Despite sucking for several seasons, Rick & Morty season 5 made a bit of a comeback. Part of the comeback included a return to their bread and butter, which is using archetypal structure and symbols for the story.

The entire season five is steeped in Saturn symbols and journeys, from this first episode to the season finale’s use of the crow’s of the Vedic Saturn god Shani. The first episode was the most clearest example in my opinion, so that’s what I will be discussing here.

While I haven’t done much of an analysis on previous seasons, there are hints that indicate the Saturn symbol has been there the entire time. But for now, lets take a look at the first episode of season five.

Please forgive me. I’m about to bleed more pixels. Lets ignore the very first scene for now because its kind of got everything we at know and love here at r/pastsaturnsrings time crystals, multiple realities, a cthulu type monster, and a last moment escape through a black hole to earth (a la Avengers and others). We all kinda know the drill there, but I’m going to return to this at the end for some special secret sauce.

Mr. Nimbus

Our Saturn adventure will start with ‘bad’ guy of this episode, Mr. Nimbus.

Mr. Nimbus is a pot pouri of Saturn symbols. Starting with his name, a Nimbus is a halo) commonly used in christian art, and frankly many other religous art. Although for the christians it’s placed above the heads of people. So this is essentially the ring hovering around the head we commonly see for angels in cartoons. This ring, just like the Lord of the Rings, is referring to Saturn’s halo (at least exoterically).

Next they draw upon Mesopotamian Saturn symbols. Mr. Nimbus rules the ocean, which Rick makes significant emphasis on about how Mr. Nimbus does in fact rule the ocean. Well, surprise, the Sumerian god Enki, is also a ruler of the ocean. And, like Enki, Mr. Nimbus is covered in fish skin, although not fully, which I think is appropriate because Mr. Nimbus is a composite symbol. But, this doesn’t quite get us to a Saturn connection. To connect Enki with Saturn, actually requires an astrological reference and fast forwarding from Sumer to Babylon. In Babylonian times, Enki became Ea, who ruled Capricorn. The symbol Capricorn is a half goat and half fish. And finally, in astrology Capricorn is ruled by the planet Saturn. I’m sure somebody else more familiar with the symbols could tie this together more nicely than I have, but this should suffice as a basic structure.

Mr. Nimbus arises out of the ocean in a clam shell. This detail may seem inconsequential, but it solidifies the Saturn connection because it represents the orphic egg. The orphic egg is where a multitude of Saturn gods from various cultures were born, including Phanes and Pan. I’m mentioning Phanes because Jung discusses him as a Saturn symbol in his epic Liber Novus, and it’s definitely worth checking out. And I’m mentioning Pan, because the next scene I’m going to discuss explicates on the Pan traits that Mr. Nimbus puts on for show.

Mr. Nimbus arrives at the Smith’s home for a peace summit. Yadda yadda yadda, Mr. Nimbus gyrates his pelvis and shows that he’s bisexual and very horny all the time. There’s also some nice phallic eels at his feet while doing this. He gyrates his pelvis a lot during the episode, similar to how he keeps yelling his own name, as if to beat all the clues of the symbols into our head so somebody figures out wtf the writers are up to.

The unabashed sexuality and constant drawing attention to his dick, is clearly a reference to the Saturn god Pan. As per wikipedia, “Pan is famous for his sexual prowess, and is often depicted with a phallus"

Additionally, in this scene Mr. Nimbus demonstrates his control of the police. This is just a bit of a flourish from the writers to show the Saturn connection, as Saturn is in control of justice and order, like police are in control of such things in society.

Time Travel

That’s enough about Mr. Nimbus for now. Next up, our favorite subject, Time.

The show creators love black holes. These are used in every episode via Rick’s portal gun that shoots out the green portals that function like a black hole would. However, in this episode the portal gun shoots out a different kind of portal. The creator’s are really making an effort to get us to onboard with the Saturn theme and break continuity with the portal guns in this episode. I want to draw attention to the scene where this is most salient.

Rick wants to age some special wine, and so he creates a portal and tosses the wine in there. In doing so he sets up the premise that time works differently on the other side of the portal. He also makes references to Narnia, which I’m sure can be broken down more but I’m not sure how at this point in time. Otherwise, the portal is different than in any other episode. It bears striking resemblance to the monolith from Kubrick’s Space Odyssey, which was a movie all about Saturn.

A short while later in the episode Morty crosses through this portal a number of times to retrieve the wine and in the process sets off a multi-generational blood feud with the inhabitants of the other realm that lasts many centuries.

