Recap / Rick And Morty S 6 E 7 Full Meta Jackrick

The Bus Came Back, and it's brought all of the meta and tropes with it.

Original air date: 11/20/2022

Rick and Morty deal with meta-storytelling when a past adversary plots revenge.

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Tropes:

• Abandoned Warehouse: Rick and Story Lord battle it out in a fully automated plush toy factory.
• Artistic License – History:
  • Hitler's religion is a matter of dispute, though Rick could have been intentionally lying about Hitler's religion to make Morty feel less guilty about killing someone who is praying to Jesus.
  • An extremely common error about Mary Magdelene is repeated: She was not a prostitute, she is often confused with other nameless women in the Bible, such as the prostitute who washes Jesus' feet or the adulteress saved from stoning.
• Ascended Extra: Protago-Nick has the power to shoot a beam turning anyone it hits into a protagonist. A random mook he blasts suddenly becomes the main character of his own show, which we get to watch for a minute before cutting back to the main plot.
• Ass Pull: Embodied in Mr. Twist, who can alter reality as long as it's done as a twist. For example, he apparently commonly reveals the sixth member of the Self-Referential Six to be the person he is talking to.
• Audience? What Audience?: After fending off Previous Leon in the opening scene, Rick rants that the meta humor of the show only maintains integrity with one-off gags, not entire plots built around it. Naturally, Morty is utterly baffled, especially when Rick mentions referring to the audience as an example.
• Author Avatar: Jan, Story Lord's creator, acts as another mouthpiece for Rick and Morty's creators Justin Roiland and Dan Harmon regarding creativity burnout. It's why his name is a Portmanteau of Justin and Dan's first names and looks similar to them.
• Backstory Invader: Flash Back can pop into people's past to spy for details about what they're doing in the present.
• Battle Strip: Both Story Lord and Rick rip their shirts off before their climactic fight.
• Bedouin Rescue Service: Joseph Campbell saves Rick and Morty from the freezing wasteland created by Rhett Caan just before they freeze to death.
• Better than a Bare Bulb: The entire episode from the start to the finish is one massive, continuous stream of Conversational Troping, meta storytelling, Call Backs, literal Fourth Wall breaking, and of course repeated lampshading of the fact it's a meta episode.
• Breaking the Fourth Wall: Rick has a remote that allows him to quite literally break through the fourth wall to enter the Meta Layer, a reality where fictional characters live and in which stories are created, tropes are utilized, and writing ideas/concepts are personified as characters with superpowers. Here, he and Morty meet Story Lord and Jesus—the fictional characters/versions of them from "Never Ricking Morty"—and Story Lord manages to steal Rick's remote, allowing him to escape into the "real world" while trapping Rick and Morty there in the Meta Layer.
• Call-Back:
  • Since this is a Sequel Episode to "Never Ricking Morty", there are naturally quite a few references to the Story Train, including the return of Story Lord and Jesus Christ, and learning more about how the Story Train was made.
  • During Rick's fight with Story Lord, when the latter is winning handily, he demands that Rick call him "the new Mr. Nimbus", referencing Rick's nemesis from "Mort Dinner Rick Andre".
• Continuity Nod:
  • During Jerry's funeral you can see Tricia Lange crying. For context, she wanted to have sex with him when watching him beekeep (he gets killed here by getting stung to death by bees) in the stinger for "Promortyus".
    • You can also see Jacob, Jerry's parents' lover from "Anatomy Park".
  • The twist at the end of "Never Ricking Morty" is that the Rick and Morty the audience followed for most of the episode—including the climactic face-off against Story Lord—were fictional versions of themselves that were generated as characters on a toy train that the real Morty bought for the real Rick. So when Story Lord and Jesus Christ return here, they're familiar with the titular duo, including the fact that the versions they fought last time weren't the real ones; however, Rick, of course, doesn't know who they are, and when Morty does recognize Story Lord after a minute, it's as "the villain from that toy train I bought you".
  • Rick still has his ripped, 6-pack abs that he got from working out in "Night Family".
