Why Does Rick Need Toxic Rick? - Rick and Morty Season 3 Episode 6 Breakdown - Wisecrack Quick Take 

When healthy Rick say that he is proud of Morty he doesn't know that the machine took away his attachment, he probably said that to be "nice", remember Toxic Rick is very mean to Morty (more than regular Rick) even if he cares about him. So Healthy Rick is the opposite of Toxic Rick: Toxic rick cares for Morty but is mean to him, While Healthy Rick doesn't care but is nice to him. Once that Healthy Rick realizes that his irrational attachment may not be with him and he is just been nice because he is healthy now, he have to test that theory and that is why he slapped Morty. (Sorry for the english, not a natural speaker :) )

From my point of view, the question at the end is self explained. The machine removes what is toxic based on the perspective of an individual, the perspective of Rick is that emotions like afection and love are toxic so his irrational attachment to Morty gets removed. But the rational attachment remains, although since it's rational it can be ignored completely if the situation requires it, in a way Rick is *choosing* to be good with Morty because rationally is the best way to do what he wants (which for a man without motivation is really hard to say what it is). That's why he can shoot toxic Morty, he doesn't really care about him, he just does it because it benefits him in some way.

Was I the only one getting "evil Morty" vibes from "healthy Morty"? Rising to the top in a short time with a charismatic facade?

My issue with this episode was that “Detoxified” Morty was actually happy and successful. Being free from Rick’s manipulation and his serf-like fealty to Jessica actually allowed him to have his own life. Jessica and Rick basically just wanted him back in the cage they were used to him living in. They didn’t care about what he wanted or what was best for him.

I'm pretty sure I figured out how to make the episode make sense.The machine not only has to work based off the users concept of toxicity, but also their concept of psychology. If the machine has to work for any and all creatures, it can't do it based off one singular concept of how personality works. What might work for a birdperson, may not work for a squanch, or for a glip glop. So the machine instead has to be able to identify a loose variety of concepts of how a creature thinks personality works, and then identify what parts are associated with negativity. So, in the case of Rick and Morty, the difference is in how they view psychology. Morty is a millenial, and so views the personality as a result of various emotions, thoughts, and triggers, that through his lifetime have accumulated into a dependable and predictable personality profile. So he would want to get rid of his sadness, his self doubt, and his bad habits that have formed. But Rick was raised to believe in Freudian psychology, and so he views himself as being made up of three parts, the id, the ego, and the superego. He, as a scientist, would value his superego, the intelligent, rational, and moral centre, and wish to dispose of his id and superego, both of which are the more materialistic and instinctual parts, but also the more aggressive, emotional, and driven parts. If all that is left is the superego, Rick will do nothing but think, obsessively, and moralize. He's crippled by believing in a concept of morality, but a morality he cannot emotionally connect to. He thinks it's right to tell Morty that he's proud of him, so he does, because that's what he should do, morally. He thinks it's right to apologize for bodily functions, so he does. He thinks it's wrong to hit Morty, but the fact that he can without emotional consequences, indicates to him exactly what his toxic self was. This is also what allows him to shoot toxic Morty. Just my thoughts.

I could argue that Rick saying "I'm proud to be your grandpa" isn't actually showing that he loves Morty unconditionally. If you break that down he is saying he is proud to be himself. Otherwise he would have said "I'm proud of you Morty" Also no comment on Morty's subtle voluntary capture? Maybe they were trying to show that Morty wasn't as happy as he pretended to be.

It's not that Rick finds his love for Morty or his family to be toxic, but his unhealthy attachment to Morty. When that's purged, even though he still loves his family, he's detached enough from them that he can think of them through a lens of logic rather than emotion. It's why, even if he cares about Morty, he can casually shoot the toxic version of him because it serves a greater purpose, drawing a parallel between Healthy Rick and Healthy Morty in their lack of any genuine empathy.

