"Anyone continuing to explore the Citadel is either stupid or one of the unfortunate millions held hostage by their terrible ideas."
Original air date: 9/10/2017
Rick and Morty head to Atlantis. Meanwhile, the Citadel of Ricks undergoes major changes under new leadership.
Tropes:
- Ambiguously Evil: When Factory Worker Rick frees Simple Rick and sends him through a portal. You think it's because of what the factory's been doing to the poor guy, but then it's revealed the portal led to the blender dimension. Factory Worker Rick says that that's the oldest trick in the book and that he's a Rick, implying he knew it would happen, but it's unclear and he looks shocked when it happened.
- Anyone Can Die: A large number of this episode's major cast bites the dust, including all of the Mortytown Locos, Big Morty and his bodyguards, Cop Morty, Simple Rick, Slick Morty, Campaign Manager Morty, most of the Shadow Council of Ricks (including Wonka Rick) except for two of them, and Trenchcoat Rick. It's hammered home in the closing shot, which shows their corpses (and those of many other Ricks and Mortys) floating around the Citadel after having been Thrown Out the Airlock.
- Artificial Gravity: The news reports gravity outages in East Sanchez Heights.
- Assimilation Academy: The Morty school seems to be mainly focused on teaching the Mortys not to fight their Ricks.
- Asshole Victim: Most of the board of Ricks who purposely kept life crappy in the Citadel for the majority of Ricks and Mortys meet their end. Wonka Rick in particular dies after spending years profiting off Simple Rick and now Factory Rick.
- Bait-and-Switch: Played with. The initial opening suggests that we'll be following Rick and Morty on their Atlantis adventure, but instead we follow the various Ricks and Mortys living at the Citadel of Ricks. However, the switch is pretty blatantly telegraphed.
- The Bad Guy Wins: By the end, Evil Morty succeeds in seizing control of the Citadel.
- Be Careful What You Wish For: Slick Morty wished for change. He got his wish. Though the Mortys seem to be doing alright, Evil Morty assumes control and has turned the Citadel's political landscape upside-down. It's clear in the long-term, it's not for the betterment of all Ricks and Mortys.
- Being Good Sucks: The only Ricks with any amount of power and authority are outright megalomaniacs and scumbags, the Ricks who try to be more moral, righteously angry, and responsible end up being exploited by the multiverse's society, whether it's the Simple Rick who stayed with his family only to be exploited to make candy, or the factory rebel Rick who wants to quit the system noting that even in a world of Ricks, some are more equal than others, or Cop Rick who turns out to be far too idealistic for his job and vocation. Likewise, the many Ricks who voted for President Morty (including banners that say "Proud of my grandson" and "I love my Morty") end up having their sentiments exploited and put Evil Morty in charge. Seeing what happens to these Ricks gives us some sense as to why Rick is the way that he is.
- Board to Death: When a member of the Shadow Council of Ricks that secretly runs the Citadel boasts that President Morty is just a figurehead, the latter asks who shares that opinion, and then has his loyal Guard Ricks murder those that raised their hands.
- Boomerang Bigot: Cop Morty loathes other Mortys (or at least, the ones in the slums who don't have Ricks) and calls them animals, or worse. Cop Rick is shocked by this.
- Bond One-Liner: Discussing the results of the election, one of the Bodyguard Ricks sends Campaign Manager Morty out an airlock by saying "It was a blowout".
- Borrowed Catchphrase: When Cop Rick starts asking questions about the Creepy Morty, Cop Morty tells him "What is it your kind is always saying? Don't think about it."
- When he surrenders to police responding to the shootout at The Creepy Morty, Cop Rick echoes what Cop Morty said to him after the Morty Town Locos' house is destroyed.
Cop Rick: What happened?
Cop Morty: Same old story. Mortys killing Mortys.
[Later...]
Police Rick 1: What happened in there?
Cop Rick: Same old story. Ricks killing Mortys. - Brick Joke: In The Stinger, Rick and Morty come back from their Atlantis adventure.
- The Bus Came Back: Evil Morty comes back to the scene and is going to take action.
- Call-Back:
- Evil Morty from "Close Rick-Counters of the Rick Kind" returns, and once again, his identity is The Reveal at the very end of the episode, complete with the same music playing as the episode ends and goes into the credits.
- Simple Rick's story is almost identical to our Rick from back before his original family died, as originally presented in a fake memory created in "The Rickshank Redemption".
