| “ | Fear Hole salesman (through 8th-layer Hole Rick): Thank you for visiting The Fear Hole, Morty. Your fear of relying on Rick has been… delicious. Morty: DEAR GOOOD!! |
"Fear No Mort" is the tenth and final episode of the seventh season of Rick and Morty. It is the 71st episode of the series overall. It premiered on December 17, 2023.[2] It was written by Heather Anne Campbell and directed by Eugene Huang. This episode is rated TV-MA-LSV.
Synopsis[]
When Rick and Morty enter into a mysterious new realm called the Fear Hole, the two must learn to overcome their greatest fears and know what it's like to live with themselves.
Plot[]
Rick and Morty explore a "Carnival of Nightmares" theme park on an alien planet and quickly realize that they are too desensitized to be afraid of any of the attractions. A man in a suit, claiming to be a fear connoisseur, approaches them and offers to show them the scariest place in the galaxy. The two accept, and allow the man to lead them to what looks like an unremarkable Denny's on Earth. The man in the suit wishes them good luck, and leaves. Assuming they've been conned into giving the strange man a free lift, Rick and Morty enter the restaurant and order food. Unexpectedly, the waiter informs them of the "Fear Hole" in the men's washroom. Rick and Morty find a strange hole on the ground in one of the stalls. A TV/VCR is setup next to the hole. The suited man appears on the TV and explains that the Fear Hole manifests one's greatest fear, giving one the opportunity to conquer it and emerge fearless (and also have their picture displayed on the restroom's bulletin board).
Uninterested, Rick walks away, but Morty jumps right in. Inside, he faces a dark, monster-infested environment where creatures attempt to dissect him and stuff him with maggots. Rick follows in, arriving at the scene to fight off the monsters. He rescues Morty, and together they jump out of the hole to safety. Satisfied with their victory, Rick and Morty return home to the living room and brag about their feat. Suddenly, a portal appears in the ceiling from which a young Rick emerges, crashing into the room, protectively embracing his wife Diane. The younger Rick disintegrates, leaving the young Diane confused and distressed. Both Rick and Morty conclude that they must still be in the Fear Hole and head to the garage and discuss their predicament. Upon reflection, Rick surmises that to leave the Fear Hole, Morty must overcome his fear of seeing Rick happily reunited with Diane and of losing significance for Rick. Morty finds Rick's theory backhanded. Rick, purportedly wanting to gather more data to confirm his theory, drops the conversation and decides to take Diane, Beth, and Morty out for ice cream.
At the ice cream shop, Rick attempts to reconnect with Diane but it goes poorly; Rick's callous comments about the meaninglessness of the Fear Hole's reality upsets Diane. Rick's failure leads Morty to suggest that Rick's greatest fear may be of getting a second chance with Diane and failing. Rick rejects the idea, sticking to his original theory and arguing that the sooner he gets Diane back, the sooner Morty can conquer his fear of "being a useless, lonely turd."
The next day, Diane is awakened by a robot created by Rick that sings an apology and offers her breakfast. It breaks down before finishing its song, but Rick tells Diane it was supposed to invite her to the zoo with the family, an invitation she accepts. The two bond while watching ducks at the pond. Later, they grab drinks together, get seriously inebriated, and share a kiss under the rain. It becomes clear to Morty that Rick's endeavor to reconnect with Diane is no longer motivated by his desire to verify his theory about Morty's fear of losing Rick. Rick is falling back in love with the Diane he lost years ago, and he is showing signs of not caring that the world he is living in - the world of the Fear Hole - is not real. It also becomes apparent to Morty that Rick's reunion with Diane has come at a cost. The more time Rick spends with Diane, the more Rick's health appears to decline, as evidenced by his progressively emaciating face and body. Morty suggests to Rick that the hole is feeding off of him, but Rick does not care. Morty expresses that his greatest fear might be watching Rick die. Annoyed, Rick retaliates by telling Morty to stop watching.
