Why Does Rick Smile

Rick has something with Michonne he never had with his first wife, Lori. There's a mutual trust, a natural friendship, laughter, and — most importantly — open communication. If you go back and watch the first two seasons of 'The Walking Dead,' you'll see that Rick's marriage with. The Rickey Smiley $1000 Stimulus Contest. The Undressing Room Presented By Macy’s “Age Ain’t Nothing But A Number” Featuring Tank. D’Angelo’s Black Mink Coat Stole The Show At Last Night’s Verzuz. Eddie Murphy Details His Iconic Basketball Match Against Prince.

By Rick Steves

Foreign toilets can be traumatic, even in Europe, but they are one of those little things that can make travel so much more interesting than staying at home — every world traveler has one or two great toilet stories that give 'going local' a very real meaning.

Flummoxing Flushers

n Europe, you may or may not encounter a familiar flushing mechanism. In older bathrooms, toilets may come with a pull string instead of a handle (generally with the tank affixed to the wall rather than the toilet itself). In modern bathrooms, you may see two buttons on top of the tank — one performs a regular flush, the other (for lighter jobs) conserves water. In Great Britain, you'll likely come across the 'pump toilet,' with a flushing handle that doesn't kick in unless you push it just right: too hard or too soft, and it won't go. (Be decisive but not ruthless.)

Why Does Rick See Loris Ghost

Toilet Paper

Like a spoon or a fork, this is another Western 'essential' that many people on our planet do not use. What they use varies. I won't get too graphic, but remember that a billion civilized people on this planet never eat with their left hand. While Europeans do use toilet paper, WCs may not always be well stocked. If you're averse to the occasional drip-dry, carry pocket-size tissue packs (easy to buy in Europe) for WCs sans TP. Some countries, such as Greece and Turkey, have very frail plumbing. If you see an wastebasket near the toilet with used toilet paper in it, that's a sign that the sewer system isn't up to snuff. Put your used TP in the wastebasket instead of flushing it. (The rule of thumb in those places: Don't put anything in the toilet unless you've eaten it first.)

Paid Toilets

Paying to use a public WC is a European custom that irks some Americans. But isn't it really worth a few coins, considering the cost of water, maintenance, and cleanliness? And you're probably in no state to argue, anyway. Coin-operated toilets are the norm at highway rest areas, train stations, and even at some sights. (Many coin-op WCs have self-cleaning toilet seats; stick around after you're done to watch the show.)

Why Does Rick Smiley

Sometimes the toilet itself is free, but an attendant in the corner sells sheets of toilet paper. Most common is the tip dish by the entry — the local equivalent of about 50 cents is plenty. Caution: Many attendants leave only bills and too-big coins in the tray to bewilder the full-bladdered tourist. The keepers of Europe's public toilets have earned a reputation for crabbiness. You'd be crabby, too, if you lived under the street in a room full of public toilets. Humor them, understand them, and carry some change so you can leave them a coin or two.

Women in the Men's Room

The female attendants who seem to inhabit Europe's WCs are a popular topic of conversation among Yankee males. Sooner or later you'll be minding your own business at the urinal, and the lady will bring you your change or sweep under your feet. Yes, it is distracting, but you'll just have to get used to it — she has.

Gender-Neutral Bathrooms

Some European bathrooms have shared hand-washing facilities for women and men, with adjacent but separate toilet areas. And some restrooms make no distinctions for gender at all.

Squat Toilets

The vast majority of European toilets are similar to our own. But in a few out-of-the-way places, you might find one that consists simply of porcelain footprints and a squat-and-aim hole. If faced with a squat toilet, remember: Those of us who need a throne to sit on are in the minority. Throughout the world, most humans sit on their haunches and nothing more. Sometimes called 'Turkish toilets,' these are more commonly found in, well, Turkey.

Getting comfortable in foreign restrooms takes a little adjusting, but that's travel. When in Rome, do as the Romans do — and before you know it, you'll be Euro-peein'.

Finding a Public Restroom

I once dropped a tour group off in a town for a potty stop, and when I picked them up 20 minutes later, none had found relief. Locating a decent public toilet can be frustrating. But with a few tips, you can sniff out a biffy in a jiffy.

Coin-op Toilets on the Street

Some large cities, such as Paris, London, and Amsterdam, are dotted with coin-operated, telephone-booth-type WCs on street corners. Insert a coin, the door opens, and you have 15 minutes of toilet use accompanied by Sinatra Muzak. When you leave, the entire chamber disinfects itself.

Some cities have free, low-tech public urinals (called pissoirs) that offer just enough privacy for men to find relief…sometimes with a view. Munich had outdoor urinals until the 1972 Olympics and then decided to beautify the city by doing away with them. What about the people's needs? There's a law in Munich: Any place serving beer must admit the public (whether they're customers or not) to use the toilets.