- Campfire Character Exploration: Slick Morty reveals his own background to Glasses Morty, Reptile Morty and Fat Morty during a campfire scene.
- Comically Missing the Point: After the one Bodyguard Rick utters a Bond One-Liner about the election being a blowout, his partner notes how the election was actually very close.
- The Conspiracy: The Citadel had a secret conspiracy that actually was The Man Behind the Man for the original Council of Ricks that "our" Rick destroyed. These guys try to assert power over now-President Morty as well, but he usurps them instead.Garment District Rick: We don't care who sits in that seat. A Rick, a Morty, a goddamn Jerry. Doesn't matter. We've been running the Citadel since before the Council and you'll find we're still running it now.
- Continuity Nod:
- There's a Mega-Fruit farm in the Citadel. These first appeared in the pilot, with Rick prizing their seeds for scientific research.
- In the background of the room where Cop Rick finds a Morty crying, there's graffiti on the wall that reads "Get Schwifty".
- The entire episode deals with the fall-out of Rick killing the entire Council of Ricks and indirectly destroying the Citadel of Ricks in "The Rickshank Redemption", and it's outright discussed in the beginning.
- One of the dancers at The Creepy Morty is Cowboy Morty from "Close Rick-Counters of the Rick Kind".
- One of the campaign messages among Candidate Morty's supporters is Nobody Exists on Purpose. Vote Morty. Not exactly an inspiring campaign message, admittedly.
- Corrupt Politician: Every politician in the Citadel is this, but Evil Morty is the only survivor by the end.
- Crapsack World: The Citadel of Ricks is a goddamn nightmare of corruption and abuse.
- Cynic–Idealist Duo: Cop Morty and Cop Rick respectively.
- Deputy Cop Rick is one of the nicest and most moral of the Ricks, being a stickler for laws, compassionate to his victims and honorable to his partner and his service.
- In contrast to Cop Rick, Cop Morty is plain scummy, because he doesn't respect the laws, threatens and needlessly kills people, takes bribes from a mob boss and finally betrays Cop Rick's trust. He's also a Boomerang Bigot against Mortys.
- Deadly Euphemism: Implied after President Morty has most of the Shadow Council of Ricks killed:Stylist Rick: [nervous; talking about Morty's haircut] Is... that enough off the top?
President Morty: [looks at self in a mirror] I don't know... [turns around; pointedly directed to the remaining Shadow Council Ricks] Is it? - Decoy Protagonist: The episode starts with Rick and Morty going to Atlantis, but the episode's focus quickly switches to the Citadel.
- Didn't Think This Through: The Rick and Morty in The Teaser (Rick K-22 and his Morty) are going from dimension to dimension to raise money for rebuilding the Citadel. It didn't occur to them that they'd encounter the Rick who destroyed it in the first place. Rick K-22 lampshades that they're barking up the wrong tree.
- Dirty Cop: Cop Morty is pure scum.
- Does This Remind You of Anything?: The showrunners, Dan Harmon in particular, make it clear in the Inside the Episode video that it absolutely is political, and that the episode was developed during the climate of the 2016 Election. There's also a heavy dose of Fantastic Racism between Ricks and Mortys, paralleling Real Life issues, including Mortys living in a ghetto, and Cop Morty being a Boomerang Bigot against them.
- The Dog Bites Back: The Stand by Me Mortys are chased away from a Mega-Fruit farm by Farmer Rick. After Evil Morty takes over, they've joined the Citadel security force and are happily carting off an entire wheelbarrow full of fruit while other security Ricks restrain the farmer.
- Driven to Suicide: Slick Morty kills himself by jumping into the wishing portal.
- Duct Tape for Everything: The "medipack" that Cop Rick uses to patch himself up is duct tape.
- The Ending Changes Everything: Throughout the episode, Candidate Morty comes off as much more passionate, earnest, well-meaning, and likable than any of his Rick opponents, despite being a major underdog in the race, making him easy for the audience to root for to win the Presidency. Then the ending reveals that now-President Morty is actually Evil Morty, and he has his political opponents murdered, leading the audience to realize that we've been
Rooting for the Empire all along. - Evil Gloating: President Morty notes that this would be the perfect time to give a big speech. Instead he's going to simply murder all the Ricks who oppose his rule and dump everyone in space.
