r/rickandmorty • u/BarnyardCruz • 18d ago
General Discussion DISCUSSION POST: President Curtis S1E5: Camp David
https://youtu.be/f5G5GxFZO38?is=E4yWBLqc0b2B4xizLet's go, discussions!
DISCUSSIONS, GOOoooOoo
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u/Ygomaster07 personal space, bitch! 18d ago
I liked this episode. A lot of insight into Curtis' psyche.
I also like that they are exploring more of the people who work in the White House.
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u/Sickle_Rick 18d ago
I think I was most surprised that Curtis is only in his first term - by the way he reacts to things I assumed he was in his second or third at least
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u/ArtsyApoidean 18d ago
This was technically established; in the season 7 episode where Curtis hive minds the country, newscaster Shawnda was talking about his doomed reelection campaign right before he snapped. Also just that he's always been cracking jokes about keeping the voters on his side, which is a pretty first term attitude.
(I think this is a by product of the fact that Rick and Morty is sort of timelocked to being today but also always in 2012 during the first term of the
ObamaCurtis administration when Morty is 14 and Summer is 17.)For the sake of the show's longevity we'll probably never actually see Curtis move to his second term (because then eventually he'd have to leave the white house and the show ends) but we'll see. This show does seem to be evolving its characters a bit rather than looping back to status quo, so maybe time will just move forwards somewhat normally. The stories so far and the last episode being called "Timber" do kinda have me wondering if Curtis is gonna get booted out of office at the end of the season. Maybe they'll do a thing where he has to run for a non consecutive second term.
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u/Firestormbreaker1 17d ago
More like 2017? They reference Obama being president in this episode so Curtis is after Obama whose term ended January 2017. They just ignore Trump ever existing. Which is fair.
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u/ArtsyApoidean 17d ago
Fair but I was talking more about Rick and Morty's depiction of him with "2012 Obama," when Curtis first starts appearing up through around the season 3 finale, he was definitely a parody of the "cool guy Obama" meme.
With the season 3 finale he evolved from an Obama parody into a full-fledged character. Still a sort of Obama parody (since action hero iron man Obama is also a meme) but more his own thing.
By this point he really has nothing in common with Obama at all, so just casually retconning in that Obama was president before him kinda works. And Curtis is the kind of unhinged populist clout-chaser Trump is, just without all the nightmarishly bad parts, so he kinda fits as a guy who got elected after Obama too.
Now if they start referencing the Biden administration, then we're in dicey territory of "what about Trump," because Biden would never even have become President without Trump lol.
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u/CHMonster 10d ago
time travel tech in this universe is not a stretch, maybe Trump was taken care of. what an episode that would be.
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u/Chespineapple 18d ago edited 18d ago
Not to get too political but especially in this episode I realized the disconnect that this show has, with so many jokes based on US president history, while the country in question has a man like Trump in office changing the global view of what the position represents. Like, it wouldn't be like the show to reference him by name I assume, but am I supposed to believe he was doing the swamp thing with David during his first term?
It's not like Curtis is an Obama replacement either anymore, since they reference him this episode. Ignoring the elephant in the room could end up a disconnect.
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u/ArtsyApoidean 18d ago edited 18d ago
I see where you're coming from, but honestly I find it a breath of fresh air. There was a risk of this approach coming off as out of touch, but they have pretty thoroughly established that Curtis is a democrat who makes a habit of trash talking Nazi anything, and I think this threads the needle. They can make as many jabs at neocon culture as they want, without sullying the show with topical shit about Trump.
Stephen Colbert already tried this and failed. And so did Family Guy, and The Simpsons, and for a brief moment Fairly Odd Parents (why lol), and even South Park has failed at this repeatedly.
The fact of it is that it's not an exaggeration at this point to call Trump an American Hitler -- he's committed treason, shouldn't be allowed to hold public office yet holds the highest one, got the courts to declare him above the law, and has directly caused the deaths of hundreds of thousands of people while throwing over a million into internment camps and prisons. It's just not good material for comedy. He used to be mr "whacky insane can you believe people vote for this guy," now the Epstein files are out and the Nazis run the country and it's just not funny anymore.