  • Speaking of which, after Story Lord and Rick both rip their shirts off to show their jacked abs, Story Lord refers to them as "cum gutters", the same term that Story Train Morty used for them in "Never Ricking Morty". Just as Story Train Rick found it to be gross, the real Rick comments here, "I don't like that phrase."
  • Rick pulls out the butter robot from "Something Ricked This Way Comes", tasking it with pulling a lever. It is no less dismayed by this equally pointless existence as it was its first one.
  • Inverted by Connie TinuityError, whose power is the ability to literally break the episode's continuity (such as placing a stack of petroleum barrels at an exit previously established as unobstructed) in order to trap Rick and Morty.
• Covered with Scars:
  • In Jerry's fake-Previously on… funeral scene, he's put in an open casket. You can see that his face is full of bee stings.
  • Rick has a fair number of scars on his back while fighting Story Lord.
• Disney Villain Death: Subverted. Rick, after defeating Story Lord, stomps on his hand to cause him to fall a couple of stories to the floor of the warehouse, but while this critically injures Story Lord and he's bleeding from the head, it doesn't directly kill him, and Jan finishes him off by smothering him.
• Emotion Eater: Story Lord uses his creator to build a device out of the train sets that drains the motivation from the universe and empowers him with it.
• Empty Fridge, Empty Life: When Jan, the fallen-on-hard-times writer, opens his filthy fridge, we get a Compartment Shot showing its content: an open coke can, a half-finished dish of junk food and a lemon.
• Escape Route Surprise: Rhett Caan makes Rick and Morty's escape from the fortress come to an abrupt halt when they open a door and find themselves high up in the sky.
• Even Mooks Have Loved Ones: Marvin the Cowardly Security Guard has a pregnant wife, though this is played with because he's hit by a beam that turns him into a protagonist who naturally obtains a Sympathetic P.O.V..
• Even More Omnipotent: Rhett Caan proves to be this when he effortlessly kills Mr. Twist and Connie TinuityError immediately after Rick releases him, using Connie's object against her and then declaring a twist moments before Mr. Twist can do the same.
• Forklift Fu: Rick impales Story Lord with a forklift, but he shrugs it off because he's powered by motivation.
• Freeze-Frame Introduction: Each member of the "Self-Referential Six" gets introduced with a freeze frame and a Title Card with their name.
• Hoist by His Own Petard: Connie TinuityError gives Rhett Caan a cup of coffee using her powers, and Rhett immediately uses it to kill her. Mr. Twist then tries to declare a twist while jumping at Rhett, only for him to preempt the twist with one of his own, leaving Mr. Twist with no bones.
• I Just Want to Be Normal: Immortal Jesus asks a witch and later god to make him normal.
• I'm Melting!: Rhett Caan declares that Connie's weakness is coffee then throws it on her, causing her to melt.
• I Work Alone: Jesus rejects Napoleon's offer by telling him that he works alone.
• Killed Mid-Sentence: Rick impales Story Lord with a forklift while the latter was uttering a sentence. Subverted when it turns out Story Lord survived the attack.
• Kryptonite Factor: Rhett Caan declares coffee to be this to Connie, and so it always was, melting her on contact.
• Kung-Fu Jesus: Jesus takes out a sea monster with a kung-fu kick.
• Like Mother, Like Daughter: In the "Previously on…" fake-flashback created by Leon, Summer gets a case of teenage pregnancy just like Beth. Lampshaded by Jerry who points out saying "Honey, she's just like you!"
• Lovable Coward: Marvin the Security Guard's sitcom is based on him running away and quitting a new security job at the first sign of trouble.
• Nobody Calls Me "Chicken"!: Downplayed. Morty suggests letting Previous Leon use his powers on Rick to provide them a way back home from the Meta Layer, and Rick doesn't outright refuse the idea, but doesn't seem fully onboard with it either. Then Joseph Campbell goads him into it by noting to Morty that change is Rick's Kryptonite, but instead of being a superhero, he's "kind of a pussy". Rick then agrees to the plan with "Let's do it" in a deadpan monotone.
