It's better to be "pissed off" than "pissed on".
Original air date: 11/27/2022
Tired of dealing with annoying supervillains constantly harassing him, Rick decides to take Dr. Wong's advice and ignore the latest one, only for Jerry to take issue with the guy and wind up becoming an unlikely hero.
Tropes:
- Acquired Situational Narcissism: Played with for Jerry. He lets his newfound fame go to his head and becomes jealous when the seemingly reformed Piss Master (actually Rick) is chosen to join the Galactic Orbship, choosing to beat the crap out of him when he turns the offer down and torpedoing his reputation in the process. On the other hand, he does include Beth, Summer, and Morty as his crew for his Mitsubishi space cruiser instead of abandoning them like many examples of the trope.
- Alas, Poor Villain: Piss Master's suicide is Played for Drama as it was all a result of the humiliation he suffered at Jerry's hands, and he ends up leaving behind a daughter who fears she may have driven him down further into despair. It all drives Rick into attempting to redeem Piss Master in the public's eyes by pretending to be him becoming a hero.
- Always Second Best: After arriving at Piss Master's apartment, Rick finds several Third Place trophies and ribbons strewn about the place.
- Answer Cut: Jerry impulsively blows up the Hitler planet, then hopes that the planet didn't have non-Hitler people on it. Cut to a news broadcast explaining that it really was devoid of non-Hitler life and Jerry did the universe a favor by blowing it up.
- Artifact of Hope: Orbs are given to people who are seen by the Galactic Orbship as heroic, though their criteria of heroism seems to be based around popularity on social media. The orb secretes a mucus when the person holding it is pure of heart, and it generates enough power to run planet-busting weaponry like Jerry's suit.
- Bathos: Rick decides to redeem a supervillain in order to give his daughter a lasting memory of her father not as a viral failure who committed suicide, but as a hero who made the ultimate sacrifice because Rick sees himself in the villain. It is tragic and tear-jerking...and the villain in question is called Piss Master and his gimmick is exactly what it says on the label.
- Bittersweet Ending: The episode ends with Jerry losing his superpowers and social media status, the Smiths mad at Rick for lying about the circumstances of Piss Master's death, and no guarantee that more supervillains won't come after Rick in the future and how the family will deal with them. On the other hand, Jerry and Rick saved a lot of lives across the galaxy over the course of the episode, Piss Master's family thinks he died a hero, and Rick has undergone the most significant Character Development of his arc by willingly going to Dr. Wong, following her advice, and admitting to her face that it worked.
- Blatant Lies:
- Mr. Nimbus is less than convincing when declaring victory over Rick, as Rick not only blew up most of the island the two were fighting over, but the battle also caused an oil spill in the ocean.
- Dr. Wong asks if Mr. Calypso is dead after Rick has been draining him of cosmic fluid for their entire session. Before answering, Rick asks if it's covered under doctor-patient confidentiality. Dr. Wong tells him that murder would have to be reported, so Rick hastily insists that Calypso is fine, despite the obvious signs to the contrary.
- When asked by a news crew if he's rescuing kittens from trees to repair his terrible social media status, Rick (as Piss Master) says he's just doing it as a noble act... except Rick *is* just doing things to redeem Piss Master's reputation.
- Brick Joke:
- Rick faces off against his Arch-Enemy, Mr. Nimbus, in the Cold Open, after which the latter disappears from the episode...until The Stinger, when the Galactic Orbship decides to offer him the open spot in their order to replace Jerry.
- Jerry brings up Rick turning himself into a pickle and a housefly to avoid therapy with Dr. Wong, and Rick responds in annoyance that the latter was just an ordinary fly. Later, when he barges into Dr. Wong's current therapy session with Mr. Goldenfold to talk to her, he turns the latter into a fly (before then turning him back at her insistence).
- Bus Full of Innocents: Exaggerated when Rick feigns a Heroic Sacrifice as Piss Master saving an entire island city of orphan minors from a bomb.
- Captain Ersatz:
- Cookie Magneto is just Magneto, but with the ability to manipulate cookies, apparently.
- Mr. Calypso is similar to Superman villain Mister Mxyzptlk.
- Piss Master rides a metal glider and has green skin, making him similar to the Green Goblin.
