Warning: This article contains spoilers for Rick and Morty season 8, episode 1.

Rick and Morty hasn’t done much with Beth and Summer’s relationship in its past episodes, but the season 8 premiere puts a fun new spin on their dynamic. Rick and Morty season 8, episode 1, “Summer of All Fears,” begins with Morty and Summer escaping from a Matrix-like virtual reality that Rick has trapped them in. Their constant use of his phone charger bothered him so much that he created an entire digital world where all the NPCs constantly prattle on about the need to return a borrowed charger.

Over the course of its run, Rick and Morty has gotten a lot of narrative mileage out of exploring different character pairings. Rick and Morty themselves have fallen out and made up a few times; Beth and Jerry’s dysfunctional marriage has gone through plenty of ups and downs; and Rick has begrudgingly befriended Jerry in three or four different episodes at this point. One relationship that’s often been neglected is Beth and Summer. Despite their potential, they’ve stuck to pretty rigid mother-daughter roles. But the season 8 premiere puts a fresh twist on that duo.

Rick & Morty Season 8 Temporarily Ages Up Summer & Makes Her Beth's Peer

Summer Comes Out Of Rick's Matrix With The Mind Of An Adult

Out of all the duos in Rick and Morty’s ensemble cast, Beth and Summer have been the most neglected. But the season 8 premiere puts the spotlight on this mother-daughter pairing and finds a great new way to shake up their relationship. At the beginning of the episode, Summer has been trapped in Rick’s Matrix for almost two cyber-decades.

Nowhere near that much time has ed in the real world, but Summer’s mind has matured to adulthood. She’s become an accomplished business tycoon whose innovative tech launch allows her and Morty to escape from their digital prison. After they escape, Rick offers to use the Mind Blower device to wipe their memories from inside the Matrix and turn them back into naive teenagers.

But they refuse to have their memories wiped and decide to keep their enlightened adult minds. The characters still look the same, but their consciousness has been aged into adulthood. This turns Summer from Beth’s rebellious teenage daughter into her peer. Now that they’re on the same emotional wavelength, they can finally stop fighting and become good friends.

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In previous Rick and Morty episodes, the humor of Beth and Summer’s relationship has come from Beth being exasperated by Summer’s immature choices, whether she’s using one of Rick’s inventions to enlarge her breasts or moving too fast with a skeevy guy she met on a dating app. But when Summer comes out of the Matrix with the mind of a successful adult, suddenly, she’s the more mature one. Usually, Beth talks down to Summer from her high horse. But in the season 8 premiere, that dynamic is flipped.

Summer & Beth Have An Even More Toxic Relationship As Friends Than They Do As Mother & Daughter

Adult Summer Constantly Undermines Beth

Under normal circumstances, Beth and Summer have a pretty toxic relationship. Beth has been very open that Summer was the result of an unintended pregnancy, she wasn’t ready to become a parent, and on most days, she regrets having kids and wonders about the success she could’ve had if she never did. This has deeply impacted Summer’s self-esteem, because it makes her feel like she was a mistake and her existence doesn’t matter. But somehow, when Summer comes out of the Matrix as a grown-up, their relationship becomes even more toxic.

Summer undermines everything Beth says, cutting her down at every opportunity, and that leaves Beth desperately pining for her approval.

Beth and adult Summer go out for coffee and have a frank chat about their success. But right off the bat, Summer undermines everything Beth says, cutting her down at every opportunity, and that leaves Beth desperately pining for her approval. It’s even less healthy than their usual interactions. It was great to see Beth and Summer’s relationship get a bit more development. Rick and Morty should do more with this underrated duo in the future.