Take heed, knave. Thou will not be saying "Praise the Sun" for long.
Original air date: 12/4/2022
Morty creates trouble for the solar system when he becomes King of the Sun.
Tropes:
- 20% More Awesome: Rick promises Morty that he'll be 22% more agreeable to him "for one episode".
- AstroTurf: After Morty gets teleported away by the Knights of the Sun, Rick asks why none of the aliens standing in line for food just take the food that the Knights abandoned. One of the aliens admits that they aren't actually customers. Rather, the pop-up restaurant pays them to stand in line to drive up business; something Rick expected.
- Berate and Switch: Once Rick rescues Morty from the Sun the first time and brings him home, the latter is clearly waiting for the former to make him feel like crap about the whole ordeal like he normally would. Instead, Rick had a Jerkass Realization from Morty's harsh words earlier and promises to be more agreeable and supportive to him.Morty: Okay, so...?
Rick: So?...Ohhh, so, you dragged me to a fake restaurant, yelled at me for not doing what you wanted, then did something I told you not to, and it almost cost you your pud, but I saved your life, and now you're waiting for me to make you feel like shit about it.
Morty: That's—yeah, you nailed it.
Rick: Morty, I'm-I'm sorry I let your opinion of me get this low.
Morty: (Rolls his eyes) All right, I get it.
Rick: There's nothing to get, I-I-I'm for real. - Breaking the Fourth Wall: Rick, as per usual. He promises Morty that he'll be 22% more agreeable to him "for one episode", or at least one adventure, and see how it goes.
- Blind Seer: The witch who sees visions in the future through bones has her eyes stitched shut.
- Character Development:
- Rick openly admits he wants to do right for Morty and desires to improve their relationship as a responsible and supportive grandfather instead of a drunken and nihilistic psychopath.
- Similarly, in previous seasons, Rick would not take Morty insulting him, disparaging his ideas, or trying to distance himself from him lightly, and would go to extremely petty and destructive lengths to keep him under his thumb. "The Vat of Acid Episode", which Morty references, is a particular example, where the events of the entire episode were Rick taking revenge on Morty for making fun of him and calling his vat of acid idea stupid. This time around, Morty calling Rick "boring" and "a drunk old fuck" causes Rick to take a closer look at himself and try to be better rather than wanting to get back at Morty, and when they use the "fake vat of acid" trick at the end to feign their deaths, Rick just apologizes to Morty that it's come to this rather than making any snide comments about it.
- Speaking of, in the original "Vat of Acid" episode Morty's issue with the plan was how unnecessary and overcomplicated it was, since Rick had easier and better options to get out of trouble, and seemingly stick to it just because of his pride and ignoring Morty's objections. Here not only he listens to Morty, but the vat itself is a desperate last resort when all the other plans have failed, which is why Morty doesn't have the same objections to it.
- The major cause of the conflict between Rick and Morty in "Rick: A Mort Well Lived" earlier this season was Rick's inability to tell Morty he loves him. But now, when Morty tells Rick he loves him just before they fake their deaths, Rick responds with a "love you too" with no hesitation or hangups.
- A Child Shall Lead Them: Subverted with Morty, who, much to his own chagrin, becomes King of the Sun after he defeats the previous king in combat. He doesn't want it, though, and was only dueling so he and Rick could leave, but the King promptly commits suicide to make Morty his replacement despite the latter's protests, and the first thing Morty does is make a royal decree that he's going on vacation as an attempt to escape from it. He briefly takes his place as King long enough to end the Solar War, but then fakes his suicide along with Rick to get out of having to cut his own dick off, and we never see who replaces Morty after his "death".
- Continuity Nod:
- Morty suggests moving to another universe when the solar war starts getting out of control. Unfortunately, Rick decides now would be a good time to resolve a problem instead of running away from it.
- Rick utilizes another "Vat of Acid" gambit over the sun's flames to escape. This time, Morty doesn't complain, even accepting that this is their only option, and it works.
- Rick dismisses hanging out on Pluto as some "Jerry-league shit".
- Crazy-Prepared:
- Having become familiar with advanced technology during the war, the Viscount of Venus has prepared scanners (and a witch) to foil any attempt Morty makes to fake cutting off his dick.
- Rick's and Morty's plan to avoid the latter having to cut his dick off involves having Morty wear three fake penises to use instead, and in the event that all of these get found out, having a "vat of acid" trick ready to go so they can pretend to sacrifice themselves by diving into the Sun (which is ultimately what they're forced to do).