Leary of the consequences of being stuck in the Fear Hole, Morty returns to the Denny's to confront the man in the suit. Morty requests to be released from the hole, but the suited man refuses; releasing Morty would require also releasing Rick, which the suited-man is unwilling to do on account of Rick being a perfect Fear Hole victim, namely one preferring to die by the hole than face and overcome his fears. Discouraged, Morty returns home. He then notices that reality appears to become unstable whenever he contemplates overcoming his fear of not being `normal,' or of not being accepted by others. From this instability, Morty infers that this must be what the Fear Hole thinks is his greatest fear. Surmising that it may be more productive to face his own fears than to concentrate on Rick, Morty commits to overcoming his greatest fear by repeatedly exposing himself to embarrassing situations. Morty's efforts are rewarded. As he strives to overcome his fear, the Fear Hole's reality becomes increasingly unstable. This prompts Rick, who decidedly has no interest in leaving the hole, to interfere with Morty's plans. However, upon seeing the consequences that the Fear Hole has had on Morty's own body, Rick changes his mind, not wanting his own selfish desire of dying in the Fear Hole to cause Morty to die there as well. Rick says goodbye to Diane and helps Morty escape the Fear Hole by facing his fears alongside him.
As the Fear Hole's reality appears to collapse, Rick and Morty emerge from the Fear Hole's orifice in the Denny's bathroom. Suspicious about still being in the Hole, Rick and Morty continue to contemplate their remaining fears, overcoming each one at a time, and repeatedly finding themselves emerging from the Fear Hole. (In order; Rick's fear of Morty knowing anything before him, Morty's fear that they will never escape the Hole because of Rick's stubborn refusal to admit his fears; Rick's fear of being proven wrong, Rick's fear of a side of bacon costing $8 (a "symptom of a larger concern" regarding the collapse of capitalism, according to Rick), Morty's fear of the Hole itself, and Morty's fear of eventually turning out like Jerry). Exasperated by the unending string of deceptions, Morty finally gives up on tracking his fears and sits down next to the Hole next to Rick. Rick makes a small, seemingly innocuous comment to Morty about the latter being irreplaceable. This triggers Morty, causing him to realize what his deepest fear truly is: Morty is afraid of his own fungibility in Rick's eyes. It dawns on Morty that the Rick he has been with this whole time has merely been a manifestation of the Fear Hole; the real Rick never entered the Hole to begin with. With this, the Fear Hole itself, through the medium of fake-Rick, congratulates Morty on satisfying the Fear Hole's challenge. This allows Morty to finally exit the Fear Hole.
Morty awakens at the bottom of the Hole to Rick watching him. When Morty asks why Rick didn't bother to jump in, Rick explains that he figured the Hole only works for one person at a time. Rick asks Morty of his experience. Distraught, Morty summarizes his traumatic tale and asks Rick whether he takes him to be irreplaceable. Rick replies with "define irreplaceable", which is enough to partially satisfy Morty, though he rejects a hug from Rick to prove he has escaped. Impressed by Morty's development, Rick suggests he go in next, but Morty begs him not to, describing the various horrors including seeing a version of Diane. The pair leave but Rick doubles back and considers entering the Hole in hopes of seeing Diane. Instead, he leaves a photo of Morty from his wallet on the bathroom bulletin board to honor his success.
In the tag, Mr. Poopybutthole reminds the audience of how crazy Season 7 has been, and reveals that he stole one of Rick's portal guns. Mr. PB then travels to a reality where he is still happily married with Amy, knocking out and replacing the version of him therein, and disposing of him and the portal gun back through the portal. He tells the audience how being fulfilled is about having a goal and doing everything to achieve it. After Amy kisses him, Amy is shown to know that there is something off about her husband.
Characters[]
Major characters[]
- Morty Smith
- Rick Sanchez (Fear Hole)
- Diane Sanchez (Fear Hole)
- Fear Hole salesman
Minor characters[]
- Rick Sanchez
- Jerry Smith (Fear Hole)
- Summer Smith (Fear Hole)
- Beth Smith (Fear Hole)
- Space Beth (Fear Hole) (cameo)
- Mr. Poopybutthole
- Floovians (cameo)
- Marvin (cameo)
- Jessica (Fear Hole) (cameo)
- Holly Hooks (Fear Hole) (cameo)
- Nancy (Fear Hole) (cameo)
- Mr. Goldenfold (Fear Hole) (cameo)
- Tricia Lange (Fear Hole) (cameo)
- Amy (alternate counterpart) (cameo)
- Poopy Jr. (alternate counterpart) (cameo)
- Fear Hole Monsters
- Young Rick
- Fear Spider
- Singing Robot
- Muammar Gaddafi (cameo)
Deaths[]
- Multiple Fear Hole monsters
- Fear Spider
- Young Rick (Fear Hole)
- Singing Robot
Locations[]
- Parmesan Dimension
- Unknown planet
- Carnival of Nightmares
- Earth
- Denny’s
- Fear Hole
- Harry Herpson High School
- Ice cream store
- Smith Residence
- Zoo
- Fear Hole
- Denny’s
- Mr. Poopybutthole's Replacement Dimension
Episode notes[]
Trivia[]
- In the third act, Rick and Morty repeatedly end up back in the Fear Hole after several attempts of escaping. One of these attempts last several decades, where Morty grows up, and among other major life events, attends Summer's wedding with an unknown man. This is a hint to the audience that this cycle, like the others, is not real, and that Morty is in the Fear Hole alone, limiting the events that take place in it to his own knowledge. In real life, Summer is currently dating a girl she saved in "Wet Kuat Amortican Summer" — which Morty does not know.
