What happens at the end of Rick and Morty season 9? The show's grimmest finale hides its warmest moment
Rick and Morty closed out season 9 in late July 2026 with "Field of Dreams", the tenth and final episode of the run, now streaming on HBO Max. Fans are calling it the bleakest finale the show has ever produced — and, somehow, its most tender. Both are true. Spoilers from here.
The setup
The episode opens at an interdimensional estate sale for a dead Rick, where a sunglasses-wearing Morty slips our Morty a "Portal Gun Junior". Morty starts funeral-hopping across the multiverse and lands in a universe that seems to have solved the Smith family: this reality's Jerry threw Rick out years ago over his drinking, and their own Morty has recently died. The grieving family embraces "Mort" as a replacement — and he seriously considers staying.
Where it all goes wrong
- The trap closes — Jerry demands Morty destroy his portal gun so he can never leave. In the struggle, the gun breaks, trapping him for real.
- The cracks show — only then does Morty discover the dead Morty's supposedly idyllic life wasn't idyllic at all.
- The Doc Brown detour — in a deliberate Back to the Future homage, Morty tracks down this dimension's Rick — a sober, respectable professor — to help build a portal gun home.
- The collapse — the professor's recovery buckles under the project. Drinking again, he loses his wife and his job, gets the gun roughly working, and then accidentally kills himself and the entire family.
Morty is left the sole survivor of the "perfect" household, and every death proves completely meaningless. That's the grim half of the headline sorted.
The warmest moment
Another estate sale begins over the wreckage — and among the browsing Ricks is Morty's own, who spots him and simply takes him home. Beth and Summer, still in shock by the pool, brush off his declaration of love, and Morty retreats to his room.
Then Rick drunkenly bursts in and drags him out for a motorcycle ride, telling Morty that he's his dad. As a hammered Rick lets him take the wheel, they roar off into the sunrise:
"You're my dad! I'm your son!" Morty screams — the closest thing to open affection these two have ever managed.
After an episode built on death and futility, it lands like a hug.
The mid-credits scene
The season keeps its tradition of a Mr Poopybutthole tag. Amy, still hunting for the real Mr Poopybutthole after an imposter took his place, powers up a multiversal tracking device using the imposter's DNA — and it violently malfunctions before revealing anything. The mystery rolls on to season 10.