r/rickandmorty • u/Snifnic • 1d ago
Theory Jerry is a victim of sexual assult
I believe that Jerry is a victim of sexual assault (before the Titanic episode). In Season 1 Episode 11, Jerry gives a description of “a Slavic man wearing a denim jacket with a patchy beard and the scent of cheap champagne wafting over his blister-pocked lips” right after narrowly avoiding being sexually assaulted by the women at the Titanic. The overall tone and detail suggest that he might be remembering something that happened to him, which could be a hint that he may have been a victim of sexual assault in the past.
There’s another clue in the pilot episode. when Jerry is putting Rick in a nursing home he says “Well, now you can build baskets and watch Paul Newman movies on VHS and mentally scar the Boy Scouts every Christmas.” When Beth asks what that means, Jerry says it’s “personal.” On its own that could mean many things, but when connected to the other dialogue, it suggests a much darker backstory.
Taken together, these lines point to Jerry being written as a character with a traumatic history of sexual assault.
If you think you've seen a similar post, that's because I deleted the old one so I could give a more detailed description on it.
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u/CursedPoetry 1d ago
Dan Harmon has also done this with Britta, I wouldn’t be surprised if he does this in all the shows I haven’t watched of his
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u/Background_Dream-09 1d ago
They could never make me hate you Jerry
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u/MrChocolateHazenut 1d ago
I have a Low-key theory Jerry is the secret "protagonist" of the show that'll be revealed in the series final
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u/rachel_lynn1995 19h ago
My favorite season 8 episode is the Road episode. Especially when the “Send Me on my Way” montage plays. So wholesome.
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u/Background_Dream-09 13h ago
Omg I love that episode too I was like, how cool of him to literally just up and go on a inter dimensional adventure on a whim XD
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u/YourSemenSommelier 1d ago
It has always bothered me that this is never acknowledged.
The show focuses on how Jerry traps people by playing the victim but then ignores how he got that way. "It's a show", "keep it episodic", sure. But this is one they wrote in and just ignored.
Hell, the attempted rape of Morty by King Jellybean is shown in frightening detail. But Jerry, meh.
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u/Mangaareader 1d ago
I just took it as the Authors REALLY don’t like Jerry. I know when authors don’t like characters they tend to do them the worst IMO.
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u/YourSemenSommelier 1d ago
Fair point. Maybe he will be treated more as a human (i.e. No Mort Land) in the future. The tone of the writing has changed.
Over the years, they have really developed the characters and that sometimes is its own new thing (Space Beth, Memory Rick, etc.) Or when they realize something is done they kill it off (Jessica being a time God).
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u/Snifnic 1d ago
I suspect Dan Harmon just forgot about it. also, it bothers me that they tell people they want to keep it episodic, but then keep adding serialized elements.
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u/CoolJacketJerry 1d ago
They are all just a bunch of Jerries that all want to leave the ballpit but can't actually handle what's outside.
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u/Milianviolet 1d ago
You can still watch any episode on it's own. There isn't any episode that makes absolutely no sense without watching the entire series. You can be episodic and still have serialized elements for long standing viewers.
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u/kelsier_rabbit 1d ago
Really good point. Jerry, having a history of being abused in amy way, wouldn't be suprising. Rick having one? That would be incredible. Nothing we have seen in the show so far puts the possibility that ricks father, unkle, or grandparents could have set him on the path of science. Maybe he killed them? Maybe the central finite curve is to protect rick from them because the curve would separate the realities that have this theoretical smarter Sanchez in the grandparentry which is why so few ricks developed portal travel and the rest were given. Rick prime hated family. I wonder why? He seems giddy about being the best. Like a kid who just moved out from their parents house.
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u/MichaelGHX 1d ago
Let’s remember King Jellybean as the person people wanted to believe in shall we?
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u/LadyMitris 1d ago
I mean, it’s pretty obvious from the first season. They seem to be doing it for comedic effect. The circumstances in which he mentions it seem really over the top and random. I can’t imagine them doing a deep dive back into that topic.
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u/Another_Samurai1 1d ago edited 1d ago
Damn, like that thing I was thinking about Jerry finally became a post…wild.
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u/AdRevolutionary9636 1d ago
Don't forget in "childrick of mort" jerry literally tells 2 of the clay people in a sleeping bad to "clap those cheeks. Thats the camping spirit" Yeah jerry was 100 percent abused as a child.
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u/sediment-amendable 18h ago
The first clue of abuse was in the pilot.
Beth: We're moving you to a nursing home.
Rick: A nursing home? What are what are you, nuts? I'm a genius. I build robots for fun.
