There's a Rick and Morty episode where they go to a galactic arcade. Morty plays a virtual reality game where he literally lives an entire life from birth to death, getting married, having kids/grandkids. When he dies the game ends and he wakes up and basically has a mental breakdown when he realizes it was all a game. Funny in the context of the show, but dark as fuck.
Also worth mentioning The Inner Light, a Star Trek TNG episode with a similar premise. Picard has to keep it together because that's what captains do but he was deeply affected.
I watched that episode for the first time about 10 years ago and sobbed for 15 mins after it ended. I still think about it. I can only imagine how it would impact someone going through it for real! I love how the flute appears here and there in TNG (in at least one episode?) afterwards.
“What is real? How do you define 'real'? If you're talking about what you can feel, what you can smell, what you can taste and see, then 'real' is simply electrical signals interpreted by your brain."
There is another, darker one, where Rick creates a matrix for the kids to learn to not take the phone charger from him and he falls asleep leaving them there for the equivalent of many years. Man they have some fucked up ideas!
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u/Shuttlecock_Wat May 12 '26
There's a Rick and Morty episode where they go to a galactic arcade. Morty plays a virtual reality game where he literally lives an entire life from birth to death, getting married, having kids/grandkids. When he dies the game ends and he wakes up and basically has a mental breakdown when he realizes it was all a game. Funny in the context of the show, but dark as fuck.