"The Rickchurian Mortydate" is the tenth and final episode of the third season of Rick and Morty. It is the thirty-first episode of the series overall. It premiered on October 1, 2017. It was written by Dan Harmon and directed by Anthony Chun.
Synopsis
Rick goes on a confrontation with the President, all because of Morty wanting a selfie with him. Meanwhile, Beth suddenly becomes a "cool mom" out of nowhere.
Plot
When an unknown monster attacks a janitor in the tunnels under the White House, the President requests Rick and Morty's help to deal with the threat. Upon arriving at the White House (via Portal Gun), they agree to do so, though the President once again denies Morty's request for a selfie. After shooting and scaring off the (small) alien creature, Rick and Morty quickly get bored and return home to play more Minecraft. Unfortunately, the Secret Service has been watching them the entire time, and inform the President that Rick and Morty "just blew off America."
Seeing Rick and Morty at their home via satellite (complete with thermal imaging), an unhappy President calls them on their progress regarding the monster. Rick and Morty lie about their progress, but the President calls their bluff, and an argument erupts over the two's constant law breaking despite saving the world several times. The two cut ties with the President, and in private, he is visibly heartbroken.
Meanwhile, Summer and Beth are shopping, with Beth giving her daughter very good advice on her choices. Summer reacts positively to her mother's new behavior, saying that she couldn't stand her old negative behavior before, as if she's an almost different person. Beth, however, reacts badly to it.
When a miniature civilization is discovered in the Amazon rainforest, Rick and Morty travel to Brazil to investigate. At the same time, however, the U.S. Government arrives claiming jurisdiction. When Rick and Morty protest, the President has them arrested and shrinks down to negotiate with the civilization. Once he leaves, Rick and Morty break free of their restraints (made of the fake element "Sanchezium") and quickly escape from being surrounded by pirates, one of the few things Rick fears.
Back at home, Beth continues to question her status as a clone, and calls Rick to confirm it. Though Rick assures her she is not a clone and would kill her clone self should it become aware of the fact, it only fuels her growing paranoia.
Upon arriving at the Megagargantuan civilization, the President is disappointed to learn that Rick and Morty have already negotiated a peace treaty with their Presidentress. Once back to his normal size, the President declares war on Rick and Morty, growing even more upset after learning that they had also negotiated a permanent ceasefire between Israel and Palestine and gave him all the credit.
Following the ensuing press conference, The President asks for Rick and Morty's whereabouts, only to discover they have both been patiently waiting inside the Oval Office. Having fulfilled the President's agenda for him, Rick promises to leave for good on the condition that Morty gets a selfie with the President, regardless of his grandson's lack of interest. When the President continues to refuse the request, Rick indirectly kills most of the Secret Service agents surrounding him, culminating in a lengthy battle with the President throughout the White House.
Meanwhile, a desperate Beth turns to Jerry for help with her identity crisis. Jerry does his best by explaining and recreating the moment he first confessed his love for her in vivid detail. Coming to terms with herself and realizing his unconditional love, Beth rekindles her relationship with Jerry.
Back at the White House, Rick finally forces the President to agree to do a selfie with Morty, only to find that his grandson has disappeared. Morty explains over the phone that he stole Rick's Portal Gun, Jerry and Beth are back together, and the whole family has gone into hiding so Rick won't execute her. Dejected, Rick concedes defeat and asks for the President's help in finding his family, promising to leave him alone from then on. Soon enough, Rick locates the Smith family hideout, arriving through the President's portal. After Beth tries to reason with her father, Rick assures her that she is still herself which is his daughter and only arrived to kill Jerry, but ultimately decides not to, begrudgingly accepting him back into the family, sacrificing his own position as the family patriarch. Having done enough damage in the current dimension, Rick seemingly plans to leave it for another and tries to get Morty to come, but he refuses, choosing to stay with his family. Rick grows annoyed with his grandson's choice, as there are countless dimensions he can go to where the same events have already happened. However, Summer's new-found ability to fart on cue like Rick convinces him to stay.