It's interesting to note that the Toxic Rick didn't want to merge back, but Healthy Rick did. One would think healthy Rick would be very happy to have his attachment to Morty, his nihilism and general assholery gone, yet he pitched merging together the most. This goes to show that Rick has always considered accepting both your good and bad traits a healthy thing. Even while Healthy Rick shot Toxic Morty, he did it knowing he wanted the part of him that cared for his grandson back. This shows that Rick only went to the detox spa in a moment of weakness. Rick grapples with depression and suicidal tendencies every day. Yet to Rick, if keeping that aspect means he gets to keep his love for his family, he's alright with it. The fact that even the Healthy Rick could come to this conclusion is remarkable.

I felt like the Detoxified Rick's newfound politeness towards Morty, "I'm real proud of you, Morty," the decrease of swearing, and general overall uncharacteristic concern for the wellbeing of others didn't necessarily stem from genuine goodness derived from the spa. It was more like without Rick's bluntness and lack of regard for those around him, he naturally resorted to a more civil and "politically correct" version of himself that tended to lean on the idea of human decency and civility in order to maintain order rather than a cynically convoluted, nihilistic approach to every aspect of life. By taking away what made Rick most miserable, he was able to temporarily or pretend to participate in a moral lie just to fit in and feel better about himself. Just as we can hold open a door for someone, and say "hello, good morning," and "thank you," to others and mean what we're saying doesn't necessarily mean that we genuinely care about them deeply. It just means that we value the illusion of human decency, and would like to participate in the idealized version of how we treat others. So while Rick was able to treat Morty better objectively, he didn't have genuine care or deeply rooted emotional sentiment towards Morty, or presumably the rest of his family, because he considers this specific aspect as a weakness that hold him back. With their newfound strengths, they develop new flaws, too.

"I'm proud to be your grandfather." That's not about Morty, it's about Rick. It does make sense.

I think that detox Rick and Morty are more like superflous "friends" than true companions, fine with hanging out near one another,complimenting one another, but not truly being friends. Detox Rick is fine with slapping morty, and wouldn't think twice about finding a new one, he doesn't realy love his morty anymore, he is just being friendly with him, same for Morty, who abandons Rick for his own selfish goals. Toxic Rick, while keeping up facade of not caring for Morty and abusing him, realy does care about his own morty, and will do anything to keep him safe. that's what rick considers toxic about his attachment, not that he's proud of being morty's grandfather, but his true emotional investment in Morty, which has him do self-harming things such as sacrificing himself. Meanwhile, Detox Rick casualy shoots Morty because it suits him, he's friendly with Morty, Beth and Summer because it's more rational and easy rather than being dickish with them,not out of true love. In vindicators episode, it was his attachment to morty that made him go super drunk and set up a saw game, he was hurt by morty valuing Vindicators over him. that's what Rick considers toxic.

Squeeze em tight, you son of a bitch 🎶

I think Rick is proud of Morty because he says "Morty I'm real proud to be your grandpa" but he does not love him, Rick is proud of Mortys accomplishments but Rick think attachment is toxic

I think rick talking about his irrational attachment to morty was more referring to his need to be around him, no rick without morty. Healthy rick can happily be proud of morty but he no longer needs to be around him, like you would expect of typical grandfather-grandson relationship. You could understand why rick would want to be less attached to morty as he is still taking him on adventures constantly instead of letting him go to school. Almost all of rick's toxicity is how he effects others while all of morty's toxicity is how everyone effects him.

You mentioned the shadow, but it's not suppose to be 'defeated', it's supposed to be accepted. That is the purpose of what Hung called our shadow work.

Healthy Rick loves his grandson and wants him to be healthy and happy, but Toxic rick needs his grandson to be dependent on him even if its not the best thing for Morty.

Is this organic?

I believe the ending makes sense since the the machine detoxifies a person based on their own definition of toxicity and for a rick being attached to a morty is considered a problem or a "toxic" trait and rick understands that. In this episode we see that although some part of rick really cares for morty, he sees it as a malfunction or an incurable disease within him. In rick's untoxic state,he still loves morty but his unhealthy attachment to him no longer exists and as a result he doesn't care about the life of one morty when he knows there are infinite ones.

