Picking up right where they left off after "Get Schwifty", Water-T has to defend his planet from the invasion of the Numbericons. Left with no other options, he is forced to call upon the aid of Mr. Goldenfold and learn the value of math.
Tropes:
- Abusive Parents: Lord Dreadnought to his daughter, Sinistar 7, as he painfully zaps her with the Numbericon equivalent of Force Lightning for her failing to steal the I of Harmony from Water-T. After ∞ kills Dreadnought, 7 even admits he was a pretty crappy dad.
- Anthropomorphic Typography: This episode has alien species of letters and numbers.
- Armor-Piercing Response: When Mr. Goldenfold asks Water-T why he didn't do his homework, the latter responds with "Because I had no home!" which shuts up Goldenfold. Then this emotional moment gets interrupted by intruding Numbericons.
- Audience Surrogate: Morty, being the only member of the main cast to actually appear in the episode, pretty much takes this role, commenting upon plot developments and occasionally prodding the backstory along instead of being the primary focus, though he does contribute in the final battle with ∞ by manning the DJ table for Water-T, as he did back in "Get Schwifty."
- Bait-and-Switch:
- After Mr. Goldenfold immediately dismisses the whole class to force Morty into a quick detention session, the rest of the kids don't cheer about being let go so soon, but they complain about it because they wanted to learn math.
- The A Little Something We Call "Rock and Roll" parody where Marvin calls his cousin Chuck culminates in a fart joke instead of Water-T's new flow revolutionizing the hip-hop scene.
- Belligerent Sexual Tension: Water-T and Sinistar 7 start out as enemies, then move into this after the former saves the latter from drowning, eventually leading to them making out. By the end, once their two civilizations have merged, they've become an Official Couple.
- Big "NO!": Sinistar 7 delivers one when Water-T's group escapes her pursuit via hyphen-speed jump. Later she releases a big No when ∞ kills her father.
- Book Dumb: Water-T is incapable of doing written math, only being able to do basic numbering in his rap songs. Even after all is said and done, he finally gives Mr. Goldenfold his homework...which nets him an "F."
- The Bus Came Back: Ice-T, now going by Water-T, makes his long-awaited return from Season 2. Sadly for Morty, he does not seem to remember him at all.
- Casting Gag: The real Ice-T plays Water-T's father, Magma-Q.
- Character Catchphrase: Water-T's friend Lithium-P is really fond of the joke, "Sorry I'm late, I had to go 'P'~!" He goes so far as to actually pee before he arrives somewhere just to justify saying it.
- Court Jester: Dreadnought is always accompanied by a maniacal decimal point that seems to serve no role in the Numbericon's empire other than to laugh at and annoy people. He loves his job so much he even shows up for work on his day off.
- Dating Catwoman: Water-T's make-out with Sinistar 7 is a downplayed example. By the time they get together for real, the Alphabetrians and Numbericons have made peace, and combine their civilizations into the Alphanumbericons.
- A Day in the Limelight: Surprisingly, Mr. Goldenfold of all people gets his time in the spotlight, as he's revealed to have been Ice-T's former math teacher. Morty plays a supporting role, being the only member of the Smith-Sanchez family present in the episode.
- Deadly Euphemism: Lord Dreadnought orders Sinistar 7 to "subtract" Water-T from life.
- Disproportionate Retribution: Mr. Goldenfold really hates rap music to the point that he immediately gave Morty detention and ended class early for everyone else just for listening to it during class.Mr. Goldenfold: Class dismissed early so Morty can have instant detention!
- Dodge by Braking: Water-T's ship pulls this trick on pursuing Numbericons fighters.
- Drunk with Power: Sinistar 7 lampshades it herself when 8 becomes ∞ and goes on a rampage across Alphabetrium, not only blowing up the Alphabetriums but also his own people the Numbericons. This prompts Sinistar 7 and the rest of his people to turn against him and ally with the Alphabetriums.
- "Eureka!" Moment: Mr. Goldenfold refuses to let Morty out of detention because he needs "boundaries". Uttering this word gives him an idea of how to solve the math code engraved on the I of Harmony.
- Even Evil Has Standards: Even though Sinistar 7 was raised to hate the Alphabet, even she found ∞'s senseless rampage across Alphabetrium to be horrible and so she committed a Heel–Face Turn.
- Evil Makeover: During the Internal Reveal of S being The Mole, he changes into ∞ via a color makeover from blue to red & black while also lowering his voice.
- Expy: Sinistar 7 has a green color scheme running for her, has been abused by her violent Evil Overlord father and ends up with the hero just like Gamora in Guardians of the Galaxy (2014).
- False Friend: Lampshaded by Oxygen-S when he betrays Water-T and co's location to the Numbericons. It's later revealed to be because he's The Mole, actually a Numbericon himself named 8.
- Fantastic Racism: The Alphabet and Numbers were taught to hate each other to the point that Water-T's father Magma-Q denounced him for having the audacity to try and use numbers in his music.
- Flashback with the Other Darrin: If one is to listen closely, Magnesium-J is voiced by Justin Roiland in the original post-credit scene from "Get Schwifty", though here, he's voiced by a different actor.
- Forgotten First Meeting: Water-T apparently doesn't remember the events of "Get Schwifty" at all. This includes not recalling having met Morty before, and he treats him like a stranger throughout the adventure.
- Freudian Excuse: We soon learn that Water-T's apathy to everyone came from his father accusing him of not caring about anyone due to using numbers.
- Gag Penis: The Ewok planet has primitive scribble creatures that look like giant penises and announce the morning with "Cock-a-doodle!".
