Rick and Morty - S1E5 - Meeseeks and Destroy
Unlike all the other episodes so far, Episode 5 begins right in the thick of a terrifying action-packed climax to another one of Rick and Morty’s insane adventures. It begins with the fearless duo on some kind space station trying to escape from the rest of the family–or at least “clones from an alternate reality possessed by demonic alien spirits from another dimension’s future.” Morty knows what he has to do to destroy them, but he can’t because “they’re [his] parents and sister.” But Rick manages to convince him and Morty does what he has to do. The adventure ends with the duo returning to their “home” reality, where his “real” family are without any thing possessing them, with the demonic alien spirits contained in what looks like the ghost trap from Ghostbusters. Morty runs to the corner of the garage and pukes because of how traumatizing the whole experience was. After purging himself, Morty has a few stern words with Rick, talking about how “adventures are supposed to be simple and fun,” not “crazy and chaotic,” to which Rick responds “That’s real easy to say from the side-kick position, but, but, uh, how 'bout next time why don’t you be in charge and we’ll talk about how simple and fun it is.” Morty actually gets a kick out of this idea, saying “Seriously Rick? You’ll let me call the shots?” to which Rick agrees–on the condition that if Morty’s adventure turns out to be lame and boring, he loses the right to bitch (and do his laundry for a month). Morty ups the ante with the condition that if his adventure is awesome, he gets to be in charge of every 3rd one, to which Rick comes back with: every 10th (personally, I thought this would be a prelude to every season–you know, one episode in every season being Morty’s–but season 2 proved this wrong).
I take this whole intro scene to be a kind of “leap” to a higher level of understanding of the whole Rick and Morty theme: it’s almost as if it were saying “Ok, by now, we know what Rick and Morty is all about–they go on crazy and chaotic adventures, visit other dimensions and alien planets, dive into alternate worlds and sci-fi realities, and every time they do, they encounter monsters, dangers, and terrifying experiences like ‘demonic alien spirits’. It’s time we kick it up a notch, add a twist, and maybe do a sort of ‘meta-analysis’ on this theme–have an in-depth look at what an adventure is all about.” This is what this episode is going to examine. It’s going to look at certain misconceptions (Morty’s) of what an adventure is really all about. And this is also why I think this episode marks a turning point in the series beyond which each episode is no longer just a series of isolated adventures; the first three (plus the pilot), therefore, count as just samples of what the entire series has in store for us, but there are going to be deeper and continuous themes that make the entire storyline more interesting than just that. This episode in particular isn’t quite up to those specs but it does count, in my mind, as the turning point after which we will begin to see this playing out.
On another note, there is in this episode, as always, the parallel storyline involving Jerry as the central figure, and in fact the title of this episode–Meeseeks and Destroy–is, like Lawnmower Dog, an exclusive allusion to this secondary storyline. But I suppose there is an interesting twist here as well–we will see, for the first time in the series, Jerry “manning up”–but like the main storyline, not quite in the full sense of the term.
The Meeseeks theme here refers to the “Meeseeks”–a kind of being or creature who, like a Jeanie from a magic lamp when rubbed, can be summoned by one of Rick’s inventions–a box that produces a Meeseeks out of thin air when a button on it is pressed. Rick explains to the family after they come barging in making stupid requests they could easily fulfill themselves if they just put a little effort in:
“You press this [a Meeseeks appears and says “I’m Mr. Meeseeks! Look at me!”], you make a request: Mr. Meeseeks, open Jerry’s stupid mayonnaise jar [“Yessiree!”]; the Meeseeks fulfills the request [“All done!” Jerry: “Wow!”] and then stops existing [Meeseeks “poofs” out of existence]… Knock yourselves out. Just burp keep your requests simple, they’re not go-burp-ds.”
They gladly accept the Meeseeks box except for Morty who, more eager to take on Rick’s challenge, ushers them out in a hurry: “I’ve got a bet to win!”
Gathered around the dining room table, Jerry, Beth, and Summer contemplate the box, speculating on, as Beth says, all the possibilities. Jerry tries to remind the family of what Rick said: keep it simple. They don’t listen. Before Jerry even finishes his sentence, Summer hits the button first. The Meeseeks appears and she makes her request: “I want to be popular at school!” followed by Beth who requests: “I-I-I want to be a more complete woman!” They both walk off with their respective Meeseeks to fulfill their requests, leaving Jerry to take his time to contemplate his request before rashly jumping into it, saying to himself “You guys are doing it wrong… he said simple.”
