The Rickshank Rickdemption

Rick escapes prison and destroys the Galactic Federation's economy.

Adult Swim pulled an April Fools' prank by dropping "The Rickshank Rickdemption" without warning on April 1, 2017, as the season three premiere of Rick and Morty. Mike McMahan wrote and Juan Meza-Leon directed the twenty-second episode overall, which drew 676,000 American households during its first broadcast. The episode follows Rick's prison escape from the Galactic Federation, revealing his true character and motives. Critics praised its character development and unexpected plot twists.

Quick Facts

Series: Rick and Morty
Season: 3
Episode: 1
Director: Juan Meza-Leon
Writer: Mike McMahan
Air date: 1 April 2017
Length: 23 minutes
Guests: Nathan Fillion as Cornvelious Daniel; Tom Kenny

Facts from the source article.

Plot

Summer digs up the remains of her reality's Rick to use his portal gun for a rescue. Meanwhile, Galactic Federation scientists send alien Cornvelious Daniel into Rick's mind to learn the secret of his portal gun. In his memories, Rick struggles to invent teleportation until an alternate version of himself shows him multiversal travel; Rick declines and decides to give up science. The alternate Rick drops a bomb that kills Rick's wife Diane and a young Beth, driving Rick to invent his own multiversal portal gun. Morty and Summer are captured by the Cronenberg World's Smith family but are saved by the Citadel Militia and taken to the Council of Ricks. Seal Team Ricks plans to assassinate Rick. At the prison, Rick deceives the Galactic Federation into believing he revealed his portal gun's secrets, claiming his backstory was fabricated. When their guard drops, Rick hacks Federation technology to switch bodies with Cornvelious, who is shot by SEAL Team Ricks. Rick transfers his consciousness into a SEAL Team Rick and kills the others. He infiltrates the Citadel of Ricks and teleports the station into the same space as the Federation prison, triggering a massive battle. Rick rescues Morty and Summer and kills the Council of Ricks. He enters the Federation mainframe, his true reason for turning himself in, and makes the Galactic Federation's single currency worthless, destroying its economy and causing the aliens to leave Earth.

Production

The episode was directed by Juan Meza-León and written by Mike McMahan. Its elements were loosely inspired by the film The Shawshank Redemption and feature the series' trademark dark humor, nihilism, and multiverse-based plot. Series creator Dan Harmon stated that the episode would resolve conflicts from the second season, noting that the third season would not spend many episodes dealing with the situation created at the end of the second season. The episode marks the reappearance of the Cronenberg universe, the Citadel of Ricks, and Birdperson. The third-season premiere was expected in 2016, but Harmon acknowledged artistic disagreements with co-creator Justin Roiland made new episodes more difficult to create. Writing began on November 2, 2015, and in February 2016, director Juan Meza-Leon started work on sound recording. In February 2017, Adult Swim Australia released a teaser trailer that was actually a "RickRoll"—a compilation of clips from seasons one and two offering no new insight.

Release and reception

The episode premiered unannounced on April 1, 2017, at 8pm ET on Adult Swim, airing for four straight hours as part of the network's April Fools' joke, interrupting scheduled episodes of Samurai Jack and Dragon Ball Super. It was watched by 676,000 American households with a 0.2 rating in the 18–49 demographic, making it the least viewed episode in the series. By 11pm, viewership peaked at 949,000 with a 0.4 rating. Critics praised the episode as one of the series' best, with IGN's Jesse Schedeen noting it kept the level of quality high and offered a grim portrait of a mad scientist. Zach Blumenfeld of Paste called it the top of all animated television, while Den of Geek's Joe Matar considered it the series' best premiere, highlighting its commitment to the persistent multiverse.