Warning: The following contains spoilers for Rick and Morty Season 5, Episode 6, “Rick & Morty’s Thanksploitation Spectacular,” which aired Sunday on Adult Swim.
In Rick and Morty‘s five seasons, it’s safe to say Morty hasn’t been a saint. Despite his nervous disposition, he’s unleashed the monster within and murdered on many of their adventures. It’s partly due to the influence of his mad scientist grandfather but also due to his own anxiety and shortcomings in life — as seen in the recent assault on the “Planeteers” to free Planetina. However, in Rick and Morty‘s Thanksgiving adventure, Morty takes it a step too far, according to Rick, by committing his biggest crime against America: killing Franklin D. Roosevelt.
The duo disguises themselves as turkeys so President Curtis will pardon Rick for the hundreds of federal crimes he commits each year. Morty’s skeptical of the plan but goes along as usual. However, when they infiltrate the White House, they’re in for a shock. The President has also turned himself into a turkey to spot the pair and beat the crap out of Rick.
However, it backfires when the staff botches the job, dropping Rick, Morty and the President into a secret feeding chamber. They reanimated the wrong turkey, creating a mutant version of the President. However, congress enjoys his services, so no one even thinks they got the wrong guy — or they don’t care. As for the feeding chamber, it’s revealed that the rejected turkeys are sent there to be eaten by a giant spider-version of Franklin D. Roosevelt.
It turns out this isn’t a clone. FDR didn’t die; he was a polio vaccine test subject that transformed into this strange creature. All-out war ensues with the President, who is jealous FDR was revered so much and reminds him it isn’t so easy in the age of social media. But the spider-beast is too strong, shooting webs and prepping to eat the trio.
Luckily, Rick and Morty’s turkey forms wear off, and Morty creates a torch by messing with a control panel. He then chucks it at FDR, causing him to be incinerated. It’s a shocking sequence, but Morty, feeling a bit guilty, tries to downplay it by calling FDR a “monster.” However, Rick says don’t mythologize him; he was a politician.
Still, even Rick knows how big a sin it is to kill a president. As such, it seems he set Morty up for the kill-shot. Rick hated Morty for torching the Constitution and unleashing the killer-bot inside the Statue of Liberty earlier in the episode. Ultimately, the scientist might hate America, but he still has respect for its symbols. Therefore, Morty’s act, while justifiable, is unforgivable.
When the duo isn’t assassinating mutant presidents, they commit other heinous acts in new episodes of Rick and Morty, which drop each Sunday at 11 p.m. ET on Adult Swim.
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