I still think healthy Morty is still better off, sure he's an annoying douche, but he ends up being a white collar worker who's good as at his job and is in a relationship with a women who does love him for how he is. It is because of Rick's toxic irrational attachment to Morty that he wants Morty to be his old self so can just can be his old dependent sidekick. Jessica expressed that she doesn't care for Morty and is only helping Rick so he can stop drunk dialing her every night. Jessica telling Morty that she's glad to have his old self back is just her pitying this insecure guy that she can just feel good over fact she is obsessed by him. This season has shown that everyone in Morty's family keeps holding him back and Morty is really better off alone. I'm sure evil Morty will play an important role into this.

Philosophy of Avatar the Last Airbender?

I would trust 'healthy' Morty with my stock portfolio any day of the week

My thoughts on this is that Rick think his care for Morty is unhealthy because there are infinite Morty's and he can't take care of them all. Yet he cares..

Completely Random debate: could the death note kill someone if they legally changed their name in the 40 seconds they have to live

The problem with this is there is no obvious sigh morty being healthy was bad or hurtful to his life. He had a good job, was social, outgoing. It seems contradictory. Morty was only made toxic again because of other people's desire for him to go back to normal. This could be commentary on similiar things like this episode where someone changes drastically and gains a better life but then has to go back to their awful life for the sake of the status quo, even if it makes no sense.

Instead of running from your demon, embrace and find harmony with it because that demon is actually you.

I think it’s interesting that rick viewed his cruelty as toxic as well as his care for morty

Rick said it once. A confident Morty is one of the most dangerous things. You really don't want to go that way.

3:01 What happend to Mory's voice? 0.0

I haven't seen Logan yet miiiannn

I think Rick caring for Morty in both states speaks to the nature of love itself. It's a very understandable chemical change yet no matter how much logic is applied, love still affects us and influences us. Sometimes it's healthy sometimes it's not.

Pride and love are completely different things you can be proud of a person, thing, or achievement but it doesn't mean you "Love" said person thing, or achievement.

I think a really great example of this compulsory happiness culture that you're talking about is the whole "Everything is Awesome" song scenes in the Lego Movie. As a abstainer of the positivity Kool-Aid, I found that song not uplifting, but seriously creepy and disturbing.

*_*Morty cuts up carrot_** *_*Eats piece of carrot_** "Oh, wow, is this organic?"

When I first saw the episode I was also a bit perplexed about Rick referring to his 'irrational attachments' and his disregard for Toxic Morty. However, when I thought about it I realized that he hadn't discarded all attachments because he viewed them as irrational, but instead discarded his tendency to take his relationships to irrational extremes. Think back to the extreme retribution Rick tended to dole out whenever someone really hurt or traumatized Morty in the past. Gratifying though it might have been to witness, it was still definitely irrational. Rick demonstrated real affection for his family while healthy, but he didn't cling needlessly to them. Note how Toxic Rick brought Toxic Morty everywhere he went despite how useless he was. On an unrelated note, anyone else just get a huge surge of good feeling when Rick told Morty how proud he was? I mean, we all knew that Rick really cared for him but it's nice to see proof that underneath all his issues Rick truly loves his grandson and would happily tell him so if he weren't as fucked up as he is.

I'm always described as laid back and calm natured. When I meet someone too happy and super bubbly I find it disturbing. And when I meet someone super toxic I kinda just laugh

So far the best episode from season 3

That hi hat is so annoying and distracting

So when do Rick and Morty get their Personas?

He said "irrational attachments" not "attachments." Nontoxic Rick is proud of nontoxic Morty because it's a nontoxic feeling to have towards another person. Toxic Rick has an "irrational attachment" towards Toxic Rick. Toxic Rick knows he can fuck off to any other dimension in the multiverse where a toxic Morty is alive to kill the toxic Rick and replace him. Reference the ending of the Pickle Rick episode where he's driving the helicopter when he says "...my access to infinite timelines precludes my need for attachments."