- He also manipulates (used, excreted) water, making him a (rather gross) parody of Hydro-Man.
- The cosmic elders and their mystical orbs are similar to the Oan Guardians and The Green Lantern rings.
- One of the Hitlers looks like The Riddler. Another looks like Gorilla Grodd.
- Cat Up a Tree: One of Rick's heroic deeds as Piss Master is saving a cat from a tree.
- Character Development:
- It's been stated many times before that Rick is not able to change, and he has refused to participate in any kind of therapy that would help him do so, including turning himself into a pickle in "Pickle Rick" and installing weapons in Dr. Wong's office (in the event that he was forced to attend) by the time of "Star Mort: Rickturn of the Jerri". Here, Rick actively makes an effort to improve himself when Morty points out how many enemies he constantly has after him, seeks Wong out of his own accord, and actually listens to her observations and tries to follow her advice.
- Jerry has been repeatedly characterized as a cowardly wimp that pathetically backs down from any confrontation after making a token effort of stepping up, even at the expense of his family. This time, he gets angry enough at Piss Master sexualizing Summer that he powers through a drawn-out fight to force him to apologize to her. Then, when empowered, he goes on to become a galactic hero, albeit with an ego to match.
- Conflict Ball: The guardians order Jerry to deliver an orb to the reformed Piss Master despite their history. Jerry is given the option not to accept (and indeed many other candidates are shown unwilling to join), but he is told in no uncertain terms that he will be expelled if Piss Master doesn't take the orb, not even accounting for the fact he might have refused it. This ends up pushing Jerry into a situation that causes him to lose his orb and status.
- Content Warnings: The episode begins with a warning that it contains depictions of suicide that may be disturbing for some viewers. Piss Master is later shown to have committed suicide by slitting his wrists in the bathtub.
- Continuity Nod:
- Recurring characters Mr. Nimbus and Dr. Wong once again return.
- Jerry references how Rick once turned himself into a pickle to avoid therapy in "Pickle Rick". In the same episode, Mr. Goldenfold was also shown to be one of Wong's patients, and we see him here in a therapy session with her.
- In The Stinger, when the Galactic Orbship debates adding Mr. Nimbus to their number, it's mentioned as a point in his favor that he can control the police, which was shown in "Mort Dinner Rick Andre".
- Summer, Morty, and Jerry are shown eating Strawberry Smiggles for breakfast, which was first seen in "Rixty Minutes".
- Jerry complains about Piss Master peeing on the lavender plants in the front garden because "my bees" need the lavender, referring to how he took up beekeeping in "Promortyus" (and has apparently continued doing so offscreen ever since).
- A subtle one, but Rick previously commented "Well, I can't cure death" when Reuben died in "Anatomy Park", and it's been shown in multiple other episodes that he indeed cannot bring people back from the dead. Here, he tries to revive Piss Master after finding him dead in his home, but while he's technically able to resuscitate Piss Master, he can't reverse the damage to his brain.
- Conveniently Empty Building: Jerry flies up into space and fires a beam of energy at the Space Hitlers, but doesn't realize how strong it is and accidentally blows up the entire planet. He awkwardly hopes to himself that there weren't other innocent people on that planet, which an Answer Cut confirms.
- Crash in Through the Ceiling: Jerry crashes through the ceiling at the Hitler gathering.
- Dead Person Impersonation: In a sense. Once Rick discovers Piss Master's miserable life and tragic suicide, he masquerades as the man so he can rehab his image with a heroic turnaround and eventual Heroic Sacrifice, letting his family mourn him as a hero instead of some viral loser.
- Determinator: Jerry is knocked down several times during his fight against Piss Master, but refuses to give up, getting to his feet each time and not stopping until he defeats him and forces him to apologize to Summer for his lewd comments.
- Dirty Old Man: Piss Master objectifies Summer to aggravate Rick. He's old enough to have a daughter who is married.
- Driven to Suicide: Piss Master, after losing a Wimp Fight to Jerry, receiving ridicule for it online, and being ostracized by everyone, kills himself and leaves behind a note, as Rick discovers when visiting his home.
- Earth-Shattering Kaboom: The Arm Cannon on Jerry's armor has enough power to blow up a planet, which ends up being used to destroy the Hitler planet when Jerry forgets precisely how powerful it is. Fortunately, the planet is solely populated by Hitlers and Jerry is praised for it.