- Evil Plan: Evil Morty's plan to become the ruler of the Citadel of Ricks by pretending to be caring towards all Ricks and Mortys, thus earning their support, and being elected the new President of the Citadel, then reforming the Citadel as he pleases and essentially becoming its dictator while killing off Ricks and Mortys who oppose him.
- Eviler than Thou: The newly elected President of the Citadel proves himself to be this to the Shadow Council of Ricks that had been the real power behind the original Council of Ricks and attempted to control him as well.
- Exactly What It Says on the Tin: Citadel Morning News, which the anchor Ricks lampshade on the spot.
- False Friend: Wonka Rick decides to set Factory Worker Rick free. But it's only a ruse to get him to replace Simple Rick in a Lotus-Eater Machine.
- Family-Friendly Stripper: The Stripper Mortys at the nightclub are all fully dressed.
- Fantastic Ghetto: Morty Town, the slum area of the Citadel full of cast-off Mortys.
- Fantastic Racism: In a society consisting of entirely Ricks and Mortys, the two are practically treated as two races. It is not far-fetched to see Ricks as an analogy to white people and Mortys as an analogy to people of color.
- Fantastic Slur: Cop Morty calls other Mortys "animals" and "yellow shirts".
- Fantastic Underclass: Mortys who lose their Ricks and can't get paired up with a new one at the Assimilation Academy are forced to stay at the Citadel full-time, where they're even lower on the social ladder than working-class Ricks. In keeping with Rick's habitual abuse of Morty, the Mortys of the Citadel are mercilessly discriminated against by the Ricks or at the very least rarely taken seriously, and sensitivity training does little to stop the Police Brutality inflicted against "Yellowshirts." Most of them end up being segregated to Mortytown, a hellhole of urban decay, drug addiction, and organized crime.
- Fate Worse than Death: The original Simple Rick and his replacement, Factory Worker Rick, are trapped in a Lotus-Eater Machine while their brain chemicals are harvested to make cookies. Though it's unknown if the latter is released from this after Evil Morty takes over as President.
- Flying Car: Common in the Citadel.
- Five-Second Foreshadowing: Slick Morty tells the others that the wishing well doesn't exist. He's right. It was a garbage dump.
- Full-Circle Revolution: Sort of. Rick bucked the Intergalactic Federation because he thinks governments are stupid and created his own Citadel comprised only of Ricks and Morties, but due to his own unresolved issues the many Ricks wound up creating a society with the exact same socioeconomic exploitation and racial tensions as Earth, just with Ricks and Morties. Whether the new President Morty changes this or not has yet to be seen.
- He Knows Too Much: Trenchcoat Rick is shown to have been spaced at the end, presumably because he knew Evil Morty's true identity.
- His Name Is...: Campaign Manager Morty is spaced just before he can reveal Evil Morty's true nature to the Ricks.
- Homage:
- The side-plot with the four Mortys references Stand by Me.
- The side-plot with Cop Morty and Cop Rick has elements of The Wire and Training Day.
- Hope Spot:
- For Factory Rick when Wonka Rick escorts him out of the building and into a new life. However, once outside, he gets hi-jacked and made to replace Simple Rick in a Lotus-Eater Machine.
- For the cop storyline, when Cop Morty saves Cop Rick's life, making it seem like they might reconcile as partners after all; unfortunately, it can't last.
- Hyperlink Story: Dan Harmon cited Robert Altman as an influence on this episode, in that it's also a mosaic of multiple characters with their own stories intersecting each other and coming together at the end.
- I Have This Friend: At the Wishing Well site, Glasses Morty wishes for incest porn to get a more mainstream appeal, then adds "...f-for a friend of mine."
- Innocuously Important Episode: A commercial for "Simple Rick's" wafer cookies offhandedly mentions a "Central Finite Curve" containing an iteration of a Rick who was more interested in quality time with his family than science. We won't know what the Curve is, or its importance, until the season 5 episode "Rickmurai Jack".
- I Was Just Joking: When one of the Security Ricks gets Campaign Manager Morty Thrown Out the Airlock for attempting to assassinate Evil Morty, he comments that the latter's electoral victory "was a blowout". This prompts the following comment from his partner:Security Rick 1: I'd hardly call it a blowout, it was almost close enough to trigger a recount.
Security Rick 2: Jesus, what are you, joke security now too? - Kent Brockman News: Citadel Morning News, presented by Rick D716 and Rick D716-B, covers a variety of topics, such as the upcoming election — with both Ricks mocking the lone Morty candidate — and the hostage crisis in the Simple Rick factory — reported by an apathetic Rick D716-C who's looked down on by his two colleagues.
