Total Rickall
Written by Justin Roiland
Directed by Juan Meza-León
Original air date: 8/16/2015
The Smith house is locked down after parasites threaten to take over the world by multiplying through flashbacks.
This episode contains examples of:
- Accidental Hand-Hold: Happens between Jerry and Sleepy Gary on the yacht when both reach for the dropped bottle. Lovemaking ensues.
- Alien Blood: The parasites have hot pink blood.
- Alone Among the Couples: One of the flashbacks is Morty not wanting to go to the High-School Dance because of this trope. Mr. Beauregard comes to the rescue.
- Ambiguously Bi: Gary makes a fake memory for Jerry about their past that includes gay sex. We can't trust Jerry's actually bi from that. Later episodes will confirm he's down for a threesome with Mister Nimbus.
- Ambiguously Evil: The parasites; Rick claims that they'll multiply and take over the planet, but they only react negatively when he threatens to shoot them. It says something that the Smiths are much sadder after getting rid of them. Notably, Uncle Steve doesn't even try to leave the house before Rick puts up the blast shields and Sleepy Gary comforts Jerry and even seems genuinely interested in him.
- Backstory Invader: Featuring tons of never-before-seen characters whom our protagonists insist have always been on the show, but only because they've been conditioned to think so via telepathy; the new characters are actually a species of shape-shifting parasites who can implant Fake Memories in their hosts, convincing the hosts that the parasites are long-time friends who have always been around. Rick and the gang eventually figure out how to tell a parasite masquerading as a friend from an actual friend: the parasites can only create happy, pleasant memories, whereas real relationships generally contain a mix of both pleasant and unpleasant experiences. And then that idea is deconstructed when the gang starts killing everyone in the room that they have no negative memories of and end up shooting a real friend by mistake, whom the cast have no negative memories of not because he's a parasite, but because he was just that great a guy. The post-credits scene, however, shows that he actually survived the incident.
- Back-to-Back Badasses: Morty and Summer can be seen back to back in the shootout.
- Big Damn Heroes: Mr. Beauregard saves the day by knocking out Hitler at the submarine.
- Big "NO!": When Rick sees the room full of parasites:Rick: NOOOOOOOOshoot, now look. It's like a Where's Waldo? page. Can you find me? Check out all these zany characters. We'll be right back after these messages.
- Bittersweet Ending: The parasite threat is gone but Mr. Poopybutthole is shot and struggling to recover. He says he doesn't want to see the family again after he recovers. Beth is devastated by what she did.
- Blown Across the Room: Mr. Poopybutthole when being shot by Beth in the final scene.
- Bottle Episode: An attempted one. It all takes place in the Smiths' house while it's in lockdown mode, but all of the flashbacks and zany characters made it one of the most expensive episodes of the season.
- Breaking the Fourth Wall: Rick's Big "NO!" is interrupted by him looking around at all of the new, wacky characters and saying that it looks like a Where's Waldo? page, then telling the audience "We'll be right back after these messages."
- Brick Joke:
- While thinking of bad memories, Morty has a flashback of Summer kicking him in the nads, telling him not to ever go into her room. Later on, we see Summer's flashback, explaining why she did that.
- There's a moment with a montage of a series of catchphrases uttered by Rick, including some the audience never heard him say such as "And that's the waaaaaay the news goes!". After the end of the episode in the post-credits scene, the episode ends with him saying that catchphrase.
- The Butler Did It: While Mr. Beauregard isn't the first parasite to appear, he's the one who lives the longest, and he tricks the family long enough for most of the other parasites to spawn. Also, Rick gleefully inverts the trope once he kills him.Rick: I guess I did the butler, haha! Uh, d-d-does that scan?
Ghost-In-A-Jar: Oh, I-I get it. It's a play on 'The butler did it.'
Rick: Thanks, Ghost-In-A-Jar. You always were good at pointing out potentially obscure comedy. - Calling the Old Man Out: Summer gives a light one to Beth while handing her a gun after proving she's real."Morty, give a gun to the lady that got pregnant with me too early and constantly makes it our problem."
- Cannot Kill Their Loved Ones: Rick can't bring himself to kill Pencilvester, so he has Morty do it instead.