- Easily Condemned: A family variant. The Smiths are quick to turn on Rick the moment he doesn't share the same mentality as them this episode, even if they had just beforehand praised him for the same thing.
- They praise him for actually seeing Dr. Wong of his own accord, then try to guilt trip him for Piss Master threatening to piss on Summer when he was doing what Dr. Wong told him to do and ignore him.
- They tell him to let Jerry have his moment and not ruin it, then badger him to make a Powered Armor for Jerry when he says he's choosing to help Jerry by not getting involved.
- They praise him for acting as the new Piss Master when he lets them think he did it to give Jerry a win, then quickly turn on him once Morty reveals it was actually because the original Piss Master killed himself and blamed Jerry, while having the gall to say Rick needs to "get off his high horse" and should have told them that was the reason from the start despite their finding out causing a massive argument while Jerry has another breakdown.
- Elemental Baggage: Piss Master's suit generates far more urine than it could possibly hold. It appears to be something Piss Master's body does, as there's a flood of urine down the stairs after he commits suicide in the tub.
- Empty Shell: Rick tries to revive Piss Master, but all the man does is flail and gargle due to brain death before Rick's arrival.
- Engineered Heroics: Rick sets up a bomb on Orphan Island so he can fly it away by remote-piloting the Piss Master suit, making it appear as if Piss Master died in a Heroic Sacrifice.
- Even Evil Has Loved Ones: Piss Master may be a weird villain who needlessly antagonizes people with urine, but he has a daughter who still cares for him.
- Fake Ultimate Hero: Rick pretends to be Piss Master pretending to be this so that he can rehabilitate Piss Master's reputation and let him die a hero for his daughter's sake.
- Family Portrait of Characterization: Piss Master has a photo in his apartment with his wife and daughter, all smiling and hugging.
- Freeze-Frame Bonus: A viral video of Jerry fighting crime in space is briefly shown, and one of the comments on it is from Summer, saying "OMG thats my dad!!"
- Goodbye, Cruel World!: Piss Master's suicide note essentially blames Jerry for driving him to kill himself. Rick keeps the note and tries to tell only Morty about it at the end of the episode, not wanting Jerry and everyone else to know, but Morty finds it fucked up that Rick would keep the note but still keep this a secret, and immediately shows it to the rest of the family.
- Gratuitous German: Jerry's Pre-Mortem One-Liner to the Space Hitlers:"Auf Wiedersehen, bad guys!"
- Heel–Face Turn: Rick's plan in the last act of the episode is to pretend to be the Piss Master who now uses his powers to perform acts of good, culminating in him performing an ultimate sacrifice. It works; Piss Master becomes incredibly popular as people find they love a good turnaround story. It then Goes Horribly Wrong when the Galactic Orbship decides to have Jerry induct Piss Master into their ranks, which causes difficulties for both of them.
- Heroic Sacrifice: Rick stages one while masquerading as Piss Master to give the man a more dignified death in the eyes of the public, and his daughter, than his true death by suicide. It's mostly successful, since only Rick's family and the Galactic Orbship find out the truth, while nobody else does.
- How Do I Shot Web?: Jerry is at a loss as to how to operate the Orb he was given, so Rick builds him a suit of Powered Armor that uses it as a power source.
- Improvised Weapon: Jerry earns himself the viral nickname "Flamingo Dad" by using a plastic lawn flamingo as a weapon against Piss Master.
- In Medias Res: The episode starts off by cutting right into a violent battle between Mr. Nimbus and Rick and Morty.
- Ironic Echo: After Jerry beats up and drives off Piss Master, Summer excitedly shouts, "That's my dad! That's my fucking dad!" Later, when Rick masquerades as Piss Master and fakes him committing a Heroic Sacrifice, Piss Master's own daughter, watching it on TV, states with a tearful smile, "That's my fucking dad."
- I Warned You: Rick says this over and over in vain throughout the episode when the family repeatedly guilt trip him over Jerry's confidence boost. When the episode ends with everything falling apart, Jerry undergoing a breakdown, and the family inevitably getting into a massive Never My Fault argument, Rick is vocally unsympathetic.