- Killed Offscreen: Sometime after providing Campaign Manager Morty with the information about Candidate Morty's identity, Trenchcoat Rick is Thrown Out the Airlock (presumably because He Knows Too Much), as his already-dead body is seen floating in space around the Citadel along with all the other Rick and Morty corpses.
- Kilroy Was Here: At Mortytown, we see some Mortys spraying "Morty wuz here" on a wall.
- Landfill Beyond the Stars: The Wishing Portal turns out to be where the Citadel dumps its garbage so it presumably leads to one of these.
- Leaning on the Fourth Wall: Morty hopes his trip to Atlantis wasn't a one-shot thing and could go back again.
- LEGO Genetics: Lizard Morty was spliced with lizard DNA.
- Lotus-Eater Machine: Simple Rick is a version of Rick who chose his family over science. Then Wonka Rick captured him and stuck him in a repeating loop of his happiest memory to harvest his endorphins and turn them into snack food flavoring. In the end, the Rick who rebels against the system is tricked into thinking he's escaped, then shot and stuck in the machine with that thought being run through his head to produce the flavoring.
- Man Behind the Man: There was a Shadow Council ruling over the original Citadel behind the Council of Ricks, and they try to be this to the new Citadel's democratically elected president as well. Unfortunately for them, Evil Morty is the new president.
- Maybe Magic, Maybe Mundane: Slick Morty sacrifices himself in the portal to wish for a change. In the end, his friends think that the wish came true. Of course, given that it is Evil Morty in charge, Be Careful What You Wish For is in effect.
- Mermaid Problem: Mermaids evidently do have vaginas, since both Rick and Morty enjoyed some quality time with them while in Atlantis.
- Mister Big: Big Morty, a normal-sized Morty who lampshades that it's not literal when Cop Morty points it out.
- Mood Whiplash: The Downer Ending with Evil Morty overlooking his new regime and the deceased Ricks and Mortys floating in the space around the new Citadel is followed by The Stinger having Rick and Morty cheerfully talking about getting laid by hot mermaids during their adventure in Atlantis.
- Morton's Fork: Cop Morty is presented with this after he has Big Morty at his mercy. If he doesn't kill Big Morty, the latter will tell the cops that Cop Morty is on the take. But if he does, Cop Rick — who refused an offer of money from Big Morty not to say Cop Morty killed the Morty Town Locos on Big Morty's orders — will talk in his place. Ultimately, Cop Morty shoots Big Morty after shedding Crocodile Tears to get Cop Rick to lower his guard, but Cop Rick, newly Genre Savvy, quick-draws him just as he is about to turn the gun on his partner.Cop Morty: Not so big now, are you?
Cop Rick: That's enough!
Cop Morty: If we don't kill him, he'll talk!
Cop Rick: If you do, I'll talk. - Motif Merger: Once taking office, President Morty unveils a new sigil which is a giant M placed on top of the R that symbolizes the Citadel. He makes sure to Sigil Spam it in the closing montage.
- Musical Spoiler: Just in case the viewer hadn't guessed, Evil Morty's theme, "For the Damaged Coda", starts playing immediately before his identity is revealed.
- Mythology Gag: Two examples:
- Garment District Rick gives a speech about the Shadow Council not caring who sits on the throne, even "a goddamn Jerry". In the comics, Jerry from dimension J-19ζ7 (Doofus Rick's dimension) previously usurped the Citadel temporarily.
- One of the Mortytown Locos' asks his Rick "When there’s a Morty president, you gonna lick my balls or what?", which is yet another Doc and Mharti reference.
- Never Trust a Trailer: The promo for this episode was meant to lead the audience to believe that the episode would be about Atlantis.
- New Era Speech: Discussed and played with, as President Morty delivers this over a montage of the changes he's implemented, so it acts as his speech despite being a private monologue:Evil Morty: [pours himself a drink] This seems like a good time for a drink… and a cold, calculated speech with sinister overtones. A speech about politics. About order. Brotherhood. Power. But speeches are for campaigning. Now is the time for action!
- Nice Job Breaking It, Hero:
- Rick killing off the Council of Ricks and destroying the old Citadel in "The Rickshank Redemption" leads to Evil Morty taking over here.