- Casting Gag: Tara Strong plays the lead character from a parody of brightly-colored children's animated series with lots of friendly cute, marketable animals (and also a little unexpected maturity for grown-ups). This won't be the last time she appears in a My Little Pony parody.
- Catchphrase: One of the flashbacks involving Rick includes his (apparently) many catchphrases, beginning with his famous "Wubba Lubba Dub Dub" and going on to include several he's never been seen saying which gradually become more and more absurd. Ironically, they turn out to all have been real.
- Caught with Your Pants Down: Summer's memory of this experience with Morty is what helps her realize Morty's real.
- Changed My Mind, Kid: Mr. Beauregard, the stiff British butler kicks some Nazi ass after having changed his mind about retiring.
- Childish Pillow Fight: One of the fond memories involving Mr. Beauregard is a pillow fight between him, Summer and Rick.
- Comically Missing the Point: When Reverse Giraffe addresses Rick with the concern that perhaps there may be only one deceiver amongst them, Rick notes that he cannot be blamed as he tried to shoot Summer 10 minutes ago.
- Concealing Canvas: The safe in the Smiths' living room is hidden behind a painting. Rick opens it to get cash for the 3DS consoles.
- Colorful Contrails: Tinkles leaves a rainbow-colored trail
◊ while flying. - Crossthrough: On April 1st, 2022, a special version of the episode featuring characters from Pibby edited into the episode was aired as part of an April Fools' Day joke by [adult swim].
- The Easy Way or the Hard Way: Morty tells this to Rick when holding him at gunpoint in the garage.
- "Eureka!" Moment: Rick angrily telling Morty that he remembers him as a "whiny little piece of shit" and has "about a thousand memories of your dumb little ass and about six of them are pleasant, the rest is annoying garbage" is what sparks Morty's realization that the parasites are only able to create good memories, and that Rick is real because Morty has a ton of bad memories with him.
- Exact Words:Pencilvester: You can't kill me.
Rick: You're right. (turns to Morty) Kill Pencilvester. - Explosive Breeder: Every time a character has a flash-back, more parasites suddenly appear in the house (it's not exactly clear how this works in-universe). After Rick has a flashback of a huge family barbecue, the Smiths' home is immediately packed with dozens of new people.
- Fake Memories: The parasites implant memories into the brains of their hosts to make it seem like they've always been there. However, Morty finds a flaw in their methods; they can only plant good memories, allowing the family to distinguish who's real by which ones they have unpleasant memories of.
- Fatal Flaw: The parasites are only able to create pleasant memories, and cannot create bad, uncomfortable, or awkward memories even if they want to. They can be easily distinguished from anyone real by realizing that, unlike real people, they can only be remembered as having fun and good memories with them.
- Flashback: Parodied with all the phony good memories of new characters. Played straight with the bad memories.
- Foreshadowing: Although Mr. Poopybutthole is hinted to be a parasite from the very beginning, even suddenly appearing in the intro, it can be guessed that he is real as soon as the parasites are revealed to only be capable of creating good memories, for a couple of reasons:
- The memory Mr. Poopybutthole brings up, being stuck in an elevator after the Hulk Musical, only becomes good when the Cousin Nicky parasite changes it.
- Mr. Poopybutthole is also retconned into every scene in the intro. Only one or two of these scenes are anything that could count as a good memory; the rest are clearly scary and/or bad. He's even seen reacting in panic along with the family in half of them.
- Frankenstein's Monster: One of the parasites takes on the form of Frankenstein's monster.
- Freeze-Frame Bonus: In the Cold Open, there's a brief shot of Rick discarding the green rocks from "Mortynight Run".
- Gone Horribly Right: Sure they manage to find the parasites' one weakness and the Smiths defeat them... but there's an obvious, very painful catch:Jerry: This is depressing... We killed every good person in the house. We're what's left? What a family.
- Groin Attack: Morty's bad memory of Summer has her punting him in the nuts for going into her room.
- How Did You Know? I Didn't: After Rick shoots cousin Nicky, Beth asks him how he knew. Rick admits that he only guessed and that's why he only aimed for the shoulder.
- I Meant to Do That: After Rick calls Morty a stupid piece of garbage who he has tons of bad memories of, Morty figures out that's how you can tell the real people from the parasites. Rick realizes in amazement that he's right, but Morty is confused because he thought Rick knew all along and the insults were intentional hints.
