Rick and Morty season 2 Episode 4 Total Rickall
The Smith family is having breakfast with Jerry’s older brother, Uncle Steve, when Jerry receives an email about the plane tickets purchased. Uncle Steve then admits that he bought them as a thank you to his family for letting him stay for the past year. When Rick walks into the room, he doesn’t know who Uncle Steve is, and the family rejects him, claiming that Uncle Steve has been staying with them for the past year. Rick then pulls out a laser gun and shoots Uncle Steve, who turns out to be a monster. As the Smith family gasps in shock to learn that Uncle Steve wasn’t real, Rick informs them that he was a parasite, an alien species that survives and reproduces by implanting false memories into people’s heads in order to conquer planets. He tells them to be aware of “unusual, crazy characters that suddenly appear” and is encouraged by the newly introduced crazy character, Mr. Poopybutthole.
In the living room, everyone checks for other parasites. Rick makes a sign and places it on the wall that only 6 people should be in the house: Rick, Morty, Jerry, Beth, Mr. Poopybutthole, and Summer. He says they can’t risk releasing the parasites from the house and activates the bullet shields that prevent people from entering or leaving the house, much to the chagrin of the rest of the family. Mr. Poopybutthole encourages the family to remember the time the family got stuck in an elevator after seeing a musical with The Hulk and were freed by “Cousin Nicky”. A flashback causes the parasite to multiply and Cousin Nicky appears in the room. After looking at the sign, Rick shoots Cousin Nicky in the shoulder, which turns him into a dead parasite. After another flashback, where a Nazi and a butler named Mr. Beauregard appear. As more and more memories are revealed, more and more parasite characters appear (like Frankenstein’s Monster, a man named Sleepy Gary who is Beth’s husband, food fighters, etc.). Rick becomes irritated by the excess of parasites and insults them all while they try to convince Rick to deactivate the shields. After being prompted to remember a multi-character barbecue, he is pushed over the edge and the house is filled. As an argument ensues, Jerry suspects that he is a parasite and confides in Sleepy Gary, who he truly believes is Beth’s husband. A sleeping Gary calms him down and implants a memory of him and Jerry having an affair on vacation, making him believe they are in love.
As they insult more and more parasites, the aliens begin to turn their suspicions on Rick, manipulating the false memories in the Smiths to turn them against him. The Smiths keep trying to convince Rick to free everyone from the household even after the Reverse Giraffe talks. After he refuses, Rick is soon beaten up by the parasites and steals the watch that controls the protective shield. After Rick insults the Smith family (mostly Morty) for not trusting him, Morty takes Rick’s gun. Unable to kill Rick in front of a crazy character named Pencilvester, Baby Wizard, Duck With Muscles and Morty take him to a garage. After telling Rick that he will remember him as a friend and disaffected, Rick counters that he will remember Morty as a “whining piece of shit”, stating that a minority of his memories of Morty were pleasant and the majority were just pure annoyance. However, after hearing Ricks’ statement about good and bad memories, Morty has an epiphany and shoots Baby Wizard and Duck with Muscles. He explains to Rick that he found the sign; the parasites were only able to create pleasant memories. So he could tell Rick was real from all the horrible memories he had of him. Realizing that Morty’s theory was correct, Rick unlocks his armory and the two arm themselves heavily.
When Rick and Morty return to the house, they fire warning shots into the air and explain that they must kill everyone they can only remember fondly. They begin by interrogating Mrs. Chladničková, who tries to prove that she was in a bad memory by describing the roller coaster ride as screaming torture. Beth tells Mrs. Iceberg that roller coasters are more exciting than unpleasant, and reminds her that she has been the perfect companion her whole life. Mrs. Lednicka panics, tries to force her way through the blast shields, and is soon killed and revealed to be a memory parasite. Rick asks Summer, who is upset about the accusation being made against her. Morty then confirms Summer’s existence when he remembers how she kicked him in the groin when she believed he was going to her room, despite Morty protesting his innocence and cowering on the ground. After he is armed, Summer joins the two and interrogates Beth. Summer then remembers asking her drunk mother to take her to school for movie day and getting a black eye when Beth accidentally hit her with a wine bottle. Beth kills the bear as a parasite (which had kidneys compatible with her) and the Smiths kill the remaining parasites. As they kill the parasites, Summer confirms that Morty is real by remembering that he accidentally walked in on him masturbating in the kitchen. Beth kills Sleepy Gary, causing Jerry to become depressed and ask Beth to kill him so they can be together in death. To her chagrin, Beth recalls a memory of Jerry being chased by a wild homeless man with a broken bottle and locking himself in the car, leaving Beth to fend for herself.
Back downstairs, Rick runs into Pencilvester and has such fond “memories” of him that he can’t bring himself to kill him. Rick then asks Morty to kill Pencilvester. After killing Mr. Beauregard, Rick jokes that he was the butler, though Ghost in a Jar is the only one who gets it. Rick thanks the Ghost in a Jar before shooting him too, and in the end all the parasites are destroyed.
The family and Mr. Poopybutthole then sit down to dinner. Suspicious of Mr. Poopybutthole’s lack of bad memories, Beth pulls out a beam launcher and fires it. However, it turns out that Mr. Poopybutthole is actually real, as instead of turning into a parasite, he is blasted into a wall and begins to bleed from a wound in his torso. The family calls an ambulance as Beth runs into the kitchen. Panicking, she pours a glass of wine with very shaky hands and top it off with eyes almost blinded by tears.
A post-credits scene shows that Mr. Poopybutthole is alive and recovering in physical therapy. The nurse informs the family that Mr. Poopybutthole does not wish to see them right now and that he is “sorry you didn’t have bad memories of him”. As Jerry comforts Beth, Rick does one of his weird catchphrases.
