Rickdependence Spray
Morty's misuse of horse semen spawns giant mutant sperm.
The fourth episode of Rick and Morty's fifth season, which aired on July 11, 2021, follows Morty as he volunteers at a horse hospital to secretly use its breeding program for self-gratification. Rick later steals horse semen from the facility to create a weapon against cannibalistic horse-people. Critics and fans disliked the episode, finding its plot far-fetched and silly, with some suspecting the storyline resulted from writer's room dares.
Quick Facts
- Series
- Rick and Morty
- Season
- 5
- Episode
- 4
- Production
- RAM-505
- Runtime
- 22 minutes
- Air date
- 11 July 2021
- Writer
- Nick Rutherford
- Director
- Erica Hayes
Facts from the source article.
Plot
Morty, while waiting for Beth to finish her work, came across a horse inseminator. He asked if he could work part-time at her horse hospital after hours, and Beth agreed. Morty then used the inseminator to masturbate. Meanwhile, Rick was trying to create a bioweapon to fight an underground race of cannibalistic horse-people called the Chuds. The experiment went wrong when he used a barrel of horse semen that, unknown to him, also contained Morty's semen. The failed experiment exploded, releasing a swarm of giant mutated sperm that started killing humans. The president sent Rick and Morty with a troop team to destroy the sperm's nest, but everyone except Rick and Morty died. The Sperm Queen used Morty to produce more sperm monsters, but a friendly sperm Morty named Sticky rescued them. The president then devised a plan to lure the sperm with an enlarged human egg taken from Summer. But Morty confessed the sperm came from him, and everyone realized they were about to create a giant incest baby. The president ordered his forces to defend the egg at all costs. Rick, Morty, and Sticky were captured by the Chuds and nearly eaten, but the Chud king's daughter, Princess Poneta, revealed Rick had gotten her pregnant. This made the Chuds help the humans stop the sperm. Unexpectedly, Sticky, the underdog sperm, breached the egg and fertilized it. The president, refusing to destroy the egg for political reasons, had it launched into space. Poneta gave birth to Rick's fowl, which was independent from birth, and then left Rick. In the post-credits scene, an astronaut was grabbed by Summer and Morty's giant incest baby.
Production
Nick Rutherford, a staff writer, wrote the script for "Rickdependence Spray," which was his second credited work for the series after "One Crew over the Crewcoo's Morty." Erica Hayes, a regular director for the show, directed the episode, and its internal production code was RAM-505. According to Dan Harmon and Rutherford, the idea came from a deliberate challenge in the writers' room to see how far they could stretch network television standards using a ridiculous, single-minded concept. The team wanted to build a serious, action-movie plot around a crude and lowbrow starting point, mixing epic stakes with toilet humor. Rutherford later said they purposely made it "disgusting and tasteless" to push the limits of animation. The episode is full of satirical nods and story elements from 1980s and 1990s sci-fi and action blockbusters. Its main title is a joke on the 1996 film Independence Day. The underground, cannibalistic horse-humanoid creatures called "Chuds" are a reference to the 1984 horror movie C.H.U.D. The final scene, with a giant floating human fetus in orbit, directly parodies the "Star Child" ending of Stanley Kubrick's 1968 film 2001: A Space Odyssey.
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