- I Need a Freaking Drink: Beth, after mistakenly shooting Mr. Poopybutthole.
- "Kiss the Cook" Apron: Rick wears an apron that reads "SUCK MY D__K" (a parody on Vulgar Humor variants that say "KISS THE C__K"). It may be Censored for Comedy, but there is no Double Entendre.
- Lady Drunk: Beth lying drunk on her bed in one of Summer's flashbacks.
- Lampshade Hanging: Reverse Giraffe commenting on the show's backstory."We all have beloved memories of Rick, but are we really supposed to believe a Mad Scientist inventor with a flying car just showed up on our doorstep after being gone for years?"
- Life Isn't Fair: How they eventually defeat the parasites. They run through their memories looking for bad things happening, from small to large. The parasites only create happy memories.
- Lotus-Eater Machine: The parasites' Modus Operandi. They trap humans in a shared hallucination and induce pleasant memories of the character they've shapeshifted into. They also spawn by introducing a new character via flashback.
- Manipulative Bastard: The Parasites, that not only have the ability to form deceiving flashbacks into all the family to hide their trail but are often smooth talkers that try to place suspicion on the real family. Reverse Giraffe is the most prominent case, almost single-handedly managing to get Rick condemned as the only parasite in the house.
- Mass "Oh, Crap!": All the parasites, after the duo figures out their one revealing flaw.
- Mood Whiplash: The mood shifts after Beth shoots Mr. Poopybutthole.
- Mook Horror Show: When their flaw is revealed, the parasites flee in terror as the Smiths make a bloodbath out of them.
- My God, What Have I Done?: Beth goes through this when she shoots Mr. Poopybutthole, only to find out he wasn't a parasite like she suspected, as she tearfully downs some wine.
- Mythology Gag: One of Ricks's supposed catchphrases ("Lick-lick-lick my balls!") is a possible reference to Roiland's pre-Rick and Morty short The Real Animated Adventures of Doc and Mharti, in which the proto-Rick character Doc Smith really did say that all the time.
- Noodle Incident:
- Rick tells Beth not to beat herself up too much for shooting Mr. Poopybutthole, saying he once made a similar mistake, but on a planetary scale. Nothing further is said about it.
- In the flashback showing Jerry's head stuck in the stair railing, Beth assures him that she's called the fire department, only for Jerry to respond "You know they won't come here anymore!"
- Once More, with Clarity: Played with when Mr. Beauregard recalls there being confusion among how many people there was supposed to be in the house. We then see the headcount scene from earlier in the episode, this time with Mr. Beauregard, Frankenstein, Sleepy Gary, and Photography Raptor being counted in addition to the family and Mr. Poopybutthole. Rick then declares that he loves the number 6 for no reason, then Pencilvester shows up to help him write it down.
- Overdrawn at the Blood Bank: Poopybutthole loses vast amounts of blood when Beth shoots him.
- Overly-Nervous Flop Sweat: Morty sweats a lot at the garage trying to figure out if to shoot Rick or not.
- Pants-Pulling Prank: Rick pulls one on Morty in one of Morty's not-so-nice flashbacks, leading to a Staircase Tumble and more shaming by a group of girls (plus Rick) laughing at Morty.
- Pet the Dog:
- Beth refuses to shoot Jerry when he begs her to; even if he's a terrible husband, he's human.
- Rick is far more pleasant to Mr. Poopybutthole than he is to most others.
- Sleepy Gary reassures Jerry that he's real, and the memory he creates is solely to comfort Jerry, as it doesn't introduce any new characters.
- Potty Emergency: Morty in the flashback to the Elevator Failure after the Hulk musical. Summer admits that she had already passed that point.
- The Power of Friendship: Implied to be a major theme of the Hulk musical that the family saw in a flashback — specifically, the one where they got stuck in the theater elevator.Beth: Jerry, buttons don't work better if you hit them harder and foam fists don't make you strong.
Jerry: I know; friends make you strong. I watched the same musical you did. - Product Placement: Parodied in a flashback where Rick obsesses about special edition 3DS consoles.Rick: You guys, we gotta hurry! I just got back from Wal-Mart; they're selling Nintendo 3DS systems for $149.99 on sale, plus every time you buy one you get a $50 gift card! Brings the total price down to $110 after tax! Now listen: we can flip those sons of bitches for 230 bucks apiece easy! They're all limited edition Zelda ones. Hurry! Hurry, come with me! We can be rich and we also get all to keep one and we can play Nintendo games! Nintendo, give me free stuff!
