Rick and Morty Season 5 Just Might Have Confirmed Major Diane Fan Theory

08/09/2021 07:02 pm EDT

Rick and Morty just might have confirmed a major theory about Diane and Beth in Rick's past with the newest episode of Season 5! The fifth season of the Adult Swim animated series had been fairly light on ties to not only each individual episode, but the rest of the series as a whole until Episode 8. This newest episode of the series saw Rick finally revisit Birdperson after keeping him in the garage at the end of the fourth season, and with this explored their shared past together as Rick dove into Birdperson's memories.

Given how long the two of them have known one another, this was actually our best look at Rick's actual past yet. With this look into the past came a major bombshell that Rick's Beth is actually dead and he had been hanging around with an "abandoned adult" version of his dead daughter. With the fifth season now confirming that something tragic happened to both Diane and Beth, it's making Rick's "fake" flashback in the third season premiere seem all the more real.

With Mr. Nimbus' arrival in the fifth season premiere, "Mort Dinner Rick Andre," the series made a notable point to reference Diane Sanchez and confirmed that she indeed existed and something tragic happened in her past. Together with "Rickturnal Friendshine of the Spotless Mort" noting that Rick's original Beth had died, it's now a little more clear that something happened to both Diane and Beth that Rick has been trying to push down and avoid.

During the third season premiere, "The Rickshank Redemption," Rick had faked a version of his origin story where he ended up watching both Diane and Beth killed by a bomb sent by other versions of himself when he refused to join their forces. He then laughs it off and pretends that it's fake, but now that both of his former loved ones have died in the past it's making this seem like it could be all the more feasible. Making matters more interesting is how even the Galactic Federation soldiers yell out that "killing us won't bring her back."

The only wrench in this is the timeline of the actual deaths. The Rick we see in this flashback has the same shorter haircut that we see in a flashback of "Squanchy's stand up phase" that comes long after Rick and Birdperson first meet. But the younger version of Rick in the resistance (who Rick confirms is 35 at that point) knows about the dead Beths and Dianes. It's possible that they all find out about one another at the same point, but we could see more explanation in the coming episodes.

What do you think? Does Beth being confirmed dead mean the Rick flashback was a little more real than Rick had led on? Let us know all of your thoughts about it in the comments! You can even reach out to me directly about all things animated and other cool stuff @Valdezology on Twitter!

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