• Noodle Incident: In the Previously on… segment, Tony Hawk thanks Rick and Morty for solving some murder mystery.
• No-Sell: The Self-Referential Six get bodied by Brett/Rhett Caan when he finally gets released, by using their powers against them.
• No, You: Parodied. Morty successfully convinces Jan to stop the motivation machine, which allows Rick to defeat and fatally injure Story Lord. Then this exchange happens:
  Story Lord: You failed me!
  Jan: No. I failed you.
• Offscreen Reality Warp: Connie TinuityError can make objects simply appear out of nowhere, as long as the camera wasn't focused on that spot at the time. It even works between cuts, as seen when she makes a coffee cup appear in Rhett Caan's hand.
• Pineapple Surprise: When Morty uses his mouth to pull the pin of a grenade Mr. Twist wears on his belt which the latter realizes too late.
• Pin-Pulling Teeth: Morty manages to pull the pin on a Smash Cut grenade by grabbing one with his teeth during a seemingly ineffectual dive while tied to a chair.
• Precision F-Strike: When Rick tells Butter Robot his purpose is to pull the lever on command, he is just as annoyed as his first appearence.
  Butter Robot: You are fucking kidding me.
• Previously on…: Parodied when Previous Leon's ability lets him force someone to look back on their life while he sucks away their life force. This can include showing memories of things that didn't actually happen, which can then have real-life effects if Leon isn't stopped (as seen with Jesus).
• Pun: At Beth's execution in Leon's fake flashback, Rick reacts to Morty poorly acting out his plan with "Great Execution".
• Punny Name:
  • Most of the Self-Referential Six (of which there are actually only 5 members): Miss Lead, Flash Back, Protago-Nick, and Connie TinuityError. Mr. Twist is the only one who averts this.
  • Additionally, we have Previous Leon and Brett/Rhett Caan.
• Rage Against the Author: Story Lord goes against his creator Jan when he realizes that he was written as a character for a Story Train toy.
• Readings Are Off the Scale: Rick notably takes off his narrative scanning goggles before going through the fourth wall. Morty doesn't, and the effect of looking at the metafictional reality with them is like wearing nightvision goggles in daylight.
• Reality Warper:
  • Connie TinuityError can create anything she wants, as long as it happens offscreen.
  • Mr. Twist's Smash Cut grenades effectively change reality on a whim. Suddenly you're in a cell, and just as suddenly you've escaped.
  • Brett Caan can effectively Retcon anything and anyone instantly merely by stating what was retconned. The very first thing he uses this power for is to make it so that his name is and always was "Rhett Caan" after Morty points out that this would make more sense. It's not until after freeing him Rick realizes how poorly thought out that idea was.
• Red Herring: Some guns get marked as "Chekhov's Guns" in the beginning of the episode by the Stat-O-Vision goggles worn by Morty. They never actually end up coming up in the episode.
• Scary Stinging Swarm: In Leon's fake-memory flashback, Jerry gets killed off by one if the priest is to be believed. You can also see bee stings on Jerry's corpse's face.
• Seeks Another's Resurrection: Billionaire immortal entrepreneur Jesus dedicates his life to resurrecting Mary with scientific means.
• Self-Deprecation: Rick at one point makes a Take That! to the many cameos from Space Jam: A New Legacy. Anyone who's watched the film will know that Rick and Morty themselves were one of the more prominent cameos in the movie, even having actual dialogue by Justin Roiland rather than just appearing in the background. Rick notes that every second in the Meta is worth 10 Space Jam cameos worth of lost credibility.
• Sequel Episode: To Season 4's "Never Ricking Morty", complete with the return of Story Lord and Jesus Christ.
• Shout-Out:
  • The episode's title is based on the Vietnam War movie Full Metal Jacket.
  • Tony Hawk, whose Pro Skater 3 game was name-dropped in the previous episode, shows up onscreen briefly during the Previously on… segment to thank Rick and Morty for help in solving a murder.