Restaurants

Any place that serves food or drinks has a restroom. No restaurateur would label his WC so those on the street can see, but you can walk into nearly any restaurant or café, politely and confidently, and find a bathroom. Assume it's somewhere in the back, either upstairs or downstairs. It's easiest in large places that have outdoor seating — waiters will think you're a customer just making a quick trip inside. Some call it rude; I call it survival. If you feel like it, ask permission. Just smile, 'Toilet?' I'm rarely turned down. American-type fast-food places are very common and usually have a decent and fairly accessible 'public' restroom. Timid people buy a drink they don't want in order to use the bathroom, but that's generally unnecessary (although sometimes the secret bathroom door code is printed only on your receipt).

Even at American chains, be prepared for bathroom culture shock. At a big Starbucks in Bern, Switzerland, I opened the door to find an extremely blue space. It took me a minute to realize that the blue lights made it impossible for junkies to find their veins.

Public Buildings

When nature beckons and there's no restaurant or bar handy, look in train stations, government buildings, libraries, large bookstores, and upper floors of department stores. Parks often have restrooms, sometimes of the gag-a-maggot variety. Never leave a museum without taking advantage of its restrooms — they're free, clean, and decorated with artistic graffiti. Sometimes you can access a museum's restrooms from the entry hall, without paying to go inside. Large, classy, old hotel lobbies are as impressive as many palaces you'll pay to see. You can always find a royal retreat here, and plenty of soft TP.

Richard 'Rick' Sanchez^[1] is one of the two eponymous protagonists from the Adult Swimanimated television seriesRick and Morty. Created by Justin Roiland and Dan Harmon, Sanchez is a misanthropicalcoholic scientist inspired by Emmett 'Doc' Brown from Back to the Future and Mister Fantastic from Marvel Comics. Known for his reckless, nihilistic behavior and pessimistic personality, the character has been well received. He is a sociopathicmad scientist who seems to know everything in the universe and thus finds life a traumatizing and pointless experience. However, despite assuming himself to be the smartest person in the universe, there have been times when he has been wrong.

He is formally referred to as Rick Sanchez C-137 by the Trans-Dimensional Council of Ricks, in reference to his original universe, 'C-137'. Both Rick and Morty are voiced by Roiland. Volume 1 of the Rick and Morty comic series follows the Rick and Morty of Dimension C-132 while most episodes of subsequent installments follow the Rick and Morty of 'C-137'; the video game Pocket Mortys follows the Rick and Morty of C-123.^[2]

Fictional character biography[edit]

Rick Sanchez from Earth Dimension C-137 is the father of Beth Smith, and the grandfather of Morty Smith and Summer Smith. He is said to have been away from the family for several years prior to the events of the show. He frequently travels on adventures through space, visiting other planets and dimensions with his grandson Morty. In the third season of the show, it is revealed that he is 70 years old.^[3]

In 'The Ricks Must Be Crazy', Rick reveals that he powers his flying car with a battery that contains a miniature universe, or microverse, whose inhabitants unknowingly provide the required electricity. The inhabitants cease doing this after one of their scientists does the same thing for his own universe, and discovers that this is what Rick has done to his universe. Rick remorselessly destroys the miniature universe inside his own miniature universe, killing everyone inside. Nearing the end of the episode, Rick knows that his own microverse would power his battery, or he dispose of it and create a new one.^[4]

Rick's intelligence is portrayed to transcend that of metaphysical beings, as demonstrated in the episode 'Something Ricked This Way Comes', where he outsmarts Satan.

Rick reveals his disdain for love in the episode 'Rick Potion #9', in which he claims that it is 'a chemical reaction that compels animals to breed'.^[5] When Rick and Morty irreversibly mutate all humans on Earth except for their family members, they abandon their original dimension, Earth Dimension C-137, (and their family in that dimension) for a new one. Rick locates a universe in which the alternate version of himself has undone the damage inflicted by the love potion, but where the new dimension's Rick and Morty have been killed, allowing the C-137 Rick and Morty to take their place. Despite Morty's trauma concerning this knowledge, Rick is nonchalant about moving to the new dimension.

In the episode 'Close Rick-counters of the Rick Kind', after numerous Ricks in alternate dimensions are murdered, the Trans-Dimensional Council of Ricks accuses Rick C-137 and orders for him to be arrested. Rick C-137 finds himself captured by an 'evil' Rick, but is saved by a legion of alternate-dimension Mortys led by Morty C-137.

