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Rick and Morty
Season 3, Episode 3
"Pickle Rick"

Rick and Morty (S3, E3) Plot Summary

Rick turns himself into a pickle to get out of attending a family therapy session. Beth takes away the serum that Rick had prepared to turn himself back into a human.

Left alone, the cat hits Rick into an open sewer drain. Rick manages to manipulat[...]

Getting Started

2 ~ 4 minutes

Welcome your students to the lesson and ask them what they thought of today's episode.

  1. What did you think of this episode of Rick and Morty?
  2. Can you give Rick and Morty season 3, ep. 3 a star-rating between 1 and 5 stars?
  3. What factors did you consider when giving your rating?
  4. Are there any particular scenes, characters, or details you're looking forward to discussing?

Sections

Warm-Up

5 ~ 20 minutes

Warm up by asking your students to consider some open-ended general questions:

Q 1
Have you ever lied to get out of a family obligation? What kinds of family obligations do you hate?
Q 2
If you had the ability to turn yourself into a real vegetable for an hour, would you try it?
Q 3
Did you ever get in trouble at school? What for?
Q 4
Do you have any friends or colleagues whom you want to send to counseling with Dr. Wong?

Key Expressions

Approx 15 ~ 25 minutes

Review these 12 key expressions from the transcript:

How to use this section

Level 1:For each expression, review the meaning and example with your student, then ask your student to listen/repeat the example sentence after you.

Level 2:You can ask your student to create their own example sentences, using the same expression.

Image Prompt

5 minutes

Tell your students that you will show them an image and ask them a question. They will have a limited amount of time to respond.

Countdown
Why is the cat afraid of Rick? What is its reaction?

Check Understanding

10 ~ 15 minutes

Let's make sure your students watched the episode and understood what was going on.

How to use this section

As the teacher, you can press the "SEE ANSWER" button to check our suggested answers. Students do not see this button.

  1. Why did Rick turn himself into a pickle? What was his original plan for returning to normal?
  2. Why was the family told to get counseling?
  3. How did Pickle Rick get from the sewer to the counseling session?
  4. When is Rick is shot by Jaguar, how does he heal himself?

Discussion

20 ~ 35 minutes

Lead students in an open-ended discussion of the scenes, themes, plot and characters in the episode

Q 1
When Pickle Rick is thrown onto the hot driveway by the cat, he says, "this is the mega-genius equivalent of dying on the toilet". What does this mean?
Q 2
Beth says about Rick: "he doesn't need anything from anyone". Do you think she is trying to be that kind of person too? Would it make her happy? Would you like to be someone who "doesn't need anything from anyone"?
Q 3
Was the therapist in this episode right and effective at her job? Could a therapist like that help you in your life?
Q 4
Rick doesn't respect therapy. He calls the therapist "an agent of averageness" in a "rented office", who tells people "which words mean which feelings". How could somebody like Rick benefit from therapy?
Q 5
A lot of the conversation between Dr. Wong (the therapist) and Rick is really a conversation the creator of Rick and Morty, Dan Harmon, is having with himself, about his own problems in the real world. Do you think making Rick and Morty helps the creator understand himself? What activities help you understand yourself?

Shadowing Practice

5 ~ 10 minutes

Shadowing is a repetition technique for more natural pronunciation.

How to use this section

Ask your students to memorize this passage from the transcript and repeat it back to you, being careful to match the pronunciation, inflection, and emotion they heard in the show.

This can be assigned as homework or practiced together during class time.

Start playback at time: 15:07

Where there are yellow-highlighted gaps in the passage, press on the gap to see the correct text.
1
Pickle Man, you should know this isn't personal!
2
You should know that isn't original.
3
They have my daughter.
4
There's nothing I won't do to see her again.
5
Yeah, there's lots I wouldn't do to see my daughter,
6
but killing you gets me to her quicker than your derivative bullshit.
7
I never bullshit, Pickle Man.
8
This can only end with one of us dead, and I have never died.
9
That will be your downfall, Jaguar, not being open to new experiences.

Role Play

10 ~ 20 minutes

Students take the roles of characters and act out the scenes by creating their own version of events

Option
1
One student is Summer and the other is Summer's principal (his name in the show is "Principal Vagina"). The principal has caught Summer huffing pottery enamel (the shiny glue that covers pottery). He wants Summer to go to counseling but Summer argues that she doesn't need counseling.
Option
2
One student is Dr. Wong (the therapist) and the other is Beth. Dr. Wong wants Beth to understand that she allows Rick to do whatever he wants and lie to her, because she is afraid he'll leave again. Beth doesn't want to believe it and says that she came to therapy for completely different reasons.

Articles (a/an/the) Practice

5 ~ 30 minutes

Ask your student to click on any incorrect articles, or to click in the space before a word that needs an article.

Some articles may be correct already, but clicking on them will show an alternate option.

Rick
turns
himself
into
a
pickle
to
get
out
of
attending
a
family
therapy
session.
Beth
takes
away
the
serum
that
Rick
had
prepared
to
turn
himself
back
into
a
human.
Restart articles practice?
You have found 0 out of 4 issues

Guessing Game

5 ~ 10 minutes

Ask your student to type letters and try to guess the expression

Some expresssions might have punctuation, like question marks (?), exclamation marks (!), hyphens (-), or single quotation marks (').

“A good transition from one topic to another”
?
????
?????
Guess 10 more letters

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