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qUYvIAP3qQk[/youtube]
Here again, we will see the irony of Jerry’s life: his attempt to keep it simple results in his request (taking 2 strokes off his golf game) being the most complex to fulfill while Beth’s and Summer’s, though seeming virtually impossible to fulfill in any simple way, being extraordinarily easy to meet. And once again, the reason will be because Beth and Summer simply go with the (Meeseeks’) flow (in fact, Summer doesn’t have to do anything–she just has to watch the Meeseeks make a speech to the school that wins them over–I suppose it’s the whole school that “goes with the flow”).
Jerry has the toughest time taking the Meeseek’s advice–everything from “square your shoulders,” “keep your head down,” to “you gotta relax”–to which (later) he responds: “Have you ever tried to relax? It is a paradox!”–which, again, reveals something about his personality–he tries, he believes in trying, and this is the main crux of his problem: it means he can’t relax. But in golf, the key is to relax–only by enjoying the game, or anything, and taking it easy does one perform well. This is also why Beth’s and Summer’s requests are so easy to fulfill–by going with the flow, they are able to relax, making the Meeseek’s end of the job simple. Ultimately, Rick was right–the Meeseeks aren’t Gods–they can only do so much–but it requires the cooperation of the other to fully meet the latter’s request, and if the latter can’t follow through, even the simplest of requests can’t be fulfilled.
In fact, Jerry’s inability to relax is the impetus for the whole premise of “Meeseeks and Destroy”–the Meeseeks assigned to help Jerry with his golf game gets a little desperate to achieve his goal–you see, Meeseeks have one motive and one motive only–to end their existence–and they know that the only way to do so is to fulfill the request of their summoner–for after that, they disappear. Existence is painful to a Meeseeks, but at least the pain is only experienced after a certain amount of prolonged existence–at first, they seem fine with being brought into existence, but the hope is that the request asked of them will be easy to fulfill, for then they don’t have to spend too much time existing. But in Jerry’s case, everything the Meeseeks advises seems to fail. So the Meeseeks takes an extra measure: he summons a Meeseeks for himself:
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6rSqFM2pAQU[/youtube]
Now while all this is going on, Morty is trying to win a bet. Rick is being pretty honorable, keeping his word and letting Morty call the shots (though still dishing out rude sarcasm at every turn), but the adventure is starting out pretty lame. It starts out kind of comical, actually–the setting is a medieval village with a flute and a lyre playing in the background, like something out of a children’s fantasy book, with dragons, sorcerers, and giant bean stocks–in fact, Morty calls it a “quest,” not an “adventure”.
This is Morty’s idea of what an adventure should be–something simple and easy–no life threatening “demonic alien spirits”–you know, something he can handle. Rick, on the other hand, is totally unimpressed. They do find a giant atop a magic bean stock, however, whom they are told has riches that could bring the villagers they first encountered out of their poverty (remember: this is Morty calling the shots). But this is where things start to get a little hairy. When the giant comes stomping into the room uttering the quintessential giant slogan “Fe fi fo fum…” they hide behind a giant cookie jar and Rick says, holding up his portal gun, “I’ll take us home right now, you just say the word.” However, Morty doesn’t give up so easily. He says, “No way Rick, this is all part of it. Adventures have conflict–deal with it.” ← So it’s not like Morty buckles under the slightest pressure. He knows he’s up against a challenge and he knows he has to stick it out, so he presses on.
Rick does keep putting the offer on the table though: he keeps reminding Morty, through the episode, that at any time, if things get too hairy, he can take them both back home with his portal gun. Morty keeps declining the offer, however, and keeps going. In a sense, this serves as a kind of “safety net”–like training wheels on a bike; though Morty keeps declining, he knows he can bail any time he wants–unlike if he were alone, or unlike if he were Rick on one of his adventures (yes, Rick always has his portal gun too–sort of–kind of–but as we will learn later in the series, the threats that loom over Rick’s life are cross-dimensional and can’t be made to go away by jumping through a portal).
Anyway, as I said, in the giant’s fortress is where things get hairy–right after his quintessential giant utterance–“Fe fi fo fum”–the unexpected happens (and this is key–the unexpected–for the adventure at this point takes a turn completely away from any formulaic fairy tale)–the giant slips on a patch of water on the ground, hits his head on the corner of the table, and bleeds to death on the floor–quite graphic for a children’s fairy tale–and I think this is the impression the writer’s wanted us to have: that of a bit of shock. I mean, it’s nothing compared to some of the more gruesome and violent movie scenes that most adults are used to, but this is why I say it’s the unexpected that is key. We certainly don’t expect this fairy tale adventure to feature blood gushing out of a giant’s head as he bleeds to death all over the floor–would you read such a fairy tale to your children?–and because we don’t expect that, we are unprepared, caught off guard, and thus the scene does shock us just a little more than usual.