Afterwards, Rick (disguised as another dimension's version of himself called "Fly Fishing Rick") fixes his friendship with the President and returns home for dinner. Beth rejoices in their fresh start, as she is now happily married and finally standing up to Rick, with the whole family (minus Rick) laugh off her clone paranoia.
Post-Credits Scene: Mr. Poopybutthole has started his own family and gotten his "GEEED". He tells the audience he will see them for Season 4, however long it takes.
Characters
Major Characters
Minor Characters
- Jerry Smith
- Summer Smith
- Steve
- Presidentress of The Mega Gargantuans
- Gargantuans
- Invisi-troopers
- Secretary of the Interior
- Mr. Poopybutthole
- Mrs. Poopybutthole
- Baby Poopybutthole
- General Rhonda
Deaths
- A unnamed janitor
- Many Secret Service Men
- Many Soldiers
- Two robot little girls
Locations
- The White House
- The Oval Office
- North portico entrance hall
- Kennedy Sex Tunnels
- Truman Cocaine Lounge
- McKinley Hooker Dump (officially named McKinley Storage & Waste Warehouse)
- Lincoln Slave Colosseum (mentioned)
- Amazon Rainforest
- Merpal's Mall
- Smith Residence
- Mt. Hill
- Jerry's Apartment
Episode Notes
Trivia
- In celebration of season 3, Pocket Mortys' weekly updates will coincide with new episodes, including new avatars for players to collect.[1] With the release of this episode came: Mr. Poopybutthole, Mrs. Poopybutthole, Baby Butthole, Blocky Rick, Blocky Summer, Blocky Beth and Blocky Jerry as avatars, and Mountain Sweater Morty and Blocky Morty to catch. [1]
- Rick implies that he has autism.
- Rick and Morty apparently break 1000 laws a day.
- Rick is apparently afraid of pirates.
- According to Rick and several of the president's advisors, Rick has a Wikipedia page in the Rick and Morty universe, which seems to indicate that he is at least somewhat well-known on Earth.
- The family has apparently hidden away from Rick on at least one occasion before. According to them, it was also in the same cabin.
- Beth seems to be completely aware of the fact that her emotions and actions are similar to that of Season 1, breaking the fourth wall and implying that she inherited her father's 4th Wall Awareness.
- Jerry's robe has the Chinese character 弱 on the back, which literally translates to weak, similar to Jerry's personality.
- The mother of one of the President's Generals lives at 312 Olive St. (according to Rick).
- The name of the female general is revealed to be Rhonda.
Series Continuity
- Rick apparently has a genuine fear of pirates, as it's the one true weakness about him on his Wikipedia page that he himself edited.
- Interesting considering his fondness of his "Pirates of the Pancreas" ride from Anatomy Park; presumably Rick finds it thrilling because he himself is scared of the concept.
- Rick and Morty's relationship with the President continues from the episode "Get Schwifty".
- Rick references his ability to "move to a new version of Earth", referencing how he used his dimensional travel in the episode "Rick Potion #9". This possibility was also referenced in "Morty's Mind Blowers".
- Beth references her new self, being able to handle the divorce from Jerry, a reference to the events in the episode "The Rickshank Rickdemption".
- As of this episode, the two have reconciled and are living together again.
- Beth questions whether she's her true self or a cloned replacement, continuing from "The ABC's of Beth", where she considered being replaced by a robotic replica of herself. Whether she went through with it or not is still unknown, and even when begging for the answer from Rick, the only one who would know for sure, he gave an unclear answer and would only confuse her even more.
- At the end, he confirms she is still her original self.
- There appear to be numerous pictures of horses In Beth's room, showing her fascination over the animal, which is referenced through her job as a horse surgeon.
- In Jerry's apartment, there is a full golf set, referencing Jerry's fascination over golf, which plays a role in the episode "Meeseeks and Destroy". This full golf set manages to make it back to the house by the end of the episode.
- At the family's hideout on Mt. Hill, there is a picture of a white dog, which resembles Snuffles, a character from the episode "Lawnmower Dog".
- The cracks on the ground are still visible following the events from the episode "Ricksy Business".
- Mr. Poopybutthole's appearance at the end of the episode is a reference towards the end of the Season 2 finale "The Wedding Squanchers" where he expresses to the audience when the next season is to arrive.
