History Recap / RickAndMortyS3E1TheRickshankRedemption

* XanatosSpeedChess: Rick's original plan is: Get captured by the Galactic Federation, get level 9 access, electronically devalue their currency, destroying the Federation from within, and thusly get Beth to divorce Jerry for crossing him. His chance to get the codes arrives when they use a brainalyzer on him. He gets to re-experience the [=McDonald's=] Sczuchen dipping sauce, falsify his memories of creating the portal gun, trick the aliens into uploading a virus that would give him control of the brainalyzer, and hijack the alien's body with the brainalyzer. Unfortunately, in the meantime, Summer and Morty bungle a rescue attempt, alerting the Council of Ricks that Rick C-137 (our Rick) has been captured, and they send an assassination Rick team to bust the interrogation, just as Rick is about to get the level 9 codes. Rick manages to redirect the brainalyzer beam into one of the SEAL Ricks and hijack his body. Having lost his chance for the level 9 codes, he takes the brainalyzer and steals the SEAL Team's ship, using them to hijack a Rick with a high-security clearance and thus infiltrating the Council of Rick's space station, uses its teleporter to teleport it right back into the space prison he escaped from, rearms himself with armor and weaponry, disguises himself as a member of the Council, assassinates the Council, gives Morty a fake gun to shoot him with later, has a stand-off with the surviving Council member who had taken Summer hostage, piss Morty off to the point of trying to shoot him, play dead long enough for the Council member to release Summer, kill the Council member, uses the ensuing chaos to get past the Federation's level 9 security systems, THEN electronically devalues their currency, destroying the Federation from within, and thusly gets Beth to divorce Jerry for crossing him.

* WhamEpisode: Rick apparently destroys both the Galactic Federation and, after Morty and Summer bungle an attempt to rescue him, the Council of Ricks, too. For a chaser, Rick destroys his daughter's marriage, points out that he's now the center of Morty's universe, AND [[TheLastOfTheseIsNotLikeTheOthers that he cares more about dipping sauces than his own family]].

* MundaneSolution: Rather than nuking the Federation or turning their tech on them, Rick simply reduces the value of their currency to nothing, causing a complete and total societal collapse that drives the aliens off of Earth. The aliens themselves expect to be paid to do even the smallest tasks (one is paid to yell at an agent), so Rick's plaid was simplicity in itself.

-->'''Morty''': (hesitant) Ha, yeah... G-good thing i saw that note...

* CallingYourBathroomBreaks: Every time Rick transfers his consciousness into a new body, he excuses himself by saying he has to take a shit.

* AnachronismStew: Although [=McDonald's=] did issue a special [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mGRDCRuPklc Schezuan sauce to promote Mulan, in 1998]], Rick orders it alongside a ten-piece order of [=McNuggets=], which were only available in six-, nine-, or twenty-piece orders at the time. {{Justified}}, since Rick made up the memory in the first place.

* JumpingOffTheSlipperySlope: The end indicates Rick has gone full-blown mental.

** Remember the Rick and Morty that died and got replaced by our Rick and Morty? That Rick still had his portal gun.

* IndyPloy: Discussed by Summer when she mentions that Rick, like all heroes, makes things up as he goes. He does indeed end up doing so later when SEAL Team Ricks shows up and disrupts his original plan.

* MoodWhiplash: One happens at the end of the episode. Everything is going great as the Federation is destroyed, Rick is free and the family reunited. The only downside is that Jerry wants to divorce Beth, but when Morty expresses concern about it, '''''[[EvilIsPetty Rick angrily reveals he planned for the divorce to happen ever since he overheard Jerry suggesting that they turn him into the Federation]]''''', Morty can only express horror and shock. And then Rick rants on about how it and everything else he does is for highly problematic but delicious UsefulNotes/McDonalds promotional Schezuan Teriyaki [=McNugget=] dipping sauce for the 1998 Disney film ''WesternAnimation/{{Mulan}}''. Morty can only respond to '''that''' [[BigLippedAlligatorMoment with complete confusion]].

* SuspiciouslySpecificDenial: At the end of the episode, Rick gives a deranged MotiveRant to Morty that everything he did was to replace Jerry as the only patriarch in Beth's house, and he ''only'' rescued Summer and Morty so Beth would let Rick come back... And that his series-long motivation was ''not'' [[CrusadingWidower to avenge his dead family]], but to get the Mulan [[UsefulNotes/McDonalds McNugget]] dipping sauce. Morty, who wasn't even ''present'' when Rick showed his memory of his wife and daughter dying to the alien agent, is naturally confused.

* UnreliableExpositor: Rick gives petty reasons for his escape and revenge, but he is after all a ConsummateLiar. His past protectiveness of Morty and Summer and his actions in the episode indicate that he might really be a JerkWithAHeartOfGold who makes sure nobody ever believes it. His extreme contempt for Jerry is genuine, however. His SuspiciouslySpecificDenial to Morty that he saved earth and his grandkids ''only'' to get back on Beth's good side, ''not'' because he cared about his family, and that his series long motivation is ''not'' to [[CrusadingWidower avenge his dead family]] but to get some more [[UsefulNotes/McDonalds McNugget]] dipping sauce, adds further credence to this idea.

* MediumAwareness: During his rant at Morty at the end of the episode, he says that he will get that dipping sauce, even if it takes 9 more seasons.

* BlatantLies: Rick gives Morty a fake gun with instructions on its side, so he can use it to fake a breakdown and shoot Rick in the head. After a particularly tense scene where Morty is getting belittled by everyone in the room, he executes the plan perfectly. Not that he was aware there was a plan to begin with...

-->'''Morty''': (hesitant)...he...eh...good thing i read that note...