"Pickle Rick" is the third episode of the
third season of the
Adult Swim
Adult Swim (AS; stylized as dult swim'' and often abbreviated as s'') is an American adult-oriented night-time cable television channel that shares channel space with the basic cable network Cartoon Network and is programmed by its in-house ...
animated television series ''
Rick and Morty
{{Infobox television
, image = Rick and Morty title card (cropped).png
, alt =
, caption =
, genre = {{Plainlist,
* Animated sitcom
* Adult animation
* Science fiction
* Black comedy
* ...
''. Written by
Jessica Gao
Jessica Gao (born January 2, 1984) is an American television writer and producer, who was creator and head writer of the TV series '' She-Hulk: Attorney at Law''. She also worked on the third season of ''Rick and Morty'', writing the episode " P ...
and directed by Anthony Chun, the episode premiered on August 6, 2017. In "Pickle Rick", the eccentric scientist
Rick Sanchez
Rick Sanchez is one of the two eponymous characters from the Adult Swim animated television series ''Rick and Morty'' and resulting franchise. Created by Justin Roiland and Dan Harmon and voiced by the former, Sanchez is a misanthropic alcoh ...
turns himself into a
pickle just as he and his family are scheduled to attend a therapy session. The episode follows Rick's adventures as a pickle and the rest of the family's trip to therapy.
The episode parodies action films and was inspired by the ''
Breaking Bad'' episode "
4 Days Out". In a continuation of the
third season's storyline of Beth and Jerry's divorce, "Pickle Rick" explores Beth's unhealthy relationship with Rick and their views on intelligence and self-improvement. The episode was highly anticipated, with a
rough cut
In filmmaking, the rough cut is the second of three stages of offline editing. The term originates from the early days of filmmaking when film stock was physically cut and reassembled, but is still used to describe projects that are recorded and ...
animation premiering at the 2016
San Diego Comic-Con
San Diego Comic-Con International is a comic book convention and nonprofit multi-genre entertainment event held annually in San Diego, California since 1970. The name, as given on its website, is Comic-Con International: San Diego; but it is ...
, and was watched by 2.3 million viewers when it first aired on Adult Swim.
The episode received positive reviews, with critics praising the animation and design of Pickle Rick, the fight scenes, the performance of guest actor
Danny Trejo
Danny Trejo ( ; born May 16, 1944) is an American actor. He has appeared in films including ''Desperado'', ''Heat'', and the ''From Dusk Till Dawn'' film series. With frequent collaborator and his second cousin Robert Rodriguez, he portrayed ...
(as Jaguar), and the episode's ending. It won ''Rick and Morty'' the 2018
Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Animated Program
The Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Animated Program is a Creative Arts Emmy Award which is given annually to an animated series.
In the following list, the first titles listed in gold are the winners; those not in gold are nominees, which ...
, the show's first Emmy Award. Several merchandise products, particularly of the character Pickle Rick, have been released.
Plot
As
Beth,
Morty, and
Summer prepare for family counseling, Rick informs Morty that he cannot go, having turned himself into a pickle. He denies that he timed the experiment to avoid the counseling session, but the family notices a telltale mechanism rigged to drop a syringe in him soon after they leave. Beth takes the syringe, leaving Rick alone on his workbench.
Rick is knocked off the bench by a cat and then washed into the sewer during a rain shower. Lacking any means of mobility, he bites the head of a cockroach and walks upon its back by stimulating its brain with his tongue. After assembling more cockroaches into a crude exoskeleton, he sets up a lab and upgrades to a
powered exoskeleton
A powered exoskeleton, also known as power armor, powered armor, powered suit, cybernetic suit, cybernetic armor, exosuit, hardsuit, exoframe or augmented mobility, is a mobile machine that is wearable over all or part of the human body, pro ...
made of rat corpses. He escapes the sewer via jetpack into a secure compound, where he kills several guards. The compound's administrator sends a prisoner named Jaguar to fight Rick, but Rick persuades Jaguar to join him, and they escape together in the administrator's helicopter after rigging the compound to explode.
