Top 10 Things you Missed in Rick and Morty Season 6 ep 2
#10: Gungans
There's something oddly familiar about the aliens who take over the Blips and Chitz. Of course, there’s the obvious “Die Hard” plot that this group follows. So much so that when Johns questions one of the employees for the location of the safe they reply they don’t have one, he is unfazed. The actual look of these aliens is really close to that of “Star Wars” fan favorite Jar Jar Binks. You may think that’s a stretch but when Summer reveals that she killed Frank, Winslow reacts by making a sound just like the Gungan leader Boss Nass. If there’s one mashup we didn’t expect to see, it’s “Star Wars” with “Die Hard”.
#9: “Raiders of the Lost Ark” Ending
As the Roy game is put into storage in a vast warehouse with many other objects, the worker transporting the game asks if someone will be able to retrieve the game at a later time. He’s assured that everything has been digitally cataloged and will in fact be easy to find. If this scenario seems familiar that’s because this is a spoof on the ending of “Raiders of the Lost Ark” when said Ark is stored in a warehouse at the end of the movie. Of course, there might be some difficulty in relocating the Ark since it’s in a crate virtually indistinguishable from others.
#8: No Beth & Jerry
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With all the action surrounding Rick’s efforts to rescue Morty from “Roy: A Life Well Lived” and Summer trying her best to do a “Die Hard”, it can be easy to overlook that Beth and Jerry don’t appear in the episode. The closest we get to them even being mentioned is when Marta-Morty convinces Kevin the Marine that he’s also Morty saying that they miss their family. This isn’t the first time the characters haven’t been featured in an episode but we’re so used to seeing at least one of Morty’s parents that neither of them showing up is a bit surprising.
#7: “The Frogger”
Top 10 Things You Missed In Rick and Morty Season 6 ep 10
Once the main conflict has been resolved Rick comments how every piece of Morty has been removed from the game. We then find out that the game cabinet has been hooked up to an external battery to keep the game running. This bears quite the resemblance to the “Seinfeld” episode “The Frogger” where George wants to preserve his Frogger high score and has the arcade machine hooked up to a battery to transport it. The difference here is that the Roy game is keeping Marta-Morty alive as part of her deal with Rick to convince the other in-game Mortys to leave with him.
#6: “Die Hard 3”
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In this post-credit scene we see one of the aliens standing in the cold with a sandwich board that reads “I hate everybody”. The two aliens responsible for this happening wonder why there’s no reaction but determine that they made their sign too broad in terms of offensiveness. This mirrors a scene in “Die Hard with a Vengeance” where John McClane is put into a similar predicament where he’s made to stand on a Harlem street corner with a sandwich board with way more offensive messaging written on it. Just like this scene, it was perpetrated by the brother of the original villain.
#5: Roy, More Than Just a Game
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This episode isn’t our first introduction to Blips and Chitz nor the game “Roy: A Life Well Lived”. Back in the episode “Mortynight Run”, we watch both Rick and Morty live virtually as Roy. What’s interesting to note here is that in “Die Hard” when John McClane first speaks with Al Powell, he gives his name as Roy. Earlier, Hans Gruber remarks that McClane has seen too many movies and compares him to the likes of John Wayne, Rambo and Marshall Dillon. McLane replies that he was always partial to Roy Rogers which he then follows with his take on yippie-ki-yay.
#4: “Ode to Joy”
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When the unconscious Rick and Morty are found by Johns, the leader of the alien terrorists, one of his henchmen has a boombox playing “Ode to Joy” from Beethoven’s 9th symphony. He turns to him saying it’s too much. This piece of music was used throughout “Die Hard”. mainly as a way to underscore the villains. Director John McTiernan was inspired to use this classical piece after seeing it in Stanley Kubrick’s “A Clockwork Orange.” “Die Hard” film composer Michael Kamen also incorporated “Singin’ in the Rain” and “Winter Wonderland” into the film’s score as a way to highlight Hans Gruber and his gang’s use of violence.
#3: Rick’s Missed References
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Rick has had a hard time with pop cultural references landing in this episode. When Summer informs him that aliens have taken over the Blips and Chitz, he tells her to take care of it by doing a “Die Hard”. This goes over Summer’s head as she’s never seen it. Later on, Marta-Morty is concerned that Rick is willing to lose 8% of Morty’s consciousness. Rick counters saying it’s no big loss as 8% of the Snyder cut was Batman dreaming. This reference also goes over Marta’s head. Back in season 4 Rick became irate when his “Beverly Hillbillies” joke didn’t land but he did just learn that Tony died which might explain his temperament.
#2: It’s Not a Religious Thing
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As Rick tries to convince the NPCs of the Roy game that they are in fact the fractured mind of Morty, many are convinced it’s a religion or a cult of some kind. To be honest, we can understand why many of the game’s characters would draw that kind of comparison. By Rick’s own admission he has a message from a world beyond what they know and he needs to spread that message. The cult-like imagery doesn’t stop there as many of the characters dress like Morty and style their hair like his. The in game president even likens Roy to a pope. It’s similar to Brian in “Monty Python’s Life of Brian”, whose mundane words and actions are taken as religious doctrine.
#1: Morty’s Limited Knowledge
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Even though Morty’s consciousness is present in all NPCs, they also carry Morty’s limited knowledge of the world. This leads to some pretty funny situations as many aren’t immediately aware they’re in a game. When Marta’s father is outraged that she would turn her back on her Jewish heritage, he struggles to name any defining characteristics of the Jewish faith resorting to gibberish. Later in the episode during a news broadcast, reporter Tony reveals that a majority of the NPCs have taken up pleasuring themselves and videogames and Roy has a secret base somewhere but he couldn’t find it. His lack of in depth reporting is a perfect fit for Good Enough News.