This is, I would think, what we are to presume Morty experiences–Morty’s reaction is that of slightly more heightened shock compared to his “deal with it” just a moment before (even though, ironically, the threat is now extinguished)–and it is a sort of testament to the character of reality: fairy tales tell us how adventures are supposed to pan out, reality doesn’t care–and yes, they are in an alternate reality, but no less a reality than any other. The point here, I think, is that even if you had the ability to jump to any reality you want, escape whatever hardship you want, you will never escape reality’s thwarting of your expectations. So long as it as a reality, it will dictate its terms on you, not the other way around.
Well, if Morty thinks at this point that things can’t get any hairier, they do: the giant’s wife comes in carrying their now fatherless baby (adding to the impression that this is no children’s fairy tale) and says “Oh Jesus, Dale!.. You sons of bitches!” and traps them in a drinking glass. Scene cuts to Rick and Morty getting mug shots in a giant police ward. The mood is swiftly turned inside out–from exciting fairy tale adventure to serious trouble. They are now in a very sticky bind from which it is almost certain they can’t escape (Rick’s portal gun is confiscated, in fact). Rick, as usual, isn’t phased by this–he simply continues with the sarcasm and digs into Morty: “Oh boy, Morty, you’re really showing me how it’s done. Reee–burp–aaal straight forward and fun.”
But reality can be just as merciful as it can be cruel–just before it seems the duo are doomed to spend the rest of their lives in giant prison, a giant lawyer from a “tiny person’s advocacy group” enters the court and produces a motion to dismiss on the grounds that Rick and Morty were never read their rights. Lucky break! Again, it’s not so much that reality is harsh, it’s that it defies expectation.
And to be fair to Morty, at no point did he lose his cool or his optimism–even after the judge announced his (unofficial) opinion that the two were guilty, Morty says to Rick: “We’re gonna be okay, Rick.”
Now on their way back down (the court is still up in the clouds), they stop in a tavern cut into the side of the steps (they’re climbing down a giant set of stairs) to take a break. Morty digs into Rick at the table–kind of a moment of cheering for the underdog in my opinion–that is, in the sense that Rick had it coming and Morty is in the right to tell Rick off:
“You keep heckling my adventure Rick! You know why?! [Uh, because it’s lame?] It’s because you’re petty, you know?! How many times have I had to follow you into some nonsensical bull crap?! I always roll with the punches, Rick! Why can’t you?!”
Morty makes a pretty good point here. He does always roll with the punches, the best he can. But Rick here is going out of his way to be snide and pessimistic. At the beginning, when the adventure was innocent and relatively harmless, Rick called it lame; when they were in the thick of danger, seemingly with no way out, Rick blamed Morty for fucking up, and now that they’re free of all that due to a stroke of luck, relaxing at a pub, Rick is still calling Morty’s adventure lame. No matter what happens, Rick refuses to play fair. Rick really does owe Morty something here. If not just a little respect, then some show of good sportsmanship for the fact that they got through the thick of it–and it was pretty damn thick–without Morty giving up. But this is Rick refusing to swallow his pride, which is not much more than we can expect from him.
Anyway, Morty takes a break to go to the bathroom where he meets Mr. Jelly Bean (literally a giant walking talking jelly bean). After explaining to Mr. Jelly Bean that he and his grandpa are on an adventure but he thinks it might have gone too far off the rails, Mr. Jelly Bean says “Isn’t that what adventures do?” Morty replies “Hey, you know what? You’re right. Everything’s going fine. I just gotta relax and go with the flow.” Now, although this is a sound point–kinda the whole gist of the episode–things once again get a little hairy at this point–really hairy–in fact, I’m inclined to say Morty finally learns a lesson here that highlights the irony of what he just said: everything’s going fine because adventures are supposed to go off the rails. ← He doesn’t get it. Imagine yourself on a train and it’s going off the rails. Is everything going “fine”? Yes, adventures are supposed to go off the rails, but that doesn’t make them fine. The point of an adventure is that things don’t go fine–things go South, things become not okay–you must be afraid, you must be traumatized, you must reach that breaking point at which you just want out (wishing you had a portal gun)–what Morty doesn’t get is that if you’re having fun, that’s not quite the idea of an adventure (though it will very much seem like it). So far Morty has managed to keep it together, to stay positive and in control (at least of his determination)–he hasn’t reached his “freaking out” point–which means he hasn’t really experienced an actual adventure–he hasn’t yet lost control, he hasn’t yet given up his conviction that things are going the way they’re “supposed” to (i.e. how he expects them to)–yet the message he takes home from Mr. Jelly Bean is that just because adventures are supposed to go off the rails that means things are okay–which is a complete oxymoron if you think about it.
