Recap / Rick And Morty S 1 E 3 Anatomy Park

Season 1, Episode 03:

Anatomy Park

"Welcome, Morty. Welcome... to Anatomy Park!"

Written by Eric Acosta & Wade Randolph
Directed by John Rice

Morty: Oh, my God! This is insane! Spleen Mountain? Bladder Falls? Pirates of the Pancreas?
Rick: You got a problem with that last one, Morty?
Morty: Huh? No, no. I'm just reading 'em out loud in the order that I'm seeing 'em.
Rick: Okay. All right. If I sounded a little defensive, it's because... Pirates of the Pancreas was my baby. You know, I got I got a lot of pushback when I pitched it, Morty. I guess I'm still a little defensive.

Original air date: 12/16/2013

Rick shrinks Morty to send him into the body of a homeless man to help out with a nanoscale amusement park built inside of his body. Meanwhile, Jerry makes his family give up their various technologies so they can bond as a family in honor of his parents' visit for Christmas, only to regret it when they introduce him to their new black "friend" Jacob.

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Tropes:

• Always a Bigger Fish: When Morty was shrunk down to microscopic levels and being chased by Hepatitis A, it ended up getting crushed by Hepatitis C, which even gave Morty a thumbs-up.
• Amusement Park of Doom: Anatomy Park is in pretty poor repair and is full of diseases trying to kill the characters. The Liver, in particular, is in full-on spooky abandoned theme park mode.
• Artistic License – Geography: It is said the giant body's penis must be over the Rocky Mountains, and it's shown casting a shadow over them - however when the body is seen over the Continental US, his penis should be hanging over the Great Plains.
• Be Careful What You Wish For: Jerry says this verbatim when his 'no electronic' rule ends up with him getting more than what he bargained for.
• Big Damn Heroes: Parodied when Morty and Annie are saved when a Hepatitis C virus defeats a Hepatitis A. They are confused, given that they've had no connection with him before, and they assume he's naturally benign.
  • Fridge Horror kicks in when you realize it could also mean that Annie is infected with Hepatitis C, meaning the one rescuing them is simply indirectly protecting its own kin.
• Body Horror: Given the plot, this episode is rife with it.
• Brick Joke: When Jerry asks his parents what is their relationship with Jacob, they explain that Jacob is Joyce's lover in a cuckold, while Leonard watches them "sometimes from a chair, sometimes from a closet, almost always dressed as Superman". Later, Joyce and Jacob are making out and Leonard goes into a closet wearing a Superman suit.
• Christmas Episode: Aired on 12/16/2013. Reuben looks a lot like Santa Claus.
• Cluster F-Bomb: Rick in The Stinger.
  "Fuck them. Fuck those people. Fuck this whole thing, Ethan!"
• Disney Villain Death: Once Poncho is outed as the traitor, he has a brief skirmish with Morty, is bitten by the bubonic plague virus, and falls off the dam's bridge to his death.
• Disposable Vagrant: Reuben. The microscopic theme park built inside him is just the beginning.
• Dwindling Party: Those who are inside Reuben start dying one by one until only Annie and Morty are left.
• Everyone Is Christian at Christmas: The episode ends with Rick of all people ranting about his family being on their phones on Jesus' birthday without any hint of sarcasm.
• Executive Veto: In-Universe example. The Stinger had Rick's Pirates of the Pancreas ride axed by the Chief "Imagineerian".
• "Fantastic Voyage" Plot: Poor Morty was shrunken down and injected into the homeless man's comatose body. Deconstructed when the people inside end up causing Reuben's death and what we end up seeing is what happens to a decomposing body.
• Flatline: We know that Reuben is dead when the flatline sound rings out in Rick's garage.
• Get a Room!: While Morty and Annie are making out, Rick tells Morty to put the volume on mute because it is causing him to lose focus.
• Help, I'm Stuck!: Roger's foot gets stuck which turns out to be lethal for him.
• Heroic Sacrifice: Dr. Bloom stays behind to start the bone train with Morty and Annie in it. Then he realizes that there was an autopilot and regrets his decision. But it is too late.
• Hoist by His Own Petard: Poncho is bitten by the bubonic plague virus he was carrying in his backpack, causing him to fall off the bridge to his death.
• Hostage Situation: Poncho takes Annie hostage at knifepoint once he's outed as the group's traitor. The situation is soon resolved when Morty attacks him in a rage to save Annie.
