The popular animated series Rick And Morty depicts many dark and disturbing moments throughout its four seasons. The crazed scientist and his stuttering sidekick embark on grueling intergalactic adventures that see them confront a series of alternate selves and sci-fi monsters. Rick's nihilistic nature is often the cause of his misery as he struggles to find meaning in a multi-dimensional universe.
Rick and Morty's colorful comedy is peppered with shocking and dark moments that often reflect an interesting existential commentary. From Beth's true nature to the bleak life at the Citadel, here are Rick And Morty's ten darkest moments, ranked.
10 Welcome To Froopyland
Rick and Beth hash out their history in season three's "The ABC's Of Beth." The dysfunctional father-daughter duo travel to Froopyland, an imaginary world created by Rick during Beth's childhood, to try and rescue Beth's long-lost friend Tommy.
While there, Beth and Rick uncover the disturbing truth surrounding Tommy's survival. Tommy's dark descent is displayed during a children's play, adding an extra layer of surrealness to the revolting revelation.
9 Rick Goes To Prison
Rick atones for his mistakes in the season two finale "The Wedding Squanchers." The Smith family travel off-planet for Birdperson and Tammy's wedding. During the celebrations, Tammy reveals that she is an uncover agent for the Galactic Federation, prompting Rick and his family to go on the run.
The crazed scientist overhears Jerry imploring Beth, Morty, and Summer to abandon him to the Federation. Rick recognizes the danger he is placing his family in and surrenders to the Federation during a somber sequence.
8 Rick Refuses To Share His Toilet
Season four's "The Old Man And The Seat" explores a new, reluctant friendship for Rick. The scientist is enraged to discover another person has been using his private toilet located in paradise. Rick confronts the intruder, a mild-mannered office worker named Tony, in drastic style and warns him to stay away.
Tony tries to become friends with Rick anyway but dies abruptly during an accident. The final scene of the episode shows Rick at his loneliest as he returns to the toilet, walking into a trap set for his fallen frenemy.
7 The Menagerie Switch
Morty uncovers a series of stolen memories in season three's "Morty's Mind Blowers." The stuttering sidekick asks Rick to remove a traumatizing memory and discovers an archive of disturbing recollections that have been erased from his mind.
One memory reveals Rick and Morty's incarceration in an inter-galactic menagerie. While masquerading as an otherworldly entity, Rick engineers a device that makes contact with NASA scientists and lures two innocent people to them to switch places with.
6 Morty Meets King Jellybean
Morty leads the adventure during season one's "Meeseeks And Destroy." While Beth, Summer, and Jerry are preoccupied with their Meeseeks companions, Morty convinces Rick to embark upon a safer, free-spirited adventure that soon takes a turn for the worst.
Morty's whimsical quest is cut short when he is assaulted by the lecherous King Jellybean. A traumatized Morty escapes the disturbingly dark scene and returns to Rick, who luckily manages to salvage their adventure.
5 A Feast For Wasps
Rick And Morty's fans are introduced to countless alternate counterparts of the popular duo in season four's "Edge Of Tomorty: Rick Die Rickpeat." When Morty accidentally causes Rick's death thanks to a death crystal, the mad scientist is resurrected in a series of interdimensional bodies.
Following a stream of deaths, Rick is revived in an anthropomorphic wasp form. His alternate self invites him to dinner, where the Wasp Smiths feast on living prey whilst sharing a wholesome family conversation.
4 The Victims Of The Citadel
Season three's "The Ricklantis Mixup" features the bleak landscape of the Citadel following its destruction in "The Rickshank Rickdemption." One of the Ricks rebels against his employers at the Simple Rick's factory, while multiple Mortys fight for equal rights as second-class citizens.
"The Ricklantis Mixup" features the return of Evil Morty, who emerges victorious in a shocking win as the Citadel's new leader. The episode concludes with a haunting pan-out of the Citadel's victims left for dead and discarded in space.
3 Rick's Spaceship Defends Summer
Summer finds herself tangled in Rick and Morty's mayhem during season two's "The Ricks Must Be Crazy." The sci-fi duo goes an adventure inside Rick's microverse car battery, leaving Summer to be defended by the sentient spaceship.
The spacecraft takes Rick's instruction to "keep Summer safe" way too seriously. The device kills and maims countless people, as well as resorting to psychological torture by displaying a police officer's dead son whilst repelling authorities from the vehicle.
2 Rick And Morty Destroy The Earth
Morty may mean well most of the time, but the stuttering sidekick inadvertently destroys the earth during season one's "Rick Potion #9." Rick creates a potion to make Morty attractive at his grandson's request, but a case of the flu causes the potion's effects to go awry.
Rick tries to concoct an antidote but eventually decides to give up on their reality. The duo travels to an alternate reality and assumes the lives and identities of their recently deceased counterparts.
1 Rick Tries To Kill Himself
Rick rekindles a romance with an old flame in season two's "Auto Erotic Assimilation." The crazed scientist and his grandchildren stumble across a hive-mind entity named Unity. Rick is delighted to run into Unity again, encouraging her to neglect her responsibilities and party with him instead.
Unity realizes that Rick is a bad influence and rejects him, prompting a devastated Rick to return home and attempt suicide. The melancholy moment remains Rick's lowest point, as well as the darkest scene of the series so far.