The Most Traumatizing ‘Rick And Morty’ Episodes, Ranked
Rick and Morty (2013) has, over the last 13 years, become one of the foundational animated hits of the era. Constantly crass, creative, and cutting, the series has transformed its basic Back to the Future (1985) parody concept into a show about the limitless potential of genre fiction and the emotional depth of people in the face of endless disappointment and possibility. What helps the show stand out from other over-the-top animated properties is the sheer focus the show pays towards the emotional throughlines of the characters.
Rick is a super scientist who can solve (or cause) any problem, but he’s also got a whole mess of flaws that define his actions and often push him and his loved ones into conflict. The best episodes of the show explore those depths and the emotional states of those around him. While the show has had plenty of great horror moments or sudden shocks of gallows humor, these scenes are the ones that, even as the show approaches the ninth season, are still the most emotionally traumatizing in the run of the series.
8. “Analyze Piss" (Season 6)
One of the most emotionally potent episodes of Rick and Morty, despite having one of the most purposefully dumb concepts in the history of the show, “Analyze Piss” is only this low on this list because of the dent of its competition. "Anazlye Piss" sees an exhausted Rick take time away from fighting goofy super villains, leading to Jerry having to deal with the urine-centric Pissmaster. While Jerry is celebrated across the universe, Pissmaster quietly kills himself in his home—leaving a horrified Rick to impersonate the villain so he can restore some dignity to the man in death.
The sudden turn from the wacky villains of the episode to the serious reflection on depression and self-destructive ideation is a core element of Rick and Morty's thematic interests, all centered around a rare moment of empathy from Rick that goes off the rails just as quickly as it usually does for Morty. While the other episodes on this list better synthesize the sci-fi dark comedy with the genuine reflection—the sheer tonal jump from Cookie Magneto to Pissmaster's daughter tearfully begging for some sign that her father is alive is just as jarring as it is effective, and this episode's heavier subject matter will linger with you.
7. "The ABC's of Beth" (Season 3)
Beth has proven to be an emotional gold mine for Rick and Morty, especially once Space Beth became a recurring part of the cast. However, the most memorable turn for the character still might be the slowly dawning horror Beth has as she realizes the full consequences of her childhood. In a thread that became more developed over time, Beth is revealed to have had a very dangerous streak as a child that left another child lost in a pocket dimension.
The state of the character—played by Silicon Valley (2014) star Thomas Middleditch—is a genuinely horrifying subversion of the typical fantasy world trope, with a gleefully brutal ending that left the door open for some of the show’s more ambitious storytelling with the character later. The discovery that Beth might be just as messed up as her father raised a lot of traumatizing questions about if we can escape our worst selves.
6. "Rickternal Friendshine of the Spotless Mort" (Season 5)
A deep dive into the history of Rick Sanchez, Season 5's "Rickternal Friendshine of the Spotless Mort" brings back Birdperson and introduces the memory of who Rick used to be years prior to the events of the show. The actual exploration of Rick's younger self, purposefully similar to Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind (2004), is one of the more memorable elements of the episode, but it's more than just an excuse to see Rick's past.
The moment where Rick actually opens up to Birdperson and shuts down at the first moment of hesitation is a painful reminder of just how wounded Rick is—and how painful a real-life disappointment in a friendship can reshape a person. Especially as the show has become more self-reflective on Rick and the way his flaws define him more than his brilliance does, the dissolution of the optimistic Rick is a memorably somber touchstone for the show.
5. "Hot Rick" (Season 8)
The follow-up to the younger Rick's debut in Season 5, the Season 8 finale, "Hot Rick," gives the show one of its most emotionally devastating happy endings. The episode blends the somber reflection of Beth alongside Rick being faced with his past choices, leading to the emotionally gut-wrenching moment where Rick ensures his last memories of his wife Diane live on without him.
Synthesizing the emotional strengths of each of the episodes that came before it on this list, there's something genuinely heartbreaking about seeing Rick keep his great act of love a secret from the rest of the family. The episodes ahead of it on this list are all self-contained stories that do a better job of exploring heavy emotional topics with bizarre means, but “Hot Rick” is a great example of what the show can really do with the harsher emotional beats.
4. "Rick Potion #9" (Season 1)
The episode that elevated Rick and Morty in the TV landscape, Season 1’s “Rick Potion #9” initially starts like any other episode of the series—only for Rick’s mistakes to get so out of hand that he and Morty have to abandon their original reality for a nearly identical one where they just died.
The show’s introduction of the multiverse wasn’t used for goofy story ideas or epic expansions like with What If…? (2021), but rather as an opportunity to reveal the show’s views on the universe, at the sheer insignificance of existence in the face of endless duplicates, variants, and realities in a bleak metaphor for existentialism. It’s when Rick and Morty proved that it was capable of doing some really deep emotional explorations alongside its wacky sci-fi riffs which led it to become what it is today.
3. "That's Amorte" (Season 7)
An episode filled to the brim with gallows humor targeting the industrialization of food production, “That’s Amorte” focuses on a world where murder victims produce amazing pasta sauce—which was already a memorable, effective episode of the show before it reached its emotionally shattering climax. In an effort to prove to the world why they couldn’t just be killing each other to create the sauce, Rick convinces a terminally ill man to broadcast memories of his life while allowing himself to become the new template for the sauce.
The montage that follows is a sad, uplifting, and bittersweet reflection on a life that feels less attuned to the goofier moments of the show and more towards something like Six Feet Under (2001). “That’s Amorte” doesn’t have the thematic ambition of the two entries that are ahead of it on this list, which is why it’s at #3, but the strength of that single sequence elevates “That’s Amorte” beyond most of the rest of Rick and Morty’s traumatizing episodes.
2. "Auto Erotic Assimilation" (Season 2)
A contender for the best episode in the series, “Auto Erotic Assimilation” blends the sci-fi comedy that forms the base of the show with the raw emotional core that elevates it beyond its peers. After reuniting with his ex-partner—the collective consciousness known as Unity—Rick throws himself headlong back into a relationship with them. While Morty and Summer get to explore the moral ramifications of free will versus the horrors of pure conformity, it’s Rick’s storyline that lingers over ten years after it debuted.
The episode’s resolution sees Unity realize she can’t be with Rick because it brings out the worst in her, leading to a quiet moment of desperation and a moment of near self-harm that remains one of the single saddest moments in the entire show. “Auto Erotic Assimilation” is a pitch-perfect example of how Rick and Morty can blend deeply emotional moments with the sci-fi wackiness, all building to a gorgeously animated and emotionally impactful final beat that’s only beaten by one other episode in the show to date.
1. "The Old Man and the Seat" (Season 4)
While the main plot of the episode is a goofball parody of mobile apps with Taika Waititi, Sam Neil, and Kathleen Turner, the subplot follows Rick as he tries to figure out who used his private toilet. What follows is an increasingly ridiculous hunt that goes from hilarious to hollow in an instant when Rick finds out that his one-sided enmity with Tony—played by Jeffrey Wright—has only inspired him to grow as a person and die in the effort.
The conclusion of the episode, a profane and crass beat that is nevertheless deeply affecting on an emotional level, remains the best example Rick and Morty has ever produced about the self-destructive nature of being alone; a modern parable about an inability to connect with others even on the most basic, animalistic level. It’s one of the most effective tearjerkers of modern television and the most emotionally traumatizing moment on the show.
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