Lawnmower Dog

"Lawnmower Dog"
Rick and Morty episode
Episode no.	Season 1 Episode 2
Directed by	John Rice
Written by	Ryan Ridley
Original air date	December 9, 2013
Running time	21 minutes

"Lawnmower Dog" is the second episode of Rick and Morty. It premiered on Adult Swim on December 9, 2013, was written by Ryan Ridley, and directed by John Rice. In the episode, Rick gives Jerry a device to enhance the dog's intelligence while Rick and Morty get lost in the dreams of Morty's math teacher. The episode was well received, with approximately 1.5 million viewers when airing.

The title is a reference to the movie The Lawnmower Man (1992), in which a scientist enhances the intellect of a simple-minded gardener. Meanwhile, the plot involving Rick and Morty's adventure is a reference to the 2010 film Inception as well as the Nightmare on Elm Street franchise.

Plot

Morty's dog Snuffles angers Jerry by continually urinating on the carpet. Upset, Jerry asks Rick for a device that could make Snuffles smarter. Rick makes the device, & it makes Snuffles smart enough for him to be able to do things like a normal human, like going to the bathroom. Meanwhile, Rick plans to enter the dreams of Morty's math teacher, Mr. Goldenfold, in order for him to increase Morty's grades, thus letting Morty adventure with Rick more often. The two enter Goldenfold's dream. The dream takes place on a plane, where Rick pretends to be a terrorist threatening to blow them up if Goldenfold doesn't give Morty better grades, but Goldenfold decides to fight back & pulls out 2 machine guns. Rick realizes that Goldenfold has more control over his dreams than he had anticipated, & also reveals that if they die in the dream, they die in real life. Meanwhile, Snuffles attempts to communicate with his owners verbally but is unable. He opens the battery compartment on the helmet & realizes that it can be boosted with additional batteries.

Still stuck in the dream, Rick tries to negotiate with Goldenfold using his idol, Mrs. Pancakes, as a human shield. Instead, chaos descends on the plane. The doors to the plane are opened, & everyone gets sucked out. Mrs. Pancakes finds a parachute & opens it, while Goldenfold has already landed the plane. Rick & Morty grab onto Pancakes, but Goldenfold has created a device to pluck Pancakes out of the sky & leave Rick & Morty to fall in a pool of lava. The two then incept themselves into Pancakes' dreams to slow time down. Pancakes' dreams are of an intergalactic sex club & S&M dungeon, filled with dominatrices. A lingerie-clad Summer makes the two feel uncomfortable, making them stand out. A centaur guard threatens to kill them, & they venture into the centaur's dream, where the three have to run away from a "legally safe knockoff" of Freddy Krueger, named Scary Terry. Meanwhile, Snuffles has created a robotic arm & a speaker that he uses to grab things & communicate, albeit in broken English. Snuffles' view on life changes after watching a TV special about dogs being domesticated & being forced into subservience.

Still finding an escape, Rick & Morty travel into a little girl's dream to escape Scary Terry. After returning to what looks like the same dream, the two also find out that Terry can travel across dreams. After building himself a powerful robotic suit, Snuffles changes his name to Snowball & assumes dominance over the household. While in a new dream, Rick & Morty are still being chased by Terry. The two follow him back into his house & enter his dreams. They see that he's fearful of being a failure in his job & save him from being embarrassed in school. In return, he helps them return to reality, & in the process, convince Goldenfold to raise Morty's grades. Back in the regular world, they find that Snowball has led an army of hyper-intelligent dogs to the verge of global domination over humanity. Snowball allows Morty to live by his side while the rest of the world is enslaved at the whim of the dogs. While the dogs are subjecting the humans to similar practices that the humans subjected the dogs to, Morty lives in luxury. Rick reveals to him that the two are actually in Snowball's dream. Rick poisons Morty's kidneys, making Snowball care for Morty's health. Snowball comes out of his dream & realizes that oppressing humans brings heartbreak & cruelty. Snowball & the dogs change their plan & decide instead to inhabit a world of their own.

In the post-credits scene, the old teacher of Scary Terry's class has been replaced by Scary Glenn, a hippie drum player. Rick & Scary Terry are sitting as his students, smoking marijuana, satisfied with this change.

Reception

The A.V. Club gave the episode an A rating, with reviewer Zach Handlen noting that it was the "pinnacle of the show thus far". Junkey Monkey's reviewer William Manzo praised the episode, saying that the episode was "a welcome surprise when compared to the pilot", giving it a 10/10.

External links

• "Lawnmower Dog" at IMDb