Meanwhile, the therapist Dr. Wong is curious about Rick's absence despite Beth's attempts to shift attention to the children. Wong suggests Beth and Rick's shared aversion to emotion and vulnerability is at the root of the family's problems. As the group is saying
I-messages to communicate their feelings, Rick enters to get the syringe. He admits lying to get out of therapy because he prefers to improve the world through science rather than feel better about it. Wong responds that he uses his scientific intelligence to avoid the necessary work of self-improvement.
On the way home, Rick apologizes to Beth for lying, then uses the syringe to turn back into a human. Morty and Summer express interest in further therapy but Rick and Beth ignore them by mocking Wong and planning to go out drinking.
In a
post-credits scene
A post-credits scene (commonly referred to as a stinger or credit cookie) or mid-credits scene is a short clip that appears after all or some of the closing credits have rolled and sometimes after a production logo of a film, TV series, or video g ...
, the villain Concerto is preparing to kill a restrained Rick and Morty in his gigantic piano, but Jaguar saves them. Rick tells Morty, "that is why you don't go to therapy."
Production
The episode was written by
Jessica Gao
Jessica Gao (born January 2, 1984) is an American television writer and producer, who was creator and head writer of the TV series '' She-Hulk: Attorney at Law''. She also worked on the third season of ''Rick and Morty'', writing the episode " P ...
.
Series creator
Dan Harmon
Daniel James Harmon (born January 3, 1973) is an American writer, producer, and actor. He is best known as the creator and producer of the NBC/Yahoo! Screen sitcom ''Community'' (2009–2015), creator and host of the comedy podcast '' Harmontow ...
said that he thought the concept originated from a writer suggesting an episode beginning with Rick turning himself into a pickle. They discussed his motivation and thought that he would do it "because he could" and to prove something to himself. The therapy subplot was introduced so that the episode would "keep addressing the divorce story of the season".
He also said that the Pickle Rick design is
phallic
A phallus is a penis (especially when Erection, erect), an object that resembles a penis, or a mimesis, mimetic image of an erect penis. In art history a figure with an erect penis is described as ithyphallic.
Any object that symbolically— ...
and "emblematic of self-torture", as Rick is his "own worst enemy" and does this transformation to himself.
"Pickle Rick" was one of Harmon's favorite episodes of the season.
He said that the episode took inspiration from the ''
Breaking Bad'' episode "
4 Days Out", where Walter White's van breaks down in the desert while he is cooking
crystal meth
Methamphetamine (contracted from ) is a potent central nervous system (CNS) stimulant that is mainly used as a recreational drug and less commonly as a second-line treatment for attention deficit hyperactivity disorder and obesity. Methamphe ...
with Jesse; rather than being able to trick or negotiate with anyone, White has to use his science knowledge to survive and restart the van. Harmon thought it was interesting to see Rick in a situation with limited resources.
Writer Ryan Ridley said that the episode is "not a spoof of anything in particular", but it does make reference to the films ''
127 Hours
''127 Hours'' is a 2010 biographical psychological survival drama film co-written, produced and directed by Danny Boyle. The film stars James Franco, Kate Mara, Amber Tamblyn and Clémence Poésy. In the film, canyoneer Aron Ralston mus ...
'' (2010) and ''
Gravity
In physics, gravity () is a fundamental interaction which causes mutual attraction between all things with mass or energy. Gravity is, by far, the weakest of the four fundamental interactions, approximately 1038 times weaker than the stro ...
'' (2013).
During the writing process, Harmon was undergoing a divorce and had entered therapy, which influenced the episode: he said of the speech Dr. Wong gives to Rick, "I don't know if I could've written that two years ago
..I would've made sure Rick got the final word".
The character Dr. Wong was named by Gao, a Chinese writer who had found that unless a character is given a name with racial connotations, the part will be cast as a white person. Gao intended Wong to be played by an Asian actor. Guest star
Susan Sarandon
Susan Abigail Sarandon (; née Tomalin; born October 4, 1946) is an American actorMcCabe, Bruce"Susan Sarandon, the 'actor'" ''Boston Globe''. April 17, 1981. Retrieved January 21, 2021. and activist. She is the recipient of various accolades, ...
was then discovered to be available and given the role of the therapist, whose name was left unchanged. Gao and Harmon discussed this topic in their podcast ''Whiting Wongs'', which is about diversity representation in television; it took its name from this incident.