- Punny Name: Some of the parasites have names like this. Pencilvester is a pencil.
- Pyrrhic Victory: The family manages to kill off all the parasites, but they had to kill off the people that gave them happy and pleasant memories while sparing everyone they had any bad or abusive memories of. By the time they are done, the original dysfunctional family is back, but at least they're real.
- Real After All: Mr. Poopybutthole is real, as Beth finds out the hard way.
- Remember the New Guy?:
- Parodied. Several parasites are introduced as characters that the main cast have known forever, such as Uncle Steve (Jerry's brother), Cousin Nicky, Mr. Beauregard, Frankenstein, Sleepy Gary (Beth's husband and Jerry's best friend), Photography Raptor, Pencilvester, Tinkles, Hamurai, Amish Cyborg, Reverse Giraffe, Ghost In A Jar, Baby Wizard, and Mrs. Refrigerator.
- Played completely straight, however, with Mr. Poopybutthole, in another parody of the concept, as he's even edited into the opening credits. This turns rather dark when this is confirmed by Beth shooting him, thinking he's another parasite, and he turns out to be real.
- Shout-Out:
- Most of the parasites take the form of franchise or genre knock-offs.
- The name of the episode is one to the movie Total Recall (1990).
- According to
Word of God the premise was inspired by how Dawn from Buffy the Vampire Slayer was introduced. - Standing amongst the various eccentric characters in a wide shot, Rick says it's like being in a Where's Waldo? page. Two of them also prompt Rick to remark, "What is this, 90's Conan?" Also, Sleepy Gary looks like an Expy of Waldo.
- During the barbeque memory, Rick tries to compare himself to Tom Cruise in Cocktail, but he keeps getting the name of the movie wrong and calls it "Cuisine".
- Soundtrack Dissonance: The montage of Morty getting hurt by Rick is set to a song about the pleasant memories shared between people.
- Sparing Them the Dirty Work: After Pencilvester is revealed to be an alien imposter, Rick still can't bring himself to kill his friend, and so orders Morty to do it for him.
- Spotting the Thread: Morty eventually realizes the parasites can only create good memories, allowing them to identify parasites if they can't think of anything bad ever happening with them around.
- The Stinger: Mr. Poopybutthole has survived, but is injured and requiring rehabilitation. He gets a nurse to ask the Smith family politely to leave, adding that he's sorry they have no bad memories of him.
- Strike Me Down with All of Your Hatred!: In the garage, Rick urges Morty to pull the trigger on him. Happens again with Jerry pleading for Beth to end his life.
- Suicide by Cop: When Beth kills Gary, Jerry begs Beth to kill him as well, both to join Gary in death and believing he's a parasite. Beth doesn't.
- Sure, Let's Go with That: Morty, who's used to Rick always knowing everything, figures that Rick knew the whole time that parasites can only create pleasant memories and was yelling at Morty to get him to realize this too and understand that Rick is real. Rick runs with the idea, but due to his behavior throughout the episode and his initial reaction to Morty figuring this out ("Holy shit, Morty, you're right!"), it's obvious he's full of it.
- Take That!: The episode can be seen as a deconstruction of Family Guy's overuse of plot-irrelevant Cutaway Gags.
- This Was His True Form: The parasites immediately revert back to their original form upon being shot.
- Tomato in the Mirror: Jerry is firm of the opinion that this trope is in play and that he's a parasite. Beth assures him that he is, but only in the metaphorical sense.
- Took a Level in Badass: The family, except for Jerry, once they get their hands on a firearm. (Jerry just hides and cowers, as is usual.)
- Unfortunate Names: Mr. Poopybutthole. Jerry can't bring himself to tell the 911 operator the guy's name when Beth shoots him.
- Wall of Weapons: Rick has a stock of weapons pinned to a hidden wall in the garage.
- Wham Shot: Mr. Poopybutthole bleeding red blood after being shot by Beth.
- A Wild Rapper Appears!: A rapper randomly takes over the song halfway through in Summer's fake flashback.