I really appreciate you guys not feeling the need to repeat what was already said about last weeks episode. I respect how you guys always bring unique discussion about these episodes instead of regurgitating whatever Everyone else is saying for the sake of views. cough cough watch mojo cough

Love you guys

He doesn't find his love for Morty toxic, just his attachment to him. He loves Beth and Summer too, but he isn't attached to them. He finds it easy to ditch Beth and Summer in whatever version of the universe he ruins, because they aren't HIS Beth and Summer, but he is HIS Morty.

The most interesting idea is presented in this episode and the purge, where all violence is restrained for a whole year, but there is one day where all hell runs loose. That there exists a sort of qualitative symmetry that has to be expressed no matter what, and if you don’t act on it, it simply metastasizes in other areas. I find it interesting to think about the possibility of order and disorder somehow canceling out perfectly, leaving us having to confront the metaphysical consequences of that.

I think the earlier part of the episode when Healthy Rick confesses his pride in Morty is part of his healthy side admiring the bigger picture and appreciating things in life that can't be quantified (i.e. happiness, motivation, etc.). We see Healthy Rick confessing that he only cares about the big picture in his confrontation on the moon tower with Toxic Rick, stating that only his healthy side is capable of understanding this big picture. Healthy Rick may appreciate Morty, but could care less if he were to die. Healthy Rick may also be concerned about his toxic side, but only because of a cosmic attachment between his two sides that is part of the big picture in his reality.

I think the episode consisted of two points 1-The pursuit of the ideal self vs. how our ideals change as we change 2-Everyone's taste's are different and change(in the pursuit of one's own ends, one may end up having to ruin it for someone else)

It seemed like healthy Morty was better off in almost every way, happier, happy relationship, successful job, lots of friends etc.... And that rick and Jessica only turned him back for their own selfish reasons since normal Morty is easier to exploit for example. I think this is actually a significant point that will come into play later in the story involving "evil morty" who will likely take advantage of this. Seems like foreshadowing.

I'm sure today's comment section will be filled with smartass comments from everyone *checking* Yup

.. when going through this episode.. I heard it as Rick's "Irrational Attachments" But there are things as rational attachments. As normal Rick, nothing matters.. so his love for Morty shouldn't matter - but he does love him.

As far as the discussion of Healthy Rick's psyche goes, i think it's important to note how "irrational attachments" gets interpreted, and how Rick interprets his own. Is 'irrational' an adjective? or is it part of the noun? If it's the latter, then Rick simply interprets parts of his attachment to Morty as obsessive and unhealthy, and worth dialing back a few notches. Healthy Rick still cares for Morty, just not to a degree that would cloud his judgement, something he takes pride in. If 'irrational' is actually just an adjective, then Rick may see *all* attachments as irrational. This interpretation is, while a popular trope, far more concerning.

Wow, thanks for the completely unnecessary Logan spoilers without any warning

Hope we get a wisecrack on episode 7. Fucking genius, the themes, plot twists, how well they nailed government, corrupt societies, race/class divide. Fucking genius, it was a masterpiece, one of the best in the series.

Having just watched the episode, I think a big part of Healthy Morty's faults comes from the fact that he puts his own happiness above helping others. When he finds out that the toxic versions of him & Rick are suffering, his solution is to break Healthy Rick's phone so he and Healthy rick don't have to worry about it. He takes "hakuna matata" to its logical extreme. It's as unhealthy as if he were a doormat (ignoring his own needs to make others happy).

Genuinely impressed that Wisecrack chose to skip Whirly Dirly Conspiracy: a lot of channels would feel compelled to put out *something* even if it wasn't up to their standards. Good for you guys.

I didn't think that the "happiness ruined everything" thing was unintentional. Rather, I saw it as the story of a young girl reaching a new level of emotional maturity, depth, and complexity, shown ultimately by the core memories having more than one emotion each, and not saturated with happiness as it had been, allowing her to now adapt to new situations and solve problems more effectively.