Character designer Kendra Melton estimated that Pickle Rick's rat suit underwent 100 different design versions. Maximus Pauson, also a character designer, stated that the one used was chosen so it "emphasized the pickle-ness". Harmon commented that initial designs for the rats were "too adorable" considering that Rick murders many of them: Melton said that fur was removed, boils were added and their backs became more arched.
According to Harmon, the writers gave more detailed instructions to animators than for most episodes, in particular "about the process of hacking the cockroach to give Rick mobility".
Release and merchandise
At the 2016
San Diego Comic-Con
San Diego Comic-Con International is a comic book convention and nonprofit multi-genre entertainment event held annually in San Diego, California since 1970. The name, as given on its website, is Comic-Con International: San Diego; but it is ...
, a
rough cut
In filmmaking, the rough cut is the second of three stages of offline editing. The term originates from the early days of filmmaking when film stock was physically cut and reassembled, but is still used to describe projects that are recorded and ...
animation of "Pickle Rick" was released, featuring him in the sewer attacking rats.
As the second season of the show ended with Rick jailed, this led some fans to believe that this was how he would escape, leading to confusion when the third-season premiere was released on April 1, 2017, and showed Rick escaping in a very different way. Three weeks prior to the episode's airing, free Pickle Rick T-shirts and other merchandise were given away at the 2017 San Diego Comic-Con.
Due to the episode's hype prior to its release, including fans getting tattoos of Pickle Rick, Harmon was not surprised by its later popularity.
The episode first aired on
Adult Swim
Adult Swim (AS; stylized as dult swim'' and often abbreviated as s'') is an American adult-oriented night-time cable television channel that shares channel space with the basic cable network Cartoon Network and is programmed by its in-house ...
at 11:30 p.m. on August 6, 2017.
Afterward, a number of merchandise products were released relating to the character Pickle Rick and the overall episode, such as a game,
Funko Pop figures, a
Pringles flavor, a
Frosty drink, a breakfast cereal, and in-game customization for ''
Tom Clancy's Rainbow Six Siege
''Tom Clancy's Rainbow Six Siege'' is an online tactical shooter video game developed by Ubisoft Montreal and published by Ubisoft. It was released worldwide for Microsoft Windows, PlayStation 4, and Xbox One on December 1, 2015; the game was ...
''. The episode commentary on the
Blu-ray
The Blu-ray Disc (BD), often known simply as Blu-ray, is a digital optical disc data storage format. It was invented and developed in 2005 and released on June 20, 2006 worldwide. It is designed to supersede the DVD format, and capable of st ...
DVD was recorded by ''
Game of Thrones'' creators
David Benioff
David Friedman (; born September 25, 1970), known professionally as David Benioff (), is an American writer, director and producer. Along with his collaborator D. B. Weiss, he is best known as co-creator and showrunner of '' Game of Thrones'' (2 ...
and
D.B. Weiss
Daniel Brett Weiss (; born April 23, 1971) is an American television writer, director, and producer. Along with his collaborator David Benioff, he is best-known as co-creator of '' Game of Thrones'' (2011–2019), the HBO adaptation of George R. ...
, and
Peter Dinklage
Peter Hayden Dinklage (; born June 11, 1969) is an American film, television and stage actor. He received international recognition for portraying Tyrion Lannister on the HBO television series ''Game of Thrones'' (2011–2019), for which he ...
, who played
Tyrion Lannister
Lord Tyrion Lannister, also known by the nicknames the Halfman or the Imp and the alias Hugor Hill, is a fictional character in the ''A Song of Ice and Fire'' series of epic fantasy novels by American author George R. R. Martin, and its televis ...
in the series. The comic ''Rick and Morty Presents: The Vindicators #1'' features an alternate Pickle Rick as a member of the
titular team; ''Rick and Morty Presents: Pickle Rick #1'' depicts an alternate version of the events of the episode as a long commercial for "Thunderous Squirt Xtreme" starring the character
Mr. Poopybutthole. ''Rick and Morty Presents: Jaguar #1'' follows the character
Jaguar as he reunites with his family.
