In Season 8 Episode 3 of Rick and Morty, titled “THE RICK, THE MORT & THE UGLY”, the show steers away from the central versions of Rick (voiced by Justin Roiland/Ian Cardoni) and Morty (voiced by Roiland/Harry Belden) to revisit the ruins of one of the show’s most iconic institutions: the Citadel. What begins as a simple cleanup mission soon spirals into a brutal tale of revenge, identity, and regret, all unfolding without the awareness of our usual Rick and Morty. The episode cleverly mirrors Season 3’s “The Ricklantis Mixup,” thrusting the audience into a self-contained world teeming with variant Ricks and Mortys—each wrestling with their own place in the multiverse.
THE REMNANTS OF THE CITADEL
The episode opens in deep space, where Rick and Morty (C-137) are salvaging debris from the Citadel. It’s a ghost of its former self, floating aimlessly, a monument to a fallen empire. As they navigate through the wreckage, their ship is suddenly struck by drifting rock fragments. Forced to make an emergency landing, the pair touch down on what’s left of the Citadel outskirts.
Their crash leads them to encounter a gruff, solitary variant: Grumpy Rick, a mutated ex-scientist now living a quiet, agrarian life as a crystal corn farmer and pig-herder. Grumpy Rick makes it clear he wants nothing to do with outsiders. After a short interaction and a ship repair, C-137 Rick and Morty depart—leaving the narrative to follow Grumpy Rick instead.
TROUBLE IN MORTYTOWN
With his pigs to feed and his corn to harvest, Grumpy Rick lives in isolation. His melancholy existence suggests he’s either lost his Morty or never had one. On a trip to Mortytown to pick up supplies, he’s ambushed by a gang of clone Ricks trafficking Mortys. They wreak havoc on his home, shoot him, and leave him for dead. But Grumpy Rick is nothing if not resilient—his drone medics revive him, and upon seeing his destroyed home and slaughtered pigs, he swears revenge.
AN UNLIKELY TEAM FORMS
Returning to Mortytown to gather intelligence, Grumpy Rick finds that two Mortys—Arcade Morty and Doc Morty—have stowed away on his ship. Both are determined to rescue their captured friends. Arcade Morty reveals that clone Mortys have been embedded with fabricated memories to ensure they remain subservient to Ricks, a system originally created by the Citadel.
This shared goal unites them. What begins as a personal vendetta quickly morphs into a rescue mission, with a larger political and moral implication: reclaiming Morty autonomy.
THE DARK HEART OF THE NEW CITADEL
At the center of this revival effort is Big Rick Gumbo, a towering figure with a deep Southern accent and a grand plan. Modeled on a railroad tycoon, Big Rick was one of the first Citadel clones. Now, in the ashes of destruction, he’s trying to rebuild by enslaving Mortys and rebooting the Morty-cloning initiative. The trafficker Ricks serve him, delivering Mortys in exchange for currency.
Grumpy Rick and the Mortys storm the Citadel, gunning down clone Ricks in a hail of laser fire. Tragedy strikes when Doc Morty is fatally shot. His passing is followed by a grimly funny moment of Arcade Morty grieving, before he and Grumpy Rick are captured by Big Rick’s forces.
GRUMPY RICK’S TRUTH
Here, the truth unravels: Grumpy Rick isn’t just a random recluse—he’s the architect behind the original Morty cloning system, the very process that the Citadel used to maintain its supply of Mortys. After the Citadel fell, he isolated himself in guilt.
Now, Big Rick forces him to restart the cloning process. Grumpy Rick appears to comply, but instead of creating more clone Mortys, he engineers a monstrous, mindless giant Morty, a Frankenstein-like behemoth that smashes its way through the Citadel’s structures and guards.
ESCAPE AND SACRIFICE
While the monstrous Morty causes chaos, Arcade Morty begins freeing the captive Mortys. Grumpy Rick uses the distraction to send all the rescued Mortys away in a ship, choosing to stay behind to ensure no one follows. He urges them to live their lives free of Rick-centered programming. This moment becomes his act of redemption—one last chance to undo the damage he had once done.
Meanwhile, chaos continues. The monstrous Morty eventually collapses under heavy fire. Trafficker Rick, sensing an opportunity, tries to betray Big Rick but is gunned down. Grumpy Rick finally confronts Big Rick. In a stunning moment, he reveals that Big Rick was his idea, making him Big Rick’s creator, or “father.”
Before Big Rick can react, Grumpy Rick detonates charges rigged throughout the Citadel. In a massive explosion, the New Citadel is destroyed. Grumpy Rick seemingly dies in the blast.
THE AFTERMATH
Arcade Morty leads the freed Mortys into a new future. Miner Morty, Gambler Morty, Farmer Morty—each picks a path in the multiverse to live their lives on their own terms. When it’s just him left, Arcade Morty returns to Grumpy Rick’s ruined home and buries both him and Doc Morty. Two simple graves mark their memory.
In the final moments of the main episode, our usual Rick and Morty return, clueless and comedically offbeat. They were simply looking for Morty’s fidget spinner and mistake Arcade Morty for a murderer. This absurd interruption wraps up the main plot with classic Rick and Morty tone.
MID-CREDITS SCENE
The episode ends with a curious mid-credits scene. The fighting dice used by Trafficker Morty are seen still going at it, surviving the explosion, rolling aggressively among the debris of the ruined New Citadel—a funny and eerie reminder that even small chaos endures in this universe.
“THE RICK, THE MORT & THE UGLY” manages to pack action, emotional weight, lore, and satire into a tight, self-contained episode. It’s a deeper dive into Rick’s guilt, Morty’s growing sense of self, and the persistent consequences of a universe obsessed with control and cloning.
For fans who enjoy the show’s more introspective and high-concept episodes, this entry delivers a poignant story with emotional stakes, clever world-building, and just the right amount of dark humor.
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