- Jerkass Ball: In a case of irony, all of the Smiths sans Rick firmly grasp it, whereas Rick ends up acting kinder than normal in this episode. Jerry ends with Acquired Situational Narcissism after beating up Piss Master, Summer and Beth are quick to try and tear into Rick the moment he doesn't immediately follow along with what they want, and Morty tells Jerry about the original Piss Master being Driven to Suicide and blaming Jerry for it despite Rick asking him not to for Jerry's sake just because Morty doesn't want to be stuck as a Secret-Keeper while uncaring how it affects Jerry. For his part, Jerry breaks down upon being told by Morty about Piss Master's suicide and says he shouldn't have stood up for Summer, which earns him the ire of the latter.
- Jerkass Has a Point: While depicted in a negative light for being unwilling to give Pissmaster a orb, Jerry has a point in being skeptical about the guy who trashed his house looking for a fight and sexualized his daughter. While it's true that people, even villains, can change the council only superficially looked at his actions and didn't even talk to the guy before.
- Lethal Harmless Powers: Discussed. Morty points out that a guy with power over cookies would be pretty deadly if he could also control the ingredients of cookies since people have sugar in them.
- Lock-and-Load Montage: After the Forging Scene, Rick gears up via a couple of key shots to become Piss Master.
- No MacGuffin, No Winner: Played with. Rick attempts to invoke this by imploding his island fortress when it becomes clear he can't beat Mr. Nimbus; but despite Rick framing it as if they've both lost, Mr. Nimbus only wanted to get rid of the place and is perfectly happy with Rick doing it for him.
- Papa Wolf:
- Jerry is furious when Piss Master makes a lewd comment about Summer, and promptly goes outside the fight him, refusing to give up until he beats Piss Master and forces him to apologize to her.
- Much more subdued, but Rick, despite his intention to not engage Piss Master, goes from looking apathetic about his presence to seriously annoyed when Piss Master peeks in the window and observes the whole family, and this is before he makes the "golden shower" comment about Summer. Summer later guilts Rick into building the suit for Jerry by calling him out for not intervening in that situation and now seemingly wanting to hold Jerry back from being a hero.
- Parental Sexuality Squick: Notably averted this time around by Morty and Summer, who usually play this straight. As Jerry prepares to go take down a meeting of "Space Hitlers", Beth plants a Motivational Kiss on him, and their kids just find it sweet and go "Awww!" It's most likely because this was more of a romantic gesture, rather than a sexual one.
- Persona Non Grata: Rick casually mentions that he's been banned from the NextDoor Phone App.
- Pet the Dog:
- Jerry is normally a Dirty and/or Lovable Coward, but completely overcomes this to stand up for his daughter when a gross stranger acts creepy towards her and Rick refuses to engage.
- Jerry winces when Beth tries to give him a Smooch of Victory due to having a split lip and lots of bruises. Rick instantly, without a word, takes out a machine that completely heals all of Jerry's injuries, for which he sincerely thanks Rick before eagerly returning Beth's kiss.
- Rick actually feels sympathy for Piss Master after hearing others make fun of him thanks to the viral video of Jerry kicking his ass, and visits him at his home with some beer. When he finds him dead there, Rick tries to revive him to no avail, and when Piss Master's daughter shows up, Rick pretends to be him to soothe her worry. He then impersonates Piss Master and commits acts of heroism to redeem his reputation, culminating in faking a Heroic Sacrifice so the man can be remembered as a good guy in the eyes of the public.
- Rick also plans to avoid telling Jerry that Piss Master was Driven to Suicide because of him, up to and including claiming that he was Piss Master all along as an attempt to boost Jerry's confidence (despite this not making much sense; the kids assume clones or robots were involved). However, Rick ruins this when he reveals the truth to Morty and shows him the suicide note that he kept, while Morty refuses to be forced into the role of Secret-Keeper yet again and wastes no time cluing everyone else in.
- Planet of Hats: The last act of the episode takes place on an island city (on an alien planet) where everyone is an orphan, including the bomb disposal squad, whose members are all 8 years old and have no idea what they're doing.
- Pre-Mortem One-Liner: Jerry before bombing the group of Hitlers:"Auf Wiedersehen, bad guys!"
