Original air date: 10/4/2015
Rick and his family are invited to Birdperson's wedding, but things go very, very wrong when his bride Tammy reveals herself to be a spy for the Galactic Federation. With his two best friends Birdperson and Squanchy killed in the ensuing shoot-out, Rick is forced into hiding along with his family for his numerous crimes against the Federation.
This episode contains examples of:
- Affably Evil: The Federation agent Rick turns himself into assures him his family will be taken care of, and indeed when they land in Tiny World he greets the Smiths with a friendly "Good morning". When they arrive back on Earth, Jerry is set up with a new job on arrival.
- Alien Invasion: After the Smiths escape the wedding, an alien newscast says Earth has "joined" the Galactic Federation as its 6048th planet. At the end of the episode, it's implied the Federation just landed, told Earth they were part of the Federation now, and took over all government functions.
- Ask a Stupid Question...:Jerry: [gasping in horror] WHERE AM I?
Beth: You're at a wedding. Go change. - Baby Planet: The family is forced to relocate to an Earth-like planet about the size of a small neighborhood. Rick can walk to the south pole in under a minute, and after some practice, Morty can throw a frisbee around the world and catch it himself.
- Ballroom Blitz: When agents of the Galactic Federation storm the wedding party.
- Bathroom Stall of Overheard Insults: Rick overhears Jerry badmouthing him and expressing a desire to turn him in to the Galactic Federation, while Rick's daughter and grandchildren actually stand up for him and refuse to do so.
- Be Careful What You Say: Rick snarkily says that weddings are like funerals with cake. It turns out this wedding ends up being like that.
- Big "NO!": Rick when Tammy shoots Birdperson to death.
- Bittersweet Ending: Rick turns himself into the Galactic Federation and is given a life sentence to a maximum-security prison, all so his family won't have to be on the lam. Even when they return to Earth, Jerry is finally given a new job, but it's clear that the rest of the family (especially Beth) are going to miss Rick a lot.
- Blinded by the Light: Tammy gets blinded and deafened by the explosion of Rick's portal gun.
- Both Sides Have a Point: The Smiths have one in the climax. Jerry says they should just turn Rick in and save themselves because it's not like Rick actually cares about their wellbeing. He drags them into new unwanted adventures. He's not wrong. His family counters that Rick is family and didn't want any of this to happen, so they have to trust him. They're also right; Rick said multiple times he didn't want to attend the wedding.
- Brick Joke: The wedding has a cyborg photographer who has cameras in his eyes. He walks right up to people, stares at them unnervingly, apologizes and explains he is a cyborg photographer and people should act natural in front of him. At the end of the episode when Rick is imprisoned, a guard stares at him closely and explains he is not staring but taking his mug shot.
- Cliffhanger: "Tune in to Rick and Morty Season 3 in, like, a year and a half... or longer, to see how we unravel this mess."
- Comically Missing the Point:
- Birdperson tries, with all the subtlety of a sledgehammer, to impress upon Beth that his background with Rick is not something that she should envy. She still manages to fail to get it.
- After the Smiths (minus Rick) return to the now Galactic Federation-owned Earth, Jerry gets himself 7,000 credits in debt after accepting anti-depressants from a robot on the street and is forced to report to the employment office to work it off. Jerry ignores the part about being in debt and is ecstatic that he finally has a new job.
- Continuity Nod: When Rick mentions to Morty that he's "going for ice cream", Morty asks if Rick needs his brainwaves for camouflage.
- Crouching Moron, Hidden Badass: Squanchy.
- Damned by Faint Praise: "We love Rick! F-for the most part..."
- Deep Cover Agent: Tammy is revealed to be one for the Galactic Federation.
- Depth Deception: When they crash into a planet because Rick thought it would be further away.
- Dumbass Has a Point: Jerry has a moment where he questions why Tammy's parents are okay with their teenage, possibly underage daughter marrying an alien. Beth tries to shush him but it turns out he was right; no ordinary good parent would be all right with it. They're robots helping with her cover.
