‘Rick and Morty’ Season 9 Episode 4 Recap and Ending Explained: The Episode Tricked Us All With the Saddest Friend Morty Has Ever Had

Leave it to ‘Rick and Morty‘ to disguise a gut-punch about addiction as a wholesome fly-fishing trip with Owen Wilson. “A Ricker Runs Through It,” the fourth episode of the ninth season and the 85th episode of the series overall, premiered on June 14, 2026, on Adult Swim. It is the kind of episode that seems breezy and fun on the surface before pulling the rug out from under you in the most classically ‘Rick and Morty’ way possible.

Adult Swim’s sci-fi comedy series takes a cleverly introspective turn with its ninth season, dismantling the mythos that has been built around Rick all this time. Episode four continues that mission with a story that is equal parts comedic chaos and quiet devastation, and it might be one of the most emotionally loaded half-hours the show has produced in years.

What Happens When Rick Forgets His Own Password

The episode begins with Rick in a rather pitiable state, hopelessly chugging down bottle after bottle of liquor to quench the unquenchable thirst. It gets to a point that he forgets the password to his own lab and, in a fit of rage and confusion, puts it on auto lock. It is a cold open that tells you everything you need to know about where Rick’s head is at this season.

With the entire system now shielded away from him, Rick tries to direct his anger towards Morty, and the two of them nearly get into a full-on fight before Rick gets a call that switches up his whole demeanor. The shift is immediate and striking, a reminder of how quickly Rick can compartmentalize when something he genuinely cares about enters the frame.

The trio then go on a fly fishing trip together. During this trip, Reese says “You two may fight, but you’re the real deal.” It is the kind of easygoing warmth that feels almost suspicious in a show that rarely lets its characters breathe without consequence. His delivery of that line about Rick and Morty being the real deal despite their constant fighting gave the episode its emotional anchor.

The episode’s title is a reference to the novel and film ‘A River Runs Through It,’ and that nod to a story about fathers, sons, and the things left unsaid between them is not accidental. The fly-fishing setting is doing a lot of thematic heavy lifting here.

The Owen Wilson Twist and What Reese Actually Is

Owen Wilson voices Reese in this episode. His casting is quietly inspired because Wilson’s entire screen and voice persona is built on easy charm and optimism, which makes the eventual reveal land with twice the impact it might have with a less iconic choice.

As it turns out, Reese is effectively a two-step authentication device created by Rick for the moments when he gets too drunk to function in his lab. Reese’s sunny personality is just a way to stabilize Rick before he can get his password right and send his bot back home. It is a concept so coldly logical and so heartbreaking at the same time that it feels like a perfect encapsulation of who Rick Sanchez is as a person.

In a flash, Reese unleashes a pair of robotic arms and a laser beam that jets out of his mouth and scorches the raccoon to death. The violence of the reveal is deliberately jarring after so much warmth. Seeing Reese turn into a machine in front of his eyes, Morty’s heart shatters into pieces. And honestly, so does the audience’s.

Morty, wanting to give Reese freedom, takes him to the sublevels of Rick’s garage and locks Rick out of it. It is one of Morty’s more defiant acts this season, a small rebellion that carries enormous emotional weight given everything the episode has set up.

The ‘Rick and Morty’ Season 9 Ending Explained

Eventually, they make it to a planet full of scenic countryside, only to discover that it is home to a population of sentient alien pigs who received technology from Rick and have developed a civilization. It is the show at its most delightfully absurd, tucking worldbuilding comedy into what is otherwise a genuinely tender story about friendship and loss.

After transferring the being into Reese’s body, the being leaves and Rick tells Morty that the latter ruined his vodka supply. Rick then drinks multiple flasks of alcohol. Morty watches on, looking sad.

The final image of Morty staring at Rick drinking is the episode’s real gut-punch, and Bleeding Cool described it as a haunting final scene that finds Morty possibly witnessing his own future.

In the post-credit scene, a new neighbor enters Rick’s garage and Morty stabs him immediately, assuming that he’s one of Rick’s creations. It’s not, and Morty panics a bit. Rick’s friend, Georgie Boy, then arrives to hang out. The post-credits gag provides some tonal relief while also quietly underlining how much Morty’s perception of reality has been warped by living in Rick’s world.

Rick’s Addiction and What Season 9 Is Really About

While season 7 wraps up Rick’s arc as Rick the scientist, and season 8 tidies up his image as Rick the father, this installment questions whether he has truly improved, or if he’s on the cusp of repeating the mistakes that led some of his versions to be called the bad guys of this story. That thematic throughline makes “A Ricker Runs Through It” feel less like a standalone episode and more like a key piece of a larger puzzle.

“A Ricker Runs Through It” proved an effective and thought-provoking examination of Rick’s cycle of addiction, shining a brutally honest light on how an addict will continue to repeat their self-destructive cycles until they seek help or are consumed by it. For a show that has always used sci-fi antics as an emotional smokescreen, this level of directness feels like a deliberate creative choice.

The teleplay was written by Jax Ball and Albro Lundy, with the story by Nick Rutherford, and the episode was directed by Fill Marc Sagadraca and Daniel Cole. Given how much emotional and narrative ground the episode covers in under half an hour, the writing team deserves serious credit for threading so many needles at once.

Whether Morty’s quiet devastation in that final scene turns out to be a turning point for the season or just another gut-punch the show leaves unresolved, share your thoughts on Reese’s fate and what his existence says about Rick below.