This is what Mr. Jelly Bean subsequently challenges–not that this is his intention, but that he puts Morty into a position in which he can’t possibly think of this as okay, a position that compels Morty to regard it as something that should never happen again. What does Mr. Jelly Bean do? He attempts to rape Morty. He begins by trying to persuade Morty to “go with the flow” which, if Morty new what he was talking about just a second ago, he would just do in order to make this a “proper adventure”. But the thought of being raped doesn’t even show up on Morty’s radar as something that’s “supposed” to happen on an adventure, so he is compelled to resist. Mr. Jelly Bean pushes him into one of the stalls, telling him “Stop being such a fucking tease, you sweet little twat!” (<-- yeah, not really a child’s fairy tale anymore).
Morty is in a position now in which he has no training wheels–no portal gun with which he can escape to a different reality, no protective mentor like Rick to swoop in and rescue him–he’s pretty much fucked (well, not yet but pretty soon). Where is Rick right now? He’s out at the bar having a good time (believe it or not)–there’s a brief scene while this is going on in which Rick is singing on stage: “Sweet home Alabama!”–and then later, reaping in his winnings at a lucky hand of poker with the pub locals.
^ It’s a real contrast of irony–both are learning valuable lessons here: Morty, that adventures can’t always be all fun and games if they are to be adventures at all, and Rick, that adventures can’t just be all misery and cynicism, that you’ve gotta have a little fun sometimes and (in this case literally) make a game out of it.
Luckily for Morty, he gets out of it by (basically) beating the shit out of Mr. Jelly Bean. This is not so much Morty “dealing with it” but Morty reacting to survival instincts. He manages to knock Mr. Jelly Bean out by repeatedly slamming his head on the rim of the toilet with the toilet seat. Then he leaves the bathroom.
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T8sf8zpwb8M[/youtube]
Morty reconvenes with Rick, who is winning at a game of poker with the locals, and immediately, the first words out of Rick are: “Oh hey Morty, listen, I’m really sorry about all the stuff I said earlier about your adventure earlier. I’m having a good time, Morty. It’s not so bad.” to which Morty responds: “Let’s just go home, okay? I’m calling it. The adventure’s over.” ← It’s interesting as both character’s, in this brief interim, have completely done a 180 in their respective attitudes. As Morty admits defeat in the bet and asks to be taken home via Rick’s portal gun, Rick catches a glimpse of Mr. Jelly Bean stumbling out of the bathroom and wondering off (as if not wanting to draw attention). It’s obvious from Rick’s discerning eye that he’s putting together what just happened: Morty seems obviously defeated and is admitting that he lost the bet while this Mr. Jelly Bean stumbles out of the washroom looking all beat up: they must have had an altercation in the washroom (not sure if Rick infers attempted rape per se) and that Morty has evidently learned a lesson, the lesson that Rick wanted him to learn. So being in the good mood that Rick is already in, and finally being able to take in the satisfaction that Morty has learned this valuable lesson about the nature of adventures (I’m not going to say: because he won the bet), he shows a bit of compassion for Morty and actually goes out of his way to be a good sport:
Rick: “Listen Morty, I just won a bunch of Schmeckles. Why don’t we use 25 of them to pay Slippery Stair her for a ride back down to the village and we’ll give the rest of the schmeckles to the villagers, huh?”
Morty: “Really?”
Rick: “Sure Morty, yeah. You know, a good adventure needs a good ending.”
(According to reddit.com/r/rickandmorty/c … alue_of_a/, this is the proper spelling of “schmeckles”.)
This is interesting, not only because Rick is now calling Morty’s adventure “good” but because, all of a sudden, when Rick is in a good mood, and in charge, the resolution to the adventure becomes obvious, plain in sight. While Morty was talking about getting some treasure somehow, from somewhere, right before they faced the ominous giants steps down, Rick conjures up a simple and elegant solution right there on the spot as soon as he feels motivated to do so (plus an easy way to get down the steps to boot).
