“ | I can't take it anymore! I just wanna die! |
- A deranged Mr. Meeseeks. "Meeseeks and Destroy" is the fifth episode of the first season of Rick and Morty. It is the fifth episode of the series overall. It premiered on January 20, 2014. It was written by Ryan Ridley and directed by Bryan Newton. The episode is rated TV-14-DLSV, and has 9.0 stars on IMDB.
Synopsis[]
Morty has grown weary of Rick's shenanigans, so he leads a supposedly safer adventure. Jerry conjures weird creatures to help him with his golf game.
Plot[]
After a particularly traumatic adventure, Morty tries to quit all future adventures. Rick pleads for him to continue being his sidekick, but allows him to lead his own adventure. The two strike a bet with each other: if the trip is a success then Morty will get to lead every tenth adventure, if the trip is a failure Morty will no longer complain. The rest of the Smith family bugs Rick for a solution to several mundane problems. Rick gives the family the Meeseeks Box, a gadget capable of instantaneously summoning helpers named Mr. Meeseeks. These blue creatures exist only to solve the task at hand. Once their task is solved, the creatures instantly disappear from existence. Rick assures the family that the creatures are happy to die, and warns them to keep their tasks simple. When Rick and Morty leave, Beth asks her Meeseeks to help her become a more complete woman while Summer wants hers to make her more popular at school. Jerry put off by their apparently difficult requests, asks his Meeseeks to do something comparatively simple sounding and help knock two strokes off his golf game.
Morty leads Rick on an adventure through a fantasy world. They stop at a poor village that requests the help of two heroes to help raise money for them. The villagers point towards the sky, where a world of Giants awaits. Morty and Rick climb up a giant plant stalk to the Giant's world and wait on the giant's table for him to emerge. A giant named Dale, appears smelling Rick and Morty and is about to start looking for them (with the intention of eating them) when he suddenly slips over and bangs his head on the corner of the table, killing himself. Dale's wife, Rose, and their son walk in and see the scene, and Rick and Morty are quickly arrested for Dale's "murder".
Summer's Meeseeks quickly makes her more popular at school by giving an inspiring speech that wins her a lot of friends, while Beth's takes her on a date and gives her some encouraging advice. However, Jerry struggles to improve at golf despite the coaching from his Meeseeks. Jerry is ready to give up, but his Meeseeks can't stop existing until it completes its task and decides to summon another Meeseeks to help. It isn't long before Jerry is surrounded by several Meeseeks all desperate to get Jerry to improve since many of them haven't had to exist that long, which leads to the Meeseeks slowly losing sanity as their task fails to be completed. Soon, there are dozens of Meeseeks created but Jerry still isn't improving making everyone involved frustrated. An exasperated Beth heads to dinner and Jerry goes along, telling the complaining Meeseeks that his golf game is more their concern than his. After they've gone, all the Meeseeks blame each other for their predicament and argue over the correct solution soon descending into a massive brawl, tearing each other apart (which still doesn't kill them) while creating more and more Meeseeks to join in the fight. Eventually, the original Meeseeks, having been alive for over two days (an eternity in Meeseeks time), tells his fellows that he has a solution to permanently take all strokes off Jerry's game, by killing him.
Rick and Morty are tried in a Giant's Court but are let go thanks to a technicality. Rick tries to convince Morty to throw in the towel, but he refuses. As the duo climb down several of the Courthouse's giant stairs, they find a tavern called the Thirsty Step. Morty, still bounding with confidence about the success of his adventure, confronts Rick about his constant negative attitude before going to the bathroom. While washing his hands, he runs into Mr. Jellybean. Mr. Jellybean asks Morty about his adventure and Morty tells him that he's nervous that it might have gotten out of hand. When Mr. Jellybean points out that adventures are supposed to be full of surprises Morty cheers up and decides to "go with the flow." However, Mr. Jellybean then wraps his arms around Morty and asks him to stay and "go with the flow." Understandably unsettled by this impulsive tact Morty tries to leave before Mr. Jellybean shoves him against the sinks. Realizing that Mr. Jellybean's attempting to rape him Morty starts to panic. Unfortunately, no one can hear his screams as Rick is singing Lynyrd Skynyrd's "Sweet Home Alabama" on the karaoke machine. Morty is force into one of the stalls but fortunately manages to fend Mr. Jellybean off, although he is visibly shaken afterward. Morty emerges from the bathroom and finds Rick playing cards. Rick apologizes for his previous negative attitude and tells Morty that he's having a good time as he had just won a lot of money in several games of cards. Morty on the other hand is trembling terribly and tells Rick that the adventure's over and they should just leave. Confused, Rick tells Morty that he's in the middle of a game at which point Morty tearfully breaks down and tells Rick that he'll accept losing the bet and begs Rick to take them back home. Rick pieces together what happened when he notices a bruised Mr. Jellybean leaving the bathroom and persuades Morty to get a ride down to the village and share his winnings with the townspeople. Morty cheers up, and the two leave.
