Rick and morty analysis

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Show created by Dan Harmon and Justin Roiland
Episodes:
2x4 Total Rickall
3x3 Pickle Rick
Written by Robert Smith

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Episode 2x4.
Total Rickall.
This episode is written based on Dan Harmon’s story wheel. The wheel has eight joints. The
story wheel is used in a large amount of films. This is also used in a large amount of sitcoms.
The first joint in the wheel is labelled “comfort”. This is the perfect place to begin. It presents
the character at ease and shows their natural behavior on a day to day basis. In this episode of
Rick and Morty, it shows the main family which consists of 5 characters, however instead of
Rick, one of the two main protagonists. We see a man called Steve, he is quickly introduced
as a kind uncle who loves his family, he is represented by Summer, Morty’s sister as “The
best uncle ever”. This automatically makes the audience feel safe and at ease, even though
they are faced with a character they have never seen or heard of. All of the family, who
usually have some kind of problem to deal with, are very much at ease and seem to be very
much enjoying each other’s company.
ENTER RICK
This is when Rick, the smartest of the Smith family enters and changes the context of the
scene. Rick pulls out a laser gun and shoots Steve in the head. His body changes into an alien
and the Smith family goes ballistic. Rick reveals that Steve was in fact and alien parasite and
was trying to take over the planet. This scene has very close connotations of one of Alfred
Hitchcock’s film making techniques. This resembles the “bomb under the table theory”. The
scene is calm, almost boring and cheerful. We, as the audience suspect nothing of it and we
go along with it thinking that it is just a normal, friendly scene. Then when Rick intervenes
and explains the situation, we are left with the information that the Smith family were just
dealing with an alien parasite. This changes the context of the scene and changes the overall

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tone of the episode. This is where the second joint of the wheel arrives. Need. This
demonstrates that the character’s that we’ve previously met are not as satisfied as we
previously believed. We previously thought that they have had a perfect morning and a great
life. Now that we know about the parasites we know that they’re not satisfied, we now realize
there are problems in the household that still have to be ironed out before the end of the
episode. The audience is left wondering how this situation is going to be sorted out. This
leaves the audience concerned and and wanting to carry on watching. Statistically members
of the audience judge the episode in the 1-3 minutes during teaser. The teaser is the opening
scene before the opening credits. This is why it is very effective to introduce the problems
that the protagonists have to face before the opening credits.
OPENING CREDITS.
After the opening credits it becomes the third joint in the wheel. This is when the
protagonist(s) enter an unfamiliar situation. This is when Rick is explaining the details of the
parasites and starts taking necessary precautions. Rick explains that the parasites enter
through people’s memories. This is when we experience multiple memories through the
Smith family’s point of view. From Rick’s explanation of the situation we can tell that every
time there is a memory we know that a new character is going to appear. This tells the
audience that there is going to be a lot of “whacky and zany” characters appearing in this
episode.
The fourth joint in the wheel is then the protagonists adapt to the new situation. This happens
to every single one of the characters. Whenever a new character shows up, one of the main
character refers to them by name and gets along with them. Even though all of the characters
have been informed of the situation, they all still act like nothing bad is happening and they
act like some of the new ridiculous characters are real. For example: the character named
“reverse giraffe” asks Beth. “How many times have I been a shoulder for you to cry on?”

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And Beth replies. “oh too many” This shows the audience that the original characters are
believing the parasites lies and giving into the situation.
The fifth joint in the wheel shows the protagonists getting what they want: To be rid of the
parasites. They realize this when Morty figures out that the parasites can only create pleasant
memories. However this ties in with the sixth joint, paying a price for getting what they
want. This forces the protagonists think about all of the bad things each of the other members
of the family have done to each other. Although the characters may seem pleasant toward
each other however all of the characters are clearly broken up because of the unpleasant
memories that they experienced. The seventh joint in the story wheel is when the main
protagonist(s) return to their normal life. This is when we see the aftermath of the situation
and the parasites are gone. This is when we see that some of the Smith family such as Terry
and Beth, remember some of the parasites fondly. Beth says “I need time to forget Sleepy
Gary”. This shows the audience that even though the family have realized that “sleepy Gary”
is fake and he never actually existed in their real life they still miss him. It’s clear that Beth
sees Sleepy Gary as a better version of Jerry and the husband that she wishes she had. So
when Sleepy Gary is gone and Beth is left with Jerry again. She has no option but to ride it
out yet she still takes the time to tell Jerry that she needs a break to forget about him. This
joint smoothly transitions into the final part of the story wheel. This joint is when the
protagonist(s) show that they have changed from the experience they just went through. We
can see this through the character’s different reactions. Rick is worried for the future so he
tells everyone to be cautious. This shows that the experience has taught him a lesson. Jerry is
upset because they killed everyone that he remembers fondly. The experience has reminded
Jerry that his family are not good people and now that they have gotten rid of all of the
people that they remembered well, especially sleepy Gary, that they are now stuck with each
other whether they like it or not. Rick then states “at least we’re real”. This tells the audience

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that Rick is very happy that he’s real and that he is not really bothered by the situation. This
tells us that Rick has been through similar situations before and that it has become the norm
for him.

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3x3 Pickle Rick
In the second act of the episode titled “Pickle Rick”, the episode takes on a different theme. It
closely remembers the film John Wick. In the film John Wick, he is considered somewhat of
a legend amongst people. He is nicknamed “Babayaga” which is Russian for “boogeyman”.
This is what people nickname him. He is something to be feared and someone who should
not be messed with or attacked. In this episode Rick accidently enters a government building
whilst he is in the form of a pickle. A man contacts him and states “Some of my men are
calling you Solen’ya. The pickle man, an old wives’ tale”. Much like John Wick this means
that he now has a reputation as a menace and as something to be feared. This can be seen
through the man at the desk’s reaction. He is very shaken up and freezes when he releases
what he is up against. Much like in John Wick the bad guys are absolutely no match for Rick.
Another reference to John Wick, is the main antagonist gets out of their depth and knows his
infantry will not be able to handle the situation. In John Wick, Viggo Tarasov hires a man
named Marcus, a professional assassin, to kill John Wick. This is very similar to this episode
of Rick and Morty. The agency director hires a known criminal “jaguar” to kill Rick. These
similarities are very good examples of intertextuality.

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Production contexts.
The animation for the show is made using Toon Boom. A state of the art animation software
used to make shows such as Family Guy and American Dad. Post production work is done in
Adobe After effects. Background art is created in Photoshop. The animation is handled by
Bardel Entertainment. The production process is quite similar to other shows like The
Simpsons.
Rick and Morty is shown on networks such as Adult swim and it is all on Netflix in most
countries. This allows a lot more people to view it because it is a lot easier to access the show
when it is online.
Fans engage with the show very well. A lot of fans have started posting their love for the
show on social media. There are countless social media pages devoted to Rick and Morty. For
example there is a group on Facebook called “Rick and Morty Swiftposting” This has over
3000 members and it shows that a lot of people have a deep love for the show and want to
express that and share it with others. Many fans show their love by going to conventions and
dressing up as the characters from the show. This represents a very big passion for the show.

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