Entertainment

'Rick and Morty' Season 4, Episode 1 has a secret IRL Easter egg

Did you follow yaaaaaassica yet?

The Rick and Morty Season 4 premiere delivered the second biggest disaster to ever come from Morty’s unhealthy obsession with long-time crush Jessica, and there’s a moment from the first scene of “Edge of Tomorty: Rick Die Rickpeat” that has a surprising connection to real life, something of an Easter egg that bleeds into our reality: Jessica’s Instagram account called “yaaaaaasica” — yes, with six A’s — actually exists.

If you want to be like Morty and stalk Jessica on Instagram, liking that selfie she took with her dead grandma, you can totally do that right now by following yaaaaaasica. As of this writing, there are only nine posts, including the hot grandma selfie from the Season 4 premiere. The account was created on Sunday, November 10 shortly before the Season 4 premiere, which seems to imply it may have been created by someone who works at Adult Swim or on the series itself.

A fan posted about the account to the Rick and Morty subreddit Wednesday. As of this writing, Jessica has 796 followers, but that’s bound to increase as more and more Rick and Morty fans catch on.

Correction: Folks on Reddit have pointed out that this account has only one “s” in the name, which is probably a sign that this is a fan creation.

“Morty’s on Jessica’s Instagram again!” Summer taunts Morty in the first line of Season 4 dialogue. Even Beth calls Morty a “creepy, perverted cyber stalker.” The whole situation is an essential reminder of Morty’s obsession with her, because the entire episode focuses on Morty’s addiction to a specific future shown to him via a Death Crystal vision in which he dies an old man with Jessica cradling his head, telling him that she loves him.

“It is a hot photo,” Summer admits at the end of the opening scene. “I think grief flushes your cheeks.” Her hilarious idea is to pour extra maple syrup on Jerry’s pancakes in the hopes that he might die and she could take her own hot funeral selfie, and we’re here for it.

This isn’t the first time that Rick and Morty has dabbled in some weird Instagram marketing ploys. Adult Swim has a rich history of pulling stunts like this to promote the series. Instagram’s first genuine choose-your-own adventure game came in the form of the Rick and Morty Rickstaverse. By navigating through more than 80 linked accounts, fans could explore the Rick and Morty universe to uncover little Easter eggs. There was even a huge update ahead of the Season 3 launch.

It’s nice to see that Rick and Morty is still the weirdest brand on Instagram these days. Now we just have to be on the lookout for some promotional accounts for Jerry Smith’s new intergalactic dating app that’ll be the focus of Rick and Morty Season 4, Episode 2.

Rick and Morty Season 4 airs Sunday nights on Adult Swim at 11:30 p.m. Eastern.

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