WARNING: Contains SPOILERS for Rick and Morty season 5, episode 2, "Mortiplicity."
The Rick and Morty season 5 episode "Mortiplicity" reveals the existence of infinite Smith family decoys in one of its most confusing episodes yet — but what does each type of decoy mean, and how were they all created? Most of the decoys look identical to the original Smiths, but some vary wildly in their composition, resembling Texas Chainsaw Massacre lookalikes and the Smiths as puppets. In the end, only one family could remain, though whether or not they were the original Smiths remains to be seen.
Rick and Morty season 5 episode 2, "Mortiplicity," opens with a family of Smiths being killed by an army of squid aliens. Luckily for the Smiths, this family wasn't the original; they were decoys, meant to distract their enemies. Their creators were notified of their destruction, revealing their decoy identity. It sets off a chain reaction of destruction, as each creator is also revealed to be a decoy. Every time the squids destroy a decoy family, the Rick that built them can sense their destruction, creating a chain reaction of death and existential crises. The episode quickly devolves into a battle royale of Smiths killing Smiths until only the original — or what can be assumed to be the original — family is left.
This certainly isn't the first time Rick and Morty has played with the concept of infinite realities and the idea of clones. In season 4 episode 10, "Star Mort Rickturn of the Jerri," Beth's "clone" returned to kill Rick and to settle once-and-for-all who was the original and who was the clone. The Citadel of Ricks, which has appeared frequently, is composed entirely of the infinite spectrum of Ricks. The Smiths have also frequently jumped through dimensions when the one they're currently inhabiting is no longer suitable. These decoys, however, are the first time so many Smiths have taken over one dimension. Here is each type of Smith family decoy and how they were created, explained.
These are just the run-of-the-mill decoys — they look and behave exactly like the Smith family fans have come to love in Rick and Morty. The majority of the decoys in the episode seem to be basic decoys, and they're the only decoys toward the beginning of the episode. Each of the basic decoy families is revealed in succession, blending together in a mind-numbing fashion as they begin to seek each other out. Because these decoys are so accurate to Rick and Morty's original Smith family, they must take extreme measures to determine whether or not they're decoys — including one Rick, who performed brain surgery on himself to find a decoy firmware microchip implanted in his brain. It is most likely that these decoys were made by the original Rick or one of the first few generations of decoys, as they’re of a higher quality than some of the other decoys.
"Mortiplicity" begins with squid aliens eliminating decoy family after decoy family. With each decoy family believing that a race of squid aliens is trying to eliminate them all, some begin to take out other families and some begin to hide. In order to disguise themselves to escape elimination, one version of Rick decides to dress the family in squid costumes. While disguised as squids, another squid ship begins to attack them. Upon defeating them, the family realizes the squids are really just another decoy family disguised as squids. It begins to dawn on Rick that none of the squids were ever actually squids — the first family who discovered the presence of the decoys donned (much better) squid disguises in order to start taking out decoys. And, if one Rick has an idea, it's a good chance another has; soon enough, there is an entire army of "squids," or killer decoys.
In a theory that Rick describes as an "Asimov Cascade Failure," each Rick began to realize that the decoys made decoys themselves, oblivious to their own decoy status. With each generation of decoys, they began to possess less and less of the original Rick's intelligence and each one began to get lazier and lazier; therefore, after a few generations of decoy-made decoys, the quality wasn't the best. While trying to escape from the squids in the woods, one of the Smith families was kidnapped by a Rick who was wearing a loose mask of Rick's face a la Texas Chainsaw Massacre.
Underneath, this Rick had a grotesquely sewn-together face. When the Smiths awoke again, he revealed that, chained to his wall, were various other reject decoys of Rick. The kidnapper-Rick explains that his motive is to harvest the skin off of better-composed decoys to make his family appear more normal with skin transplants. Most of them are composed of crude electronics and spare parts, though one is made with a barrel stuffed full of hay — compared to the basic Rick’s inner musculature, it is easy to see these decoys are of a lesser quality. These decoys are the result of a long line of decoys making decoys, and as the kidnapper-Rick explained, "far enough down the line... there be monsters." There are flashes of other various reject decoys throughout the episode, made of materials like woven fabrics and various metals.
Of all the decoys in Rick and Morty season 5, the puppet decoys are some of the most intriguing. The puppet decoys are similar to the reject decoys in that they don't resemble the original Smiths very well. They are made with wood and grandfather clock mechanics, and their voices possess some kind of electronic component. They differ from the rejects — and most other decoys — because they do not want to kill other decoys, but unite them instead. The puppets gathered a large crowd of decoys together for what they refer to as "the cause" — a hopeful end to the decoy-on-decoy violence. Because of their puppet make-up, it seems the decoys have an extended lifespan. In the end credits, it's revealed that puppet-Jerry survives long enough to see the rise of cowboys and then Christianity (again). There is also a brief scene of Rick and Beth stylized after the Muppets, though it is revealed to be basic decoys in puppet suits, disguising themselves in a manner that is, hopefully, too cute to kill.
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