Season 1, Episode 04:
M. Night Shaym-Aliens!
Written by Tom Kauffman
Directed by Jeff Myers
Directed by Jeff Myers
"Morty, that's not Class. T-t-t-that wasn't your teacher. This isn't your school. This entire world is not the World. We're inside a huge simulation Chamber on an alien spaceship."
— Rick Sanchez
Original air date: 1/13/2014
Rick and Morty are captured by some of Rick's alien enemies, who are looking for his recipe on concentrated Dark Matter. They must escape the reality-simulation put on by the aliens, and save Jerry, who has unknowingly been brought along, in this M. Night Shyamalan style adventure.
This episode contains examples of:
- All According to Plan: The scammer leader's line "Just as planned." after Rick and Morty get past the first simulation.
- Astronomic Zoom: The reveal of the setting being a simulation is done via a long zoom out from Rick and Morty's world to the real world.
- Batman Gambit: Rick looks genuinely distraught over having been fooled by a simulation inside a simulation inside a simulation, but he was in control the whole time. He knew that if Morty mixed the ingredients just as he said, then he would have blown himself up and that the aliens were only trying to get the recipe the whole time.
- Banister Slide: Jerry joyfully slides down a banister after having wowed the group of clients with his "Hungry for Apples" slogan.
- Berserk Button: While Rick doesn't mind the occasional battle of wits, he will not tolerate his grandchildren being brought into it.
- Broken Record: The characters in Jerry's simulation, due to being on minimum CPU power."My man!"
* snap* "Yes." - Comically Missing the Point: Twice in succession when Rick is pointing out the flaws in the simulation. He points out a pop-tart person, who leaves a toaster-shaped house to get into a toaster-shaped car; Morty concedes that it's ridiculous enough to show that they're in a simulation... since a pop tart wouldn't want to live in a terrifying place like a toaster. Rick, correcting him, says that the ridiculous part is... that the pop-tart would have a car shaped just like his house.
- Curse Cut Short: The head alien says, "This is going to be such a mind f—!" cut to commercial. Oddly enough, in the TV broadcasts, the last word is bleeped out.
- Diegetic Switch: At the end, the song "Baker Street" that Rick plays in his escape pod switches to the soundtrack as the credits start rolling.
- Dude, She's Like in a Coma: Jerry has sex with a stalled simulation of Beth and seems to find it more enjoyable because she wasn't moving.
- Even Evil Has Loved Ones: The lead scammer mentions that his staff all have families just before they all blow up.
- Failed a Spot Check: Jerry is stupidly gullible enough to not even notice the low-performance simulation trapping him is fishy at all and simply goes on believing he's having the best day of his life.
- Finger-Tenting: The alien leader does this.
- Foreshadowing:
- There are several indications that the simulations are layered before the reveal. When Rick and Morty are dropped from the second simulation, Morty is still holding simulated computer chips even though they're not real. Likewise, when Jerry is dropped from his simulation, he's still wearing his tux even though it must also be fake. Rick himself provides some right at the end when he comments on what an amazing coincidence that the ship they stole just happens to contain the supposed ingredients for concentrated dark matter.
- Morty being fake is hinted at when Rick uncharacteristically starts horsing around with Morty, probably a test to see if Morty will catch on.
- The alien scammers freak out at finding out that another human (Jerry) has been included in the simulation because of the strain it'll put on the simulation's resources while they're trying to focus on Rick, but they don't have a similar reaction to Morty, even though they should have the same worries about him being a drain on the system.
- For those familiar with the properties of cesium, Rick instructing Morty to mix it with plutonic quarks and a bottle of water can probably guess "concentrated dark matter" is not going to be the outcome when the scammers try out the recipe.
- George Jetson Job Security: Soundly averted, despite this usually being the case in most adult sitcoms. Jerry, who has some kind of corporate career in these first four episodes of the series, gets fired in The Stinger, and him being unemployed becomes the new status quo for the rest of the series for the most part (minus a few short-term jobs that ultimately don't work out for him in the long run).