- Product Placement: Mitsubishi, the car manufacturer, gives Jerry a spaceship as a reward for his heroism as Flamingo Dad.
- Relocating the Explosion: A case of Engineered Heroics. Rick planted a ticking bomb on an island full of orphans and then comes in, disguised as Piss Master, to save the day by carrying the bomb out of the dangerous zone and into space.
- Screw This, I'm Outta Here: Averted. When Piss Master's daughter shows up to speak to her father, unaware that he's committed suicide, Rick creates a portal to leave the area and not have to deal with it anymore. However, he quickly changes his mind and dons a quick disguise to pretend to be the villain and try to soothe her worries. Speaking to her is what drives him to try and fix both her and the public's image of the Piss Master.
- Semantic Superpower: This is discussed in regards to Cookie Magneto, who has control over cookies. Morty immediately begins asking about the particulars of this power. Does it cover everything people consider a cookie? Does it cover the ingredients of cookies? Rick puts a stop to it by melting Cookie Magneto down to his boots.
- Shaped Like Itself: Cookie Magneto, for his part, claims that the word "cookie" refers to anything he can control. This clarifies very little.
- Shout-Out:
- The episode title is a reference to the 1999 Cringe Comedy film Analyze This.
- Rick tells Morty he doesn't have the energy to deal with "90's style goofball supervillains", adding "I'm not the fucking Tick."
- The Powered Armor that Rick builds for Jerry to control the orb's power heavily resembles Iron Man's super suits.
- Speaking of Iron Man, Rick's impersonation of Piss Master begins with a scene of Rick forging his own version of Piss Master's Powered Armor and later includes closeups of Rick's face while showing the suit's HUD.
- When receiving the orb from the Galactic Orbship, Jerry asks if it gives him power if he "eats the orb, like spinach" as a reference to Popeye.
- Summer and Beth mention to Jerry that Buzzfeed and Jezebel have both written about his heroism.
- Similarly, while pretending to be Piss Master and committing acts of heroism in his name, Rick appears on the cover of Newsweek after creating an ice rink made out of pee for a hospital cancer ward. Newsweek themselves noted this on their recap of the episode.
- Rick's plan to stage a fake Heroic Sacrifice for the already-dead Pissmaster resembles the ending of The Dark Knight Rises, where Bruce fakes his own death very similarly.
- In The Stinger, one of the leaders of the Galactic Orbship refuses to entertain another member's suggestion of adding Scarlett Johansson to the Orbship.
- Smoldering Shoes: Rick uses a ray gun to melt Cookie Magneto down to his boots, rather than entertain the idea of seriously fighting him.
- Smooch of Victory: Jerry exchanges one with Beth after successfully beating up Piss Master. It's subverted at first when Jerry flinches away from it because his busted lip causes him pain, but then double subverted when Rick heals him and Beth and Jerry promptly start making out.
- So Proud of You: Beth to Jerry, word-for-word, when he wins his Wimp Fight against Piss Master. Summer as well to a lesser extent, since she brags to everyone watching, "That's my dad!"
- Springtime for Hitler: Rick lets Jerry be a hero because he thinks Jerry will get the same parade of obnoxious supervillains he's had to deal with, only for Jerry to be hailed as an actual hero. Bonus points for Jerry blowing up an entire planet that contained literally nothing but Space Hitlers.
- Steven Ulysses Perhero: Piss Master's real name is actually "Eugene Michael Piss".
- The Stinger: The Elderly Council of the Galactic Orbship discusses choosing a new member to replace Jerry. They respond positively to the suggestion of inviting Mr. Nimbus, and scoff at the idea that he's "too busy" to participate.
- Sudden Downer Ending: The episode would have ended on the family seeing Rick in a better light by believing his lie that he was Piss Master in order to raise Jerry's confidence. Then Rick at the last second decides to confide in Morty and show him Piss Master's suicide note. Morty decides to tell the rest of the family, Jerry is horrified to learn he drove a man to suicide, and everyone else is mad at Rick for seemingly taking advantage of a dead man, leaving nobody satisfied.
- Surprisingly Realistic Outcome:
- Jerry has no combat training. Apparently neither does Piss Master. When the two fight, the result is an unimpressive scuffle where both combatants spend more time trying to avoid getting hurt than trying to beat the other.