Beth and Jerry go out to dinner, and the horde of Mr. Meeseeks descend on the restaurant wielding various weapons. Jerry and Beth escape into the restaurant's freezer, and the Mr. Meeseeks began taking hostages to coerce Jerry to come out. Jerry almost gives in, but Beth encourages him to try his golf swing one last time. Jerry emerges from the freezer and uses a severed pipe and tomato to prove that his swing has improved. The Mr. Meeseeks celebrate and disappear, all except for one 'stickler' Mr. Meeseeks who takes a hostage and asks to see Jerry's short game. Jerry hits an onion into a coffee cup, which finally dispatches all of the Mr. Meeseeks.
After sharing their remaining money with the villages, Rick congratulates Morty on a successful adventure and agrees that Morty has won the bet. The villagers then ask Rick and Morty to meet their king, who turns out to be Mr. Jellybean. Morty quickly declines and Rick opens the portal to home. The duo quickly hop through the portal and leave as quickly as possible. However, not content with allowing Mr. Jellybean to get away with his attempted rape, Rick quickly re-opens the portal and his hand emerges from the portal with a laser gun, which he uses to shoot and kill Mr. Jellybean, much to the horror of the villagers.
The trauma of the restaurant incident helps patch together Jerry and Beth's relationship for the time being.
In an after-credits scene, one of the villagers is sadly looking at the memorial statute made in honor of Mr. Jellybean when his squire arrives with shoe-box filled with photographs, clearly frazzled by something. He tells the villager that the box had been found in a locked chest in the closet of Mr. Jellybeans estate. The villager looks at the photographs and gags at the horrifying discovery. His squire suggests that they tell the people, but the villager orders him to burn it instead, claiming that the villagers would be better off remembering Mr. Jellybean for the idea that he represented to them rather than for his true disgusting nature. The episode ends with a shot of his (rather suggestive) statue of his with his arms around a child in his underwear.
Characters[]
Major Characters[]
Minor Characters[]
- Gene Vagina (Prime Dimension)
- Mr. Jellybean
- Samantha (Prime Dimension)
- Dale
- Rose
- Dale's Son
- Evil Beth Clone
- Evil Jerry Clone
- Evil Summer Clone
- Tammy Gueterman (Prime Dimension)
- Mr. Booby Buyer
- Slippery Stair
Deaths[]
Locations[]
Episode notes[]
Songs[]
Trivia[]
- This episode has 9.0 stars on IMDB
- This is the episode where Rick starts using his catchphrase "Wubba Lubba dub-dub!"
- This episode shows some of Rick's affection towards Morty by killing King Jellybean for his actions against Morty.
- This episode started the Morty's Adventure Cards, where every tenth adventure will be a Morty adventure.
- This is the first episode to air on a holiday (Martin Luther King Jr. Day).
- An early script draft calls the episode "The Meeseeks Box"
Cultural references[]
- The title of this episode is a reference to the Metallica song Seek and Destroy.
- The song Sweet Home Alabama by Lynyrd Skynyrd is featured in this episode, being sung by Rick Sanchez.
- The introduction of the episode makes a reference to the movie Event Horizon, with demonic, arcane, and fringe-science references found in the film, aside from visual similarities to the film's settings.
- The object dropped by Rick (and picked up by Morty) during the introduction resembles an inverted NES cartridge.
- The device used to capture Morty's possessed family on the ship, operates similarly to the trap used by the Ghostbusters.
- Jerry putting the menu up to his head and saying "countries known for their sexually aggressive men" is a reference to Carnac the Magnificent.
- The scene that features Rick killing King Jellybean through firing a gun that made him explode is a reference to the anime OVA Kite as that OVA featured the use of guns that killed people through bullets that blew up their heads.
- The after credits scene references Harvey Dent from The Dark Knight, as King Jelly Bean's horrendous crime is covered up for the sake of the thought he represented to the villagers.
- One of the items on the tavern's menu is "juicy time babies," referencing the Time Baby, a minor character in the animated series, Gravity Falls.
- The behavior of the possessed Beth in the cold open is similar to the Deadites from the Evil Dead franchise.
Errors[]
- A minor error occurred when the original Meeseeks said that he's tried helping Jerry for currently two days, although judging by the events and the daytime setting, the episode only spanned throughout the period of less than one day.
Transcript[]
View the full transcript of this episode here.
Gallery
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References
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