Analysis
Unlike the previous two episodes in the season, "Pickle Rick" is set entirely on Earth, but like those episodes, it explores Beth and Jerry's divorce. This marks a change for the show, which previously had little storyline continuity.
Jenny Jaffe of ''
Vulture
A vulture is a bird of prey that scavenges on carrion. There are 23 extant species of vulture (including Condors). Old World vultures include 16 living species native to Europe, Africa, and Asia; New World vultures are restricted to North and ...
'' described the episode as an instance of how ''Rick and Morty'' "likes to back itself into corners with the world's dumbest ideas and execute them in the absolute smartest ways".
A number of reviewers commented on the violence: for instance, Jesse Schedeen of ''
IGN
''IGN'' (formerly ''Imagine Games Network'') is an American video game and entertainment media website operated by IGN Entertainment Inc., a subsidiary of Ziff Davis, Inc. The company's headquarters is located in San Francisco's SoMa distri ...
'' said that it contained "a level of blood and gore" matching the season two episode "
Look Who's Purging Now
The second season of the animated television series ''Rick and Morty'' originally aired on Cartoon Network's late night programming block Adult Swim in the United States on July 26, 2015 with "A Rickle in Time", and concluded on October 4 with " ...
".
''
IndieWire
IndieWire (sometimes stylized as indieWIRE or Indiewire) is a film industry and review website that was established in 1996. The site's focus was predominantly independent film, although its coverage has grown to "to include all aspects of Holl ...
''s Steve Greene stated that the episode "reached some new levels of grotesquery" even compared to the violence of Rick's car while protecting Summer in "
The Ricks Must Be Crazy".
Jack Shepherd of ''
The Independent
''The Independent'' is a British online newspaper. It was established in 1986 as a national morning printed paper. Nicknamed the ''Indy'', it began as a broadsheet and changed to tabloid format in 2003. The last printed edition was publish ...
'' wrote that the episode parodies
1980s action films in the storyline with Russian mobsters and their English leader,
and Schedeen believed that it parodies "hyper-violent action films" and the
''John Wick'' film series.
Joe Matar of ''
Den of Geek
''Den of Geek'' is a US and UK-based website covering entertainment with a focus on pop culture. The website also issues a bi-annual magazine.
History
''Den of Geek'' was founded in 2007 by Simon Brew in London. In 2012, DoG Tech LLC licensed ...
'' commented that the episode emulates the action film ''
Die Hard
''Die Hard'' is a 1988 American action film directed by John McTiernan, with a screenplay by Jeb Stuart and Steven E. de Souza. Based on the 1979 novel '' Nothing Lasts Forever'', by Roderick Thorp, it stars Bruce Willis, Alan Rickman, Al ...
'' (1988), as Harmon did previously in the ''
Community
A community is a social unit (a group of living things) with commonality such as place, norms, religion, values, customs, or identity. Communities may share a sense of place situated in a given geographical area (e.g. a country, village, ...
'' episode "
Modern Warfare
Modern warfare is warfare that is in notable contrast with previous military concepts, methods, and technology, emphasizing how combatants must modernize to preserve their battle worthiness. As such, it is an evolving subject, seen different ...
".
The compound in which Pickle Rick finds himself was the subject of discussion among reviewers. Schedeen referred to it as a "Russian embassy",
while Shepherd called it an "unnamed, high-secure facility filled with Russian mobsters",
and Greene described it as apparently a "shadowy Eastern European financial consortium".
Zack Handlen of ''
The A.V. Club
''The A.V. Club'' is an American online newspaper and entertainment website featuring reviews, interviews, and other articles that examine films, music, television, books, games, and other elements of pop-culture media. ''The A.V. Club'' was cre ...
'' wrote, "I don't think the country of the embassy is ever specifically established, which is part of the joke", though noted that the bodyguards are "European".
