Earlier this year, I set out to find the definitive TV catchphrase of the 2010s. There was “Not great, Bob!” and “Treat yo’ self” and “Suck a d*ck, dumb sh*ts.” But with all due respect to “Wubba lubba dub dub,” I picked the wrong catchphrase from Rick and Morty. The correct choice is obviously screaming the words “pickle” and “Rick” until your throat is raw. The fact that “Pickle Rick,” the episode, hadn’t aired yet is no excuse, and for that, I apologize.
Pickle Rick was an instant sensation because, well, it’s Rick… as a pickle. It’s so stupid that it’s actually brilliant, which, come to think of it, describes the entire show. Rick and Morty co-creator Dan Harmon told Fast Company that the idea for the episode came from one of the writers asking, “What if we started the episode this way, with him turning himself into a pickle?” Harmon also revealed there was another, less likely inspiration for Pickle Rick.
“A big inspiration for the Pickle Rick story, though, was the Breaking Bad episode where the Winnebago breaks down in the desert. It’s more than a bottle episode, it’s specifically a bottle episode of Breaking Bad where we get to see Walter White up against primal forces instead of watching him negotiate and bluff with street dealers and kingpins and using his access to cool chemicals and any equipment he wants to make any bombs and crystal meth and stuff. It was interesting to watch him trapped in a hot van, about to die, and having to fall back on his basic science knowledge to keep them alive, while also seeing what he was like under extreme stress in the hot desert heat. That was a big inspiration.” (Via)
Harmon is referring to the ninth episode of season two, “4 Days Out,” where Walt scolds Jesse, “Smoking marijuana, eating Cheetos, and masturbating do not constitute ‘plans’ in my book.” Don’t tell that to Morty.
(Via Fast Company)