- Campaign Manager Morty's failed attempt to assassinate his former candidate in public likely garners just enough sympathy from the Citadel's population for the Morty candidate that an extremely close vote turns out in Evil Morty's favor.
- Factory Worker Rick's attempt to save Simple Rick ends up killing him.
- Noodle Incident: The actual Atlantis adventure of Rick and Morty turns out to have been one of their low-intensity happy adventures that involved a lot of sex with mermaids.
- Nothing Is the Same Anymore: Though this episode doesn't impact the core premise of the show (Rick and Morty go on adventures), it throws a stick of dynamite in the background by having Evil Morty win the presidency in the Citadel of Ricks.
- Obsessive-Compulsive Barkeeping: Downplayed. When the shootout starts at the nightclub, Bartender Morty is briefly seen cleaning a glass.
- Offscreen Moment of Awesome: In a certain context, anyway. During all the action on the Citadel, Rick and Morty visited Atlantis and both got laid by mermaids. Not surprising for Rick, but Morty getting some is pretty unusual.
- Pet the Dog:
- Played straight with some of Cop Morty's actions towards Cop Rick; he's very gentle with Cop Rick after the latter is stabbed by a Morty Loco. And despite being a Dirty Cop, he still ultimately sides with Cop Rick when the latter refuses to take a bribe from Big Morty. Sadly, though, it all amounts to naught, as Cop Rick is still forced to kill Cop Morty in self-defense.
- In a twisted way, President Morty gets a minor one at the end when dealing with the Shadow Council of Ricks. He could have easily simply had the entire Shadow Council killed, with the reasoning that they were all part of the leadership that was making the Citadel life so awful, but he specifically asks who agrees with Garment District Rick's views that President Morty would just be a Puppet King and only kills those who agree with him, sparing the two Council members who don't raise their hands.
- There's also a blink-and-you'll-miss-it shot of the other presidential candidate Ricks trapped in an airlock, watching in horror as corpses are dragged into the ones next to them. However Juggling Rick, the only one not to laugh at President Morty, is absent from the group.
- Planet of Steves: There's naturally some confusion when everyone is named Rick and Morty. It gets lampshaded by Wonka Rick when he faces Factory Rebel Rick, and also twice when Cop Rick and Cop Morty face mob boss Big Morty. Due to this trope, most Ricks and Mortys have taken up some form of descriptor (or use a number) when referring to each other.
- Police Brutality: Cop Morty. Also, the Rick police force encourages killing Gromflomites, even old and infirm ones.
- Politicians Kiss Babies: Parodied. A Rick creates an infant clone of himself to have Candidate Morty kiss it.
- Pragmatic Villainy: Evil Morty spares the members of the Shadow Council who don't believe he's just a puppet. He also at least creates the illusion that he's keeping his word to create a better world for the Ricks and Mortys, creating a new curriculum at the School of Mortys and changing the rules of the police force such that Cop Rick, who did the right thing in his storyline, isn't punished for it. "Rickamurai Jack" eventually resolves whether or not this illusion has any weight.
- President Evil: Evil Morty is elected president of the Citadel.
- The Purge: Evil Morty cements his control of the Citadel with a coordinated and clandestine wave of murder as well as shutting down most of the institutions of power not under his direct control.
- Red Shirt: In the Wham Shot at the end of the episode, in addition to all of the corpses of the Ricks and Mortys the audience knows, there are many more corpses of random other Ricks floating in space near the Citadel after being Thrown Out the Airlock, and it's unknown why any of them were killed.
- Refreshingly Normal Life-Choice: Played With. One iteration of Rick Sanchez — named "Simple Rick" — decided to forgo the high-octane (though ultimately soul-destroying) lifestyle his alternate counterparts live in favor of living like a normal family man. Instead of following his example, the Citadel of Ricks literally sells those feelings of domestic bliss in the form of a cookie to Ricks lower in the pecking-order, Rick D. Sanchez III having captured him and put him in a Lotus-Eater Machine so that they could milk these feelings from his brain.
- The Reveal: Candidate/President Morty turns out to be Evil Morty.
- Rewatch Bonus: Candidate Morty dodges any questions about his background and his absent Rick. That's because he's really Evil Morty.
- Rousing Speech: Candidate Morty gives a solid one to the crowd noting that the real divides are not between Ricks and Mortys but between Ricks and Mortys who want to keep things divided, and those who don't.