A ''
Nerdist
Nerdist Industries, LLC is part of the digital division of Legendary Entertainment. Nerdist Industries was founded as a sole podcast (The Nerdist Podcast) created by Chris Hardwick but later spread to include a network of podcasts, a premium conte ...
'' article connected the scene where Rick controls the movement of the cockroach by poking its brain with his tongue to a 2015 study "Central-Complex Control of Movement in the Freely Walking Cockroach", published in ''
Current Biology
''Current Biology'' is a biweekly peer-reviewed scientific journal that covers all areas of biology, especially molecular biology, cell biology, genetics, neurobiology, ecology, and evolutionary biology. The journal includes research articles, ...
'', where researchers were able to stimulate neurons of a cockroach in order to control its movement.
Characterization
Critics commented that Summer and Morty were interested in therapy, while Beth and Rick were not. Jaffe wrote that Beth's children "seem much more affected" by the therapist's concerns than Beth and Rick.
Matar agreed, stating that "Morty and Summer both hope they'll get to go back to therapy, but Beth and Rick have chosen to act above it all".
Zach Blumenfeld of ''
Paste'' wrote about the car scene that "the eyes of Morty and Summer
ock Ock or OCK may refer to:
* River Ock (disambiguation), three rivers in England
* Ok (Korean name), also spelt Ock
**Ock Joo-hyun (born 1980), South Korean K-pop singer and musical theatre actress
* Océano Club de Kerkennah, a Tunisian football cl ...
into a thousand-yard stare as their mom and grandpa totally ignore the kids' needs". He believed that discussion between Beth and Rick shows "more clearly than ever" their "seemingly hereditary penchant for self-destructive narcissism" and noted that Jerry's "wet-blanket but well-meaning personality" had a "stabilizing effect" on Beth and the family.
Reviewers also analyzed Beth's relationship with her father. Jess Joho of ''
Mashable'' opined that Beth has a
father
A father is the male parent of a child. Besides the paternal bonds of a father to his children, the father may have a parental, legal, and social relationship with the child that carries with it certain rights and obligations. An adoptive fathe ...
or
Electra complex
In neo-Freudian psychology, the Electra complex, as proposed by Carl Jung in his ''Theory of Psychoanalysis'', is a girl's psychosexual competition with her mother for possession of her father. In the course of her psychosexual development, the ...
, saying that the episode "takes Freudian symbolism
..into the literal" and the choice of a pickle is a "literal phallic symbol".
Jaffe stated that Beth "doesn't want to believe" that Rick is choosing to skip therapy as it is "so important to her".
Shepherd found that "Beth has unresolved abandonment issues, and that mental agony is causing her some serious inner stress that comes out in snarky attacks on everyone around her".
Shepherd opined that Rick shows he "cares for the family" by turning up to therapy.
Handlen wrote that Rick's choice to live with the Smith family implies "he does recognize a basic need for those relationships", and that he avoids therapy because "he's smart enough to know that Dr. Wong
..is right".
Schedeen said that Dr. Wong's speech "really cut to the core of his selfish, narcissistic behavior", giving Rick "one of his rare moments of clarity". However, he believed that Beth will forgive anything he does so long as he continues being a father figure.
Joho argued that in his diatribe against therapy, "Rick finally shows his true colors to everyone in the room". He called Dr. Wong's speech a "succinct
akedownof toxic masculinity".
Reception
The episode's premiere on Adult Swim was watched by 2.31 million viewers.
Several critics commented on the fan enthusiasm, such as Blumenfeld, who said it was "arguably the most eagerly anticipated ''Rick and Morty'' episode ever" due to the large amount of teaser content released.
In June 2017, Julia Alexander of ''
Polygon
In geometry, a polygon () is a plane figure that is described by a finite number of straight line segments connected to form a closed ''polygonal chain'' (or ''polygonal circuit''). The bounded plane region, the bounding circuit, or the two to ...
