Wubba lubba dub dub! Rick and Morty returned to US screens last night after two years away – and it didn’t disappoint. Dubbed the deadliest TV show currently streaming – its average of 26.1 deaths per episode outranks even The Walking Dead – the show’s season four premiere more than lived up to its bloodthirsty reputation.
Episode one, ‘Day After Tomorty: Rick Die Rickpeat’, was stuffed with violent stabbings, ruthless beatings and Nazi executions. Opening on a typical Smith family dinner – Rick has inserted a chip into his brain which allows him to browse Amazon and make small talk simultaneously – the premiere follows the eponymous duo as they travel the universe in search of death crystals.
The crystals, which they locate almost immediately, allow the bearer to view all of the many scenarios in which they eventually die. It’s fairly standard Rick and Morty fare and could be taken from any of the previous three series.
However, there’s a twist. After a bungled take-off, the pair crash their ship and Rick is impaled on a giant stalagmite. Of course, the mad scientist has a “crisis detection and correction protocol” in place, so accidental death isn’t as permanent as that sounds. But while holding the death crystal, Morty glimpses a future in which he ends up with high school crush Jessica. Obsessed with realising this dream, he refuses to bring Rick back to life for fear of altering that reality.
The family is back together again. #RickandMorty returns tomorrow at 11:30pm on @adultswim pic.twitter.com/xfgVMlZnBL
— Rick and Morty (@RickandMorty) November 9, 2019
What follows is a wacky adventure across multiple dimensions, with Rick inserting his digital footprint into successive cloning facilities which belong to different Ricks from other worlds. Unfortunately for him, most of those worlds are ruled by neo-Nazis or giant wasps. More deaths follow, with neither Rick nor Morty managing to escape the Grim Reaper’s scythe.
As mentioned previously, a massive 808 deaths were recorded across Rick and Morty’s first three seasons. But even by those brutal standards, ‘Day After Tomorty: Rick Die Rickpeat’ was particularly ruthless. Here is a list of every way in which Rick and Morty kick the inter-dimensional bucket in the season four premiere.
Every time Rick dies in ‘Rick and Morty’ season 4 episode one
Rick is impaled on a giant stalagmite after Morty crashes their space ship
Rick suffocates in space after Nazi Morty and Mr. Meeseeks smash the windshield of his ship
Rick (shrimp version) is beaten to death by Nazi shrimps
Rick shoots himself in the head after re-spawning as a weird teddy bear thing
Rick (giant Akira-parody hologram version) is filled with wasp larvae and his head explodes
Every time Morty dies in ‘Rick and Morty’ season 4 episode one
While holding the death crystal, Morty saw loads of ways in which he could die in the future. Most of them weren’t visible on-screen for long, but here’s what the Internet noticed.
Morty’s skin is dissolved by toxic waste
Morty and Rick die in the trash compactor from Star Wars: A New Hope
Morty dies of a heart attack while taking a dump
Morty cuts the wrong wire on a time bomb
Morty eats fishman food, clearly poisonous to humans
A wizard throws knives at Morty while tied to a spinning wheel
Morty gets hit by a truck as he crosses the road (because he’s looking at his phone)
An old Morty dies from a drug overdose
Morty gets burned alive while holding onto a fence, like in Terminator 2: Judgement Day
Morty’s head explodes after eating poisoned berries
Morty is impaled on a pitchfork by Rick
Morty falls to his death after reaching for a book on a high shelf
Morty falls down a flight of stairs
Morty is pecked to death by a flock of tropical-looking birds
Morty is stabbed through the windshield by debris from a passing truck
Morty is electrocuted by a man in a horned metal mask
Morty, naked, is burned by the sun while walking on a beach
Morty’s head is smashed to bits by the school bully
Morty fails to jump from the ‘Enter’ button to the ‘@’ button on a giant keyboard
Morty is decapitated by an elevator
Morty and Rick are eaten by a giant killer plant