Toxic Rick represents the fanbase.

I had the same question about Rick's irrational attachment to Morty. I concluded that Rick no longer feels the attachment, but also no longer has a narcissistic need to control the relationship, especially since it no longer matters to him anyway. So he's just being nice because it's easy. In a way the machine turns them both into sociopaths, and makes the point that people actually need their dark sides to be good- half a person just isn't a real person for either of them.

6:30 My interpretation is that the detoxifier doesn't really remove any traits that the person individually deems toxic, but rather that it goes by the person's DEFINITION of toxicity, and the machine determines what is toxic from there. For Rick, anything that is irrational is removed, hence why Toxic Rick is a hyper emotional prick that moves from chastising Morty to loving him in the breadth of a second. It works with what Rick tells Morty in the ship, because the irrational thing that was removed was Rick's PASSION. Oh, sure, he'll tell Morty he's proud of him, which is what he's supposed to say in that situation, but it becomes clear as the episode goes on that this is basically how new Rick views EVERYONE. He doesn't value himself more than the toxins, so he gives himself up to save them, he doesn't really care about saving the world, because there are an infinite number of them, etc etc. Ironically, given your view that this episode is a commentary on mental health, you could look at this as Rick deciding he's going to follow through on the therapists advice, which combined with RIck's intelligience and knowledge of how pointless everything is, leads to him having a veneer of care for Morty, and 'putting in the work' to build a relationship with him, but he does so with everything, thus negating the importance of it all. The therapist says that Rick uses his intelligence to justify being sick, or, rather, to justify his irrational behavior. Now, Rick has no irrational things to justify, leaving him as just a mellow version of his former self, who only does the rational thing. Morty on the other hand, I think defines his toxins as dependency- so anything that makes him reliant on others. On the one hand, this makes him the alpha dog of the school, as his new confidence and self worth makes him admirable to his classmates. On the other hand, this makes all his attachments basically meaningless to him. At the end, Jessica asks him how he knows that she doesn't want to love him, and he says "because I am not sick.' Morty can see that his old self was so desperate to be loved by Jessica that he would suspend his reason at her word. Now, the new him that isn't dependant on anyone is looking back on his old self, and recognizing that he NEEDED her to love him, and now he doesn't have the irrational desire that made him need her. It could also be seen as Morty refusing to be manipulated for by his desires, and he wants to see if Jessica and Rick REALLY want him back by leaving the phone on and letting them make the choice. The point is that new Morty doesn't need Rick to love him to be happy, nor Jessica, but instead wants them to be more dependent on him, proven by them coming back.

Love the shirt! Long live Garix!

Rick says he's proud to be Morty's grandfather. That doesn't translate to empathy for Morty, it just means he's proud. His feelings were parsed on very fine lines.

Just going through some of the older videos and as someone with autism, I can very much relate to the idea of this episode. Being mentally "unhealthy" isn't a bad thing. In fact, it can be a good thing. But only if you learn to accept it. Everyone is unhappy about part of themselves. But it's only when you look at the benefits of it while recognizing the downsides that you can stop those bad parts from dragging you down. Build on your strengths instead of trying to get rid of your weaknesses.

Morty would better off “healthy “

I think the point of both halves of Rick caring about Morty is that healthy Rick loves Morty like a grandfather should. Unconditionally, in a very patient and modest way. Toxic Rick has more of an obsession with using Morty, either as a lab assistant, test subject or human shield.

„I'm really proud to be your grandpa“ doesn't have to mean the same as „I love you / have affectionate emotions for you“ - And even if (You could argue that proudness is an affectionate emotion for someone), he could be lying to Morty just to be polite, which he considers as healthy, which was already pointed out by other commenters.

for some reason i have the feeling you would look better with giant, elegant eyebrows. similar to the ones on your shirt, coincidentally!

