Chris Sheridan
The following recap contains spoilers for Rick and Morty S9E5 “Jer Bud” (written by James Siciliano and directed by Brian Kaufman).
Rick and Morty S9E5 “Jer Bud” finds the unemployed Jerry extremely nervous over a job interview he’s finally landed. He’s panicking. Space Beth suggests he ingest a drug she has: a “worry worm” that feeds on worries before dying out, leaving the host completely chilled-out. Jerry refuses, not wanting to take “breakfast drugs”—this interview is important to him. Entering the kitchen with Morty to send his grandson off on a trip, Rick sh*ts on him over not contributing, and “negs” Jerry into ingesting a worm.
Morty’s destination is a dimension in which his former dog Snowball resides. Recall all the way back in S1E2 “Lawnmower Dog” when Snowball is given a helmet that significantly enhances his intelligence, leading to him crafting a mech suit and traveling to his own dimension. Once there, Morty sees that Snowball rules comfortably with other dogs with mech suits. Snowball delightedly exits his suit to greet Morty, licking his face, and the two of them say how much they’ve missed each other.
Snowball’s dimension and its dogs wearing mech suits is a highly-developed utopia, and Morty is very impressed. He’s suddenly set upon by a weird little creature before it’s taken away because it “hasn’t had its shots.” Snowball refers to the creature as a “Mup,” humanoid creatures bred to be pets, and hopes that Morty isn’t too freaked out by that: it would be weird if that was the case, given how humans treat dogs in Morty’s dimension. Despite insisting otherwise, Morty is definitely a little freaked out.
At Snowball’s mansion, Morty is offered a nice glass of water, which he gladly accepts. Suddenly, a group of rabid “Mancors,” gangly, rabid mups, leap over the hedges and set upon Morty before being tranquilized by Snowball’s guards. He instructs the guards to take Morty to the Mup facility so he can learn more about them. There, Morty is shown the Mup process, where the pets can be painfully customized after being ripped from the womb and separated from the anguished mother. Morty is mortified, and immediately begins packing his bags. Snowball immediately catches on, and he’s not happy. As Morty is getting driven away, the limo is immediately set upon by the dogs. He flees, and Mancors surround him and take him to their lair, as Morty begs them to not rope him into a rebellion.
At his job interview, Jerry is very chilled out thanks to the worm. We get what ends up being a recurring card indicating at what percent the worm has absorbed into Jerry. We’re at 10%. The boss is impressed enough to share with him one of the accounts they’re trying to get, a vodka company called Nipslip. Jerry’s pitch impresses him enough to invite Jerry to a dinner with Nipslip’s CEO. Arriving home, Jerry parks on the front lawn, gets out of the car, and more vials spill out of the car. Rick immediately surmises that Jerry has overdosed on the worms, and scans him to see that he is teeming with them: he had enough anxiety to be an absolute breeding ground. Jerry is now at 20% worm.
Space Beth, Rick, Jerry and Beth visit Space Beth’s worm dealer. Jerry is now at 40% worm, and they are visibly crawling under his skin. Things almost immediately go awry, and in the ensuing chaos Jerry slips away. Rick says that at a certain point, the worry-hungry worms will use Jerry to feed on everyone else’s worry by way of causing discomfort. They realize that the best source of that will be Jerry’s client dinner, and rush out.
At the Mancor lair, Morty once again begs them to not be a part of their rebellion. Their leader insists on him helping get revenge on the dogs abusing the Mups. The dogs suddenly show up and begin slaughtering the Mancors, including their leader. When Morty sees a feed of Snowball ordering the dogs to find him for insulting them, he’s furious. He still insists that he’s not part of the Mancor rebellion, but he straps himself into the suit of a dog he killed because he wants to teach Snowball a lesson: “He’s been a bad dog.” The Mancors likewise commandeer the suits, and they plan to storm the mansion.
At the client dinner, the worms still worming their way underneath Jerry’s skin, Jerry (now at 60% worm) continues to exude extreme confidence, ordering drinks for his boss and the CEO, openly insulting the CEO (with such confidence that the CEO loves it), and demanding that they go to New York to meet the board and get the paperwork for the account signed.
Aboard the plane, Jerry is now at 80% worm, and his confidence has reached the point that his boss, the CEO, and the CEO’s pregnant wife love him. Jerry, flying the plane, suddenly smashes the controls, sending the plane on a collision course. Jerry approaches the CEO’s wife. “Ellen…I’m going to deliver your baby. We’re gonna crash while you create life.” This whole sequence is hilariously absurd, as the three of the others continue to be enamored by Jerry, and when the baby is delivered, the plane crashes. They’re all miraculously fine. On the ground, the CEO tells Jerry that his life is his and begs Jerry to kill him. Now at 99% worm, Jerry instructs them to go to the nearby water tower.
Morty and the Mancors, having donned the mech suits, storm the Mup facility and liberate them, and head to Snowball’s mansion. The two of them argue while shooting at each other, taking literal and verbal shots at each other, until Morty destroys his former dog’s suit. As the mayhem below continues, Snowball frantically instructs Morty for them to go to his panic room. Inside, they make amends as they cuddle.
Jerry is at 100% worm. He suddenly begins vomiting hundreds of thousands of worms, and his boss and the CEO crawl forward to consume them. Rick, Space Beth and Beth crash land on the tower, and when the CEO says that Jerry’s got the account, Jerry’s anxiety violently drops, quelling the worms pouring from his mouth. But the worms need more worry, and they start crawling towards the trio. They don’t have any worry…or do they? Rick admits that he’s worried about Jerry getting the account, saying that he’s liked having Jerry around. But is it because he enjoys having someone to sh*t on, or because he genuinely likes Jerry? Safely outside, The CEO asks if Rick needs help marketing the orb of worms Rick’s created around the tower, and Rick reluctantly agrees as long as Jerry can head it.
Now that Morty and a sorrowful Snowball (he was wondering if something was wrong with dogs, and he just wanted to be like Morty and the humans with his eugenics, which Morty pushes back on) have reconciled, Rick shows up. They end up rebuilding the utopia, feeding the dogs with worms to help them flourish, and when Morty asks Rick if Jerry got the job, Rick reluctantly responds in the affirmative.
Another great episode in a great season. There’s an interesting cadence here with every other episode being fun and then deep, which means next week will probably be a little more serious. That’s fine, as long as the writing continues to be as strong as it has so far. This is easily one of the best that Rick and Morty has had in a while, and I am absolutely here for it.