• Innocent Innuendo: Dr. Bloom asks Annie and Morty if they want to "ride the bone train" which in this case is a literal train in Rueben's skeletal system. Morty blows up on him when Bloom keeps trying to push the actual innuendo at an inappropriate time:
  "Why are you doing this bit?! We're gonna die; let's go!"
• Inside Job: Dr. Bloom assumes that the stuff that's been going on in the park is the result of one; the culprit is eventually revealed to be Poncho.
• Jurassic Farce: In addition to having a "Fantastic Voyage" Plot, the episode is a Whole-Plot Reference to Jurassic Park, with the diseases of Anatomy Park behaving like the dinosaurs from the latter and Morty and crew having to survive them in much the same ways the characters in the original movie did.
• Killed Mid-Sentence: Alexand... and Roger.
• Monstrous Germs: The various diseases that live in Ruben's body are hideous monsters that look nothing like real germs. Some at least show a resemblance to actual bacteria or viruses, but usually the wrong type (Tuberculosis is portrayed as orb-shaped when it should be rod-shaped, and E. coli, a bacterium, looks like a bacteriophage virus), and then there are the Hepatitis viruses that seem to be designed after the Rancor or the Cloverfield monster.
• No Dead Body Poops: Averted; Dr. Bloom notes that the sphincter dam, constructed when Ruben became incontinent, was not designed to hold back a corpse-load. The dam eventually bursts and floods the area with excrement, killing Roger.
• Ominous Floating Spaceship: Reuben's giant corpse casts a menacing shadow all over America.
• One-Liner, Name... One-Liner: This dialogue near the end:
  Jerry: (Putting one arm each around Beth and Jacob) I guess we all learned something this Christmas.
  Summer: No we didn't, Dad. No we didn't.
• Polyamory: Jacob turns out to be Jerry's mother's lover. His father watches them, almost always dressed as Superman.
• Pre-Asskicking One-Liner / Pre-Mortem One-Liner: Poncho delivers this line before igniting the gas in Reuben's body around Gonorrhea.
  Poncho: Hey, Gonorrhea! How's this for a burning sensation!?
• Rain of Blood: Literally, when Rick blows up Reuben's enlarged corpse in space.
• Rescue Romance: Annie is initially indifferent to Morty, but starts warming up to him and gives him a hug when he figures out how to defeat Gonorrhea, which saves the group. She warms up even further once Poncho takes her hostage at knifepoint and Morty saves her, leading to a steamy makeout session.
• Rule of Three: Three different couples are shown making out in rapid succession:
  • First, Summer and Ethan, after Jacob helps him overcome his trauma and they patch things up.
  • Then, Joyce and Jacob get started as well, as a direct result of the above.
  • Finally, cut to the inside of Reuben's body, where Morty and Annie are getting frisky.
• Serious Business: Rick is very protective over his "Pirates of the Pancreas" attraction and is severely pissed when it gets dropped from his second attempt at Anatomy Park. Becomes a Running Gag.
• Shout-Out:
  • Some aspects of Anatomy Park, including the park's signage, parody Jurassic Park (1993).
  • Some of Anatomy Park's attractions are based on those found at Disney Theme Parks.
  • The "small intestine" section has children sing like in "it's a small world".
• Status Quo Is God: Morty wins Annie over and makes out with her, but once Rick finds out that she has all the knowledge Dr. Bloom had to build a new Anatomy Park, promptly shrinks her down so he can have her do so (in, as it turns out, Ethan's body), leaving Morty single once again at the end, to his disappointment.
• Stealth Pun: Pirates of the Pancreas could, you know? They'd sail around the islets of Langerhans.
• The Stinger: Rick has Annie head a crew to build a new Anatomy Park inside Ethan's body, but becomes outraged that they have different ideas for his beloved "Pirates of the Pancreas" attraction.
• Talking Is a Free Action: Averted: In the time it took for Rick to talk about curing Reuben's Tuberculosis, he could've just cured it then and there. Instead, Reuben dies from it.

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"Oh, unbelievable. We got we got a bunch of robot, computer people, sitting around with their faces stuffed into computer screens. Do you guys realise that Christ was born today? Jesus Christ, our savior, was born today. Are are are you people even human? What kind of Christmas is this?"