- Screw the Money, I Have Rules!: Cop Rick turns down a bribe from Big Morty and kills Cop Morty (who, as he knows, is corrupt and did accept the bribes) in self-defense, then turns himself in.
- Screw Yourself: The seedy nightclub "The Creepy Morty" seems to be dedicated to Mortys who are sexually attracted to themselves.
- Sequel Episode: Serves as one to both "The Rickshank Redemption" (by showing how the Citadel of Ricks is rebuilding after being nearly destroyed by Rick in that episode) and "Close Rick-Counters of the Rick-Kind" (by showing what Evil Morty's up to now after his Evil Plan was thwarted last time, and following him as he pulls off a new Evil Plan this time).
- Sequel Hook: If Evil Morty's line "It's time for action" wasn't enough, Rick dismissively saying that whatever's happening in the Citadel won't affect them gives a good hint that Rick and Morty may be dealing with Evil Morty sometime in the future. This comes to pass in the season 5 finale, "Rickamurai Jack".
- Shout-Out:
- The unofficial title of the episode is a reference to Tales of the City.
- The wafer factory owner, Rick D. Sanchez, III is attired like Willy Wonka from Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory.
- The factory rebel Rick and his fate as the next Simple Rick is one to Brazil.
- One of the Rick politicians is dressed like Jimmy McMillan
, of the "The rent is too damn high!" meme.
- Sidekick Glass Ceiling: Discussed throughout the episode:
- The Mortys are deliberately given sub-par education that prevents them from getting any skills that could allow them to develop outside the Ricks' shadows. They are more or less raised to be house-elves for the Ricks assigned to them. Indeed, a Morty Bartender when seeing Candidate Morty's good show in the election, snarks that if Candidate Morty wins, it would merely amount to him being blamed for everything now that one of them took high office.
- Cop Morty is so cynical about his lot in his life that he asserts authority and dominance over his Rick, goes berserk any time some of the ghetto Mortys taunt him about being a sidekick, and more or less has contempt for fellow Mortys. Indeed, on seeing Cop Rick being so uptight and idealistic, he taunts him repeatedly about how different he is from his usual type and even repeating Rick-isms ("Don't think about it") back to him.
- Sidekick Graduations Stick: Candidate Morty's campaign is treated within the Citadel as an analogue for any minority candidate running for a general election. His campaign slogan is "Time for a Morty" and he becomes the first Morty to be in charge of the Citadel, complete with his own M-Sigil.
- Stealth Pun: Teacher Rick is depicted as an Expy of Severus Snape, who was famously played by Alan RICKman.
- Stepford Snarker: Slick Morty was introduced as cracking a joke in class and is generally shown to be fun-loving. Then you get to his last scene and see how unhappy he really is.
- The Stinger: "Our" (C-137) Rick and Morty return from their Atlantis adventure, on which they apparently had a great time, including lots of sex with mermaids.
- Stripped to the Bone: The Loco Rick suffers this fate when his homemade portal fluid turns out to be brewed wrong.
- Swapped Roles: Cop Morty is bitter, jaded and amoral whereas Cop Rick is naive, caring, and tries to do the right thing.
- Take Our Word for It: We never see the Atlantis adventure, but afterwards, Rick and Morty make a big point to talk about it being really wonderful.
- Take That Us:
- Just before cutting to the main plot of the episode, Rick mocks anyone who would want to revisit it rather than going on a self-contained adventure.
- When the Factory Manager Rick introduces his replacement as "Cool Rick" (a Hipster-looking guy with orange shades and a goatee), said Rick introduces himself by saying, "I'm Cool Rick" in a manner quite similar to the Forced Meme catch-phrases of "Tiny Rick" and "Pickle Rick" which many fans had complained about before.
- Tattooed Crook: The Loco Mortys share facial tattoos that have a flame motif that ends with teeth on the right side of their mouth.
- Teleporter Accident:
- The Loco Mortys have a Rick brewing homemade portal fluid. When he tries to use it to escape from Cop Morty, the portal collapses and skeletalizes him. Cop Morty then uses it to destroy their entire building rather than go through the trouble of booking them all.
- Also, try to avoid the Blender dimension.
- Tempting Fate: The Stinger for the episode has Morty asking Rick if he's curious what happened on the Citadel. Rick dismisses it as something that could never have any bearing on their lives ever again, then taunts the audience about how we never saw the Atlantis adventure, and will never see Rick and Morty go back to it, despite it being better than the Citadel story.