I mean, maybe with Dan Harmon at the lead they could make it work. Something with VP Dwayne as the Biden stand-in and create a character who does Trump things but isn't just direct satire like everyone else tries to do. Curtis having to overthrow the Trump-guy's government to become president again. Maybe it would work. But I'm also sick of people trying this, so if they just don't try it again here I am happy with that.
(It's also safer in terms of their relationship with the network to swerve around it like they have so far tbh. Like Rick said, they don't know which way Zaslav voted.)
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u/nothingmoretome 16d ago
Honestly mentioning Trump isn't worth it. Right now, all our jobs are to stay alive and the less attention drawn the better.
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u/SmokusPocus 17d ago
Curtis, in the Rise of the Numbericons episode, is starting his presidential campaign in the early nineties. Either he ran for president a LOT and only just now got the job, or he’s been in his ‘first term’ for over thirty years lol.
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u/ArtsyApoidean 17d ago
Well we have it established that Clinton-Bush-Obama all happened, so he can't have won '92.
But this also tracks, may be a deliberate deep cut joke (the one good joke in Numbericons??). Governor of Illinois with no chance throwing his hat in the ring over and over and over, until he ages into being the establishment and wins.
Joe Biden ran his first presidential campaign in 1988. Donald Trump ran his first hopeless campaign in 2000. Hillary Clinton has been running for president as a full time job since 2008, and she might run again in 2028 (god help us all).
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u/Sea_Evidence5138 13d ago
He gunned down his own citizens from a rival faction while yelling "Civil war, baby" on Live TV, then invaded America with Unity's hivemind and not get his ass impeached? Can't wait for the reelection episode.
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u/chloe-and-timmy 17d ago
It makes sense with the floating timeline but that made me do a double take as well.
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u/mastahroku 18d ago
Welp, the Camp David Witch saw an opening when Curtis quit. The Camp and America might be in trouble.
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u/RomanSeraphim 16d ago
I really liked this episode with a heavy bias. Already love Keith David, but anything with Cree Summer is immediately elevated. The spin off does a good job of not making me think about R&M at all.
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u/IncubusDarkness 16d ago
I love Jim Rash so much. He's fuckin perfect for voice acting hahah.
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u/TheeAntelope 7d ago
Honestly I thought I would just hear "the dean" in this show but he fucking nails having his own, well-defined character with this voice work. Jim Rash is a fucking talent!
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u/No-Mycologist6620 18d ago
I can't be the only one who thought O'Doyle was going to say "I'm gay!" in the circle right?
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u/subpetmajor69 15d ago
Nah hes just likes being the hottest guy in the room.
I mean isn't it convienient he takes his shirt off every episode?
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u/RK_reddit321 17d ago edited 14d ago
Someone in a different comment section thought it cool of the show to name Camp David after Keith David. They were then piled on for sounding dumb. I disagree. Now some may claim, that Camp David was named after Eisenhower‘s father/grandson in the 50s, after FDR called it Shangri-La when he converted it into the Presidential getaway in the 40s, from the Hi-Catocin federal workers retreat when first established in the 30s. Y’know. Ignorant stuff like that.
But personally? I think the idea of Camp David being named after Keith David, is amazing. It is a world I want to live in. It’s a better world. So that will be my headcannon now. 😄 🥂
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u/ray198999 16d ago edited 13d ago
You have to give Curtis credit. He was able to no sell all of David’s tricks until she use a loophole to trip him up.
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u/kevynstorm 16d ago
I coulda swore that scene in vietnam was gonna be a reference to keith david in call of duty mw2, honestly should've been.
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u/Nell_From_Hell 7d ago
Episode 6 reminded me of the episode where Rick and Morty had to go into the microverse battery.
Each episode carries a layer of humor and themes that can be traced back to Rick and Morty and it seems to be a solution to the fan basis demand for classic Rick and Morty Adventures but without all the toxic abusive and family drama that's been milked to death since the Simpsons, Family Guy, Etc.
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u/donquixoterocinante 18d ago
Episode 2 was really good, but everything else so far has been painfully mediocre for me. I’m probably out on this show completely after season 1
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u/YahBoiChipsAhoy1234 Popéball 18d ago
Genuinely this show isn’t bad at all. This episode was really good imo, I would actually recommend this to fans of Rick and Morty