Season Overview
The debut season establishes the show's dark humor and "high-concept" sci-fi premise. While mostly episodic, it sets up major recurring elements like Interdimensional Cable, the Meeseeks, and the Citadel of Ricks. A major early turning point occurs in "Rick Potion #9," where Rick and Morty permanently abandon their original universe after accidentally mutating the entire population into "Cronenbergs".
The Return of Rick: After being missing for 20 years, @Rick suddenly returns to live with his daughter, Beth, and her family, converting the garage into a lab.
Multiversal Consequences: In "Rick Potion #9," Rick and Morty accidentally mutate their entire world into grotesque monsters. Rather than fixing it, they abandon their original reality and move to a near-identical universe where their counterparts have just died, burying their own bodies in the backyard.
The Citadel and "Evil Morty": The season introduces the Council of Ricks and the Citadel, a hidden society of Ricks and Morties from across the multiverse. The episode "Close Rick-Counters of the Rick Kind" reveals the first appearance of Evil Morty, who is secretly controlling a puppet Rick to frame the protagonist.
Season Finale: The season ends with a wild intergalactic party at the Smith house while Jerry and Beth are away. To avoid their parents' wrath, Rick freezes time so he, Morty, and Summer can clean up the mess, leading into the season two premiere. [1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7]
Episode List
# [1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11] Plot Summary:
Ep 1. Pilot: Rick takes Morty to Dimension 35-C to harvest Mega Seeds, forcing him to smuggle them through intergalactic customs.
Ep 2. Lawnmower Dog: Rick gives the family dog, Snuffles, a helmet to increase its intelligence, which leads to a canine uprising.
Ep 3. Anatomy Park: Morty is shrunk and sent inside a homeless man to save a microscopic theme park of infectious diseases.
Ep 4. M. Night Shaym-Aliens!: Rick and Jerry are trapped in a giant virtual reality simulation by aliens trying to steal the recipe for concentrated dark matter.
Ep 5. Meeseeks and Destroy: The family uses a "Meeseeks Box" to solve their problems, while Morty leads an adventure that turns dark in a giant's kingdom.
Ep 6. Rick Potion #9: A love potion for Morty causes a worldwide epidemic of "Cronenbergs," forcing Rick and Morty to permanently switch universes.
Ep 7. Raising Gazorpazorp: Morty fathers an alien child with a sex robot; Rick and Summer visit the child's home planet, Gazorpazorp.
Ep 8. Rixty Minutes: Rick installs "interdimensional cable" while the rest of the family uses goggles to see their successful alternate lives.
Ep 9. Something Ricked...: Rick competes with the Devil at a cursed antique shop; Jerry travels to Pluto to prove it is still a planet.
Ep 10. Close Rick-Counters...: Rick is arrested by the Council of Ricks for a series of murders he didn't commit and must find the true culprit.
Ep 11. Ricksy Business: A massive party at the Smith house nearly causes a disaster, leading Rick to freeze time to fix the house.