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THIS MAY CONTAIN SPOILERS

In Rick and Morty episode The ABC's of Beth After confronting Rick,Beth discovers she has two options: leave the family to travel the cosmos while Rick replaces her with a clone, or stay with the family and be content with the life she has chosen.

Her decision is not revealed. Did she clone herself and leave or stayed with her family??

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    I think this is yet unanswered, as far as the series goes, but I found myself asking the same thing. She suddenly seems a lot happier, and appears to behave much like the Morty and Summer clones at the start of the season.
    – Gnemlock
    Commented Sep 26, 2017 at 6:36
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    @Gnemlock But remember, Rick specifically mentions that whatever Beth chooses, it will be good for Rick because she will "Chill the f*** out". By that logic, I don't think we can know.
    – JMac
    Commented Sep 26, 2017 at 10:42
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    I don't see how this is answerable.
    – Joe
    Commented Sep 27, 2017 at 17:34

2 Answers 2

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I'm convinced it was left vague on purpose.

A recurring theme in the show is to hint at potential plot points in the future, while leaving the possibility open that it is just ignored. Dan Harmon has stated before that they don't really plan out the future details well in advance. They leave multiple different options open until the time comes to use a plot point. Then it becomes canon.

They want us to question if Beth is real or a clone going forward. That said, if Beth is a clone, I don't think we will find out for sure until there is a good reason to reveal that information. They now have another back-pocket dues ex machina where "real" Beth can always come out of nowhere and change any situation.

Rick also makes it pretty clear that the audience wont really be able to tell either. He says "Either way, you chill the f** out" (or something like that); meaning we can't definitively say Beth's new behaviour is from cloning or just a new outlook.

The ambiguity is essentially confirmed to be on purpose around 1:30 in this video from the writers/creators:

(it's an adultswim link, might be region locked, I'm not sure, let me know if if it is).

Also in Season 3 episode 10

Beth has to question this for herself, and it leads to the secondary plot in the episode.

Season 4 Update: It seems that as of season 4 episode 10, we can now give this as definitive of an answer as you can get.

Season 4 Episode 10 Spoilers:

The episode starts off with a very different looking Beth in space, doing very Rick-like things. At first it seems obvious that Beth cloned herself and left. As the episode progresses, this becomes less clear; since the Space-Beth appears to have a bomb in her neck which will explode if she comes back to Earth. The episode leads to both Space-Beth and Earth-Beth questioning if they are the clone or not. Rick gives very unhelpful answers all episode.

At the end of the episode, we find out that:

even Rick doesn't know which is real. Not only did he erase his own memory of what happened in a Morty's Mind Blowers way. When he goes back to the memory, it is revealed that Beth asked Rick to choose what she does. Rick then made a clone of her, and shuffled the choices in a way so even he didn't know which was which.

So as of Season 4 Episode 10, it is now established in canon that:

We literally cannot know if that Beth was a clone or not; but we know there is a clone of Beth. We just can't be sure which of the two it is.

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    I think it’s also left vague to emphasise the recurring theme throughout the show that life is meaningless, and it’s all the same if you’re ‘the original you’ or a clone
    – ZenLogic
    Commented Jul 16, 2018 at 1:22
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At this point it is petty obvious, Beth is a clone. First off space Beth must have gone to explore the cosmos and Rick cloned her to have stay on Earth with the family. Obviously Beth didn't clone herself cause she would remember and the episode would be nonsense. Anyway, when the clone of Beth was given the same option on if she wold want to leave or stay with the family, giving her the idea that if she was a clone, Original Beth would've left to travel the cosmos. Clone Beth is skeptical and wants to find out the truth. Meeting Space (original or space) Beth confirms that (clone) Beth is a clone indeed, since Space Beth had returned from exploring the cosmos, although clone and space Beth don't catch n, which allows Rick to play with their minds and convince each other not to kill the other implying that the other is the clone and not themselves, which leaves them unhinged and alive. In short, Beth went to explore the cosmos, was cloned, the clone had the idea of possibly being a clone, Rick tells them not to kill each other using confusion, and space Beth and clone Beth continue on their separate ways.

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    I don't get how obvious it is: can you try to improve your answer? It seems you're arguing your point from the conclusion you've drawn beforehand (i.e. the real Beth went to space).
    – Joachim
    Commented Nov 18, 2021 at 9:00
  • I ssaid the real Beth went to space. Commented Nov 19, 2021 at 18:11
  • Yes. But why do you think so?
    – Joachim
    Commented Nov 19, 2021 at 19:35
  • Rick said that he would make a clone of Beth if she decided t explore the cosmos. If there is a space Beth that means she must of decided to go to space therefor Rick made a clone. If real Beth didn't got to space why else would there be another Beth with the family unless space Beth is from another universe? Commented Nov 29, 2021 at 14:14

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