The Next ‘Rick and Morty’ Will Feature the Return of a Classic Antagonist: Bureaucracy
Like her father before her, Space Beth has no respect for robots.
On Sunday’s episode of Rick and Morty, the return of the alternatively styled possible clone of Beth Sanchez/Smith to the Rick and Morty universe will pit Space Beth’s patience against the group of red-tape-obsessed revolutionaries with whom she has been allied since Season Four, according to an unlisted teaser video on the Adult Swim YouTube channel. Leading up to the premiere of “Valyrick,” Adult Swim sneak-dropped the cold open to the second episode of Season Eight on the Rick and Morty subreddit, giving superfans a glimpse into the renegade, uncaring and cosmetically distinct Beth’s current whereabouts, which seem to be smack-dab in the middle of an administrative clusterfuck.
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Four seasons after her Rick and Morty debut, Space Beth is still working with The Defiance to fight against the New Galactic Federation, but as she seems to be noticing in the new episode, the rebel group’s obsession with committees and bylaws is suspiciously reminiscent of the Gromflomite method of government:
In the very first episode of Rick and Morty, the show introduced the ideological differences between Rick Sanchez and the Galactic Federation in the famous “It's okay to shoot them, they're robots” scene, establishing Rick’s violent hatred for bureaucrats from the jump. While Rick has long since vanquished the original Galactic Federation, the reconstructed New Galactic Federation has been slowly regaining power while Space Beth and her comrades in The Defiance fight against the oppressive empire, starting in the Season Four episode “Star Mort Rickturn of the Jerri.”
In Season Eight, Space Beth is still the resistance group’s most fearsome warrior, but based on the ministerial migraine of the “Valyrick” cold open, her days with The Defiance may be numbered as they become more and more governmental at the expense of Space Beth’s physical and mental health. Presumably, based on whom Space Beth rings in the final scene, this upcoming episode will feature Rick explaining in the most condescending and sarcastic terms why, exactly, the space-fairing Sanchez family tends toward working alone instead of playing politics.