Now back to the parallel story about Jerry’s difficulty with his golf swing, the problem has multiplied beyond control. The original Meeseeks summoned to help Jerry with his problem has set off a chain reaction whereby each new Meeseeks that the one before summons to aid in the problem summons another Meeseeks of his own. I haven’t counted, but looking at the clips of the Meeseeks all gathered together in the Smith’s living room, I’d say there are at least 20 of them–none of whom can make any more headway than the other in their ultimate goal to knock 2 strokes off Jerry’s golf game. They are gathered together in angst over the fact that none of them can grant Jerry his request–and this is a big deal to a Meeseeks–they’ve been in existence for quite while in Meeseeks time, and that means they’re getting desperate. For a Meeseeks, this literally drives them insane.
Before we get to that, however, a little backtracking is in order to explain Beth’s Meeseeks experience (the series has not delved into Beth’s life in nearly as much depth as Jerry’s, Rick’s, or Morty’s at this point, but in this episode, it starts to–apologies to Summer, but the two seasons don’t really present her as a deep character at all). In their effort to make Beth a “more complete woman,” she and her Meeseeks have a meaningful talk over a glass of wine over lunch at some fancy restaurant. Beth summarizes her life story to the Meeseeks:
Beth: “I got pregnant at 17 [with Summer]. And I still put myself through veterinary school. Yes, I’m successful, but… what if I hadn’t… I’m just saying, somewhere along the way, I lost that wide-eyed girl from Muskegon.”
Meeseeks: “She’s still there, Beth.”
Beth: “Well… her waistline isn’t. [snicker]”
Meeseeks: “Beth [grabs her hand], having a family doesn’t mean you stop being an individual. You know the best thing you can do for people who depend on you? Be honest with them, even if it means setting them free.”
Beth: “[tearing up] You’re saying I should leave Jerry. [The Meeseeks didn’t say anything of the sort–Beth just added that in.] I can’t believe I’m finally having this conversation.”
Beth leans in to kiss the Meeseeks only for him to disappear just before it happens, signifying that he fulfilled his purpose. Beth’s words are very telling: she’s finally having this conversation, as if it had been repressed this whole time, as if it’s what she’s always needed to set herself free–to become a more complete woman. However, like Jerry in the simulation of M. Night Shaym-Aliens when he got himself fired, then re-hired, then promoted, then nominated, and finally got himself an award for his Hungry for Apples slogan, Beth has no idea how much she drew herself to this conclusion; the Meeseeks are very simple–they don’t have all the answers, but they are very good at nudging you in the right direction such that, as long as you go with the flow that they initiate, you can, with a bit of effort, fulfill your own request.
Anyway, back to Jerry’s storyline: as he and the army of Meeseeks in the Smith’s living room are working painstakingly on Jerry’s golf game, Beth walks in with a killer dress on and her purse strapped over her shoulder. She informs Jerry that she’s going out for dinner, and asks:
“Do you want me to be happy or do you want me to be in prison?” ← Symbolic for leaving the marriage: Beth wants to leave the house (the marriage), in which case she’ll be by herself but happy, which is better than together with Jerry in a prison.
Jerry, being caught off guard, offers to take her out. She doesn’t seem all that appreciative, responding with a sigh of annoyance when he says “I’ll be right there.” ← A bit mean spirited if you ask me, but this is very characteristic of their marriage. The Meeseeks, in response to this, aren’t very appreciative either–the last thing they want is to wait for Jerry to come back from a date with his wife before they continue with his golf lesson. So while they’re gone, the Meeseeks consort together to figure out what to do about this oh-so-serious problem:
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4kYSYASpNiw[/youtube]
^ So yeah, long story short: they go to war with each other, tearing limb from limb, and then finally concur on the consensus that if they just kill Jerry, they will get all strokes off his game (not just two). ← Desperate indeed!
Cut to the scene at the restaurant with Beth and Jerry. Beth talks about taking the trip she always wanted to take–to Italy or Greece–to which Jerry responds: “Countries known for their sexually aggressive men.” ← Not sure what the idea is here, but I think it’s supposed to convey that Jerry doesn’t want to let Beth go.
Suddenly, the Meeseeks come barging in (the lead one literally barges through the window on a white horse), some with weapons including a gun. They shoot at Jerry and Beth. Beth yells: “Run Jerry!” and takes the lead in a dash to the kitchen. She opens the door to the meat locker, allowing Jerry to go in first. They lock themselves in. Like terrorists stipulating their demands, the Meeseeks take several customers hostage. The lead Meeseeks says:
“Meeseeks are not born into this world fumbling for meaning, Jerry! We are created to serve a singular purpose for which we will go to any lengths to fulfill!”