- Mr. Poopybutthole is shown to have done a lot whilst the events of Season 3 occurred. Such include marriage, having a baby, and going back to school to get his GED.
- Mr. Poopybutthole does not give a specific date towards the next season, stating it will be a "long time", but does, at least, state the fact that Season 4 is to be expected.
Cultural reference
- The title of this episode is a pun on The Manchurian Candidate which is about a presidential assassination.
- The President is accused of ordering drone strikes because of insecurity. This may or may not potentially be a jab at any real life presidents, though the show is never shy from political satire.
- There are multiple references to former presidents of the USA and related scandals in the form of embarrassing locations that the president lists including:
- The Kennedy Sex Tunnels - John F. Kennedy was involved in a scandal with sexual relationships to Marilyn Monroe and had sex with many different women during his presidency. The related location is possibly an innuendo towards female genital regions and the underground tunnels of the White House.
- The Truman Cocaine Lounge - May be an allusion to Harry S. Truman's involvement in the White Coke product decision, and such product's former relation towards cocaine.
- The McKinley Hooker Dump - Could be in reference to the numerous accounts of William McKinley's interactions with prostitutes in the White House
- The Lincoln Slave Colosseum - A satirical reference to Abraham Lincoln's involvement with the Emancipation Proclamation in 1862, which declared slaves in the Confederate States free.
- Abraham Lincoln can further be seen as a reference through paintings around the White House; this may be linked to Abradolf Lincler
- Rick's statement, "Mining stuff to craft with, and crafting stuff to mine with", towards Morty playing on his laptop is a reference to the popular video game Minecraft, which is later blatantly referenced by Rick as it starts to grow on him.
- Interestingly, the way in which the US Army sets up the President's portal uses similar means to the video game, where the portal is activated through the use of fire and sparks from a lighter, similar to how Minecraft requires a flint-and-steel to activate the nether portal.
- The song the President is listening to is "Prisoner to my Emotions", by Tucci Jenkins and the Jenkinettes.
- Rick compares himself and Morty to "Ghostbusters", referencing the franchise of the same name.
- Morty describes the alien the President tasks them to attack in the cold open as an "X-Files monster", referencing the TV show The X-Files.
- Rick references the South Park episode "Grounded Vindaloop" regarding his and Morty's interaction with Minecraft using VR headsets, claiming that they "did it first".
- This could also be a reference to the "Simpsons did it" joke from South Park, where whenever a plot-point would come up similar to an episode of The Simpsons, a Bart Simpson-like character would yell out, "Simpsons did it"
- A Star Wars-style cantina (possibly from Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope) is depicted; emissaries of Isrel and Palestine meet there to sign a "Common Sense" peace accord.
- Rick compares himself to the time-traveling alien The Doctor, referencing the popular British Sci-fi show Doctor Who.
- During the fight scene between Rick and the President, there appears to be a film set of the moon, playing on the common cultural dilemma of many people believing the NASA moon landing from 1969 was a hoax from the US Government.
- The fight scene itself could be seen as a reference to the film They Live, in which the voice actor for the President, Keith David, plays Frank Armitage. His character endures a rather lengthy fight scene with the film's main character, much like the fight with Rick this episode.
- "The Thing" that the President asks for greatly resembles the Gravity Gun from the video game Half-Life 2, in both appearance and functionality.
- The President's laser-firing satellite resembles the Hammer of Dawn from Gears of War.
- However, this version is capable of hitting targets indoors, whereas the original required unobstructed views of the ground.
- Additionally, the sound it produces as it was firing was taken from Dragon Ball.
- Jerry references actor Don Cheadle and film composer Alan Silvestri.
- The two robot fighting little girls is a possible reference to Spy Kids.
- Rick references Wikipedia by commenting on his own article about the fake element Sanchezium.
- The popular restaurant Panda Express is referenced at the end as a place in which Beth orders takeout from.
- The President states that the Greek god Poseidon exists at Area 51.
- The 4-legged robot armed with mini-guns and piloted by the President (appeared after Rick got rid of the fighting kids) clearly resembles one of the dog-models of autonomous robots built by Boston Dynamics.
References
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