About "I'm really proud to be your grandpa". It didn't derive from his love for morty, but rather from him being nice and saying things that will make others feel good. So he doesn't mean it, he just tries to be nice - something the true rick would never do.

I think that the reason Rick told Morty that he was proud of him on the way back from the spa is because Rick's detoxified self retains a sense of moral accountability that's deeply rooted in the consequences of his own behavior. He feels like the persona "Rick" obligated to perform affection to Morty, and has no internal conflict about that because he has no actual sense that he should do right by Morty on his terms of what 'right' and 'wrong' mean. In fact, he has no personal terms of right and wrong: hardcore moral relativism is one of the traits that Rick believes is healthy, probably because he routinely interacts with so many people of so many different moral standards that without that relativism he's forced to believe that most other people are evil. Detoxified Rick has no moral subjectivity: he sees himself as if from the outside as an agent who has accrued obligations, and feels the same way about everyone else. We see this reflected in his lack of motivation to stop toxic Rick from turning the whole world toxic. Toxic Rick declares himself God, but detoxified Rick takes a God's eye view of the conflicts between subjective beings. I think this is why realizing the machine had been rooted in subjective views of toxicity changed detoxed Rick's mind about the toxin field, too: he realized he wasn't actually the objective manifestation of a God's eye view of the world, because the decisions about what were and weren't the 'correct' traits in him had been made by morally subjective agent. Therefore his moral objectivity was flawed, and his judgment wasn't reliable to offer him a true God's eye view. (This theory is complicated by the fact that detoxed Rick tries to force Morty to reunite with his toxic self in the garage, because if he believes that toxic Rick is entitled to his own moral worldview then he should believe detoxed Morty is, too. But maybe toxic Rick lied to detoxed Rick about how the re-toxifier rig was going to work, and Rick believed that in order to re-unify, they both would need to be present.)

Possible explanation to the plot-hole you brought up at the end: Rick does, indeed, love morty. But he often feels unnecessarily attached to him, even when morty wouldn't help as a human cloaking device. Rick thinks his love for his grandson is natural and healthy, but he thinks his infatuated attachment to him is toxic.

I think he was able to excise the irrational elements of his attachment to Morty. He can be proud to be Morty's grandfather, he can even be proud of Morty sometimes, but in a "go with the flow" kind of way. Toxic Rick in full blown love and irrationality mode would go even to the point of self destruction to save Morty. In being subsumed back into Rick's personality, he's given up his autonomy and identity, to be just a small collection of voices in Rick's head again. That's a pretty irrational thing for a Rick to do, since each Rick thinks he's the most important being in the universe.

Jordan Peterson explains wonderfully why we need to embrace and accept the darkness within.

Wow spoiler alert

why is your head wiggling?

I think the episode’s message starts to make more sense in the context of the series when it comes to Morty, at least. We see what Morty would be like with his undesirable traits two times: here, and with Evil Morty. Meanwhile, in the third season before this, but even more so after this, we see Morty growing as a character by coming to terms with these parts of himself naturally, and becoming a stronger person, instead of casting them aside entirely and becoming a monster.

The entire concept you covered, of "unconditional love and acceptance taking charge of all personal choices, especially of things you do have control over that others are trying to convince you that you don't" is what I like to call "Comfort Culture". It's the overbearing practice of fealty and acquiescence of personal responsibility of one's own identity to fit into a grander diadem of social acceptance that "you are who you are, and you can't change that". A corruption of the recognition of one's faults and areas of improvements remade into a lazily inspired form of peer pressure in the vain hopes of preventing others from changing and improving to solely make the person applying the pressure feel safe and not have to take responsibility for image and interactions. Yeah, rather wordy way of saying "People are too lazy to change, but also strident enough to want to change others so THEY don't change".

not hating but u should put more clips less Jared

Genius!!!!! This entire channel is an example on how ''analytic thought'' should be tought.

What i like the most about this episode is that the detoxified and toxic versions of Rick and morty aren't just good Rick and Morty and evil Rick and Morty. They are just two different parts of them which both make their personalities.