^ What this says about the difference between a human being and Meeseeks is that humans don’t really know their purpose–they “fumble” their whole lives looking for it, never knowing for sure whether they’ve grasped it or not. Meeseeks, on the other hand, know for certain the minute they are created. The question raised by this is: would humans to go to any lengths to fulfill their purpose if they could know for certain what it is? If so, it means Rick didn’t have to build into the Meeseeks this extreme determination, this resolve, in order for Meeseeks to be so motivate to fulfill their purpose–they just need to know what it is (which itself doesn’t have to be built in: as soon as they are creator, their summoner simply tells them what their purpose is–can’t be any more clear than that).
After Jerry despairs a bit about how innocent people are going to die because of his mediocrity, Beth takes charge. She rips a pillar from a nearby food shelf and hands it to Jerry. She instructs him in a commanding tone:
“Jerry, turn around! Straighten your back! Bend your knees, bend them! Square your shoulders. Take a deep breath… [and whispers into his ear] I love you.”
^ These three words are the trigger he needs to “man up”. He is suddenly infused with confidence–manliness surges through his veins. He kicks the meat locker door open, steps out with the look of a man who’s in control of the situation, and with a tomato in hand, puts it on the ground and using the shelf pillar Beth handed him as a golf club, swings at the tomato sinking a hole in one as it lands squarely in a pot on the kitchen table. After exclaiming a unanimous “oooh!”, the Meeseeks, one by one, disappear in the reverse order they were created (all but one who claims to be a stickler Meeseeks because Jerry technically didn’t prove his short game, but this is no problem for Jerry in his (temporary) state of confidence: he simply putts an onion into a coffee cup lying on its side on the ground).
^ This is what I meant earlier when I said this is the first episode in the series in which Jerry “mans up” but not in the full sense of the word. Just as Morty requires training wheels to have his first successful adventure (sort of, kind of), Jerry too needs training wheels to sort of, kind of become a man–those wheels being Beth and the words uttered from her lips: “I love you.” ← It shows that though Jerry is capable of being a man, he still needs that little bit of external validation to do it–he needs to know that someone else loves him; he cannot do it on his own.
This is followed by a passionate kiss between Jerry and Beth–really passionate as Beth moans in a genuine way that says she was “aroused” by Jerry’s show of manhood. ← It kind of says that the potential for true manhood that is there in Jerry is matched by the potential for their marriage to be salvaged–and this is not the first time we will see this in their marriage.
Rick and Morty’s adventure ends with both returning to the villagers cheering their praises as Morty hands the shmeckles to them. Rick says to Morty:
Rick: “Good job, Morty. Looks like you won the bet.”
Morty: “Thanks Rick, but I don’t know if I should. You know, you were right about the universe. It’s a crazy and chaotic place.”
Rick: “Well, you know, maybe that’s why it could use a little cleaning up every now and then, you know. This one’s wrapped up neat and clean because we did it Morty style.”
^ So here we are at the end, each of the two main characters echoing the other’s attitude from earlier, each one learning valuable lessons from the other, learning to be more like the other. And again, we see that rare side of Rick that betrays a bit of compassion and bonding with his grandson.
When one of the villagers offers to introduce them to their king, who happens to be… drum roll… Mr. Jelly Bean, Morty urges Rick to use his portal gun to get them out of there. Rick, having no qualms with this request, promptly does so. And just before the portal closes after them, Rick reaches his gun back through the portal and shoots Mr. Jelly Bean, blowing him up into a plastered mess of blue jelly goo all over the villagers. (There’s no indication that this is done on behalf of Morty’s request, so we are lead to presume Rick did out of a person desire to avenge his grandson.)
The episode ends with Beth and Jerry in their torn living room (due to the Meeseeks war) talking about their marriage:
Beth: “Jerry, look, we don’t have a perfect marriage, but I’m not going anywhere. When we were in that freezer, I realized that the Meeseeks are like the guys I went to high school with: willing to say anything to complete their task.”
Jerry: “Was I one of those guys?”
Beth: “The difference is, you didn’t disappear afterwards. [hugs him]”
Jerry: “Well, I got you pregnant.”
Beth: “Yeeeaaah.”
