My thoughts on Rick and Morty

Nobody exists on purpose, nobody belongs anywhere, everybody’s gonna die. Come watch TV.

Rick and Morty is a show that makes me irrationally angry. It premiered in 2013 and captured audiences hearts and minds as they followed insane scientist Rick Sanchez and his adventures through space and time with his grandson Morty. The premise of the show sounded innocent enough, but wrapped under the animation was a sea of thoughts and philosophy rooted in anarchy and nihilistic thought. The show explores the concept that Rick is aware that nothing matters, nothing exists, nothing is worth it. It explores the questions that elude all humans: Who are we? Why are we here? Rick really doesn’t explore these questions out of any scientific honor code but really just because he likes to fuck stuff up. He already knows the answers to these questions and, to him, the answer is always so eloquently “*burps* who cares?”….such genius.

I used to love this show so much. I binged the first season and was instantly hooked. The premise was smart and the ideas were fresh. I had never been introduced to a show that so interestingly analyzed the futility that is existence. However, when season two came around I began to see that the show was delving deeper and deeper into this “nothing matters” idea. Honestly, when nothing matters, what does? What drives Rick Sanchez? The answer seems to be nothing or it could be everything. On the other hand, you have Morty, Rick’s innocent grandson. He seems to begin these adventures amazed at all the possibility in the universe, he is the picture of wide-eyed hope. However, the audience watches as he deteriorates, the audience watches as he loses this hope and how he loses faith in Rick. The process is just sad and almost a metaphor of losing hope in a childhood hero. It’s like….when you know the secrets to the universe, what amazes you anymore? What we see in Morty is the light in your eyes disappears and nothing surprises you. What is life when that happened? Crazy thoughts.

I think what ended up ruining this show for me was the fandom and the overall toxicity that came with it. First of all, I am never one to let a fandom ruin things for me, however, normally the fandom understands what the creator is trying to say. Here, we can see that the fandom took all the wrong messages from this show. They are obsessed with Pickle Rick, consider wubbalubbadubdub as some funny catch phrase (and not what it truly is, a cry for help and an expression of loneliness in a vast universe that doesn’t understand you), and are in love with being able to shame people for not watching the show, claiming it’s because they’re not smart enough.

The fandom is also incredibly misogynistic. In season 3, the creators hired female writers. Apparently fans didn’t like this and they took to Twitter to basically publish their personal information to promote harassment. Actions like that make me glad I don’t watch the show anymore. For more information on the overall toxicity of the fandom, check out this awesome article on the subject.

Finally, Rick in general is incredibly misunderstood by the fandom. Instead of recognizing him as a man that is too smart for his own good, that he represents the idea that being nihilistic is NOT cool and just because we’re alone doesn’t mean you have to throw everything away, he is revered as a god-like figure that can do zero wrong.

Rick and Morty is a bleak show that knows being bleak is a terrible thing to live with, and yet it’s that unrest that so many fans have latched onto with giddiness. They seek to replicate Rick’s crushing bitterness and spew his catchphrases with no self-awareness. You can barely visit a comments section these days without seeing paragraphs of “I’m Pickle Riiiiiick!” filling up the page.

Rick is the character YOU DO NOT WANT TO BE LIKE. I cannot stress enough that he is not cool, he is mentally ill and I hope he sees some form of help, though I highly doubt it cause that would basically ruin the show for a lot of people. Rick is an asshole, he abandoned his family and causes a lot more harm than anything. He is another reason I don’t enjoy the show as much as I used to. The fandom glorifies him and spends a lot of time wanting to be like him instead of recognizing the opposite.

Notice I’m not saying the show is bad or the creators are wrong. These are two incredibly talented creators that I respect very much, however, I feel the fandom took control of this creation a little too much and I just choose to stay away from it at this point. I’ve wanted to type up this “review”/”rant” for a while now and I honestly am happy I got to air it all out. Let me know what you think in the comments below.

VG