In the second season premiere, 'A Rickle in Time', Rick nearly sacrifices himself to save Morty, but saves his own life when he realizes that doing so is possible. In the episode 'Get Schwifty', it is revealed that Rick was once in a rock band called the Flesh Curtains, alongside Birdperson and Squanchy. In the episode 'Big Trouble in Little Sanchez', Rick transfers his consciousness into a younger clone of himself, whom he calls 'Tiny Rick'. He soon becomes anguished in his new body, and manages to return to his older true form, and murders a line of other clones he produced. In the second season's finale, 'The Wedding Squanchers', Rick and his family attend Birdperson's wedding, where Birdperson is betrayed and killed by his bride Tammy, a double agent for the Galactic Federation. The family is forced to inhabit an unusually small yet Earth-like planet, as they cannot return to Earth due to Rick's status as a wanted criminal. Rick turns himself into the Federation to allow his family to return home, and is incarcerated on a prison planet under the charges of having committed 'everything'. But in the season three premiere 'The Rickshank Redemption', by taking out the Council of Ricks while saving Morty and Summer, it is revealed that Rick actually turned himself in to access the Federation's supercomputer and wipe it out financially. Rick also indirectly convinces Beth to divorce Jerry for trying to convince the family to sell him out.

The premiere episode of the series' third season, 'The Rickshank Rickdemption' shows a possible origin for Rick, in which he was a well-meaning scientist who loved his wife Diane and daughter Beth, but had an encounter with a member of the Council of Ricks during his initial testing of a prototype inter-dimensional portal gun, who offered him the secret to creating the device, and joining the Council. Shortly after his refusal, and his pledge to quit science forever, a bomb was sent through a portal, killing Diane and Beth. Rick claims that this was a fake memory he created in order to trick his interrogator into implanting a virus into the mind-reading device he was attached to, allowing him to hijack his body and escape from the Federation prison. At the end of the episode, Rick again insists, in a rant to Morty, that the death of his wife and daughter was a fake memory.

Rick's catchphrase is 'Wubba Lubba Dub-Dub', first introduced in the episode 'Meeseeks and Destroy'. In Birdperson's native language, the catchphrase translates to 'I am in great pain. Please help me'.^[6][7]

Personality[edit]

Rick has been argued to be a toxic masculine archetype, 'Tortured Genius Who Is Lonely and Doesn’t Care Because Feelings Are Overrated.'^[8]

In the pilot, Rick is revealed to be an atheist, as he tells Summer that 'there is no God.'^[9] Harmon has said that 'anarchist' is a close ideological descriptor of Rick.^[10]

Rick has been stated to be pansexual by Justin Roiland, one of the show's creators and executive producers.^[11] This was shown in 'Auto Erotic Assimilation', when Rick connects with Unity, an ex-lover who is a collective hive mind of assimilated individuals from the planet they occupy.^[12]

Development[edit]

The character was created by Justin Roiland and Dan Harmon, who first met at Channel 101 in the early 2000s. In 2006, Roiland created The Real Animated Adventures of Doc and Mharti, an animated short parodying the Back to the Future characters Doc Brown and Marty McFly, and the precursor to Rick and Morty.^[13] The idea for Rick and Morty, in the form of Doc and Mharti was brought up to Adult Swim, and the ideas for a family element and Rick being a grandfather to Morty were developed. Roiland considers his voice for Rick to be a 'horrible Doc Brown manic impression'.^[14]

Reception[edit]

The character has received positive reception. Speaking of Rick's relatability and likability, Dan Harmon stated that 'we’ve all been Rick. But Rick really does have bigger fish to fry than anybody. He understands everything better than us. So you give him the right to be jaded and dismissive and narcissistic and sociopathic'.^[15] Emily Gaudette of Inverse wrote that fans have 'come to love [Rick] over two seasons of misadventures'.^[16]

David Sims of The Atlantic noted Rick's 'bitter amorality' and called the character 'a genius who comfortably thinks of himself as the universe's cleverest man and is grounded only by his empathy toward other people, which he tries to suppress as much as possible', therefore writing that Rick's selflessness at the end of the episode 'The Wedding Squanchers' is 'the most surprising twist possible'.^[17] Zack Handlen of The A.V. Club wrote that '[Rick] slowly realizing that he loved his grandkids and his daughter (and tolerated his son-in-law) no matter how many times he swore at them helped to give the character some necessary depth', and that 'behind all the catchphrases and the crazed energy ... There's something dead and sad and fucked up in the guy'.^[18]

In popular culture[edit]

In the first episode of the third season, 'The Rickshank Redemption', Rick shows a significant interest in Szechuan sauce and insists that his motivation in life is 'finding that McNugget sauce' caused a public interest in having the sauce be reinstated on the McDonald's menu, with some fans attempting to recreate the sauce themselves.^[19][20][21] According to USA Today, McDonald's spokesperson Terri Hickey stated that 'We never say never, because when our customers speak, we listen. And to paraphrase some of our most enthusiastic fans, our sauce is so good that it would be worth waiting 9 seasons or 97 years for.'^[19][21]

