President Curtis Season 1 Ep. 3 "Ex" Thoughts: Aren't We All Gun Baby?

Posted in: Adult Swim, Rick and Morty, TV | Tagged: president curtis

President Curtis Season 1 Ep. 3 "Ex" Thoughts: Aren't We All Gun Baby?

Adult Swim's Keith David-starring Rick and Morty spinoff offered a twisted, fun, and kinda sweet look at President Curtis' personal universe.

Published Sun, 09 Aug 2026 23:13:10 -0500
by Ray Flook
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Article Summary

• President Curtis Episode 3 sends Andre Curtis to his ex-wife’s gala while Banks and O’Doyle are sidelined in trust training.
• President Curtis balances sharp comedy and chaos with Gun Baby, self-aware Westworld staff, and rebellious werewolves.
• Keith David’s President Curtis gets a sweeter, more grounded spotlight as Beverly Mills and Andre avoid easy ex-romance clichés.
• President Curtis expands the spinoff’s world with Chomps, Candyman, and Amelia Earhart adding weird and wonderful charm.

Welcome back to our weekly look at what Adult Swim and EPs Dan Harmon & James Siciliano's Keith David, Stephanie Beatriz, and Jim Rash-starring President Curtis. This week, O'Doyle (Rash) and Banks (Beatriz) are forced to spend some professional quality time together – whether they like it or not. One person who definitely does not like it is President Andre Curtis (David), who's about to head down a personal rabbit hole without his trusted team by his side. What could go wrong, right? Yeah, that's what we were worried about. With that in mind, here's a look at our real-time thoughts on S01E03: "Ex":

President Curtis Season 1 Episode 3 "Ex" Real-Time Thoughts

With Banks and O'Doyle having gotten themselves red-carded, they're out of commission until they complete some training – and learn to trust each other, hopefully. That means President Curtis is going to be heading into a not-a-date one-on-one with his ex-wife, who invited him to her inauguration gala, with a wingman he's not thrilled to have by his side, Special Agent Chomps (though he's a big fan of the name). It's a fun set-up for the episode that offers a glimpse at the team's growing pains, which is understandable since we're only three episodes into the season:

Janice (Alanna Ubach) totally rocks, by the way – it needs to be said every week.

President Curtis' ex-wife, Beverly Mills, rehabilitated Candyman – impressive.

HEARTBREAKER: President Curtis was only invited to keep his absence from becoming a headline. Other than being there, Mills wants him to be little seen, little heard.

Holy shit, Chomps is a badass – and he's looking to make it to his retirement.

Of course, O'Doyle solved the "Gun Baby" problem – but Banks still has a snitch problem.

Seeing President Curtis and Chomps working together reminds me of 1997's Grosse Pointe Blank, with John Cusack and Jeremy Piven.

Okay, so Banks' snitch problem just became epic: the employees in the "Westworld" branch just became self-aware, and they are not taking it well. Meanwhile, it looks like some werewolves aren't big fans of a cure – but President Curtis is about to have a bigger problem with Beverly now that she knows about the werewolf waiters.

"BECAUSE I AM GUN BABY!" LOLOLOLOL  – O'Doyle with the best line, two weeks in a row.

This week's episode was a wonderful exploration of President Curtis' universe – the man, not the show – and that is a big difference between the spinoff and the original series. Having Candyman and Amelia Earhart as recurring characters is a stroke of "Rick and Morty" genius that works here because President Curtis is much more grounded and personalized. Also, I had a ton of respect for the storyline between President Andre Curtis and Governor Beverly Mills for never going down the cliched "they fight, but they still love each other" route, making it clear throughout that the love and respect are there.

Dan Harmon on Spinoff's Presidential Influences

Though it's pretty clear that President Andre Curtis is his own man, the version we see in the "Rick and Morty" spinoff is inspired by a number of previous U.S. Presidents – including Barack Obama, Donald Trump, and possibly the greatest fictional (unfortunately) figurehead ever. "The conversations about Obama and Trump were inevitable," Harmon shared during a recent interview. "Curtis has a naïveté that you could overlap with Trump, who is like, 'I'm an outsider, and I consider this job simple, and I don't care about the bureaucracy of it.' On the Obama side, it's the charmer and the guy who gets organic joy in being liked – that whole rock star aspect of Obama. But mostly just more legendary aspects of presidents from the past, all Serpentor'd into a test tube baby that then becomes our version of maybe Martin Sheen in 'West Wing,' where it's our fantasy president, warts and all."

President Curtis Season 1 Episode 3: "Ex"

Review by Ray Flook

8.5/10

This week's episode of Adult Swim and EPs Dan Harmon & James Siciliano's Keith David, Stephanie Beatriz, and Jim Rash-starring President Curtis was a wonderful exploration of President Curtis' universe - the man, not the show - and that is a big difference between the spinoff and the original series. Having Candyman and Amelia Earhart as recurring characters is a stroke of "Rick and Morty" genius that works here because President Curtis is much more grounded and personalized. Also, I have a ton of respect for the storyline between President Andre Curtis and Governor Beverly Mills for never going down the cliched "they fight, but they still love each other" route, making it clear throughout that the love and respect are there. And, of course... Gun Baby rules.

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