What Rick and Morty's Auto Erotic Assimilation Episode Reveals About Rick

I am a huge fan of the animated series, Rick and Morty. As I binge watched season 1, I considered Rick Sanchez to be a simple character. A badass grandfather with superior intelligence and a "do whatever the hell I want" attitude. However, I just finished the episode, Auto Erotic Assimilation from season 2, and I can't help but feel like I just got slapped into the z axis of Rick's psyche. As I watched and re-watched the final scene of that episode, I slowly came to the realization that I completely misinterpreted Rick's recklessness that he's exhibited since the beginning of the series. 

For courtesy purposes I'm going to warn you that this article contains spoilers.

Here is what I took from this episode regarding Rick:

The episode starts with Rick and his grandkids, Summer and Morty, in space singing about love, connection, and experience. Suddenly, their ship notifies them of a distress beacon from another ship, exciting Rick to the prospects of "free shit". While scouring the ship, they run into a group of alien survivors who warns them of an entity that absorbs the minds of others, who shortly become absorbed as well. As Rick brings out his gun to shoot them, the newly possessed aliens greet him a alluring "hello" in unison. To his surprise, he recognizes the entity as Unity, someone he used to date. Although I would expect an entity to not be identified as male or female, I will be referring to Unity as a woman since she primarily talks to Rick with female host bodies.

"World peace achieved. Nice!"

Rick and his grandkids follow Unity to her assimilated planet. While Summer and Morty are sent off to hang out with Unity, Rick catches up with...Unity. As Rick walks around the city, Unity explains her plans of becoming accepted into the Galactic Federation in order to have access to countless planets and species. Once accepted, she will gradually assimilate everyone in the universe to in a sense become a god. Normally, universal assimilation would be quite a concern for most people. Rick, on the other hand, found it to be sexy. She also points out to Rick that her removal of recreational substances is evidence of how she has changed. After using his reconnection to his family as evidence of his own change, he then proceeds to being intimate with her in an outlandishly specific way. 

Now let's stop and look at what this scene says about Rick. 

Unity's name is already a big indicator on what she represents, a community. Get it? Because Dan Harmon? NBC? Sorry, moving on. When Rick and Unity previously dated, she was only the population of a small town. This shows that Rick has always had an attraction towards her. One that was obviously rekindled upon seeing how much she has grown (in population). I believe this attraction is stemmed by his desire to be a part of an ideal community. One where the aggravation of individuality is removed for the greater good. No more conflicts due to opposing opinions. No more suffering from inequality. No more race wars.

In a community, every one has their own roles to contribute to the whole. So what role would Rick play in this community? Some time in the episode, Rick got his hands on some kind of substance that he used to make some type of hard drug. At first, Unity was hesitant but was easily coaxed by Rick "for old times sakes". Trying to relive their past relationship through drugs and other forms of debauchery results in her temporarily losing control of some of her people. For a prospering collective society, it only takes a frivolous difference like nipple growth to throw it into chaos. 

Rick was the intoxicated monkey wrench in Unity's well oiled machine. The episode shows a good visual "before and after" show of what I'm assuming is Unity's city hall:

Unity's home when Rick first showed up

Unity's home at the end of the same day

Seeing how Unity was catering to Rick's wants and needs since running into him is a pretty obvious sign that she wanted to win Rick back. Like the victim of an abusive relationship, she even defended and justified the negative affects Rick was having on her. It wasn't until after Rick vented his distaste for his family, the very evidence he used to explain how he changed, that she realized that Rick lacks any sense of community.

It is after this realization that Unity displayed the best stealth skills I have ever seen....off screen. While Rick went to the bathroom, she had the entire population abandon the planet after making every person individually write a letter to Rick. Here is what the letter(s) said:

Rick, forgive me for doing this in notes. I'm not strong enough to do it in persons. I realize now that I’m attracted with you for the same reason I can’t be with you. You can’t change. And I have no problem with that but it clearly means I have a problem with myself. I’m sure there’s no perfect version of me. I’m sure I’ll just unify species after species and never really be complete. But I know how it goes with us. I lose who I am and become a part of you. Because in a strange way, you’re better at what I do without even trying. 