- Groin Attack: Water-T promises to shoot 8 in the dick for his betrayal. He makes good on that promise, killing the all-powerful ∞ by shooting him in the dick with the power of the I of Harmony.
- Guns Akimbo: Ice-T becomes a One-Man Army and guns down the Numbericons with a gun in each hand.
- Held Back in School: Apparently, Water-T had been in Mr. Goldenfold's class for a while up to adulthood.
- Hot Skitty-on-Wailord Action: As Magma-T and Sinistar 7 lampshade, the former is made of magma and the latter is only divisible by herself and one.
- Hurricane of Puns: The entire episode is full of letter- and number-related puns, starting with Water-T's vow (originally in The Stinger of "Get Schwifty" and shown again here) to "crunch the numbers" and never really letting up from there.
- I'm Dying, Please Take My MacGuffin: Magma-Q hands Ice-T the I of Harmony when he dies from falling debris.
- Interspecies Romance: Mr. Goldenfold had sex with a female native of the Ewok planet who looks like a scribble.
- Mic Drop: Parodied with Magma-Q who drops his mic upon death."I'm dying. Peace." (drops mic)
- The Mole: "Oxygen-S" is really a Numbericon in disguise, 8, who faked being a Letter so he could infiltrate Alphabetrium.
- The Movie: The episode's subtitle hints at a movie-length feature film.
- Must Not Die a Virgin: When they are crashing into the activated brackets around Alphabetrium, one of the Numbericon's generals asks to be kissed because he has never known love. He doesn't get his Last Request granted.
- Not Too Dead to Save the Day: The ghost of Magma-Q returns in the climax to help reunite letters and numbers.
- Out of Focus: Not only is this another episode where Summer, Beth, and Jerry don't appear, it's also the first one in the entire series where Rick himself is completely absent, with Morty being the only member of the main cast to join the adventure (against his will by Mr. Goldenfold), and even then he pretty much remains squarely in a secondary role.
- Parental Incest: Water-T implies that he wants to do it with his father after having impromptu sex with Sinistar 7 (thinking he and she are into "the same sick shit") as a twisted sign of his craving for his father's approval.
- The Power of Love The I grows stronger when Letters and Numbers get it on, allowing Magma-T to manifest a giant golden pistol that he uses to shoot ∞ in the dick.
- The Power of Rock: The heroes use Hip Hop to help unite numbers and letters.
- Psychologist Teacher: In a flashback we see Mr. Goldenfold going beyond mere math teaching when he follows Ice-T into the music study and helps him improve his rapping style.
- Revenge of the Sequel: This Sequel Episode is named "Water-T and the Rise of the Numbericons".
- Sequel Episode: To "Get Schwifty," as we see the return of Ice-T (now going by Water-T), the Cold Open of this episode repeats The Stinger of that one, and the entire rest of this episode continues the storyline of what happened afterwards.
- Serious Business: Mr. Goldenfold doesn't stop nagging Water-T about his homework. He eventually gets his wish in the final scene.
- Sneaky Departure: When Water-T wakes up the morning after the Ewok party, he finds that Sinistar 7 took off with the I of Harmony.
- So Was X: Godwin's Law is in full swing during this exchange between Morty and Lithium-P:Morty: Lowercase means smaller. We get it.
P: Feels like I'm being punished for clarity.
Morty: Punished? Jesus. I asked a question.
P: So did Hitler. - Spikes of Villainy: Lord Dreadnought sports spiky shoulder pads.
- The Starscream: Once the I of Harmony turns 8 into ∞, he immediately kills Lord Dreadnought and usurps his position as leader of the Numbericons.
- The Stinger: Now that the Alphabetrians and Numbericons have combined their societies to become the Alphanumbericons—with now-Magma-T and Sinistar 7 as the King and Queen—they are visited by Ice Cube, who asks them for help in answering a challenge from the Geomitrons, to which they agree, and just like with "Get Schwifty", ends with a title screen promoting this team-up as another upcoming movie.
- Teeth-Clenched Teamwork: Water T and Mr. Goldenfold really do not like each other even when they are forced to work together. This is due to Water T not liking math due to being raised in Alphabetrium to hate numbers, while Mr. Goldenfold used his connection to Ice-T as a way to hang out with President Curtis (or rather, at the time, Governor Curtis), only to be taken for a liar when Ice-T didn't mention him at the Grammys.
- "Well Done, Son" Guy: Water-T greatly craves his father's approval that he became mad with himself when his father labeled him a traitor for singing about numbers in his rap music, causing a rift between him and Mr. Goldenfold when he doesn't thank his input at the Grammys.
- We Used to Be Friends: Mr. Goldenfold and Ice-T were buddies until they had a fallout over the latter's Grammys speech.
- Would Hurt a Child: ∞ has no qualms about attacking a school on Alphabetrium which leads Sinistar 7 to commit a Heel–Face Turn.
- You Killed My Father:
- As shown at the end of "Get Schwifty", Water-T wants revenge on the Numbericons for the death of his father, Magma-Q, who was killed by falling debris during their attack on Alphabetrium. This later becomes parodied when Sinistar 7 reveals to him that this piece of debris was somehow "poisoned" by 8/Oxygen-S as part of a plan to assassinate Magma-Q, which mainly serves to make Water-T's conflict with ∞ even more personal (and, no, it really doesn't make much more sense in context).
- Downplayed with Sinistar 7. Once 8 becomes ∞, he takes over as the new leader of the Numbericons and kills the current leader, 7's father Lord Dreadnought. She acknowledges that he was a terrible dad and still follows ∞ at first, but once he proves too extreme, she turns against him, and does cite her father's death as one reason she hates him.
