Rick and Morty‘s “Amortycan Grickfitti” may have started as a giant dunk on Jerry (Chris Parnell), but did it end on a budding friendship? In an interview with Adult Swim, Season 5, Episode 5’s writer Anne Lane revealed that she thought Rick and Jerry could maybe one day become friends. In an episode that killed Galactus, that may be the most surprising revelation of all.

Out of all the members of the Smith family, no one has a more fraught relationship with Rick than Jerry. Repeatedly, Rick has outright said that he doesn’t like or respect his daughter’s husband. Their rivalry is so intense it actually led to Jerry issuing an ultimatum in Season 3. In “The Rickshank Rickdemption” Beth (Sarah Chalke) chose her father before eventually going back to Jerry at the end of the season. But just the fact that ultimatum ever existed and that Jerry, albeit temporarily, lost, proves how troubled their relationship is.

At first glance that seems to be what’s going on in “Amortycan Grickfitti.” Rick is in debt to a bunch of Hellraiser-inspired Cenobite knockoffs, who find Jerry’s constant dad jokes and general cringe factor to be so terrible it’s perversely pleasurable. As series co-creator Dan Harmon points out, the first half of the episode is a bit like Dinner for Schmucks. But by the episode’s end Rick changes his tune in a surprising way.

“Rick does have a sense of shame about using Jerry in this way,” Lane said in the interview. By the end of the episode Rick actually uses that sincere shame to power a gun that destroys the Cenobites.

“Rick will go to hell and back to get his daughter’s husband back,” Lane added. “But I think there are solutions that could get rid of Jerry and Rick doesn’t do those. So maybe they have the potential for friendship.”

Lane, who also wrote Season 4’s “Star Mort Rickturn of the Jerri”, makes a good point. There are a million plans that Rick could have made over the years that would have achieved his goals while also eliminating Jerry. Yet even when Beth and Jerry were separated, Rick never touched his son-in-law. That relative kindness could just be because he wants to stay on the good sides of his daughter and grandkids, but there’s a real possibility that there’s something else going on. Rick definitely doesn’t love Jerry. But it’s possible that he’s growing fond of him.

Right now the only true Rick and Jerry friendship is the one between Jerry and Doofus Rick. But who knows? Crazier things have happened.

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This post first appeared on Nypost.com

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