Rick And Morty Season 8 Episode 6 Recap, Ending Explained & Mid-Credits Scene

The ongoing season of Rick and Morty is quite reflective when it comes to exploring Rick’s relationship with his family, as viewers are once again treated to a Beth adventure with the sixth episode titled “The Curicksous Case of Bethjamin Button.” While the title is a dead giveaway of what the plot might be, it still retains some fun factor through the interesting dynamics between the characters. The same cannot be said for the subplot involving Jerry, Summer, and Morty, who remain busy escaping the crazed bighead celebs of a ruined earth-themed amusement park. In sync with this season’s narrative treatment, there is a certain emotional depth to the plot itself, which charts the growth of the characters. 

Beths Revisit Their Childhood

The episode opens with a parallel sequence that shows the daily, humdrum, subdued lives of Beth and Space Beth, which have sucked away any form of happiness they might still have in their hearts. As a horse surgeon, Beth has to attend duty calls in the middle of the night at times, whereas she barely has any time for herself, and things are not much different for her clone (or C-131 Beth’s) Space Beth either, whose life as an intergalactic bounty hunter/rebel isn’t as exciting as it sounds. Space Beth arrives at the Sanchez household, and Rick is excited to take the whole family to his favorite amusement park, Earthworld, created by a mad genius alien who has never been to Earth before but has managed to recreate the planet’s horridness on an exaggerated scale with his trashy vision. Neither of the Beths are willing to go, and as the rest of the Sanchez family leaves, they decide to spend some quiet time drinking wine and reflecting on their miserable lives. 

The discussion turns to taking accountability for their lives, and Beth wonders how good life was when she used to be a kid. Despite knowing the risks, Space Beth entertains Beth’s idea by de-aging her in a specialized transformation machine in her spaceship. However, she immediately regrets her idea, as a ten-year-old Beth proves herself to be a horrible little psychopath, murdering possums, vandalizing stuff, and setting traps from the get-go. Space Beth too undergoes the transformation, and soon enough, both of them start causing mayhem. The duo enter their childhood treehouse to rekindle old memories and find their way to their neighbor, Gene’s house. Gene offers cocoa and marshmallows to them, but the mischievous Beths end up mutilating him. The Beth duo suddenly starts arguing and fighting when it comes to taking accountability for their actions and ends up setting Gene’s house on fire. Gene calls 911 for help, which is hilariously put on a countdown. 

Sanchez Family’s Earthworld Experience 

On the other hand, Rick is extremely disappointed after finding out that Earthworld has been transformed into a much more sanitized, corporate-controlled wonderland instead of the apocalyptic hellscape he once knew. Bighead versions of celebs, created by the same maker who founded the park in the first place, are seen roaming around, and seeing humans for the first time, an alien girl gets drawn towards Morty and takes him away. Summer, a disgruntled Rick, and Jerry continue their tour in Earthworld; upon learning that the maker of the park, a certain Dr. Dogball, is still alive and spending his time in the maintenance area, Rick decides to meet with him. Dogball has been put in chains while mass-producing bighead celebs, as the board of directors of the park has punished him for watching animal sex. Rick frees him, and Dogball decides to give them an exclusive tour of the old park, full of safety hazards, traps, and malfunctioning machinery—just like he envisioned amusement parks on Earth to be. Can’t say the doctor is much wrong in his assumption, to be honest. 

However, as Gene calls 911, Rick ends up intercepting the call—after all the amount of crazy shenanigans his family goes through, Rick has to keep Gene’s sanity intact by addressing the situations himself. Rick decides to return home while Dogball takes Summer and Jerry to an abandoned factory where bigheads are being held in captivity. As a tribute to the earth’s history of theme park mishaps, like the chaotic events that took place in “Jurassic Park” and “Westworld”, Dogball uses a mind-controlling ray to turn all the bigheads feral and aggressive. Beth and Jerry flee as Dogball is mangled and devoured by his own creations. Morty, on the other hand, realizes that the alien girl is merely trying to satiate her human fantasies and doesn’t like him for the person he is. Soon enough, he too gets attacked by a horde of feral bigheads and gets cornered by the bighead Culkin family—all seven members joined in a shared body. Summer finds her brother and knocks down the bighead Culkin family, and together they try to find a way to escape from this freak show.

Did the Beths Finally Reconcile With Rick?

After returning home, Rick helps Gene using his gadgets and takes control of the chaotic situation by destroying the treehouse and holding both the Beths captive. However, Beth gets free, and trapping Rick inside the age modifier, she ages him up 360 years. Both the Beths blame Rick for how dysfunctional they turned out to be in childhood, because being busy on his crazy adventures, Rick never had time for his daughter. However, as Rick points out, it should be remembered that he is from reality C-137, and his Beth passed away when Prime Rick killed her at a young age. So Beth’s blame is misplaced on this occasion, and Space Beth, who is a clone, should’n’t really complain, I think, because she didn’t even have a childhood? Anyway, the young Beths beat up three-hundred-year-old Rick, and he says how proud he feels that they chose to vent their emotional burden in such a way. Validation from their father was all they wanted, and Beth starts crying in unison. Rick assures them that both of them are his daughters; as the father and daughters reconcile, viewers are bound to feel emotional, especially if they remember how broken Rick was after losing his Beth all those years ago. 

Rick reverts to his former age and helps the young Beths to rebuild their treehouse. After returning to their former selves, the Beth duo apologize to Gene and help him repair his house. Beth and Duo make their usual lives a little bit better by being there for each other. Rick gets a chance to spend some quality time with his daughters as the trio watches the sunset from the newly rebuilt treehouse. On the other hand, Morty, Jerry, and Beth finally return home in a battered and bloodied state after stealing a flying car from an alien. 

What Happens in the Mid-Credits Scene?

In the mid-credits scene, Gene’s voicemails sent to 911 are seen playing one by one on Rick’s phone, chronicling all the crazy events he has witnessed so far in vivid and funny detail. 

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