Pickle Rick

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Lore & Background

The episode was written by Jessica Gao. Series creator Dan Harmon said that he thought the concept originated from a writer suggesting an episode beginning with Rick turning himself into a pickle. They discussed his motivation and thought that he would do it "because he could" and to prove something to himself. The therapy subplot was introduced so that the episode would "keep addressing the divorce story of the season." Harmon also said that the Pickle Rick design is phallic and "emblematic of self-torture," as Rick is his "own worst enemy" and does this transformation to himself. "Pickle Rick" was one of Harmon's favorite episodes of the season. He said that the episode took inspiration from the *Breaking Bad* episode "4 Days Out," where Walter White's recreational vehicle breaks down in the desert while he is cooking crystal meth with Jesse Pinkman; rather than being able to trick or negotiate with anyone, White has to use his science knowledge to survive and restart the van. Harmon thought it was interesting to see Rick in a situation with limited resources. Writer Ryan Ridley said that the episode is "not a spoof of anything in particular," but it does make reference to the films *127 Hours* (2010) and *Gravity* (2013). During the writing process, Harmon was undergoing a divorce and had entered therapy, which influenced the episode: he said of the speech Dr. Wong gives to Rick, "I don't know if I could've written that two years ago [...] I would've made sure Rick got the final word."

In Their Own Story

As Beth, Morty, and Summer prepare for family counseling, Rick informs Morty that he cannot go, having turned himself into a pickle. He denies that he timed the experiment to avoid the counseling session, but the family notices a telltale mechanism rigged to drop a syringe in him soon after they leave. Beth takes the syringe, leaving Rick alone on his workbench. Rick is knocked off the bench by a cat and then washed into the sewer during a rain shower. Lacking any means of mobility, he bites the head of a cockroach and walks upon its back by stimulating its brain with his tongue. After assembling more cockroaches into a crude exoskeleton, he sets up a lab and upgrades to a powered exoskeleton made from a rat corpse. He escapes the sewer via jetpack into a secure compound, where he kills several guards. The compound's administrator Pavel Bartek sends a prisoner named Jaguar to fight Rick, but Rick persuades Jaguar to join him, and they escape together in the administrator's helicopter after rigging the compound to explode. Meanwhile, the therapist Dr. Wong is curious about Rick's absence despite Beth's attempts to shift attention to the children. Wong suggests Beth and Rick's shared aversion to emotion and vulnerability is at the root of the family's problems. As the group is saying I-messages to communicate their feelings, Rick enters to get the syringe. He admits lying to get out of therapy because he prefers to improve the world through science rather than feel better about it. Wong responds that he uses his scientific intelligence to avoid the necessary work of self-improvement. Rick stares at her silently, thinking. On the way home, Rick apologizes to Beth for lying, then uses the syringe to turn back into a human. Morty and Summer express interest in further therapy but Rick and Beth ignore them by mocking Wong and planning to go out drinking. In a post-credits scene, the villain Concerto is preparing to kill a restrained Rick and Morty in his gigantic piano, but Jaguar saves them. Rick tells Morty, "that is why you don't go to therapy."

Reader's Guide

Character designer Kendra Melton estimated that Pickle Rick's rat suit underwent 100 different design versions. Maximus Pauson, also a character designer, stated that the one used was chosen so it "emphasized the pickle-ness." Harmon commented that initial designs for the rats were "too adorable" considering that Rick murders many of them: Melton said that fur was removed, boils were added and their backs became more arched. According to Harmon, the writers gave more detailed instructions to animators than for most episodes, in particular "about the process of hacking the cockroach to give Rick mobility." The episode received positive reviews, with critics praising the animation and design of Pickle Rick, the fight scenes, the performance of guest actor Danny Trejo (as Jaguar), and the episode's ending. It won *Rick and Morty* the 2018 Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Animated Program, the show's first Emmy Award. Several merchandise products, particularly of the character Pickle Rick, have been released. A Nerdist article connected the scene where Rick controls the movement of the cockroach by poking its brain with his tongue to a 2015 study "Central-Complex Control of Movement in the Freely Walking Cockroach," published in *Current Biology*, where researchers were able to stimulate neurons of a cockroach with the aim of controlling its movement.

Did You Know?

• The episode won *Rick and Morty* the 2018 Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Animated Program, the show's first Emmy Award.
• A rough cut animation of 'Pickle Rick' premiered at the 2017 San Diego Comic-Con, just about a month before the episode aired in August 2017.
• Guest star Susan Sarandon played Dr. Wong, a character originally named by writer Jessica Gao with the intention of being played by an Asian actor.
• The episode's commentary on the Blu-ray DVD was recorded by Dan Harmon and Justin Roiland.
• The scene where Rick controls a cockroach by stimulating its brain with his tongue was connected by a Nerdist article to a 2015 study on cockroach movement control published in *Current Biology*.