"Childrick of Mort" is the ninth episode of the fourth season of Rick and Morty, and the 40th episode of the series overall. It premiered on May 24, 2020. It was written by James Siciliano and directed by Kyounghee Lim. The episode is rated TV-14-DLSV.
Synopsis[]
Jerry's plan to take the whole family on a camping trip is sidetracked when Rick gets news that he may have impregnated a planet.
Plot[]
The family has a vacation and Jerry tries to force Morty and Summer, who are more interested in the devices in their hands, to enjoy the basics of camping with him. During the drive, Rick gets a call from an ex telling him he is the father of her children. Beth, determined that Rick will do for his new child what he never did for her, forces him to go to his ex and be a good dad. However it turns out that Rick's ex, Gaia, is an entire planet about to give birth to her first sentient species. Beth wants Rick to help the kids develop, and Rick agrees so the two of them set to work developing the society and helping them fly into space.
Morty, Summer and Jerry go camping, but Morty and Summer make it clear they have no intention of going along with Jerry's camping trip. After Summer verbally blasts Jerry for wanting to bond with her in order to feel important, he leaves forlorn and accidentally gets thrown into a group of Rick and Beth's new society's rejects. With their basic brains, they love the idea of camping, so Jerry becomes their new leader. Morty and Summer go looking for him after a few days, only to find a crashed alien ship. Boarding it, Morty believes the controls are identical to his video game while Summer thinks the vapor the ship emits will grant her knowledge of how the controls and begins inhaling it. Soon she gets high off of the substance, and Morty tries to fly the ship. Meanwhile, a god-like being named Reggie arrives claiming he is the father of the children that Beth and Rick raised, and Gaia admits to Rick she made a mistake and doesn't know who the father is. Rick and Reggie both want to lay claim to the offspring, and quickly get into a fight. After a long brawl, Reggie gets the upper hand and tells Rick he has no intention of raising his kids but simply wants to strike the fear of god (who, as far as he is concerned, is himself) into them. However before Reggie can kill Rick, Morty and Summer dispatch him by accidentally driving the spaceship through his brain. Boarding, Rick finds Morty and Summer high, and thanks them for saving his life. Rick tells them that video games and drugs are the best, although also points out Summer wasn't actually doing drugs, but rather - inhaling brake fluid. Rick soon inhales the brake fluid.
While all this is going on, Beth's advanced Ricklets and Jerry's tribal Ricklets have gone to war with each other. However before the battle can go too far, Reggie's body falls on the city destroying it and killing many of the residents. Beth is sent flying over a cliff, and its left to Jerry to save her. He manages it, however the smell he now emits quickly quells any thought of thanking him for the rescue. Gaia is furious that her mate has been killed and forms an erupting volcano, the resulting lava killing most of the surviving society. Rick, Morty and Summer pick up Beth, Jerry and the last few survivors and fly off. The family finally leaves in their car, and gives the ship to the Ricklets (which Rick placing a tracer and a bomb on board, planning to blow it up if they come near Earth seeking revenge).
As the family flies off, Jerry reveals that he has learned a lesson from the experience, and tells the kids they were right about him, as he admits that he wanted to feel important, something that left Summer and Morty shocked. Jerry says there are times, where teenagers do have a point even if they are cruel, leaving the kids to feel guilty at their treatment. After Rick insults Jerry, Beth for once doesn't defend her father - and instead takes her husband's defense by voicing how Jerry saved her life, while criticizing Rick. This brings a smile to Jerry's face, and as Rick observes Jerry's smug look, Rick takes the opportunity to put them in their place and reassert control - telling Jerry and Beth they need to work on their parenting skills as Morty and Summer got high, went joyriding and killed Reggie. Beth and Jerry appear to be shocked and displeased that Rick is ratting out their kids who are equally shocked until listening to criticism.
In the post-credits scene, Summer catches Rick looking at what appears to be a dating/porn website for planets. Although Rick claims he's only looking at it for the comedic potential, he's clearly aroused by what he sees.
Cast and characters[]
Major characters[]
Minor characters[]
- Ricklets
- Mike Triscuit (image only)
- Various "Planets Only" planets
- Worker drones
Deaths[]
Locations[]
- Dimension C-131
- Earth
- Gaia
- 2R-F181 (mentioned)
Episode notes[]
- Morty and Summer appear to finally acknowledge and be aware of their unfairness to Jerry, who likewise sees that he was wrong to force his desires on his children.
Trivia[]
- In celebration of Season 4, Pocket Mortys' weekly updates will coincide with new episodes, including new avatars for players to collect. With the release of this episode came: Ricklet King Jerry as an avatar, plus Brake Fluid Morty and Drone Morty to catch.
- The episode's title was officially revealed by Gabrielle Auen via Twitter on April 13, 2020.
Series continuity[]
- Because of video games, Morty has bad relationships, such as with his girlfriend in "The Vat of Acid Episode". In this episode, Morty is depicted as being addicted to video games.
- When Summer and Morty are lost in the forest, she tells him, "If I die, don't eat my ass. That'd be weird". This alludes to the previous episode, The Vat of Acid, in which plane crash survivor Morty resorted to cannibalizing the dead to stay alive.
- Summer also went to family therapy once for huffing paint enamel in "Pickle Rick". In this episode, Summer is portrayed to be into inhaling drugs and foreign substances.
Cultural references[]
- The episode title is a reference to the science fiction film Children of Men, which is about the last pregnant woman on the planet.
- When Squeeb said "Use the s'mores, Jerry.", it is a reference to the famous line "Use the force, Luke.", from the movie Star Wars: Episode IV - A New Hope.
- When Morty says that the pilots of the ship may have died from space worms, it could be a reference to the The Clone Wars episode where brain worms infected some of the clone troopers.
- Jerry mentions singer and songwriter Billy Ocean when fighting Beth.
- Rick mentions The Ring when he complains about Summer smoking the Brake Fluid
- Gaia may be a reference to a literal living planet of the same name in Isaac Asimov's Foundation series. She is a clear reference to Greek Mythology, same for Reggie, who is basically Zeus.
- The crashed alien ship found by Morty and Summer and Morty's line "Probably they drove through a nebula that made them see their own fears." may be a reference to the science fiction film Sphere.
- The game console Morty is playing looks very similar to the Nintendo Switch console.
- Rick mentions the Disney Channel when criticizing Morty at the end of the episode.
Transcript[]
View a full transcript of this episode here.
Gallery
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References
http://https--twitter--com.proxy.hbcoal.com/gabrielle_auen/status/1249791151332306945