#Thought train diagram series
#Thought train diagram tv

But until someone does that (it's way beyond my video-editing capabilities) we'll just have to assume that this story train Easter egg is just one more example of Rick and Morty messing with our heads for thinking about the show a little too much. What are the show's creators trying to tell us? That the story circle is as meaningless as everything else in Rick and Morty's infinite multiverse? That our attempts to cling to story structure like a guard rail are futile?Īs one Reddit commenter suggests, the true answer may come from cutting this episode up and editing it back together into a Frankensteined story circle. If anything, it makes even less sense when viewed as a bizarre deconstruction of the show's basic framework. Understanding how Season 4 Episode 6 subverts Harmon's story circle doesn't actually mean the episode makes any more sense. The best part of this Rick and Morty theory is that it basically means nothing. breaks to indicate pauses and shifts in the characters train of thought). When the episode becomes a commercial for a fake two that reference the show itself, that's part 9. This is because thoughts are often not fully formed, or they change course in. Though only a few pages long, Gordimer’s story encompasses several themes besides racial inequality, including greed, poverty, and conscience. In other words, it's the opposite of part 9. In The Train from Rhodesia, a train’s short stop in a poor African village highlights the racial and class barriers that typify South African life in the 1950s. It's a meaningless sequence that reveals nothing about the rest of the episode or the show itself.

#Thought train diagram series

(Dan Harmon did something similar in the Community series finale when he revealed that the entire show was actually just a board game commercial.)Īs for part 0, my best guess is that this is a reference to the show's initial setup before Rick and Morty arrive.

#Thought train diagram tv

Rick praising Morty for buying Rick and Morty merch feels like a direct reference to the true purpose of any popular TV show: to sell shit. What is part 9 of the story circle? The only answer seems to be that part 9 is some sort of fourth-wall-breaking technique where the characters acknowledge not only that they're in a story but the nature of the medium itself. They're basically at square one, which brings us to.

After they defeat the Story Lord, Morty tries to suggest they've learned something but Rick makes it clear they haven't. Fighting the Story Lord and bringing Jesus/Christianity into the story.ġ. Morty telling a story that would never happen on Rick and Morty to break through the 'thematic seal' and re-enter the train.ģ. The Blips and Chitz joke and Rick seeming to understand the situation as they go outside the train.Ħ. The fight against the ticket conductor.ħ. But they want something: Rick and Morty want to escape the train.ģ. However, the rest of it actually lines up pretty perfectly.Ģ. Let's ignore 0 and 9 for now because those aren't numbers in Harmon's story circle. However, what if we apply those numbers hidden in the Story Train's control lever to the story circle? That order, in case you need a reminder, is 0-2-3-7-6-3-1-9. Dan Harmon explaining the story circle in an episode of 'The Simpsons.' 20th Century Fox