Image via Cartoon Network
After a two year hiatus, Rick and Morty is finally back with more wonky science fiction adventures and new easter eggs and pop culture references to discover. Co-creators Justin Roiland and Dan Harmon are professionals at leaving relics from past episodes and subtle clues to futures themes throughout the show and there’s no lack of that in this Season 4 premiere.
We’re only one episode in and—SPOILER ALERT—Morty’s been turned into a blob monster, fourth walls have been broken and Rick has died, several times. With plenty to unpack, here’s some of the easter eggs and anime references from Rick and Morty's Season 4 premiere.
“Operation Phoenix”
Appropriately titled “Edge of Tomorty: Rick Die Rickpeat,” this episode plays with the Groundhog Day theme of Tom Cruise’s 2014 film Edge of Tomorrow, which is based off of the Japanese manga All You Need Is Kill. But when Rick keeps dying and getting transferred to other rebirth chambers across different, fascist-y universes he references “Operation Phoenix” which is a callback to the Season 2 episode “Big Trouble in Little Sanchez.” In that episode, Rick revealed that he’s had a basement of clones as a contingency plan in case he dies.
Rick breaks the fourth wall, again
Rick has had a history of breaking the fourth wall throughout the sci-fi adventure series—and he keeps that up in this season opener. From talking about how he took his universes cloning capsules off-line “a couple of seasons ago” to yelling at Summer for “ruining the Season 4 premiere,” it looks like there won’t be any absence of fourth wall shattering moments this season.
Some of Rick and Morty’s possible deaths included old characters
One of the running theories I have after watching this episode is that the death crystal was predicting fates of other universe's Ricks and Mortys. I only think this because some of the visions included callbacks to characters from past episodes, like one of Rick getting killed by Squanchy from Season 2 and Morty getting stabbed by rancher Rick that showed up in the “The Ricklantis Mixup” episode from Season 3.
Rick and his Boglin
After Rick finally makes it back to his reality, the first thing he does is check to make sure Morty didn't take his Boglin—a puppet toy from the '80s that he has for some reason. Knowing Rick, I wouldn’t be surprised if this subtle Easter egg reappears in a future episode as some kind of reanimated creature to torment Jerry.
Morty goes full Akira
Paying homage to the 1988 anime classic, Morty goes “full Akira” after the death crystal starts taking control of his mind and body. He even turns into a huge blob monster and starts losing control just like Tetsuo from the anime classic. The politically-correct hologram of Rick also turns into an Akira monster in the episode, hilariously refuting every PC statement he was making earlier with his new sentience.
Return of the Mr. Meeseeks
A call back to Season 1, Morty creates a hoard of Mr. Meeseeks in his sci-fi battle with the US military, hilariously ordering them to “shield him from the law.” The spontaneously combusting fan favorites appear to be a series mainstay now.
Rick and Morty’s closing rant is a call back to the Season 3 opener
At the end of the Season 3 premiere, Rick went on a monologue about McDonald's Szechuan sauce and having “9 more seasons” of adventures until he finds it. They play with that same concept here again but this time Morty gives the speech with Rick talking about how this season they’ll do some “classic stuff” and other times “not do anything," even referencing the “100 more years of Rick and Morty” rant from the pilot. This meta description of what the season has instore gives us the classic Rick and Morty vibes that we’ve grown to love.