- Rick is able to use his tech to revive Piss Master, but the guy flails around aimlessly and Rick zaps him dead again almost immediately. People can suffer permanent brain damage in as little as 2 minutes without oxygen, and Piss Master was likely in that tub a fair bit longer.
- An island occupied only by pre-teen orphans won't have a competent Bomb Squad, which one of them lampshades when he accidentally decreases the timer from five minutes to two.
- Rick expects Jerry to receive the same blame he got for his fights. However, Rick's fights were all petty in nature, caused mostly by his abrasive personality in the first, and more often then not were started by him wronging someone, while Jerry first went out to defend his daughter and then fought off villains. Obviously the latter is much better received.
- Rick also soon finds out that the universe isn't entirely composed of bystanders, if someone comes out being an asshole and making a scene in a public place, people will react. This happens both with Jerry fighting Pissmaster and a random alien taking on a disturber (after the disturber failed to get a reaction out of Rick) when Jerry launches his ship.
- This Is Something He's Got to Do Himself: A non-verbal version. Beth is concerned when Jerry heads outside to fight Piss Master and looks like she's going to try to interfere, but Morty wordlessly stops her and shakes his head, and they all stand there and allow Jerry to win the fight himself.
- Urine Trouble: Piss Master's suit gives him the power to shape and solidify the seemingly endless amounts of urine he appears to generate from his body (as evidenced by the waterfall of piss down the stairs after his suicide).
- Villains Want Mercy: Piss Master starts whining when Jerry gets the better of him.
- Wham Line: Rick is about to leave Piss Master's home and the woman knocking at the door...then she says "Dad."
- What Kind of Lame Power Is Heart, Anyway?:
- Cookie Magneto's ability is that he has the power to control cookies. Rick is quick to reduce him to a pair of boots in a pile of ash before Morty can properly interpret what his powers even are.
- The Piss Master has a mech-suit that he built himself which generates and expunges massive amounts of urine, allowing him to hose people down with it, along with a glider that expels urine as a means of propulsion. While he's so lame that Jerry could beat him in a fistfight, Rick reverse-engineers the suit and actually makes its piss-based tech into an almost Green Lantern-like arsenal.
- What You Are in the Dark: Discussed. Rick planned to make it seem like Piss Master had become a genuine superhero who would eventually make a Heroic Sacrifice all so that the latter's daughter would be proud of her father, and when the Smiths found out he was the Piss Master, he tries to pass it off as having been the Piss Master all along. However, Rick finds he can't keep the secret and confesses to Morty, who tells the rest of the family, who then proceed to lecture Rick on not doing the cool thing by keeping it a secret from everyone.
- Wimp Fight: Piss Master vs. Jerry, the latter of whom is already well-known to be a total wimp and the former being not much better. At multiple points, they literally do just flail their arms at each other ineffectively. Nonetheless, they both are pretty beaten up by the end.
- Wire Dilemma: One member of the orphan bomb disposal squad cuts the wrong wire which dramatically advances the countdown.
- Women Prefer Strong Men: Downplayed with Beth, who loves Jerry regardless even though he's usually a wimp. Nonetheless, she's very impressed when he instigates a fight with Piss Master to stand up for Summer and ultimately wins, telling him how proud she is, and later, after Jerry receives a suit from Rick that harnesses the Orb's power and includes a planet-destroying ray gun, Beth finds this hot.
- Yank the Dog's Chain: Jerry earns great fame and respect all across the galaxy for the powers his orb gives him and his subsequent heroism, only to lose it all after everyone sees him attack Rick while the latter was disguised as the Piss Master, who everyone believed had now become a hero. Him learning he drove Piss Master to suicide makes it worse as he reacts with horror and wonders if he should've just let Piss Master bully him and his daughter after all.
- You Are Too Late: After learning about how far Piss Master has fallen after Jerry beat him to submission, Rick tries to track him down to see if they can talk things out. He then breaks in to find that he Piss Master has resorted to suicide via Blood Bath where he's bleeding out from his cut wrists. He's been dead for so long that all Rick can do is revive his body, but his brain has already suffered enough damage to leave him an Empty Shell, and Rick does a Mercy Kill rather than leave him in that state.