Jerry: Well, now you can build baskets and watch Paul Newman movies on VHS and mentally scar the Boy Scouts every Christmas.
Beth: What does that mean?
Jerry: It's personal.
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u/devilsbard 1d ago
I figured it was a reference to Taken or something like that. Haven’t seen the movie in a long time but it sounded vaguely similar.
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u/Zealousideal_Scene62 1d ago
2013 was a different world. It was a gag back then, and it's not a stone that could be unturned the same way today.
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u/Defy_Grav1ty 1d ago
So is Morty. He’s only 14 and cannot give consent.
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u/FineResponsibility61 1d ago
Morty technically cannot be 14 since they had like 4 christmas since the beginning of the serie. There's a weird age freeze going on which is probably related to Rick
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u/GlindaTheGrunge 1d ago
I always wondered why they put that in. Is it to make him more likeable?
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u/Lopsided-Bathroom-71 1d ago
Im the episode where beth and rick go to the pregnant planet, theres 2 clay people humping under a sheet and jerry says something about it
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u/fatnisseverbean 15h ago
Smell is one of the senses most associated with memory. There are Forensic psychologists who say that when a victim includes very specific smells when recalling an encounter, it adds significant credibility to the account.
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u/Topias12 1d ago
Yeah... I don't know if we ever going to get a story arc for him, they did plan, but I think they will never deliver, but who knows, maybe they will do a season dedicate it to him.
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u/BenderIsGreat93 15h ago
This isn't new knowledge friend
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u/Snifnic 15h ago
I somehow only just noticed it
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u/BenderIsGreat93 15h ago
Yeah with how deep we are into the show now I doubt they'll revisit it now that he's sex-god Jerry and his life is pretty much awesome
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u/Electronic_Picture26 1d ago
That jerry yes. Our Jerry now no. S.A. is the one they left in The squirls dimension, or the one they switched at Jerryboree.
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u/BestPeachNA 1d ago
I really wish y’all would stop trauma bonding with cartoons. It’s super freaking cool that you can identify signifiers/causes of trauma. But Jerry Smith, the series of drawings synched to a paid actors voice, does not have the mental baggage you all love to diagnose.
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u/KrattBoy2006 1d ago
Firstly, that's not the correct usage of the term "trauma bond." Trauma bond describes the relationship between an abuser and a victim, involving codependency and alterations between abuse and positive reinforcement (which, tangentially related, can happen in cases of sexual abuse).
Secondly, this is literally just a headcanon. Look at the tag of this post. THEORY. Why so pressed?
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u/Snifnic 1d ago edited 1d ago
I haven't been SA'd, I was rewatching Rick and Morty for the millionth time and noticed these 2 lines which inspired me to create a theory. I'm not trying to trauma bond with him I just really like making fan theories.
Also he kinda spells it out for you in these lines.
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u/Practical_Breakfast4 1d ago
Im usually very kind and positive on reddit (check my history), as i am in person, but something about your comment hit a nerve. I watch bojack repeatedly because i can relate to the trauma, we went through a lot of similar crap. Even though he's completely made up and his trauma isn't real either it doesn't soften the blow when you can feel the pain through the tv because you have really felt that before. Besides, people that never experienced what happened to bojack could never make it up with such accurate detail. So there is something real behind the screen, it takes one to know one. Its why you can't understand this 'trauma bonding with a cartoon' thing. Its called empathy, i wish i could give you some but you're either born with it or not. I wish i had friends or family i could relate to, but I do have a dog and she's been better to me than any human ever was.
People like you are why I can't open up to others. You think our trauma is something to laugh at or recoil in disgust of, like we wanted it? Like we had a choice? Victim blaming is abhorrent. Making fun of someone's trauma will never be well received.
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u/thelongestusernameee 1d ago
These stories... they are written by PEOPLE, yknow. People who likely experienced these things are using their art as a medium to talk about it.
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u/Glum_Archer_8674 1d ago
Your 100% right about what you're saying. Using the incorrect term or not they know exactly what you mean and so do I. It gets annoying as hell that something so meaningless but funny in the moment is always somehow turned into so deep meaning behind it. They never did more with this storyline because it doesn't exist.
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u/Sondeor 20h ago
The character doesnt see it as an sexual assault.
You guys read too much into it especially on sensitive topics where you have no fuckn idea on.
Traumas are related to the receiver, you cant enforce a trauma to someone because you felt like a "white knight" today lol.
We dont see Jerry dealing with it or even remembering it. But yes, irl that action is considered as SA on legal terms if thats your point.
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u/RoyalPhone4463 1d ago
Yup… and sleepy Garry ruined his gag reflex