This is pretty characteristic of Jerry and Beth’s relationship, particularly Beth’s feelings towards Jerry. On the one hand, she does want to leave him, but there will be moments in the series like this one in which something happens that rekindles some of the passion she once felt for Jerry, and this keeps her in a kind of bind–unable to escape like being hooked to something that isn’t good for you. This is not an uncommon psychological phenomenon, and we’re all familiar with it. You see it often in children when they get into tiffs with each other: little Toby says “I’m never gonna be friends with you again!” but the next day, Toby and his friend are playing freely as if nothing happened. We get into these moods that make things seem so ultimate–like I just want out of this relationship and I’ll clearly be happier once it’s over–but the mood shifts, it swings the other way, and then we reflect on our thoughts a moment ago: I was silly to think I wanted out of this relationship or that I’d be happier if it were over. Beth seems to be caught in something like this. She has mixed feelings, but she can’t feel both feelings in the mix simultaneously. Thus, she either feels one emotion–disgust for Jerry–and is seduced by it into thinking that’s all there is to the story–or she feels the other emotion–love–and is seduced by that into thinking her marriage to Jerry is worth saving.
Then Morty and Rick come waltzing in. Rick makes a snide comment about cleaning the place up followed by his new catch phrase:
“Wubalubadubdub!”
^ The only reason this is worthy of mention is that, despite its meaninglessness on the surface, this catch phrase turns out to have a deep meaning which “Bird Person” (a character introduced later in the series) explains to Morty.
But that’s it for this episode. Now you know why I say it’s a little different than just another isolated adventure. This one’s sort of doing a “meta-analysis” on adventures and making a statement on not only the universe being a crazy chaotic place but on what it’s like for Rick being the lead in this action seeking, adventure going duo. Yes, he drags Morty through hellish situations, yes he puts Morty’s life at risk, but to a certain extent, it’s really life itself doing it to them both. Morty, in a sense, is damn lucky to have Rick around who is not only capable of getting him out of sticky situations but can do so with exceptional ease given his brilliance. Like Rick always being there to offer Morty a quick escape with his portal gun, we have to question whether Morty is really ever in any serious danger after all. Things may not always go as Rick plans, he may not always do the responsible thing, but he can fix any situations as quickly as he can mess it up. ← But this last point is what will come into question in the next episode.
Now for some final, randomly scattered, thoughts:
Mr. Jelly Bean and the Meeseeks: they seem very similar in certain ways. Both blue for one thing, but also sweet and innocent seeming on the outside, but dangerously psychotic on the inside (at least in the Meeseeks case, that psychopathy had to wait for a level of desperation to be reached, but they did eventually try to kill Jerry and terrorized a bunch of innocent people in the process). ← I doubt there’s anything to this, but the thought did come to mind.
There’s also the Frankenstein’s monster theme that re-appears in this episode. The Meeseeks are Rick’s invention, like the Frankenstein monster, but like Victor Frankenstein, it’s questionable whether we can say that Rick recognizes, or cares for, his responsibility for them. How responsible is it to create a creature whose shear existence brings it great pain? Mind you, if the request made of the Meeseeks is simple and can be fulfilled in a timely manner, there appears to be minimal pain suffered by the Meeseeks, and maybe this is Rick’s intention: to never burden a Meeseeks with unreasonable or exceptionally difficult requests (I doubt it, but maybe). But even if that’s how Rick consistently intends to treat a Meeseeks, the question remains about whether it was responsible for him to hand over the Meeseeks box to his family without giving any thought to the torture they might end up putting the Meeseeks under (and consequently the damage the Meeseeks could end up doing). But it isn’t like Rick to take responsibility for his mistakes and the damage he advertently or inadvertently causes; he is far more likely to blame someone else. The theme of the Frankenstein monster and Rick’s stubbornness to take responsibility will be especially played out in the next episode: Rick Potion #9.
Now I caught what might have been a minor goof on the part of the writers, but maybe not: the tiny person’s advocate actually called it their “giant rights”–which would imply they don’t apply to tiny persons. I would chock this up to a goof on the part of the writers if it weren’t for the fact that the insertion of “giant” in “giant rights” seems superfluous and unnecessary–i.e. it seems like it would have to be deliberate if it is to be inserted at all–did it simply slip into the script or was that on purpose as a kind of slight of hand to add a hidden underhanded twist?
Finally, the steps scene: this is actually kind of a “boring” scene, and Morty says something interesting in response to another one of Rick’s hecklings: “All right, okay, if this was a story, this part wouldn’t be included, stupid.” ← In Morty’s mind, not only aren’t adventures supposed to be crazy and chaotic but they aren’t supposed to have boring parts either. And he makes a good point that if this were the kind of adventure you read in stories, the boring parts would simply be left out. But again, the point is that you can’t just erase boring parts from reality.