I think one of this show's best features is the fact that it recognizes the depth that is a human. I think Rick wants to believe his love for Morty is toxic and all his dislike of emotions for their "meaninglessness" but deep down their IS a connection if he truly didn't care about his emotions towards his family why would he even bother even trying to replace them , or live with them? Deep down he's Yuno Gasai with sci-fi tech and a healthier state of mind

I don't remember where but I saw a video that indicated that Rick is wild and unpredictable and that's why he never uses a seatbelt when he's on the ship. In this episode "Healthy" Rick did.

I think rick definition of his "irrational attachments" is to over react to stressful situations involving family, Rick loves his Grankids but there is evidence he had either abandoned or lost previous versions of his family, so the irrational part of rick feels desperate to cling to family no matter what but the rational rick understands when to let go and move on, ricks fears of losing family again help rick maintain his full attachments in both worlds.

I think for Rick, the only thing irrational is to risk himself for Morty. That's why Healthy Rick can be proud of Morty, but Toxic Rick's the one ready to give out on his sentience in order to save Toxic Morty. That makes it a spectrum, instead of an absolute.

I've always believed in the idea that running from the parts of yourself you dislike the most and pretending they don't exist tends result in things only ever getting worse in the end. Being aware and confronting yourself so that you can work on bettering those parts you dislike feels like the only real to move forward as a person. While I don't imagine Rick to ever be the sort to really be able to come to terms with himself, at least not anytime soon, I do admire them for having the view point of "Yes these might be incredibly unsightly parts of who you are but there are important things in there too that you need to help balance everything out" On a side note, with how outrageously successful "Healthy Morty" was, I wonder if this is a small insight as to why a "Cocky Morty" would be a very bad thing as Rick mentioned awhile back.

Okay...you HAVE TO DO "The Ricklantis Mixup". DEAR GOD!!!! It was brilliant!

I love this episode because it gives a voice to the fact that the idea of loving yourself as we see it is false, and that truly loving yourself involves acknowledging and accepting the less desirable as well as the more positive parts.

In regards to Rick's "irrational attachment" to Morty, the question therein answers itself by it's qualifier: irrational. What Rick showcases on the ship is a rational attachment to Morty: familial, generational, but non-dependent. "Healthy" Rick doesn't constantly need Morty by his side because he rationally respects him as his grandson with his own life, however, "Toxic" Rick has an irrational attachment because he NEEDS Morty. Morty isn't just "Toxic" Rick's grandson, but a tool both vital and emotional. Through detoxification, what Rick is able to let go of is his co-dependency on Morty's mere existence. Unlike other unattached Rick's, our Rick cannot just buy a new Morty to bring home to Beth given the extensive history we've already witnessed, so his "irrational attachment" is showcased as co-dependency, unlike "Healthy" Rick's rational detachment to his own Morty. How could he shoot "Toxic" Morty then? I theorize it's because he's rational enough to understand what he himself would do. Perhaps he has no attachment to "Toxic" Morty at all, "Toxic" Morty being equally co-dependent on Rick and separate from his more physically ideal Morty. Probably a stretch, but I believe that's what they may have been going for.

Funny enough I felt this way around my middle school and high school years. There was a time where I looked back wondering why I’m not happy with myself or confident as I was back then, and this episode opened my eyes that it wasn’t good. I was an asshole and on my way to becoming a sociopath. I would date/hook up with girls and then dump them for no real reason, just so I could. And I never felt any attachments toward anything but myself and my goals. I’m not as confident and I doubt myself way more than when I was a teenager, but I would never trade it for the person I am today in a million year.

I think that Rick, while he cares for Morty no matter what, views his particular attachment to this Morty to be a unhealthy, especially when there are countless Mortys that can easily replace his Morty. Both feelings are possible without being contradictory if we view his feelings for Morty to be on a scale: No feelings for Morty -> Fondness for Morty -> Deep love and devotion to Morty.