- Electronic Telepathy: Rick apparently used his science to establish telepathy to communicate with Morty as a backup plan in case their plot to fake cutting the latter's dick off fails, which it does. Morty almost screws it up, though, by accidentally answering Rick out loud instead of mentally the first couple of times, and then Rick only uses it to tell Morty to flee anyway, prompting him to ask why they needed to bother with telepathy at all.
- Five-Second Foreshadowing: Right before it's made obvious to the audience how Rick and Morty faked their deaths when they apparently dove into the Sun, the mural on the wall depicting their "sacrifice" shows their bodies falling to their "deaths" in the exact same positions from "The Vat of Acid Episode" when they fell into the titular fake vat of acid to likewise pretend to commit suicide.
- Foreshadowing: When Morty expresses doubt that Rick's support of him is genuine, he asks if this is "'Vat of Acid' again", which Rick denies and insists that he really is just trying to do better by his grandson. At the climax of the episode, when they pretend to commit suicide to escape from the leaders of the Solar System and end the conflict, they actually do use the "fake vat of acid" trick* to pull it off, though this time, it's a backup plan that Rick and Morty agreed on together.
- Gilligan Cut: Morty decides to reunite the knights and figures it would be easy, followed by a cut to the knights stoked on heroin.
- Gorn: During the beginning of Solar War 1, we get a close-up look at several characters getting stabbed, having their throats slit, and/or bleeding out all over the floor. The blood is then used to write about the events in their history book.
- Hourglass Plot: Just like the previous season's 9th episode, Rick once again notes how toxic and unhealthy his dynamic is with Morty and how that needs to change. However, unlike "Forgetting Sarick Mortshall" where he tried accomplishing this via "breaking up" with Morty and Leaving You to Find Myself, only to return later and essentially hit the Reset Button, this time, Rick sticks with Morty the whole time and genuinely tries to be more supportive of him instead of harshly demeaning him every time he screws up, with better results.
- Human Aliens: The various people of the Solar System all look human with only superficial distinctions like the Jovians having hair in purple hues. The Knights of the Sun, apart from the immortality granted by their station, have fused carbon walls for blood vessels making them immune to overdosing on heroin.
- Innocently Insensitive: Rick for a good chunk of the episode. While he wants to be supportive, years of mocking those kind of relationships left him with little concept of how to do it, and he can't think of much more than being just a yes-man and praising Morty for everything, mistakes included, in ways that feel like sarcastic jabs. He does get better by the end of the episode, learning to do things like provide actual comfort, truly listening and helping proactively.
- Instantly Proven Wrong: The Viscount of Venus believes Morty's unification of the planets would fail without the scepter... moments before Rick takes the scepter.
- Insufficiently Advanced Alien: At the very least the communities of the Solar System all have interplanetary travel, but are otherwise essentially a stereotypical medieval society that believes in dodgy religious dogma, witchcraft, and hierarchical monarchies with warring lines of ruling nobility. War forces them to upgrade the rest of their technology.
- I Take Offense to That Last One: Inverted and subverted. Rick lists several highly negative traits about himself, but then brings up how Morty called him "boring" earlier. Morty immediately states he shouldn't have said that, but rather than being angry about it, Rick notes that this was a wake-up call for him.Rick: Look, I'm a drunk, I'm a psychopath, I'm a murderer, but, when you called me boring...
Morty: I-I shouldn't've.
Rick: I needed to hear it! - Jerkass Has a Point: One of the Knights reminds everyone that Morty refused to follow their ways and unwittingly disillusioned their beliefs. So why bother following their "king's" command to reunite if he doesn't change his mind?
- Jerkass Realization: Morty's irritated exasperation with Rick and his usual attitude at the beginning of the episode serves as this for the latter, with Rick deciding to be more supportive. It's so different from what Morty is used to receiving from his grandpa that it takes him a while to finally start believing that Rick isn't just messing with him.
- Kidnapping Bird of Prey: In the post-credits, the alien detective that freed the alien hotdogs figured birds would try to catch them before he ends up getting carried off by a large bird. Also counts as Tempting Fate.
- Leaning on the Fourth Wall: Morty successfully gets the Knights of the Sun to renounce their tradition and leave him alone by proving their belief system wrong with logic and science. He then tells the rest of the family that the Knights have left and he and Rick learned to support each other better, though he notes that this apparent wrap-up "feels early". Indeed, this is less than halfway through the episode, and things promptly go downhill from there.