'' argued that "Pickle Rick is already everyone's favorite character from Rick and Morty's third season", citing fan actions such as creating
Twitter
Twitter is an online social media and social networking service owned and operated by American company Twitter, Inc., on which users post and interact with 280-character-long messages known as "tweets". Registered users can post, like, and ...
and
Tumblr
Tumblr (stylized as tumblr; pronounced "tumbler") is an American microblogging and social networking website founded by David Karp in 2007 and currently owned by Automattic. The service allows users to post multimedia and other content to a sho ...
accounts for the character. Alexander commented that the show has "found a dedicated fan base because of the absurdity it bases its comedy in". In 2021, a
United States Air Force
The United States Air Force (USAF) is the Aerial warfare, air military branch, service branch of the United States Armed Forces, and is one of the eight uniformed services of the United States. Originally created on 1 August 1907, as a part ...
aircraft used a
call sign
In broadcasting and radio communications, a call sign (also known as a call name or call letters—and historically as a call signal—or abbreviated as a call) is a unique identifier for a transmitter station. A call sign can be formally assign ...
in reference to the episode.
The episode was critically acclaimed, receiving ratings of five out of five in ''Vulture'', 4.5 out of five in ''Den of Geek'', 8.7 out of 10 in ''IGN'', and 8.2 out of 10 in ''Paste''.
''The A.V. Club'' rated it an A and ''IndieWire'' gave it a B+.
Schedeen praised it as the show at "its most entertaining" and Greene praised it as "one of the series' best examples of untethering Rick Sanchez from all laws of nature and physics and marveling at the results".
Jaffe described it as a "Freudian acid trip" that is "surreal and self-aware".
Matar found it "super-engaging", lauding the "charmingly stupid concept that develops into an absurdly overblown, kinetic action movie plot".
The animation of Pickle Rick and his storyline received acclaim. Matar believed that the animation was "easily the coolest aspect" of the episode.
Shepherd found a pickle to be "the ideal food that's both hilarious and very, very Rick".
Scott Russell of ''Paste'' reviewed that the "batshit fight scenes" were the best part of the episode, with Blumenfeld also enjoying the "beautiful, free-flowing sequences of mass murder".
Handlen praised the pacing, saying that the episode "doesn't belabor the point".
Greene highlighted the attention to detail, such as the "sound design of Pickle Rick's mustard salve soothing his laser burns", which gave "a strange amount of credence to a crazy premise".
Danny Trejo
Danny Trejo ( ; born May 16, 1944) is an American actor. He has appeared in films including ''Desperado'', ''Heat'', and the ''From Dusk Till Dawn'' film series. With frequent collaborator and his second cousin Robert Rodriguez, he portrayed ...
received praise in his role as Jaguar. Blumenfeld said that he "shines" in the role and Schedeen wrote that the episode "made great use" of him.
Shepherd called him a highlight of the episode, particularly in his dialogue: "This ends when one of us dies, and I've never died before".
However, Blumenfeld said that the program is better when characters describe their feelings in "short bursts", and criticized Rick's speech to Jaguar as something the show would earlier have "mercilessly mocked".
The therapy storyline also garnered praise, with Russell calling it perhaps the "strongest B-plot" of the season.
Handlen praised the jokes involving Dr. Wong working with
coprophagia addicts.
Blumenfeld approved of the "strong emotional punch" of the ending and Matar enjoyed the slow pace of the ending scenes, as "a nice breather after all the madcap nonsense that came before".
Schedeen praised Sarandon for making "a strong impression as the surprisingly perceptive Dr. Wong".
Greene said that a "certain thread of magic" is removed from separating Rick from Morty, but that the episode's "genre riffing and intense commitment to detail nearly make up for it".
Accolades
In September 2018, ''Rick and Morty'' received its first Emmy, with a
Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Animated Program
The Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Animated Program is a Creative Arts Emmy Award which is given annually to an animated series.
In the following list, the first titles listed in gold are the winners; those not in gold are nominees, which ...
for "Pickle Rick".
The episode also won an
Annie Award and was nominated for a
Golden Reel Award.
References
External links
*
{{EmmyAward AnimationLessThanHour
2017 American television episodes
Rick and Morty episodes
Television episodes written by Jessica Gao
Emmy Award-winning episodes