- A Glitch in the Matrix: Happens constantly in the simulation since it's not that high-quality to begin with, and Jerry's section is running on 5% processing power. Rick goes the extra mile and makes the simulations perform tasks of ever-increasing complexity to force the system to crash.
- I Need a Freaking Drink: Rick takes down the alien scammers with seeming ease; however his getting very drunk in The Stinger (even more so than usual) and threatening Morty to make sure he's not still in a simulation implies the experience affected him more than he let on.
- Kick the Dog: Jerry attempts to pitch his advertisement in real life and gets fired for it being so terrible. When he points out that it was tested from the simulation during the episode, the higher-ups retort that the simulation must have been terrible. And when he leaves..."How does a guy like that go home and have sex with his wife?"
- Moon-Landing Hoax: While being chased by the baddies, Rick and Morty come across a setting depicting the moon landing.
- Obvious Beta: In-Universe. The simulated world has quite the number of bugs in it, to say the least.
- Oh, No... Not Again!: The scammers have been abducting Rick and trying to get his recipe for concentrated dark matter for years. Rick is so used to it, it doesn't even faze him.
- Out-Gambitted: Rick pulls this off in a spectacular fashion against the aliens, making them think they have the formula only to trick them into mixing up a powerful explosive that destroys their ship.
- Out of Focus: The real Morty only technically appears in the stinger.
- Papa Wolf: What really pushes Rick over the edge is when he realizes the scammers had spied on Morty when he was naked to correctly simulate his genitalia.
- Pet the Dog: Rick actually tries to comfort Jerry when he sees how upset Jerry is that the best day of his life was a simulation. It may not seem like much, but for Rick, who very frequently insults Jerry, this is something. He also doesn't abandon him on the alien ship and rescues him before he tricks the scammers into blowing themselves up.
- Post-Coital Collapse: Played for Laughs, as we Jerry collapsing on his side of the bed, sweating and exhausted after he had "the best sex of his life", implying he just slept with a Sex Goddess, only for the camera to pan over to a hologram of Beth that is completely immobile.
- Pretty Fly for a White Guy: Rick and Morty on stage.
- Pun-Based Title: "M Night Shaym Aliens". A Mandatory Twist Ending included.
- Rewatch Bonus: The very first scene is Rick rooting through the entrails of a dead possum and randomly commenting "This is just sloppy craftsmanship." He was talking about the simulation, not the possum.
- Split-Screen Phone Call: Between Jerry and Beth when the former makes a booty call.
- Status Quo Is God: Jerry getting fired from his job is an inversion. He had a job for these first four episodes, but after being dismissed in The Stinger, he remains unemployed for most of the rest of the series, with any future attempts at getting one being short-lived and subject to this trope.
- The Stinger:
- The stinger shows Jerry trying to pitch the "Hungry for Apples?" ad to his bosses, after which he is promptly fired. To Jerry's credit, the G-Fed Tumblr page created to promote season three reveals that "Hungry for Apples?" DID in fact become a fantastic advertisement on Earth and beyond...because it was so stupid that everyone in the universe could laugh at it.
- After that, Rick drunkenly stumbles into Morty's room while the boy is sleeping and puts him through some severe Mood Whiplash.
- Throwing the Distraction: Rick and Morty distract two guards by throwing gems across the room.
- Two-Faced Aside: The alien leader at the end when the issue with his butthole flaps comes up again and he loudly dismisses it as part of the act while immediately whispering to his secretary to move the appointment up.
- Villainous Face Hold: After having him seized, the scammer leader pads Rick on his chin for added humiliation.
- Virtual-Reality Interrogation: The aliens use a multi-layered simulation to try and uncover Rick's recipe for concentrated Dark Matter.
- Wraparound Background: Jerry's simulation uses the same three stores when Jerry is driving, which he fails to notice.
- Yank the Dog's Chain: Jerry finally gets everything he has wished for in his life. Too bad it's all a simulation.
- You All Look Familiar: Both parodied when Jerry fails to notice he keeps passing the same simulated background people and played straight when Rick uses the fact to get large numbers of people to work on various problems at the same time, thereby freezing the program.