- Thrown Out the Airlock: Campaign Manager Morty is blown out an airlock, along with other Ricks and Mortys that died over the course of the episode, and also those who were eliminated by Evil Morty.
- Throw the Dog a Bone: The Stinger reveals that Morty lost his virginity to a mermaid in Atlantis.
- Toilet Humor: During the debate, Candidate Morty gets interrupted by Retired General Rick mockingly farting, with Reverse Rick Outrage and Rick Guilt Rick joining in.
- Trenchcoat Brigade: Trenchcoat Rick gives Campaign Manager Morty the secret photos that make the latter try to assassinate Candidate Morty, then lampshades the whole Deep Throat act he's putting on. Though it happens off-screen, he gets spaced along with all of Evil Morty's enemies.
- Trivial Title: The adventure to Atlantis that's alluded to in the title is only mentioned in passing due to the entire episode being a Bait-and-Switch.
- Two-Faced: Reporter D716-C looks like the right side of his face has been burned off. The life of a reporter doesn't seem safer at the Citadel than anywhere else in the universe.
- Unflinching Walk: Cop Morty doesn't look back when he makes the Loco Mortys' drugs den disintegrate behind him.
- Villain Has a Point: Evil Morty points out how life on the Citadel is a Crapsaccharine World, where only a small number of Ricks live in luxury on the backs of less privileged Ricks and Mortys. Indeed, there's an entire slum called Mortytown where unwanted Mortys are dumped and left to fend for themselves. Rickless Mortys are forced to undergo an educational curriculum to be sent off to other Ricks who will potentially mistreat or experiment on them. Less privileged Ricks are ruthlessly exploited by their superiors, often through manual labor and with no prospect of advancement. It's little wonder Evil Morty's populist campaign carries him to the presidency, where he immediately begins enacting reforms that reverse the worst parts of Citadel life. On a lesser note, he had a valid reason to fire Campaign Manager Morty for encouraging him to not even try.
- We Will Use Manual Labor in the Future: Downplayed. Working-class Ricks perform menial labor in the Citadel, despite this being a society of super-geniuses. Having robots handle the unpleasant jobs would make more sense, but of course, it would also undercut the Citadel being used as a parody of present-day society.
- Wham Episode: Candidate Morty is revealed to have been Evil Morty all along and having become the Citadel's new leader, he intends to take power into his own hands.
- Wham Line:
- Actually a Wham Song, for those who haven't already pieced together The Reveal: when Candidate Morty — now President Morty — gives his speech to the new council and looks out over all the Ricks and Mortys who were flushed out the airlock, Evil Morty's theme from "Close Rick-Counters of the Rick Kind" begins playing.
- More in line with an actual Wham Line, after Candidate Morty is informed by the Shadow Council of Ricks that he's going to be more of a Puppet King than an actual President:Candidate Morty: Does [Garment District Rick] really speak for everyone here?
[Various Ricks agree]
Candidate Morty: [turns away from the Ricks; looks at them from his hand mirror] Well, I think it's important to be clear. Raise your hand if he speaks for you. [all Ricks but two do so; Candidate Morty snaps his fingers; the Guard Ricks gun them down]
- Wham Shot:
- And for those who didn't also notice the Musical Spoiler, the contents of classified documents that Campaign Manager Morty had are shown to the audience while they are drifting in space: pictures of the Candidate Morty with a familiar eyepatch and a robotic Rick.
- To a lesser extent, seeing all of the Ricks and Mortys who were killed during the episode floating through space serves as this, especially since we see Trenchcoat Rick (Campaign Manager Morty's informant) among them since it was never shown until now that he was killed.
- Wounded Gazelle Gambit:
- A Loco Morty acts scared to Cop Rick to gain sympathy, then stabs him when Rick shows compassion.
- Cop Morty tries this when Cop Rick turns on him, but Cop Rick has wised up and shoots him before Morty can do the same.
- Wretched Hive: Morty Town, a slum where Mortys with no Ricks or families are relocated. It's all crime and poverty with the Mortys trying to make a living however they can.
- You Can't Go Home Again: Many Ricks seem to have either lost their portal guns or had them taken away from them.
- You Will Be Spared: When having the Ricks loyal to him kill off the Shadow Council of Ricks, President Morty allows the two Ricks who did not raise their hands (to agree with Garment District Rick's assessment of President Morty being a Puppet King) to live.
