Following on from the self-referential adventure, “Full Meta Jackrick,” Rick and Morty have gone in a different direction with the episode “Analyze Piss.”
Rick gets tired of the constant attacks from Z-list supervillains and gets advice from the family therapist, Dr. Wong. She advises Rick to just ignore the villains and they will go away. However, when Rick gets taunted by a villain called Piss Master, Jerry beats him up and gets hailed as a hero.
To an outsider Rick and Morty just seems like a wacky show for teens. This episode seemed like a typical example of this. This was an episode that started with Rick and Morty trying to repel a D-Day-style invasion and getting confronted by Cookie Magneto. One of the main characters in the episode had the ability to shoot powerful streams of urine. So, there it was a surprising turn when Rick found Piss Master had killed himself.
The suicide made the episode a lot more dramatic than expected. Piss Master’s suicide was treated as a weighty moment, it wasn’t a joke like it would have been in South Park or Family Guy. Rick tries to resuscitate Piss Master and the death had an impact on Rick. He was shocked when it happened. Rick was prepared to leave the scene until Piss Master’s daughter arrived to check on her father, forcing Rick to pretend to be Piss Master.
This shows how complex a character Rick can be. Rick has always put up a front that he’s above everything and says nothing matters but his actions have contradicted this. He tried to kill himself after Unity rejected him in “Auto Erotic Assimilation,” he encouraged Morty to complete his quest after his grandson was assaulted by King Jellybean, and Rick fell into a depression when he found out his toilet rival had died. Despite what Rick says, deep down he does care.
In the case of Piss Master’s suicide, Rick was prepared to run until he heard his daughter’s pleading. When Rick gets confronted by reality he needed to act. Rick’s actions could be interpreted as a response to Beth’s abandonment: he doesn’t want Piss Master’s daughter to have the same experience. Rick tries to redeem Piss Master’s reputation so his daughter can be proud of him and give her some closure.
The other motivation for Rick was simply to give his life some purpose. After Rick followed Dr. Wong’s advice Rick’s life became very boring. Becoming Piss Master made Rick’s life interesting again and he could act like a hero without his reputation as an uncaring nihilist being affected.
Jerry has often been Rick and Morty’s punching bag. Even in this season Jerry was taunted by his family in “Final DeSmithation.” So, in “Analyze Piss” he gets a rare win since his family and the public idolise him. Jerry gets to be Iron Man in the episode as he travels around the galaxy to save people and have some positive PR. It makes a change from being a coward to having something positive happen to him.
The biggest issue with the episode was not being particularly funny. The funniest moments were the bomb squad of children and when Jerry accidentally blows up a planet. But these jokes were brief, and there weren’t enough jokes spread throughout the episode. Even when Rick and Morty had serious, emotional moments the majority of the episodes surrounding them were funny. “Analyze Piss” did quite have the right balance between levity and pathos.
“Analyze Piss” worked best as a character period that explores Rick’s morality and motivations. It shows that Rick and Morty can still do emotional drama well. It was just a shame that the humour was lacking.
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