How did a one-off joke about a discontinued McDonald’s dipping sauce turn into the insanity we witnessed this past weekend? The A.V. Club tracked the timeline of events in the video above. It all started with the season-three premiere of Rick And Morty, with Rick infiltrating and dismantling the Galactic Federation, destroying his daughter’s marriage in the process, ending the episode with a nonsensical monologue declaring the sauce his “one-armed man”—the ultimate goal behind his endless quest.
From there it spiraled out of control, first with McDonald’s sending series co-creator Justin Roiland a tub of the sauce, then announcing its one-day return, and woefully underestimating the rabid fanbase’s desire for ketchup mixed with teriyaki sauce. What led us down this bizarre path? Possibly, it’s that fanbase’s misunderstanding of the show’s central themes and the conceit of its main character. We may never know for sure.