- Lensman Arms Race: With the Knights of the Sun disbanded, nine planetary civilizations — who each already have interplanetary travel technology — all go to war while using low-technology level weaponry, until they learn that better guns exist, where-in a massive arms race rapidly advances their technology and makes them all that much more dangerous. Such rapid advancements results in correctly anticipating 3 levels of failsafes that Rick comes up with to prevent Morty from getting his penis cut off.
- Living Forever Is Awesome: The Knights of the Sun declare that they have the good kind of immortality you don't get bored with and can die whenever you want. Also, living on the sun means they can't overdose from heroin. Unfortunately, part of the initiation ritual is cutting off your dick, and that's a deal-breaker for Morty.
- Look Behind You: During the climactic coronation ceremony, Morty distracts the crowd by pointing at a fictitious sunspot in order to discretely dispose of his fake dick.
- MacGuffin Melee: When all parties start killing each other over the Sun scepter.
- Meta Twist: Morty (and, probably, the audience) spends the entire episode waiting for the other shoe to drop with Rick's uncharacteristic niceness. There isn't one, he's just genuinely trying to do better.
- Nice Job Breaking It, Hero: Morty tries to use science to disprove the Knights' religion and tradition so he can step down as king and literally save his own dick. Unfortunately, the Knights bail from their duty afterwards and, without their patrol, it leads to the other planets going to war with one another. Morty then presents the Solar Scepter in hopes of resolving the war, but it leads to everyone trying to get it in a bloody, system-wide free-for-all.
- No Escape but Down: When Rick and Morty reach a dead end during their climactic escape and are faced with the only choice to jump into the sun.
- On Second Thought: In the montage of all the different planets' leaders and warriors ending the interplanetary war, the Viscount of Venus seems to be the only one who plans to keep going, since he has the Sun Scepter (which is accepted as the official sign of authority for who rules the solar system). Rick then appears through a portal long enough to steal the scepter and vanish again, and the Viscount then tells his followers that they'll negotiate like the rest.
- Planetary Romance: A minor parody of one with lampshading about how strange it is to have medieval knights in a space setting.
- Platonic Declaration of Love: Morty and Rick exchange these before faking their deaths by jumping into the Sun.
- Poor Communication Kills: Over and over and over the Knights of the Sun boof it. They fail to explain that it's a kind of ritual You Kill It, You Bought It situation with becoming a knight, then fail to explain that you have to cut your dick off to join, then spring that you have to beat the king in combat in order to leave, only for that to turn out to be another You Kill It, You Bought It, and then it turns out that they've all been incredibly stupid about their religion and thought the solar system literally orbited the scepter when really it was a political metaphor.
- Rewatch Bonus: Rick's uncharacteristicly supportive behavior for the majority of the episode becomes that much more obvious after watching the episode that would follow. He tells Morty he'll try being about 22% nicer and more supportive for about an episode, and immediately deflects the idea of being a robot or a clone when Morty questions if he is. One episode later, we learn that this Rick actually is a robot who was programmed with Suspiciously Specific Denial to throw off anyone from catching onto the possibility that he was a robot. Indeed, his 22% nicer attitude only lasts for one episode.
- Rule of Three: Rick gives Morty three fake penises for the "Stem Stumping Ceremony" so that he won't actually have to cut his own dick off. Unfortunately for them, the Viscount of Venus also has three machines (or, rather, two machines and an old witch lady) that counteract all of them.
- Running Away to Cry: After vowing to cut off his dick in order to persuade the Knights of the Sun to return, Morty immediately runs to the bathroom and cries, regretting his decision.
- Run or Die: Rick's advice to Morty after their coup with the fake dicks failed.
- Schizo Tech: The inhabitants of the Solar System's other planets are simultaneously medieval fiefdoms armed with swords and extremely advanced civilizations with casual interplanetary travel and weapons of mass destruction. Morty's very confused by the whole thing.
- Screw This, I'm Outta Here: When all of Rick's and Morty's plans to fake Morty cutting his dick off with fake penises are thwarted, Rick telepathically communicates the new plan to him: Step 1: take the scissors, and Step 2: Run. Morty asks why Rick didn't just lead with Step 2 and why he bothered with the telepathy at all.