Yours, and nobody else’s,

Unity

In the beginning of the episode, Rick claimed to have changed via his reconnection with his family. However, he was quick to ditch his grandkids for his own selfish purposes. Since Rick lacked any sense of community or any real connection with others, I interpret Unity leaving Rick on a planetary scale as him not belonging in a community. I'm not saying just her own community but the very concept itself. If he can't play a positive role in a community, then there is no point in him being a part of one. At this point in the series, this has been the closest I've seen Rick be emotionally injured. 

Where this episode starts with Rick enjoying his family time with his grandkids, it ends with him returning to his family. This time, having a more disconnected attitude towards them. The final scene starts with Rick entering his garage, discarding a flask that has emptied too soon to his liking while the song, "Do you Feel It?" by Chaos Chaos plays throughout the entire scene. For atmosphere purposes, I'm going to just put this here:

Dejected and alone, he pulls out 2 glass tubes with crystals in them and adds a few final touches on a machine on his table in a cold methodical manner. He then pulls out a frozen figurine and pours a solution on it to reveal it to be some kind of alien creature. A creature writhing and yelping that matches the look of torment on its face. Staring at the abomination, Rick makes a surprisingly compassionate gesture of petting it a few times. 

This action speaks volumes to me. Rick, the same self centered man who has trouble remembering the word "human", physically consoling this creature. There is no real explanation for this creature either. The only other reference of it is when Jerry, Rick's son-in-law, sees it while sifting through Rick's cabinets. Some speculate that this is one of the aliens stricken with the space AIDS that was mentioned in the episode. But I believe that this alien doesn't have any backstory and its sole purpose is to reflect Rick's current state of mind. Everything about it from its looks, sounds, and movements screams "suffering". Him petting it is a way to show that he relates to how it's feeling. He even holds it close to himself and pats it while what appears to be "cooing" right before he ends its suffering by puts it under the machine to literally reduce it to ash. Without batting an eye, he then re-primes the machine with the last available glass tube and prepares himself for the same fate as the creature. Still intoxicated, he struggles to keep his eyes open as he stares off in the distance while the machine charges up. Right when the machine is about to go off, Rick's loses consciousness causing his head to drop onto the desk. 

There's no doubt about it, Rick was ready to go. The scary thing is that it wasn't some whimsical thought of his family or a sudden sense of self preservation that saved him but physically being unable to keep his head up long enough. So what's going to stop him when he hits a low point like this? Before this scene, I took Rick as this eccentric genius grandfather that had a thirst for a crazy good time. But now, I see a man trying to douse his suffering and pain in self indulging revelries. 

But why would someone as brilliant and self-aware as Rick make such a cold casual choice in ending his life in such a situation? 

This is what I think:

Rick is a genius in all sense of the word. His travels to different worlds, dimensions, and alternate realities allows him a perspective that goes beyond the primitive comprehension of everyone he's around. Unity even commented on his impressive sense of awareness:

Unity: You know what I love about you Rick? You're the only single mind I've met that really sees the big picture.

Rick: You got that right.

Being the only single mind that can see something like this must be pretty lonely. He is surrounded by beings with a very primitive mindset. All that stress of being around ignorant people that he constantly has to hand hold to understand “the big picture” can be tiring and frustrating. Unity was the only person (entity) that understood this as well as Rick. Which makes her leaving him that much worse. Like a water bursting from a dam, his feeling of loneliness might have been too much for him to handle.

So far, I am really liking the direction the 2nd season is going. The 1st one felt more like how Rick's family is being introduced to Rick's world of infinite possibilities. It is very interesting how one single act of attempted suicide can redefine a character. Rather than a reckless grandfather who is just trying to have a good time, I now see a damaged man who carries a heavy weight on his shoulders. I hope that this drastic action being shown near the beginning of the 2nd season foreshadows an exploration in Rick's psyche in later episodes. Knowing the pace of the show, I assume they will only reveal this in small hints here and there for us to piece together. Guess we'll have to wait and see.