The Beths are back in town

Tensions run high over ice cream (surreptitiously procured from Rick’s garage) until Space Beth comes out and addresses the elephant in the room. “Jerry, I had sex with your wife. Or I’m your wife and I had sex with the clone you’re sleeping with. Hearing this, Jerry recalls a time in high school before he dated Beth, when a friend warned him that she would be “too much of a woman” for him. “Sooner or later she would tear you apart,” says the friend. Back in the present, Jerry gets up and… curls up in a giant role-playing game.

Rick explains that when he and Jerry were both drunk, he installed the ability to roll into a shell as a defense mechanism. Jerry literally crawled into his shell. Space Beth tries to pry him out, but Rick warns that it’s impossible, even for him, and that if she hits a nerve, he’ll turn into a Shrek. “In his own sad way, he took control.”

In a last-ditch effort to remedy the situation, the Beths ask Rick to erase all romantic thoughts about each other from their minds. Rick warns her it’s a bad idea, but he’s about to pull it off when Jerry emerges from his shell, apologizes for threatening to kill himself, and goes upstairs to pack his things.

Beth follows Jerry upstairs, followed by Space Beth to talk to Jerry, who remains angry. Space Beth notes, “You’re not mad that it was about you. You’re mad it wasn’t.” Turning to Beth, she continues, “He wanted to let our love happen.” Jerry replies, “It’s not ‘Handmaid’s Tale’ to loop in your wife” (“Rick and Morty” is always full of pop culture references, but this episode is particularly rich in them).