Mr. Poopybutthole FINALLY Returns on Rick and Morty

Nothing matters, everything is irrelevant, joy is just a chemical construct in the brain, and there's a new episode of Rick and Morty. While this would normally be a reason to celebrate, this week sees the return of a beloved character who hasn't played a major role, despite a few cameos, since his beloved debut in the second season of the series. And of course, because it is Rick and Morty, the return was a major part of the plot and it completely subverted expectations. So let us be among the first to say it: Welcome back, Mr. Poopybutthole.

In the latest attempt to out-inane the most inane film genre of heist movies, Rick Sanchez had to assemble a crew. And of course, he needed Mr. Poopybutthole to make it happen.

We first met this character randomly as part of a very strange alien invasion in which a diabolical force imprinted themselves in the memories of Rick and Morty's family, manifesting as random characters who embarked on insane hijinx as the series commentated on forced character introductions in sitcoms and dramas.

But after a lot of confusion, Mr. Poopybutthole was shot by Rick's daughter Beth and was forced into physical rehab. He later settled down, started a family, began teaching, and was rarely seen except for in post-credits clips on episodes to tease the future of the series, most notably the second season finale.

In this episode, called "One Crew Over the Crewcoo's Morty," Mr. Poopybutthole makes his triumphant return as he aids the titular heroes in their quest to unheist a heist robot that became too good at heisting and endangered the universe with an epic heist that must be out-heisted. Trust us, it will all make sense when you finally watch the episode. As you probably know by now, Rick and Morty requires a high IQ yada yada yada.

While Rick and Morty tends to come across as if its setting up a plot thread that will come back in later episodes, the show is less serial than many Reddit fan theories would have you believe and instead chooses to focus on skewering storytelling tropes and making nihilist commentaries about modern culture.

Bringing back Mr. Poopybutthole for this storyline allowed the creators to both feed that portion of the fanbase while also telling them that nothing matters. It will be interesting to see if future episodes ever deal with characters like Birdperson or Evil Morty, but if they do, don't get your hopes up.

New episodes of Rick and Morty air on Sundays (except for next week, they're taking a week off) on Adult Swim at 11:30 pm ET.