WARNING: The following contains spoilers for Rick and Morty Season 5, Episode 6, "Rick & Morty's Thanksploitation Spectacular," which aired Sunday on Adult Swim.
In Season 5 of Rick and Morty, the duo finds one of their weirdest yet most trying threats at the White House as a turkey-hybrid clone of President Curtis tries to take over America and then mutate the world. It leads to a brutal showdown with Rick, Morty and the real Curtis donning Iron Man-esque suits to take the doppelgänger down. However, in the process, the show also remixes Alien vs. Predator for this new war.
When the mad scientist and his grandson realize they may be overpowered and outnumbered with all the turkey supersoldiers being created, Curtis decides to show them a chamber of secrets America's been hiding for years. It reveals the Founding Fathers are really two alien factions who crash-landed on domestic soil centuries ago.
The warring species called peacetime and went into hibernation in cells below the Capitol, leaving behind tech for America to develop over the years, advancing civilization. It's a clear take on AvP, where Predators came to fight Xenomorphs as part of a trial in Antarctica. It was a rite of passage, and if they were overwhelmed, they'd self-destruct.
The Yautja warriors were also worshipped by the Native Americans, with hieroglyphics and pyramids made in their honor. They helped build structures and left tech behind too. Therefore, they were viewed as gods among humans. This is the same thing Rick and Morty experience as Curtis shows them around and details the history of these unnamed species, who were revered as the first pilgrims and secret settlers.
Luckily, when they're thawed out in the present, they decide to work with the humans rather than kill them and each other. But there are still a couple of Easter eggs in place for the Predator series. One occurs when Curtis fights his turkey clone. After getting impaled via a corn stalk (matching the Thanksgiving vibe of the episode) decides to pluck his wishbone out. He begins to laugh just like the Predator in the first film and blows up as Curtis jumps away into the water for cover. It's a clear play on Arnold Schwarzenegger's Dutch.
The other nod comes after the melee when one of the aliens gives Curtis a musket. He admits he got it from a Predator, throwing back to the second Predator movie where a leader, after respecting Danny Glover's Lieutenant Harrigan as a soldier, gives him an antique pistol as a gift -- a weapon the Predator took from a pirate in Dark Horse's Predator: 1718 comic. It's a neat homage and once more proves Rick and Morty loves melding sci-fi and action flicks into its kooky adventures.
New episodes of Rick and Morty air Sundays at 11 p.m. ET on Adult Swim.
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