In March 2019, Godzilla: King of the Monsters director Michael Dougherty confirmed the character of Monarch crypto-sonographer Dr. Rick Stanton, played by Bradley Whitford, to have been based on Rick Sanchez from Rick and Morty, with Dougherty having the character 'drink a lot' to keep the character in line with the spirit of Sanchez.^[22]

References[edit]

1. ^''Rick and Morty' posts a scene from upcoming season 5 online'. EW.com. Retrieved 25 July 2020.
2. ^Whalen, Andrew. ''Pocket Mortys' Is Out Now, But It's Not Rick and Morty From The Show'. Player One. Retrieved 6 August 2017.
3. ^Edim, Odiso (29 August 2017). 'Rick And Morty Season 3 Episode 6 Review: Toxin Toxic Toxicity'. FoxGist. Archived from the original on 10 July 2018. Retrieved 30 August 2017.
4. ^'02x06 - The Ricks Must Be Crazy - Rick and Morty Transcripts - Forever Dreaming'.
5. ^Dominick LaGrotta (25 January 2016). 'Top 10 Rick And Morty Quotes'. The Odyssey Online. Retrieved 19 June 2017.
6. ^Alec Opperman (19 December 2015). 'The Philosophy of Rick and Morty'. Wisecrack. Retrieved 7 January 2017.
7. ^'Rick and Morty Recap - 'Ricksy Business''. Observation Deck: Gawker Media. 15 April 2014. Retrieved 7 January 2017.
8. ^Soria, Destiny. Macmillan ['https://www.tor.com/2019/08/20/rick-and-morty-and-nihilism-why-we-embrace-a-show-that-cares-about-nothing/' 'https://www.tor.com/2019/08/20/rick-and-morty-and-nihilism-why-we-embrace-a-show-that-cares-about-nothing/'] Check url= value (help). Retrieved 8 December 2020.Missing or empty title= (help)
9. ^Handlen, Zack (10 February 2014). 'Rick And Morty: 'Pilot''. The A.V. Club. Retrieved 19 August 2017.
10. ^Harmon, Dan [@danharmon] (5 August 2016). 'I'd say 'anarchist' is as close as you're gonna get to an accurate label but it's not like he 'wants' anarchy for everyone' (Tweet). Retrieved 4 November 2017 – via Twitter.
11. ^Thielman, Sam (10 July 2015). 'Rick and Morty at Comic Con: Adult Swim cult favorite is back and in-joking' – via The Guardian.
12. ^Written by Ryan Ridley (9 August 2015). 'Auto Erotic Assimilation'. Rick and Morty. Season 2. Adult Swim.
13. ^Czajkowski, Elise (12 November 2013). 'Dan Harmon's Rick and Morty Premieres on Adult Swim on Dec. 2'. Splitsider. The Awl. Retrieved 7 January 2017.
14. ^Topel, Fred (2 December 2013). 'Exclusive Interview: Dan Harmon & Justin Roiland on 'Rick and Morty''. CraveOnline. Retrieved 18 October 2014.
15. ^Erik Adams (23 July 2015). 'There's one secret the Rick And Morty guys will never reveal'. The A.V. Club. Retrieved 7 January 2017.
16. ^Emily Gaudette (30 November 2016). 'Ranking the 8 Best Versions of Rick Sanchez by Squanchiness'. Inverse. Retrieved 7 January 2017.
17. ^David Sims (5 October 2015). 'Rick and Morty's Biggest Twist: It Has a Heart'. The Atlantic. Retrieved 7 January 2017.
18. ^Zack Handlen (5 October 2015). 'One wedding and a lot of funerals on Rick And Morty's season finale'. The A.V. Club. Retrieved 7 January 2017.
19. ^ ^abCarly Mallenbaum (4 April 2017). 'McDonald's listens to 'Rick and Morty' fans who want the Szechuan sauce back'. USA Today. Retrieved 9 April 2017.
20. ^Sam Prell (6 April 2017). 'Why is everyone talking about Szechuan sauce? Rick & Morty is why, and McDonald's might bring it back'. GamesRadar. Retrieved 9 April 2017.
21. ^ ^abDavid Gianatasio (6 April 2017). 'McDonald's Considers Bringing Back McNuggets Szechuan Sauce Just for Rick and Morty Fans'. Adweek. Retrieved 9 April 2017.
22. ^Walkuski, Eric (21 March 2019). 'Set Visit: Everything we learned from the Godzilla: King of the Monsters set'. Joblo. Archived from the original on 23 March 2019. Retrieved 22 March 2019.