  • Rick states that every second in the Meta Layer is equal to "ten Space Jam cameos", which is also a nod to the fact that Rick and Morty themselves were one such cameo in Space Jam: A New Legacy.
  • Morty tells Story Lord that having Jesus beat them up was already done in South Park.
  • Jesus breaks Rick's back by kneeing him in the spine just as Bane does to Batman in the comics and The Dark Knight Rises, which Rick lampshades:
    "He Bane'd me, Morty!"
  • Jan mentions he was asked to do a story based The Canterbury Tales before he was told to make another based on Batman: The Animated Series episode "Almost Got 'Im".
  • The Self-Referential Six are a reference to Spider-Man's Sinister Six. Additionally, Flash Back's costume is of course a reference to The Flash.
  • Rick's line about "season 3 Moonlighting shit", another series well-known for Breaking the Fourth Wall.
  • At one point in a Leon-induced flashback, Joseph Campbell directly references the inspiration for the characters of Rick and Morty by calling them "Back to the Future ripoffs".
  • The living room of Marvin the Cowardly Security Guard is the same living room as the Smith's family in American Dad!.
  • The device Story Lord uses to steal the motivation of everyone looks like a cosmic tuning fork from Crisis on Infinite Earths and Infinite Crisis, and is similarly powered by people with meta-awareness.
• Smash Cut: Weaponized by Mr. Twist who throws flash-grenades that immediately cut to the next scene.
• Spiritual Antithesis: While on surface, the episode is a clear-cut sequel to "Never Ricking Morty", there is one significant difference. That episode took jabs on serialization of the series, with Rick hating this phenomenon. This episode on the other hand, takes jabs on the Series' overreliance on Meta humor, with Rick shown to detest Meta humor.
• The Stinger: Another new Meta Layer character, Tag Man, is introduced in a fighting ring violently murdering numerous monsters, cops, and armed forces, boasting about how he appears "when the episode's over".
• Switching P.O.V.: Protago-Nick's ability lets him fire a beam that causes anyone to be the main character. It hits a random guard called Marvin who gets the limelight until Rick knocks out Nick.
• The Tag: This episode's tag feature Tag-Man who, according to him, lives in the tag.
• Tailor-Made Prison: Rhett Caan is imprisoned in a forcefield box made out of sports (scrolling lines of sports symbols, to be precise), which is the opposite of plot according to Rick.
• Take That, Audience!: When Joseph Campbell bids farewell to Rick and Morty, he advises them to do "classic adventures" in the future, "like Season 1", echoing a couple of the more vague, not-very-constructive criticisms from some toxic long-time fans of the show about the later seasons. Rick angrily states that he's sick of hearing this, and comments, "what the fuck does that even mean?!"
• Teeth Flying: Story Lord spits out a tooth after a punch from Rick.
• Time-Passage Beard: Both Rick and Morty are shown wearing long beards after a Time Skip.
• Trojan Prisoner: Rick drags Previous Leon into the headquarter of the Self-Referential Six in order to get close Rhett Caan.
• Villains Want Mercy: Story Lord pleads for his life while dangling from a railing.
• Vorpal Pillow: Rick asks Jan to finish Story Lord off by having him smothered with one of the Rick dolls.
• Waking Up Elsewhere: Morty is startled when he wakes up in a chair by a warm fireplace after collapsing in the ice desert.
• The Watson: Played for Laughs. Morty becomes one when he, Rick and Previous Leon fly through the opening credits. Fittingly, in one of these scenes, Morty is literally dressed up as Dr. Watson to Rick's Sherlock Holmes.
  (As the group flies through the snippet where Butter Morty is melting in a frying pan)
  Morty: Why am I butter?!
• What Happened to the Mouse?: Rhett Caan is not seen again after Rick breaks him out of his prison.
• World of Symbolism: Beyond the fourth wall is a dimension of beings and environments that incarnate narrative devices and writing conventions.
• You Have GOT to Be Kidding Me!: The butter robot has this reaction when Rick informs it that its new purpose is to pull a lever.

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