- The episode somewhat mirrors a Season 1 episode "M. Night Shaym-Aliens!", as both episodes involve two of the title characters stuck in a convincing copy of their own world and trying to escape it by any means. The difference between the characters' perception is quite different, however: Rick has known he's in a simulation the entire time, while Morty only finds out Rick never entered the Fear Hole near the end of his journey.
- This is the eighth episode not to feature a cold open, the first seven being "Lawnmower Dog", "Anatomy Park", "M. Night Shaym-Aliens!", "Meeseeks and Destroy", "Rick Potion #9", "Never Ricking Morty" and "Ricktional Mortpoon's Rickmas Mortcation".
- In celebration of Season 7, Pocket Mortys' weekly updates coincided with new episodes, including new avatars for players to collect. With the release of this episode came Virtual Diane as an avatar, plus Fear Hole Morty and Singing Robot Morty to catch.
- Morty points out the bulletin board only has three pictures despite the Fear Hole itself seeming to have existed since at least the time VHS tapes were popular, with the implication that not many people have conquered the hole. However, when Morty exits the Fear Hole, he is too emotionally drained to celebrate his victory and forgets to put up a photo, prompting Rick to put one up himself. This offers a possible explanation for the lack of photos: those who conquered the Fear Hole simply did not feel like taking a photo and posting it.
- This is the sixth episode of Rick and Morty to be rated TV-MA from the FCC, the first five being "Interdimensional Cable 2: Tempting Fate", "Vindicators 3: The Return of Worldender", "Bethic Twinstinct", "Unmortricken", and "Rise of the Numbericons: The Movie".
Series continuity[]
- Rick takes Beth and Diane for ice cream in the fear hole, which is what he was planning on doing in real life right before they died, as shown in "The Rickshank Rickdemption".
- Morty's young adult form while in the Hole is the same one as the 26-year-old Morty that got removed from him to revert him back from 40 to 14 from "Rickmurai Jack".
- The show "Cake or Fake" is shown on the Smith Family's TV screen when Rick and Morty return to the Smith Residence, which was seen in "Wet Kuat Amortican Summer".
- Rick tells Diane about how she was killed in every universe by Rick Prime, referencing the events that were firstly elaborated in "Unmortricken".
- Morty uses his spaceship bicycle to travel to Denny's and confront the Fear Hole salesman, which he previously used in "Forgetting Sarick Mortshall".
- Mr. Poopybutthole mentions the time that he tried to steal his kid, referencing the events of "How Poopy Got His Poop Back".
- The reality Mr. Poopybutthole goes to mirrors the after credits scene in "The Rickchurian Mortydate".
Cultural references[]
- The episode's title is a reference to the film Fear No More.
- The Fear Hole salesman bears a resemblance to Rod Serling, the creator, original host and narrator of the television series The Twilight Zone.
- The promotional video of the Fear Hole was taped over by a Mountain Dew commercial featuring Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi.
- Rick mentions the film You've Got Mail when talking about how all rom-coms have an arc.
- Rick and Diane discuss their relative dimensions' version of the television series Lost, particularly how each one ended.
- The opening of the Fear Hole resembles the entrance of the Mirror Cave in the film Star Wars: The Last Jedi.
- The Fear Hole itself appears to be based on the movie The Hole, a 2001 film about a hole that conjures the greatest fears of the three main characters in order to get them to overcome said fear. The dark abyss seen when first entering the hole is even remade in the episode.
Transcript[]
View a full transcript of this episode here.
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