided that their motivations could only possibly boil down to “being a mommy.”

It's a change that's so stupid and sexist that you have to wonder whether Adult Swim really fired Justin Roiland or if they're punishing him by making him write for the anime.