Miss Severance? Watch This Brilliant Rick and Morty Episode That Feels Like Its Twin
It's hard to name two shows more different than Severance and Rick and Morty, but the plot of this episode is so similar to the Apple TV show, it's creepy.
At first glance, Severance and Rick and Morty seem worlds apart – but the similarities between Dan Erickson's show and the Season 6 episode Night Family are too eerie to ignore. Both explore fractured consciousness and the horror of losing control to another version of yourself.
In addition, the two stories share a number of plot parallels, and fans of Severance should definitely re-watch this episode of the Adult Swim series.
What Is Night Family About?
The Smith-Sanchezes have encountered themselves many times before – most often it was their alternate reality versions. However, in Season 6, Episode 4, they had to deal with themselves – only at night.
Rick uses a clever device to create a night version of his family. Every night, Rick, Morty, Summer, Beth, and Jerry wake up and run errands for the Day family – like exercising and cleaning.
But the Day family is starting to get audacious – they can't even throw away leftovers. So the Night family decides to rebel against the Day family. Epic showdowns with the Night people force the Day people to look at themselves from the outside.
Both Night Family and Severance Develop the Same Idea, but in Different Ways
Both stories initially present their dual-consciousness setups as functional (Severance's work-life balance, Night Family's productivity hacks) – until the cracks show.
The innies realize they're prisoners; the Smiths discover their Night selves are plotting against them. The horror isn't just the severed consciousness – it's the realization that the other you might be your enemy.
Severance's innies eventually rebel against Lumon, desperate to escape their corporate prison. Likewise, the Day selves of the Smiths rebel against their Night counterparts who have become too independent.
How Do the Finales Compare?
Night Family ends the same way as the second season of Severance – the Night versions of the characters, like the innies, win. But if the future of Mark, Helly and the others is still unknown to us, Night Family goes further and shows how the fate of the characters turned out.
They became a normal family without Day personalities, the adventures and other antics of Rick and Morty left their lives and left a lot of time to just enjoy life.
Soon, however, the Night Smiths were confronted with something they had never had to deal with before – for example, they never thought about where the food came from, the remains of which had to be washed off their plates.
As a result, Night Rick destroyed the device and the main versions of the characters returned to life.
Taking all of these similarities into account, it is all the more interesting to see what path the creators of Severance will take, and how it will be different from the Rick and Morty episode.
