My Thoughts on Rick and Morty

I have only recently got into Rick and Morty and its crazy how quickly it has become one of my favorite shows. Its absolutely nuts but is also one of the most creative and thought provoking cartoon/tv shows I have ever seen. Its gross, crass, violent and absolutely hysterical without sacrificing depth. At face value you can say that Rick and Morty is just about pushing the envelope and see how far is too far, which is true, but many times it hits you right in the feels and makes these over the top character sympathetic and relatable.

The show follows the adventures of crazy mad scientist Rick Sanchez and his grandson Morty Smith. These adventures though are not regular adventures a grandfather and grandson would go on; they don’t go fishing or check out the annual car show in the Javet Center. Instead its these interdemensional hopping, time traveling, murder fueled shenanigans. Even when they stay in actual reality its twisted in some sort of absurd way. One episode they could be traversing a homeless mans inside’s in a parody of Jurassic Park, or in another they are just lounging at home watching interdimensional cable television.

These insane scenarios would be nothing though without Rick and Morty of course and these two are probably the greatest duo in cartoon television history. Rick’s psychotic nature and Morty’s insecurity and plainness counter each other perfectly. Rick always has a plan and is 15 steps ahead of everyone and Morty is almost always lost in the madness resulting from Rick’s actions. Even though every one around Morty thinks he is sub par or stupid he is very much a conduit for the viewer and often behaves in ways a regular, real person would behave. The duo does some insane things and we can see the mental toll it takes on Morty kind of grounding the whole experience a little bit. Eventually it becomes sort of second nature to him but only so much so. Rick on the other hand is deranged, gross, and manic but ultimately loves Morty. He is for all intensive purposes a mad scientist who is also very much human, but exaggerated intensely. Much of the beauty of the show comes from simply watching Rick work though. Seeing what crazy contraption he creates or watching him outsmart everyone around him. Its so creative and crazy that you will never guess how he will “get out of this one”.

Rick and Morty are obviously not the only two characters, the show is filled to the brim with memorable characters that feed into the insanity of this world and I’m not just talking about the countless alien races the duo interacts with. Rick and Morty’s family are just as fun to watch. At first I thought they would kind of be lost in the background but the show finds clever and interesting ways to keep them relevant and affected by Rick’s craziness. There is a great deal of family drama between their family and Rick and Mortys actions always effect the family to some degree, weather it be why Rick always spends time with Morty instead of Summer, his other grandkid, or that Rick is more of a father figure than Morty's father Jerry.

The show sometimes deals with serious issues but by no means does this mean it’s a serious show. Rick and Morty is still a comedy through and through and a hell of one at that. Often I found myself laughing uncontrollably. Often times the show will keep mistakes and stutters the actors making the conversations so much more fun and realistic reminding me very much of “Saturday Night Live”. Rick’s constant burping mid sentence and nonsensical rants are side splittingly funny and his insanity never seizes to amaze me and how he pretty much kidnaps Morty and launches him to another dimension with absolutely no information just to be thrown around confused and afraid is as hysterical as it could possibly be. You literally have to witness these moments to fully understand how crazy it could get.

I typically don’t watch Adult cartoons (unless it Bob’s Burgers of course) they never really grab me in the way a traditional TV show would but Rick and Morty is different. Its crazier than anything I have ever seen. Its often shocking and absurdly violent but it is constantly hysterical. The show is clever and despite being filled with gross out humor treats its audience like adults and will many times surprise you with a good amount of depth. I might have gotten on the Rick and Morty train a little late but it’s a train I don’t plan on getting off anytime soon.