WARNING: This article contains spoilers for the Rick and Morty season 3 premiere that aired last night.
After creating fake memories, transporting his intelligence from body to body, and playing brutal mindgames on Morty, Rick Sanchez concluded last night’s early April Fool’s Rick and Morty season premiere by explaining his motivations: revenge on son-in-law Jerry, and a craving for the sweet, sweet Szechuan sauce that McDonald’s introduced as a tie-in to Disney‘s Mulan. And no, this wasn’t a made-up pop-culture joke: as you can see in the commercial above, it was a real thing.
You have to wonder what Hardee’s and Carl’s Jr., which ran a massive rebranding ad mid-show to demonstrate a new move away from sexy commercials, thought about the fact that McDonald’s seems to have gotten a bigger pop-culture boost, presumably without paying for it. Fans are already starting petitions for McDonald’s to bring back the sauce, and you can sign online if you agree–they’re pretty close to the 7,500 goal last time we checked. eBay, too, is going crazy with people auctions that claim to be for sauce packets, but in the fine print turn out to be just photos of a sauce cup at ridiculous prices. One in particular claiming to be the only authorized listing, from user “definitelynotdanharmon,” was up to over $97,000 at press time, though to be fair, that one promises all the proceeds will go to Habitat for Humanity, the image will be “autographed” (possibly by Justin Roiland), and “There may or may not be other things that happen to you because you win this auction.”
While the Golden Arches may never revive the sauce just because a cartoon aimed at adults asked, it bears repeating that there is a live-action remake of Mulan coming from Disney, and while it reportedly won’t feature any songs, nobody has ruled out fast food tie-ins. It’s almost like some sort of cosmic convergence.
Perhaps the bigger question, though, is why aren’t people talking about Shoney’s, which was revealed as Rick’s mental safe space? They’re tougher to find in many parts of the country, but totally worth the search. A tie-in menu is probably too much to hope for when your lead character is always belching up green drool and has a friend named Mr. Poopybutthole, but we can dream. Ooo-wee!
Are you signing the Szechuan sauce petition? What other canceled fast food sauces would you like to see return? Comment below with your sweet, greasy memories.
Image: Adult Swim
