Rick and Morty season 1 Episode 1 Pilot

Rick drags Morty on a chaotic dimension-hopping adventure, while their family debates Rick's influence on Morty's education.

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It’s the middle of the night, and an absolutely hammered Rick bursts into Morty’s room with all the grace of a man who’s spent one too many hours with a bottle. He’s got a “surprise,” which is never a good thing when your grandpa has his own spaceship. So naturally, Rick drags poor, half-asleep Morty into his new flying contraption, ready to unveil his masterpiece: a neutrino bomb. You know, just casual grandpa stuff. Apparently, Rick has decided humanity could use a “fresh start,” and his brilliant plan is to blow up the Earth. But don’t worry—he’s got it all figured out. Morty and Jessica will be the new Adam and Eve, because that’s not weird at all.

Morty, in a rare moment of self-preservation, tries to wrestle control of the situation (and the vehicle) from his grandpa, but Rick shrugs it off as a “test.” He eventually lands the ship and passes out, while the neutrino bomb kindly informs everyone that it’s armed. Classic Rick.

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Next morning, Morty face-plants into his cereal, and his mom, Beth, is all concerned—because, well, Morty looks like he hasn’t slept in a week. Meanwhile, his sister Summer spills the beans that Morty was out gallivanting with Grandpa Rick, which sparks the daily debate between Jerry (Morty’s dad) and Rick. Naturally, Rick thinks school is a colossal waste of time—more time for dimension-hopping, right? Before making a grand exit, Rick compliments Beth’s cooking, which immediately turns her into a puddle of emotional joy, much to Jerry’s dismay. The poor guy just can’t win.

At school, Morty drifts off during math class, only to find himself in a dream sequence featuring Jessica, his class crush. Things escalate quickly from equations to, um, some Jessica-focused fantasies, but it all comes crashing down when his math teacher, Mr. Goldenfold, unknowingly steps into the dream and the awkwardness goes off the charts. Just when things couldn’t get worse, Morty gets picked on by a bully, Frank. But before Frank can do any real damage, Rick shows up out of nowhere, freezes the bully solid, and drags Morty off for an impromptu adventure. Summer, as she strolls past, is too busy trying to impress the frozen Frank to notice (or care) that the guy is now more ice sculpture than human.

Meanwhile, Jerry attempts to have a romantic lunch date with Beth, who’s literally in the middle of heart surgery. As one does. He also suggests they ship Rick off to a nursing home, which doesn’t go over well. Beth defends her dad’s chaotic genius (and, you know, those neutrino bombs), while also barking at the hospital staff. Typical family bonding.

Back with Rick and Morty, the duo pops through a portal into a bizarre, candy-colored dimension. Rick’s here to grab some mega-seeds from mega-trees for his “very important research” (ahem, probably not that important). But Morty, ever the worrier, is having second thoughts about his grandpa’s choice of field trip. Before Rick can throw out some grandfatherly wisdom, a giant spider-thing pops up to try and eat them, and Rick’s all, “Wow, I’ve never seen this before. Guess we’re gonna die now!” Comforting, right?

After dodging more weird creatures, Rick hands Morty some “anchor boots” to climb a cliff, conveniently forgetting to mention that Morty needs to buckle them first. Morty plummets to the ground, legs broken in about a million places. Rick, unfazed, treats Morty’s agony as a teachable moment: Always fasten your shoes, kid. He does eventually heal Morty’s legs—after popping back to another dimension for some quick medicine—and then cheerfully informs him they’re going to smuggle the seeds back through interdimensional customs. And guess where they’re hiding these mega-seeds? Yep, Morty’s rear end. Talk about a tight spot.

Meanwhile, Jerry and Beth are summoned to Morty’s school, where Principal Vagina (yes, you read that right) informs them that Morty has spent all of seven hours in class over the past two months. Turns out, Grandpa Rick has been swiping Morty for his wacky science field trips. Shocking!

Back at interdimensional customs, things go south when the bug-like customs agents roll out new tech that scans “down to your butt.” Rick, ever the strategist, screams for Morty to run, and chaos ensues. They dodge alien guards, destroy customs property, and even deal with Rick’s overly casual “robots are just bureaucrats” metaphor—leading Morty to accidentally shoot a very not-robot guard. Whoops! But hey, bureaucrats, am I right?

After an epic chase scene, Rick punches in the coordinates for home and they barely make it back—Morty crash-landing right in front of Jessica, impressing her (briefly). But, of course, they’re caught by Beth, Jerry, and Principal Vagina. Tough break, Morty.

Finally, Rick argues that adventure is the best way for Morty to learn, and after Morty drops some knowledge bombs about the square root of pi and the first law of thermodynamics, it’s hard to argue with the guy. I mean, sure, school’s important—but so is dimension-hopping with Grandpa, right?