- Dying Alone: During his wedding speech, Rick assures everyone that they will die alone.
- Dystopia: It appears the Federation have turned Earth into one. Humans are forced to take pills that they then have to pay for (though there's a Ministry of Employment to help with that) and aliens are seen casually bullying humans in the street.
- Electric Torture: Rick tells his family that this will be awaiting them (to find out where Rick is) if they decide to go back to Earth without him. After Rick turns himself in, though, the Smiths are allowed to return to Earth peacefully.
- Eye Scream: Beth stabs Tammy's robot-mother in the eye with a knife.
- Faux Horrific: The Cob Planet is a perfectly nice planet except everything is a variant of corn on the cob. Rick is horrified on a level we've rarely seen him before, flees the planet immediately and refuses to set foot there again.
- Food Chains: While never explicitly stated, the way that Rick bats the food out of Summer's and Morty's hands on cob planet before fleeing in a panic suggests that ingesting the food there or even spending too much time there might have biologically dire consequences.
- Foreshadowing
- Rick keeps saying that he doesn't want to go to Birdperson's wedding since it's basically a funeral with cake. Very poor choice of words, Rick.
- Similarly, Rick's particularly foul mood throughout most of the wedding, far moreso than usual, hint towards certain revelations about his bond with Birdperson that are explored in more depth in Season 5's "Rickternal Friendshine of the Rickless Mort".
- During the wedding, Birdperson vows to belong with Tammy until his death. Tammy, on the other hand, vows to belong with Birdperson until his death.
- When Rick called the Galactic Federation to turn himself in, he claims to be Jerry and, for what seems like a last act of petty vengeance, mentions that he (Jerry) "licks boners and hairy ballsacks." As we learn in the season 3 premiere, the entire thing was an act of petty vengeance against Jerry for merely suggesting to turn Rick in, though it also accomplished the goal of getting his family safely back to Earth and out of the Federation's crosshairs.
- Honey Trap: Tammy is really an undercover agent for the Galactic Federation and kills Birdperson shortly after marrying him.
- Irony: The one time that Rick wanted to avoid an adventure because he didn't want to see Birdperson married is the one that displaces his entire family. He ended up being accidentally correct that this wedding was like a funeral with cake. And it's the one that causes Jerry to blame him for this one, even though this time it wasn't Rick's fault.
- It Makes Sense in Context: When Rick tells her to try out the Squanch language, with it being more contextual than literal, Beth gives it a shot by saying "I squanch my family". Rick and Squanchy are quickly disgusted and the latter tells her to stop.
- Jerkass Has a Point: Jerry's rant to Mrs. Guetermann about Tammy marrying someone so much older than her is obnoxious, sure, but he raises some good points about why they are even allowing it. Turns out the whole marriage thing is a sham to kill Birdperson and capture the rest of the guests attending the wedding, while Tammy is a Deep Cover Agent and the parents are Killer Robots.
- Keep Away: When the family finally returns to Earth, we see two aliens bullying Mister Goldenfold by tossing his hat around.
- Kind Hearted Cat Lover: Mr. Poopybutthole owns a cat.
- Little "No":Beth: He's not coming back, is he?
Morty: [sadly] No. - Love Martyr: On the tiny planet while Rick is away, Jerry tries to convince the family to abandon him for their well-being. The rest of them refuse, outright admitting to Jerry that no matter the suffering that sticking by Rick brings him, they will never leave him. This is because Beth fears losing, or rather being abandoned, by Rick again.
- Mama Bear: When Tammy's robotic-fake-mom attacks and starts trying to strangle Summer, Beth immediately stabs her in the eye to protect her daughter.
- Nasty Party: The wedding is a trap by the Galactic Federation to capture a mass of wanted criminals, and descends into a shootout.
