Meeseeks and Destroy

"Meeseeks and Destroy"
Rick and Morty episode
File:Meeseeks and Destroy.jpg The group of Meeseeks threatening hostages in a restaurant
Episode no.	Season 1 Episode 5
Directed by	Bryan Newton
Written by	Ryan Ridley
Original air date	January 20, 2014
Running time	21 minutes

"Meeseeks and Destroy" is the fifth episode of the first season of Rick and Morty. It premiered on Adult Swim on January 20, 2014. The episode was written by Ryan Ridley and directed by Bryan Newton. In the episode, Rick provides the family with a solution to their problems, freeing him up to go on an adventure led by Morty. The episode has been well received, and was seen by about 1.6 million viewers when it was first aired on Adult Swim.

Plot

After a particularly traumatic adventure Morty strikes a bet with Rick to lead his own adventure, agreeing to cease complaining if he fails, and Rick agreeing to let Morty choose every tenth adventure if he succeeds. When the rest of the Smith family asks Rick for solutions to several mundane problems, he gives the family a Meeseeks Box, a gadget capable of summoning a being named "Mr. Meeseeks" to materialize each time its button is pushed. These identical and short-lived creatures exist only to execute the first order they are given; once it is completed they vanish. Rick warns the family to keep their tasks simple.

When Rick and Morty leave, Beth asks her Meeseeks to help her become a more complete woman, while Summer wants hers to make her more popular at school. Jerry, thinking Beth and Summer's requests too challenging, asks his Meeseeks to help him take two strokes off his golf game. Summer's and Beth's Meeseeks complete their tasks quickly, but Jerry struggles to improve at golf despite the coaching from his Meeseeks. Since a Meeseeks cannot die until it completes its task, it summons another Meeseeks to help. Soon Jerry is surrounded by many Meeseeks, all desperate to help Jerry improve. Jerry and Beth, exasperated, go to dinner together, in spite of the Meeseeks' protests.

After they leave, all the Meeseeks blame each other for their predicament and fight over the correct solution, concluding that the only way to fulfill their mission is to take all the strokes off Jerry's golf game by killing him. A horde of armed Meeseeks descends upon the restaurant. Jerry and Beth escape into the restaurant's freezer, and the Meeseeks take hostages to coerce Jerry to come out. Jerry almost gives in, but Beth gives him a confidence boost and encourages him to try his golf swing one last time. Jerry uses a severed piece of shelving, a tomato and an onion to prove that both his swing and short game has improved, and the delighted Meeseeks all cease to exist.

Morty and Rick arrive in a medieval fantasy world to begin their adventure. They stop at a poor village that requests the help of two heroes to steal a giant's treasure in order to raise money. Morty and Rick climb up a giant beanstalk to the giants' world, but an accident sees them arrested for murdering a giant. They are tried in a Giant's Court, but are acquitted through a technicality.

The heroes stop at a tavern for a drink, where Morty confronts Rick over his constant negativity before heading to the bathroom. There, he meets Mr. Jellybean, an at first friendly character who tries to rape him. Morty fights him off but is visibly shaken. Meanwhile, Rick is beginning to enjoy himself, winning several hands of cards and collecting a sizable amount of money. Morty begs Rick to go home, and admits to losing the bet. Rick sees a battered Mr. Jellybean leaving the bathroom and, realizing what happened, raises Morty's spirits by giving his card winnings to the poor villagers. After arriving in the village and handing over the money, the villagers declare Rick and Morty heroes and ask them to stay and meet their king: Mr. Jellybean. Morty quickly convinces Rick to open a portal to leave. Rick opens a portal through which they leave, then shoots through it and kills Jellybean as payback for the trauma he inflicted on his grandson.

In a post-credits scene, two of the villagers find a box of incriminating photographs in King Jellybean's lockbox, but they burn it to keep the king's legacy untainted. As one of them believes it's for the best that everyone sees their King as a benevolent figure & therefore learn to become better people.

Development

Justin Roiland claimed the idea for the episode occurred when, frustrated with the progress of a writing session, he suggested the introduction of a character blurting "I'm Mister Meeseeks, look at me!" and the concept evolved from there.

Reception

Zach Handlen of The A.V. Club rated the episode A-, quoting that it "[may have had] the most weirdly upbeat ending of the show so far". David Roa from Dead Screen gave the episode 9.1 out of 10, noting its great story and re-watchability. Junkie Monkey's gave it a mixed review, stating that although it wasn't the best episode of the season, it was far from the worst. Den of Geek gave the episode a 5/5 rating, reviewer Joe Matar said that the episode was a good challenge of the concept of adventure.

External links

• "Meeseeks and Destroy" at IMDb