- Secret-Keeper: One of the newly-inducted Knights of the Sun bumps into a very-much-alive Rick and Morty hiding nearby, right after hearing the story of how they supposedly sacrificed themselves in atonement and to end the Knights' practice of castrating themselves. Morty quickly points out to him that, if he tells anyone else that they're actually still alive, the Knights (including him) will have to go back to cutting their dicks off. The guy acknowledges this and has no problem with keeping the secret.
- Seize Them!: The line is said by the Viscount of Venus when tasking her guards to go after Rick and Morty who try to flee the coronation ceremony.
- Shout-Out:
- The episode title is a play on the 1995 film A Kid in King Arthur's Court, which itself is a play on A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court. The plot takes inspiration from both of these works.
- Rick mentions the AI sword has seen enough Blade to learn sword fighting.
- Special Agent Mongo Bongo wears a beige raincoat over a suit and tie, resembling Columbo.
- Sincerity Mode: Rick gets a Jerkass Realization from Morty's annoyance at his attitude, and sincerely tells him that he wants to do better by him and be a supportive grandfather. Morty spends most of the episode thinking he's just screwing with him and acting like a Yes-Man with the intention of dickishly rubbing all of his mistakes in his face later to prove a point; considering that this is exactly what Rick would have been up to circa Seasons 3 and 4, the skepticism is quite understandable. It goes on for quite a while before Morty finally realizes that Rick really does mean it and isn't planning to pull the rug out from under him this time.
- Solar System Neighbors: There's an entire quasi-medieval culture of Human Alien civilizations across Earth's Solar System, with the reigning monarchy based on the surface of the sun. Rick was completely unaware of this because he's been to other planets in parallel universes where they don't exist and thus never bothered to check.
- So Proud of You:
- Rick definitely gives this vibe when he brags to the rest of the family that Morty successfully disproved a religion and got its followers to renounce it using "critical thinking and basic physics", and the Smiths congratulate Morty accordingly.
- Rick to Morty again right before they fake their deaths, telling him he's proud of him for trying to solve his own problems.
- The Stinger: An alien investigator, Special Agent Mongo Bongo, arrests the vendor who sold Rick the sentient hot dogs at the beginning of the episode, tracks down the aliens responsible for the "hot dog trafficking", and after saving all of them, releases them into the sea, relieved that they weren't snatched by birds...only for the agent himself to be kidnapped by birds instead.
- Surprise Santa Encounter: A Santa Claus is spotted in the Neutral Zone, but he's not the Santa. He is actually the "Earl of Earth".
- Take Up My Sword: A strange twist on the trope. The knight who gives his sword to Morty is perfectly healthy when doing so, but then stabbed himself as soon as he accepts it, killing himself and disappearing in flames. The same thing happens with the king, giving him the Sun Scepter before killing himself as well.
- Tempting Fate:
- At the end, Morty and Rick drop by the Sun after faking their deaths to see how things are shaking out. Morty warns Rick this could backfire, but Rick explains he had to see for himself to make sure they are considered dead. Sure enough, they're caught by a squire, only for Morty to warn/threaten him that saying anything will mean having to cut his dick off. The guy wisely holds his tongue.
- Lampshaded by the alien detective, who figures the alien hot dogs would have been grabbed by birds, only to himself be grabbed by a much larger bird.
- Throat-Slitting Gesture: Rick uses this gesture to signal Morty to drop the fake dick before going into the second dick detector.
- Too Good to Be True: Once Morty gets to the Sun and is told about the perks of becoming one of their Knights, he figures there has to be a catch, and starts questioning it; the Knights tell him that they are "immortal" in the sense that they can't be killed, but they can die whenever they please, and they're not forced to stay on the Sun forever and can come and go as they like. Morty seems satisfied by the answers, but at his induction ceremony, finds out that there is indeed a catch: Knights are required to cut off their penises to join the order.
- Unwanted Assistance: Morty gets a few moments of this with Rick, who he feels is being over-supportive to the point of being a Yes-Man by not calling Morty out on his legitimately dumb decisions when he actually deserves it, the way Rick would normally be quick to do.
- Weird World, Weird Food: While Rick and Morty go to an asteroid checking out a pop up food stand, there's another vendor selling hot dog-like fish creatures. Apparently they're sentient and have rights, as the stinger shows an alien special agent busting the vendor as well the trafficking ring that supplied them and setting the hot dogs free into an ocean.
- Who Wants to Live Forever?: Discussed. The Knights of the Sun are immortal, but not so immortal that they will grow sick of it, as they can die whenever they want. That said they seem to need to find a successor for their sword first and are quick to kill themselves as soon as they find one.
