Warning! Spoilers ahead forRick and Mortyseason 8, episode 4.
Rick and Mortyseason 8’s latest episode is a spot-on spoof of werewolf movies, and I’m here for it.Rick and Mortyseason 8, episode 4, “The Last Temptation of Jerry,” opens with Jerry struggling to get his family into the Easter spirit. While he’s on his way to the store to buy some egg dye, he accidentally runs over an animal with his car. As he gets out of the car to inspect it,he’s shocked to find that the animal he killed is the Easter Bunny. Shortly thereafter, he starts to turn into the Easter Bunny.
Jerry’s transformation into the Easter Bunny is a pitch-perfect parody of one of my favorite subgenres of horror cinema.I wasn’t expectingRick and Morty’s Easter episode to take its cues from horror movies, but I thought it was a great idea for an episode. It was a great storyline to explore a new side of Jerry’s character, and it was a great twist on the Easter Bunny lore. Afterlast week’sRick and Mortyepisode lampooned Clint Eastwood’sUnforgiven, this week’s episode satirized werewolf films.
Jerry’s Transformation Into The Easter Bunny Is A Hilarious Parody Of Werewolf Movies
Jerry Goes Through All The Stages Of A Werewolf Transformation, Except He Becomes A Bunny
When Jerry comes home after killing the Easter Bunny, strange things start to happen. He goes to the fridge and starts gnawing on full heads of lettuce, then he slurps water out of a makeshift water feeder. Rick immediately figures out that,after killing the Easter Bunny, Jerry has inherited his curse and started transforming into a new incarnation of the Easter Bunny. This whole storyline is a perfect parody of werewolf movies. In werewolf movies, the first sign that someone has been infected with the curse is that they start exhibiting unusual animalistic behavior.
Jerry experiences a heightened sex drive, like David in An American Werewolf in London, and then comes the final stage of his turn: a physical transformation.
Jerry experiences a heightened sex drive, like David inAn American Werewolf in London, and then comes the final stage of his turn: a physical transformation. His legs bend backwards, allowing him to hop around like a bunny, and he grows fur and big, floppy ears.It takes all the familiar visual hallmarks of a werewolf transformation, but makes them ridiculousby swapping out scary werewolf imagery for goofy Easter Bunny imagery. Like all great spoofs, it pays homage to the classics it’s making fun of, but it satirically subverts what made them so iconic.
The Wolf Man Helped Rick & Morty Fight The Pope In “Mort: Ragnarick”
Rick and Mortyset up its werewolf storyline in season 7 with a surprising number of references to werewolf lore. In almostevery episode ofRick and Mortyseason 7, there was a throwaway line referencing werewolves. There was mention of a character who was bitten by several werewolves, and Morty name-checked werewolves a few times. This culminated in episode 9, “Mort: Ragnarick,” in whichRick and Morty assembled an Avengers squad of movie monsters — including the Wolf Man — to take on a superpowered Popein battle. Clearly,Rick and Mortyhas some werewolf movie fans on its writing staff.
Rick & Morty’s Werewolf Spoof Adapts The Most Heartbreaking Trope Of The Genre
Jerry Is Still In There
The most heartbreaking trope of the werewolf genre is thatthe person who transformed into a monster isn’t gone forever. They’re still in there, trying to get out. They still love the people they loved before the transformation, but they can’t communicate anymore. This can be seen in the brief glimmer of recognition when David sees Alexat the end ofAn American Werewolf in London.
“The Last Temptation of Jerry” was directed by Douglas Einar Olsen and written by Heather Anne Campbell.
TherecentWolf Manrebootswitched between Blake’s perspective and Charlotte’s perspective to show that he was desperately trying to speak to her, but she couldn’t understand him, and he eventually begged her to mercy-kill him from behind his monstrous facade.Rick and Mortyadheres to this tragic trope. Once Jerry goes full Easter Bunny, it’s clear that the Jerry we know and love is still in there.
Rick and Morty
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Rick and Morty is an animated science fiction series that follows the eccentric scientist Rick Sanchez and his impressionable grandson Morty Smith as they embark on perilous adventures across space and alternate dimensions. The show explores the impact of these exploits on Morty’s tumultuous family life and personal challenges.
