Rick and Morty season 8 episode 3, titled after The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly, parodies Unforgiven, blending Clint Eastwood’s Westerns brilliantly.

Rick and Morty, the animated science fiction sitcom, is exceeding expectations once again as it continues its run, with its eighth season currently airing a new episode every week. But while the alcoholic sociopath-scientist and his grandson persist with their absurd intergalactic adventures, the recently aired episode seems to have deceived us.

While the respective episode in the talk didn’t hesitate to give Clint Eastwood a tribute with its title, it seems to have done more than just that. This is because, while the episode’s title was named after a classic Western from the filmmaker, it appears to have parodied one of his other flicks; notably, the one that inspired Yellowstone: 1992’s Unforgiven.

Rick and Morty‘s latest episode took its title and cues from two different Clint Eastwood flicks

Homestander Rick in The Rick, the Mort, and the Ugly. | Credits: Adult Swim

Season 8 of Rick and Morty recently returned to the screens with its latest episode, episode 3, which has been titled, The Rick, the Mort, and the Ugly. And yes, you guessed it right, because that familiar-sounding title actually seems to have been named after the classic Western starring Clint Eastwood, The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly.

For those unversed, the movie from 1966 served as the final chapter in Sergio Leone‘s fan-favorite Dollars trilogy, and had Eastwood’s “Man with No Name’ racing across the war-ravaged American frontier to claim a stash of Confederate gold before his two rivals could beat him to it. But the episode barely appeared to parody that plot.

The episode was set after the Citadel’s destruction and followed the surviving Ricks and Mortys, now homeless after the trans-dimensional city-state’s collapse, with the clones left stranded in a lawless wasteland within the Citadel’s ruins. That said, it seems to have instead taken its cues from Eastwood’s other classic Western from 1992, Unforgiven.

Did Rick and Morty really deceive fans with its title?

A still from the episode The Rick, the Mort, and the Ugly. | Credits: Adult Swim

Well, it sure seems like it. Although the title of the episode indicates that it’s a tribute to Leone’s iconic western, the actual flick that ostensibly inspired it appears to be Unforgiven. Not only that, but the episode even paid a delightful homage to William Munny, one of Eastwood’s best characters, with a version of Rick in the TV series.

The 1992 movie also dealt with quite a few similar dark themes as Morty and Rick did in episode 3, like class, redemption, and the cycle of violence. In the episode, there’s Homesteader Rick, the version of Rick who is trying to lead a quaint, tranquil life after the destruction of the Citadel.

But just like Munny, he got out of retirement to answer the call.

When a gang of bad versions of Ricks showed up, the badass and capable Homesteader Rick decided to answer the call with his gunslinging skills despite wanting to put his violent past behind him — just like Eastwood’s William Munny did in the movie as a notorious ex-gunfighter who reluctantly took up arms again when called to avenge.

Of course, this episode could have gone wrong in many ways because focusing on different Ricks and Mortys is always a gamble. Ultimately, the episode succeeds as a compelling standalone narrative, blending homage and originality by drawing from two of Eastwood’s most iconic films.