Rick and Morty Episode 15: Total Rickall

Rick comes home to the Smith house and immediately shoots Jerry’s supposed brother, Uncle Steve, because he recognizes that Steve is actually an alien parasite. The creature dies in a pink splatter, and Rick explains that these parasites multiply by implanting false, happy memories into people’s minds, making everyone believe they have always been part of the family.

Rick locks the house down with blast shields and tells the family that only the six of them should really be there: Rick, Morty, Summer, Beth, Jerry, and a strange little creature called Mr. Poopybutthole. That does not solve the problem, because every time someone recalls a “memory” with one of the parasites, another fake person appears in the house, and the situation quickly spirals out of control.

As the parasites multiply, the household fills with bizarre new “relatives” and friends, each introduced through affectionate backstory that makes them seem real. Rick grows increasingly frustrated as the family starts trusting the parasites’ memories more than his warnings, and the house becomes a chaotic swarm of false identities.

Eventually the parasites turn the family against Rick by convincing Morty, Summer, Beth, and Jerry that Rick is the impostor. Morty is brought to the garage to kill Rick, but Rick’s cruel, personal insults make Morty realize something important: the parasites can only create positive memories, while Morty has plenty of bad memories with Rick.

With that clue, Morty and Rick identify the real family members by comparing them against the absence of bad memories, and they begin systematically killing the parasites one by one. Beth proves real through unpleasant memories involving Summer, and the remaining impostors are cut down in the living room as the family regains control of the house.

After the parasites are eliminated, the original household sits down to dinner again. Beth becomes suspicious of Mr. Poopybutthole because she cannot think of any negative memories with him, so she shoots him. He turns out to be real, and the episode ends with him badly wounded while the family realizes they made a terrible mistake.