‘Rick and Morty’s Purge Episode Gets the Purge Better Than ‘The Purge’

For four movies and a show the Purge franchise has explored the same question: would society be better if we reserved one day a year for crime? The answer is always a blood-soaked “no,” often in the most confusing way possible. But one show was able to capture the insanity of The Purge and explain away its classist implications in a single episode. Rick and Morty‘s “Look Who’s Purging Now” serves as a silly and well-structured cheat sheet on everything that makes The Purge movies simultaneously insane and addicting to watch.

The Purge franchise revolves around a dystopian society that legalizes crime once a year. By making everything legal, these movies and show argue, people can lean into their base urges during a short period of time, and crime will ultimately be lowered. It’s a premise that’s excellent for a horror movie but insane for real life, and that’s the framing that holds up Rick and Morty‘s second to last episode in Season 2. While stopping for window wiper fluid, Rick and Morty (both Justin Roiland) find themselves on a planet minutes away from its annual purge. Naturally, things don’t go well.

The way the bloody madness unfolds is fairly predictable. Rick wants to hang around to watch the gore unfold; Morty wants to leave until he sees a cute girl in trouble. Once again it’s Morty’s hormones and “nice guy” complex that pits the duo against a world’s worth of murderous animal people. But it’s how Rick and Morty channels its protagonist’s pent-up rage while questioning the popularity of these films that makes the episode great.

Unsurprisingly, Morty serves as the voice of reason in this episode. At least that remains the case until he leans into his own anger and kills a rather annoying lighthouse keeper. The second after his first crime Morty becomes the night’s biggest fan and is shown murdering seemingly innocent people for no reason. He’s every critic of The Purge‘s worst nightmare: a person who’s so repressed he can’t stop killing once he starts. That leaves Rick to flip the script and guide the episode away from just becoming a graphic slaughterfest.

He does this by assisting a young farmer girl Arthricia (Chelsea Kane) in the final twist that sums up the most essential part of the Purge franchise. This night wasn’t designed to help humanity, Rick learns. It was created to keep the poor fighting each other instead of their oppressors. The rest of the episode plays out in a way that only Dan Harmon and Justin Roiland’s creation can. Rick and Arthricia destroy a roomful of rich people in specialized mech suits while a pop-infused song plays. The duo even does a dance in the blood of their victims. The final scene is a morbid delight on par with Season 3’s “Pickle Rick,” but it’s that gruesomeness that cements the sick point of this episode.

No, The Purge movies really don’t make sense as the episode proves, and the idea only works as a convoluted conversation about class in America. So why watch? The real draw of these movies aren’t their politics but their over-the-top violence. Even as Rick and Arthricia do a jig in a literal pool of blood and entrails, the series seems to raise an eyebrow. This is what you wanted. But why exactly did you want it?

Through its cheeky use of this horror franchise Rick and Morty argues that embracing shows and movies that glorify violence to this degree is a bit like taking part of a third-party purge. Is celebrating this type of intense violence bad? And does that make us better or worse people? Rick and Morty doesn’t have an answer for this, but it’s self-aware enough to ask the question. And it does it in a tight 22 minutes.

Watch Rick and Morty, "Look Who's Purging Now" on Hulu