- Oh, Crap!: Rick after discovering the second planet has everything on a cob. There was no explanation, but the way Rick panics implies this happened before.
- On Second Thought: Implied. The family dismisses the Baby Planet as too small for their home but they change their minds after seeing the two other planets.
- One Dialogue, Two Conversations: During the conversation between Beth and Birdperson, they each talk about Rick, but they each determinedly talk about their own lives and pain, Beth about growing up without a father, thinking he abandoned her (which her Rick did, not this Rick), while Birdperson talks about how 17 of the Federation's most wanted are on the guest list and how their experience was a war that never actually ended. This is a much more literal demonstration of this trope than is usual.
- The Power of Love: On staying in hiding to protect Rick:Jerry: Why are we doing this for someone who would never do anything for anyone but himself?
Morty: That's not the point, Dad. We love Rick... for the most part.
Summer: Yeah, you don't love people in hopes of a reward, Dad. You love them unconditionally. - Pun-Based Title: On Wedding Crashers.
- Put Down Your Gun and Step Away: Tammy tells Rick to drop his portal gun and slide it to the center of the room. He does, but only after activating a self-destruction function on it.
- Robotic Reveal: The skin on Tammy's "parents" suffers damage, revealing them as Killer Robots.
- Sentimental Music Cue: The ending song "Hurt" by Nine Inch Nails.
- Shell-Shock Silence: After the portal gun goes off.
- Smurfing: Squanchy's language uses the word "squanch" a lot. Lampshaded by Beth.
- Spotting the Thread: Jerry of all people notes that it's weird how Tammy's parents are okay with their teenage daughter marrying an alien thirty years her senior. Not even Rick realized that it was weird.
- The Stinger: Mr. Poopybutthole (still recovering from when Beth shot him) reacts to the episode and bothers a pizza delivery guy with questions about how the cliffhanger will be resolved.
- Stock Sound Effect: The kids laughter
stock sound can be heard right after the wedding ceremony is finished and the feasting begins. - Third Time's The Charm: Trope mentioned by Rick when they visit the third Earth-like planet.
- This Is Unforgivable!: After learning that Rick is going to leave the family, Morty warns him that while he can handle his grandfather leaving, it will break Beth's heart, and Morty would never forgive Rick for that.
- Throwing Out the Script: Parodied with Rick's wedding toast to Birdperson. What his notes say verbatim is:Uh, hi, everybody. I'm Rick. You know, when I first met Birdperson, he was (trail off) (crumple up notes) (Ad-lib)...
- [Verb] This!: "Squanch this!"
- Weird Sun: The third planet has a screaming sun.
- Wham Episode: The Galactic Federation catches up with Rick, and to keep his family from living a life on the run, he turns himself in and is placed in a maximum-security prison.
- Wham Line: Why does Beth put up with all of the horrible things her father had put her and her family through?Beth: "Because I don't want him to leave again, you dumb asshole!"
- Tammy revealing who she is.Tammy: But then I think, you know, in a lot of ways, I'm not a high-school senior from the planet Earth. In a lot of ways, what I really am is a deep-cover agent for the Galactic Federation, and you guys are a group of wanted criminals, and this entire building is, in a certain sense, surrounded.
- Tammy revealing who she is.
- What Are You in For?: Rick gets asked this by a fellow inmate at the end. His response?Rick: Everything.
- Widowed at the Wedding: Intentionally, as Birdperson gets killed by his undercover wife on their wedding day.
- You Can't Go Home Again: Rick warns the rest of the family that since he's a wanted criminal, Earth will be the first place the galactic federation will search for. While Rick can disappear at any time, the Smiths would likely be captured and interrogated for his whereabouts, even if they legitimately don't know. After finding an alternate, non-federal Earth to hide in, this subverts when Rick decides to surrender himself for everyone's safety.
- You Shall Not Pass!: Squanchy buys time for the Smiths to escape.