There is one thing you missed: at the end Jessica calls H.Morty in order to trace him, but he ends the conversation. But he doesn't hang up. Why? Maybe H.Morty is healthy enough to understand (after 3 weeks) that he needs his toxic side...

Rick sees his love for Morty as a weakness (toxic) and purging those feelings make him the kind of high-functioning sociopath who would lie in order to be normal so when he says he's proud to have Morty as his grandson he is lying. Or else they didn't think about it enough 'cuz it was before the shift to not really being healthy.

I'd suggest that "Healthy" Rick has affection for Morty, but not nearly as much as the "irrational"/"toxic" Rick. Healthy Rick tells Morty he's proud of him, but ultimately doesn't really seem to care about him, while toxic/normal Rick seem obsessed with keeping Morty insecure and attached to Rick.

Don't forget about the last part of the episode: Healthy Morty "accidentally" leaves the call going for a while even though he knew it was a trick to track him. When his girlfriend comments on that, he just smiles and says "Huh. Guess I did". Perhaps he ended up realising that he needed his toxic side? Or maybe I'm just imagining things?? EDIT: About the whole "Healthy Rick being nice to Morty" thing, imho it was set up so that we wouldn't discover the true nature of that detoxifier too soon, deliberately confusing/mixing overall niceness and politeness with genuine care and love (like the rest of the comments seem to have pointed out)

I think that while Rick think's that his emotional attachments are unhealthy, he also thinks that it's healthy to be nice to people. That is why he always tries to hide his emotions and deny them, but when he gets rid of the toxic, he is nice to people because he sees that as healthy, even though he doesn't want to do that

Your last question has a simple answer, what is healthy is also defined differently in different situations. For example: a healthy response at a movie theater might be laughing but laughing at a funeral might turn some eyes. If the detoxifier splits the toxic and healthy parts and causes each part to act either healthily or toxic, it should logically follow the same situational logic so it might just be that in the moment where Rick and Morty are in the car, Rick sees it as a situation where showing compassion is healthy.

Jared after watching your video and hearing your podcast I would like to point out that mental illness is when a trait or behavior is mal-adaptave to society, a quick example would be when a marine is in a combat zone being hyper senstive to snaps and zips might save his life but when home that same sensitivity will be a detriment to focusing on relationships and such (I know small example but I could give you more just don't feel like writing a paper in a comment section)

Toxic Rick doesn't care about Morty, but he does have a very obsessive NEED to have him around, while Positive Rick cares about Morty's emotions, but is a big picture kind of guy that can accept short term or even longer term suffering if he believes it will be overall healthier for Morty, himself, or the universe in general. That's why he knows Toxic Rick will save Toxic Morty, why he doesn't have an unhealthy attachment to Positive Morty but still cares for him, and why he may realize that his Toxic self may be the part of him that drives him to destroy the kind of evil in the universe that needs to be killed.

The love healthy Rick feels is genuine, however it doesn't go to an unreasanable, inexplicable, attachment or "dependency" (?) to the point of contradicting himself as it happens to toxic Rick.

Rick said to Morty that he is proud to be his grandpa, and shot shadow Morty, and it all makes sense. Healthy Ricks attachment to Morty is no longer "pathological", or, more precise, no longer based on Morty's self doubt and self hate. Healthy Rick is no longer feeding of Morty's negative aspects, although he understands the need for them. Hence, all is good.

Being proud of someone is different than genuinely loving someone.

life hurts and that hurt either destroys us or makes us stronger

Tapped into some Carl Jung concepts. Loved it. Also I think that when Rick says “I’m proud to be your grandpa”, it might be a sense a pride, which if he doesn’t see pride as toxic then he’d still have it with him after going through the detoxifier

This actually raises an issue that we debate about A LOT in the mental health industry: Should "healthy" be defined by the patient or the professional? If both, how do you strike a balance? Unfortunately, there really is no simple or clear cut answer. What's worse is there are plenty of other industries (like the "self-help" industry) that have far less science and oversight the keep them in line. If any one has any points, I'd be happy to hear them.