Rick and Morty season 3 episode 6 review: The deadly detox

According to WikiHow, the best way to rid your body of toxins — apparently defined as anything that damages the body — is the Lemonade Cleanse where you exclusively consume a cocktail of water, lemon juice, maple syrup and cayenne pepper for “three to ten days” straight. There’s also a disclaimer, warning medical experts say such diets are seriously unhealthy as they don’t offer any nutrients (and simply don’t work).

Let’s, however, presume the Lemon Cleanse was to work, and our bodies flushed out everything — everything — that damages it. What would be left? We’re not talking flushing out that extra packet of Szechuan sauce, but everything damaging: self-destructive habits, insecurities, those traits that make us human.

Rick and Morty personifies this concept and runs into outer space with it, leading to possible this season’s best episode yet.

We begin at school, Morty hearing that Jessica (I’d almost forgotten about her, let alone that Morty actually goes to school) is now single. Rick blasts in, teasing a classic 20-minute Rick and Morty adventure. It’s a trick; 30 seconds of action later and everything's over, the pair crying in their spaceship. Sh*t’s gotten bad. Really bad. They don’t need an adventure, they need a vacation.

Perhaps surprisingly, they actually take a holiday, visiting a day the spa. Soon enough, the duo are invited to go through a toxin cleanse (no lemons needed). The machine turns on and BOOM, we’re on a terrifying planet. Another classic Rick and Morty adventure? Nope. There’s something off. We discover these are Rick and Morty’s worst traits — their toxins personified — left behind in a canister.

Funnily enough, almost everything that makes Rick the character we all love remains behind: his nihilism, genius, and self-belief. The opposite proves true for Morty, who left behind everything that makes him a Jerry. As a result, the newly created ‘Good’ Rick and Morty sees a huge dynamic swing, Morty taking control as Rick becomes passive.

The writing, as always, comes quick, delivered to a T. Morty shoots through a date with Jessica, moving to Stacey ASAP. Confident Morty, as Jessica notices, is annoying as hell. Sure, everyone at school likes someone who instils confidence in them. But one-to-one, when they’re just talking about themselves, there's nothing’s worse.

Like people who go on the Lemon Cleanse, Rick realises that without those traits/nutrients they’ve actually become unhealthy. And so begins toxic Rick’s attempt to free himself using Good Rick and turn the whole world toxic, destroying the world similar to how Rick once turned an entire version of Earth into Cronenbergs.

When things are thwarted, classic Rick finally comes back to us. Fittingly, that Rick thinks loving Morty is a toxic personality trait, whereas Morty refuses to go back to being insecure. It’s a Rick move, which the man himself agrees with.

What does someone with more confidence and less emotion than a normal person become? A stockbroker, of course. One Wolf of Wall Street moment late and thank Heavens, Rick’s there to turn everything back to normal. Morty had completed the cycle of becoming a complete psychopath and someone needed to stop him.

Turns out, without those toxins, people just aren’t really themselves. So next time someone you care about says they’re doing a Goop sponsored Lemon Cleanse, say ‘hell no’. Really, 'Rest and Ricklaxation' continues to prove just how excellently written Rick and Morty continues to be, the jokes (juggled with the characters' various existential problems) coming thick and fast.