Oh, one more thing: at the start of this post, I said: “(personally, I thought this would be a prelude to every season–you know, one episode in every season being Morty’s–but season 2 proved this wrong)” ← But in the course of writing this post, I started wondering if the reason one episode in ever season didn’t turn out to be Morty’s is because, in reality, Morty actually lost the bet. Yes, Rick told Morty that he won the bet, but that might have been Rick humoring his grandson (you know, in a moment of affection). In reality, maybe they both knew that Morty lost the bet. ← But maybe that’s just stupid. After all, why would the writers “hint” at one episode in every season being Morty’s only to make it so that one episode in every season won’t be Morty’s?
Now, as usual, here are a list of philosophical topics to choose from:
What is an adventure really? What is an adventure “supposed” to be? On the one hand, if you went through a series of trials and mishaps but found it fun and exhilarating, you might call that an “adventure”–and there would be nothing wrong with this word usage–but would it be the kind of adventure you could tell as a story and have listeners on the edge of their seats? The kinds of adventures that really grip us, that we see in action movies–like Star Wars, Indiana Jones, Terminator–would most likely have you traumatized if you were the protagonist and were forced to go through it in real life.
How crazy and chaotic is the universe really? Though this seems to be the main message of this episode, I think the writers were milking it little. They took what’s possible in the universe in principle and seemed to sell it as what happens all the time. So yes, things like getting raped, accidentally slipping and cracking your head open, being wrongly accused and sent to jail are all possible, but how often do things like this really happen in ordinary people’s lives? Is everyone’s life really that crazy and chaotic? Or is this a misunderstanding of the point of this episode? Is the point rather that though life, for the most part, is relatively comfortable and predictable, it’s not on account of the universe caring for our safety and well-being. The universe is indifferent and will allow whatever to happen in our lives if that is the course of events that must unfold. We cannot impose our expectations of how life should be onto reality–rather reality, if we’re lucky, grants us our expectations, and if we’re not so lucky, outright thwarts them.
Knowing one’s purpose in life: what effect does that have on the quality of one’s life? In the Meeseek’s case, the purpose of their lives is crystal clear from the start–their summoner simply tells them straight up–but as we see, this can lead to great tribulation if the purpose proves cruelly difficult to fulfill. Is a good quality life, then, one in which there is no purpose? One in which a person doesn’t care for his or her purpose, or if there is one? ← In this case, there is never anything left unfulfilled, nothing needing to be made right–so in a sense, there’s never anything wrong with the world, and one can just relax and enjoy life.
How much do we seek out and come to rely on magic wands to solve our problems or make the efforts of life easier? Recall that the only reason Rick gave the Meeseeks box to his family was because they all came barging in making petty requests of him, requests they could have easily fulfilled themselves if they just put a little effort in. Mind you, the requests they subsequently made of the Meeseeks were different, and in Beth’s and Summer’s cases, not so simple to fulfill, at least on the surface. But that’s beside the point. The point is–if a magic wand were sudden dropped into our laps with which we could accomplish whatever we wanted, who would put it aside in favor of putting ordinary human effort into achieving our goals, desires, and life dreams? And is that a good thing or a bad thing?
^ I feel this episode should afford a few more topics, but I think that other than these three, the other topics would be one’s we’ve touched on already–for example, the need for external vs. internal validation, trying too hard having paradoxical results, how much we might be inventing our own realities without realizing it, etc., but this is a discussion forum: bring up any philosophical topic you want.
Don’t worry, I’ll do the work. I’m downloading both seasons as we speak (on a different computer I can re-format any time I want). I’ll do 2 or 3 virus scans on them, then upload them to my own website.
).
. The baby comes out on a conveyor belt and moves them into a crib looking thingy. Marsha explains: “The females are placed into an educational programs where they can discover a service to our paradise that fulfills them most…” We see a male baby Gazorpian drop into the device, it flashes the male symbol 
, and the baby comes out onto a different conveyor belt and into a giant sling shot. “The males” Marsha continues, “…they get to play outside,” and the baby gets flung through a tube to the outside.
). Taken to extremes, they may become so polarized in their ways that it will determine their evolutionary path, making their flaws genetically hard wired. And why wouldn’t they become polarized? All they have to learn from is each other (I believe psychologists call this effect: group think). Each member of the group reinforces the flaws of that same group. What happens, in contrast, to a society in which men and women are mixed together is that we water down each other’s extremes and faults. The result is not just that women can (sometimes) find the humor in men farting but that men can learn to be better fathers, to care for their offspring, to understand the value of altruism as opposed to conquering the enemy. What Rick sees here is an appreciation on the part of each sex for the other, and this signals to him that the inter-mingling of the sexes, the close intimate contact, is (so far) still working.
