Through a perfect cocktail of sci-fi adventure and dark, adult comedy, Rick and Morty serves up a fresh blend of colorful characters and thrilling situations to an audience that’s overwhelmingly thirsty for edgy, emotional, and action-packed content. Rick and Morty has made viral waves across a variety of fandoms, and the show has generously tucked away all sorts of awesome, hidden gems within its animated walls. The Easter eggs you missed in Rick and Morty tie up loose ends, provide some extra insight to the show, and give shout-outs to favorite fandoms across a span of pop-culture hits.
The show’s roots are deep-seated in pop-culture satire and its creators have certainly been around the creative block a few times before, so viewers can expect for there to be a plethora of hidden things in Rick and Morty – scattered around and waiting to be discovered.
If you pay close enough attention, you can uncover some of the Rick and Morty Easter eggs that the creative staff has left for you; some of them planted just for laughs or witty retort, and some of them hinting at what’s to come in later episodes. Be sure to keep both your eyes and ears peeled for both hints and giggles as your flesh-embedded ocular devices suck in the goodness that is Rick and Morty.
1. The House Damages Never Get Fully Repaired
Giving the show a bit of continuity, and reassuring viewers that the show’s episodes aren’t jumping from universe to universe, damages have been made to the house over time that just kind of… stay there. Across episodes, a couple of major damages link the house to its current reality – such as a hole in the roof that’s been boarded up with some planks and a large crack in the pavement.
In the final episode of Season 1, “Ricksy Business,” a huge crack is made in the pavement, which can be seen later on in the Season 2 episode “Auto Erotic Assimilation,” where an adamant Jerry is whacking away at some weeds.
In the Season 2 episode “Look Who’s Purging Now,” Summer and Jerry blast a hole through the roof of the garage, which gets repaired, lazily, with some wooden planks that stay stagnant for the remainder of episodes.
2. Rick Brought In The Stow-Away Parasites From Total Rickall
In episode 4 of Season 2, “Total Rickall,” the Smith family fights against parasitic space aliens that have completely infested their house (and minds). This parasite implants wave upon wave of fake memories into their heads, confusing the family and leaving them in a scurry to filter through the real and fake figments of friends and loved ones. But how did these parasites get inside of the house?
If you pay attention to the end of “Mortynight Run,” you’ll realize that these parasites had a full episode to make themselves feel right at home. When Rick shovels those green rocks into his spaceship, some bright pink parasite eggs can be seen stuck to them. The first parasite in the house also has a legion of larvae on its back, hinting that there are more parasites scurrying around somewhere.
3. Jerry Keeps A Framed Portrait Of Doofus Rick In The Garage
Doofus Rick is the only Rick out of all of the multitudes of interdimensional versions of Rick Sanchez that actually seems to enjoy Jerry’s company. According to other Ricks, he also eats his own sh*t. Doofus Rick and Jerry really hit it off in the episode “Close Rick-counters of the Rick Kind,” and the other Ricks were quick to shame the two over their newfound relationship.
The combined alienation from other Ricks and actual emotional bonds the two shared obviously kept a snug place in Jerry’s heart, as viewers can see in the Season 3 episode premiere, “The Rickshank Redemption,” if they pay close attention. Jerry keeps a framed picture of his fondest Rick, Doofus Rick, hidden away in the garage from prying and taunting eyes.
4. Grunkle Stan’s Items From Gravity Falls Now Reside In The Rick and Morty Universe
In Gravity Falls, the episode “Society of the Blind Eye” shows the character Grunkle Stan losing some very specific items. A notebook, a pen, and a yellow a coffee mug with a “?” printed on it get sucked into a giant, ominous portal, never to be seen again… in Gravity Falls, at least.
These three items later pop out of a portal Rick opens up with his portal gun while on the run from a horde of Ricks. This homage is one of Justin Roiland’s shout-outs to other friends and coworkers in multimedia, one of them being Alex Hirsch, creator of Disney XD’s Gravity Falls.
5. Interdimensional Customs Shows Off Aliens From All Franchises
The Pilot episode of Rick and Morty shows off the hub of the Interdimensional Customs, where an entourage of alien silhouettes from a span of popular sci-fi franchises make an appearance. In a “Where’s Waldo”-esque portrait, pop-culture alien icons can be pinpointed all around the canvas, showing off an awesome homage to its predecessors.
Some of the ones you can actively find are a Prawn from District 9, the Alien from the Alien franchise, and a Mooninite from Aqua Teen Hunger Force. How many more can you pick out? This sci-fi hot pot puts your true alien pop culture knowledge to the test.
6. A Box Of “Time Travel Stuff” Literally Shelves The Idea Of Time Travel
Under the constant pressure of being compared to the cinematic classic Back to the Future, Dan Harmon and Justin Roiland have placed a witty retort within the confines of their animated space. Rick and Morty travel between realities, universes, and dimensions, but not through time.
Rick keeps a box of “Time Travel Stuff” stowed away on the shelf in the garage, providing a sassy metaphor for viewers and critics to admire from afar. This box can be seen stashed away and untouched in almost every episode, a constant reminder that the creators of Rick and Morty have literally shelved the idea of time traveling.
7. The Closing Image For Harmonious Claptrap Now Shows Dan Harmon Alone
In a less light-hearted Easter egg, the closing image for Dan Harmon’s “Harmonious Claptrap” has switched to a vanity card that shows his post-divorce life. Seasons 1 and 2 of Rick and Morty include Harmon’s personal closing logo, showing off a happy display of him and a family – consisting of his wife and animals.
Season 3’s closing still now paints a picture of Dan’s life alone, still with his animals, but surrounded by bottles of alcohol and trash instead of in a happy, colorful home with his wife. This new closing image follows his recent divorce with comedian Erin McGathy.
8. Rick Creates The Real-Life Community TV Show
Co-creator of Rick and Morty, Dan Harmon, is also the creator and producer of NBC’s live-action series, Community. And Harmon stealthily sneaks an alien version of Community‘s study group into the Season 2 episode of Rick and Morty, “Auto Erotic Assimilation.”
During Rick’s romantic fling with the mind-absorbing galactic being, Unity, he asks for her to create a TV show for him, directly describing Community in the process.
“Now make them all make fun of the blonde one. Now make them all do it on the table. Now cancel it! Now put it back on!” The TV then shows an alien-version of the Community cast during a study session, all sitting around in the same position as the real-life show.
9. Paul McCartney Conspiracy Theories Come Alive
In episode 8 of Season 3, “Morty’s Mind Blowers,” Rick and Morty forget who they are and, in a frantic attempt to remember themselves, they begin loading their brains full of erased memories. What triggered this entire escapade was Morty’s desperation to forget what an all-knowing being told him.
At the beginning of this episode, the two are in possession of the Truth Tortoise, which, apparently, tells all universal truths to those that look into its eyes, and Morty just-so-happens to take a long gaze into its peepers.
What viewers actually hear the tortoise say to Morty is, “I’m a Beatle, Paul is dead” backwards in what sounds like Justin Roiland’s obscured voice. The haunting words of the Truth Tortoise linger around cryptically for those who back the Paul McCartney conspiracy theory – presuming that Paul died in 1966, and the rest of the Beatles would drop secret, backwards messages hinting at it throughout their songs.