The Goat People

The people on the other side of the portal are symbols for us humans. Throughout the episode we see their progress from a non-tech society to what is represented as near complete mastery of matter, space, and time. This mastery is represented through a transhumanist paradigm, where the people on the other side of the portal basically become machines and lose their biological function. Again, they really go out of their way to make these points, and for the loss of biologics Morty kicks one of them in the balls, and the guy remarks about not having any.

These portal people, in my opinion, resemble goats. I think it could be up for debate, but that’s what I think. Throughout the centuries of evolution of these goat people, there is tons of Saturn symbolism. Horns, crosses, triangles, and magic...I’m sure I’m missing things, so hit me up in the comments on this one. Also the display of the technological progression of the goat society after it first encounters the Rick's portal monolith is another call back to Space Odyssey, which showed the same progression starting with the famous scene of chimps encountering the monolith.

These goat people have a serious beef with Morty. Morty is seen as some all powerful god that every few centuries shows up and causes problems. The goat society evolves around waiting for and defeating Morty. During one encounter Morty’s advanced weaponry is left behind and the goat people reverse engineer it and use this to ascend into technological mastery and their transgoat destiny.

This destiny involved training a saviour named Adam, who was training to travel through time and space to defeat Morty. Eventually Adam makes it through to the Smith residence, but fails to kill Morty. He does capture Jessica, and also takes a trip to a cosmic owl that I’m sure is important, but I’m not familiar with the reference or symbolism on that one so again, please fill in the blanks in the comments on that if anybody knows.

Morty goes to rescue Jessica, but finds himself in a rip off of Hugh Jackman’s The Fountain. This turns out to be a simulation that the goat people had made specifically for Morty. The Fountain is a movie that is also about time travel and the nature of reality, but it’s a bit of a tongue in cheek joke being used in this capacity.

Morty escapes from the Hugh Jackman simulation, and finds Jessica stuck in time crystal. He rescues her, but then he needs rescuing from the mecha-goat people’s epic machine army. Rick comes to his rescue, but gets boned. Rick is actually impressed with the mecha-goat army’s tech. Now all three of them get entrapped, but what I think is fair to call a cube.

And then something unexpected happens

Mr. Nimbus arrives on the scene and summons a deluge to defeat the mecha-goat army. So the Saturn god essentially becomes the saviour...but who’s saviour? He saved Rick and Morty, but killed the group symbolizing us. I’m not sure what to make of this ending.

Cthulu

This post is getting really long and there’s more to say, but I want to conclude with the beginning of the episode.

The beast that Rick and Morty are fighting is a stand in for the cthulu that appears at the end of the opening credits in every episode. What’s strange is that in each season they run scenes from episodes of that season, but always finish with the cthulu at the end of the opening credits. There has never been a scene with that cthulu from the credits, so why are they always showing it? This episode is the closest they have gotten to connecting revealing what’s going on with cthulu.

So they use this cthulu stand in that is clearly connected to time and multiple realities, as its holding and smashing various time crystals. Additionally, Rick has a mea culpa of a nature and intensity that I don’t recall seeing prior.

I believe Rick’s mea culpa is symbolic of the recognition of the impossible power of the cthulu. He said he’s a foolish man, and I believe he’s referencing that in relation going up against the cthulu that is so powerful man has no chance fighting it. The thing is Rick isn’t the only wise man archetype to come to this conclusion. I believe the Buddha recognized the same thing.

Cyclical Time Easter Egg

Finally there’s an easter egg reference to a future episode that relates to the cyclical nature of the time prison of our reality. When Rick tosses the wine through the monolith portal he says, “I’m not a beaver who believes in Jesus Christ”. In the episode later in the season where all the Ricks are fighting each other, the end of the episode has what seems like a sequitur absurdist ending. In the ending, Jerry is a wooden beaver that finds himself surviving in various states throughout history. It becomes clear that something has happened on Earth and Jerry is a relic from a past age, and what he is experiencing is a repeat of history that he knew. This includes Jerry finding himself on a cross with Jesus, and Jerry remarks ‘Jesus, again?’. This is all a very long maze to get to the conclusion that there is a clear reference in the cyclical nature of time as it relates to Saturn.

There’s a lot more to discuss, but I think I will leave it at this for now. I don't know why I feel compelled to include this, but I made all the connections from my knowledge of mythology and symbol. I haven't seen anybody else write about the Rick & Morty Saturn connection.

I’m glad to see this subreddit open again and looking forward to intelligent discussion that may come!

Edit: For the doubters that this episode has anything to do with Saturn, and that my analysis is wishful thinking, please check this clip from the every end of this episode where they explicitly reference Saturn