Ladies and gentlemen, gather round and get excited for the new season of Rick and Morty! For the nine tenths of you who don’t know what I’m talking about, Rick and Morty is probably the weirdest cartoon you will ever watch. Here is a taster:
Dan Harmon is a TV writer known as the mastermind behind the ultra niche, internet fandom darling that is Community. The show, which aired its first five seasons on NBC and recently ran its sixth on some weird Yahoo streaming service, has always been a ratings vacuum, but it has some of the most loyal fans in pop culture. A quirky comedy, most of what makes Community special comes from the obsessive mind of Harmon.
Last year, Harmon, along with friend Justin Roiland, delivered a side project that became something of a hit on Adult Swim. Rick and Morty is Back to the Future if Doc Brown was Marty’s emotionally manipulative grandfather. It’s what would happen if Doc was a mean spirited narcissist and Marty was his dim but trusting sidekick. The pitch might sound unwatchable but the result is one of the best dark comedies around.
Developed from an animated short by Roiland the show sets Rick Sanchez and Morty Smith in their family home. But family life is often just a jumping off point or counterbalance for a series of fantastical but twisted adventures. Morty’s parents, Rick’s daughter Beth and her husband Jerry, suffer from regular marital tension, having been forced to tie the not with the arrival of older sister Summer. It’s odd to see a show where not everything at home is perfect, and it adds a layer of believability to Rick and Morty’s frequent dalliances to other dimensions.
That’s the thing about this show. One scene the family are struggling through an uncomfortable Christmas dinner, the next Morty has been shrunk down to microscopic size in order to investigate a theme park inside a homeless man’s stomach. Some people might find these contrasting storylines to be disconcerting, but as the series goes on. the writers find more interesting ways to utilise the family. And while weird sci-fi storylines often deliver big laughs, it’s Morty’s relationships at home that pack the strongest emotional punch. The end of one episode in particular is an unexpected gut punch.
Of the two leads, Morty is probably the most relatable, though not by much. Performing just below average at school, his life is turned upside down when his grandfather moves into the house, inventions and all. Occasionally an audience surrogate, Morty is usually as clueless of alien cultures and dangers as the viewer but receives little sympathy from his grandfather.
On the other hand, Rick is the most likely to make you chuckle. Living in our world while keeping more than a foot in his own reality of planet hoping and alien house parties, the scientific genius often has his own agenda into which he pulls Morty. An alcoholic master of reality, Rick rarely seems concerned with ethics – at one point he reveals quite casually to Morty that he’d considered an experiment involving five alternative reality versions of his grandson and a jumper cable. Despite this, it is hinted that his affection for Morty is genuine, and the relationship between the two anchors the show.
Not a lot of the humour comes in the form of gags. If you’re so inclined you’ll find yourself laughing most at the sheer absurdity of the situations or a sly pop culture reference, or sometimes just adolescent stupidity. Fortunately, toilet humour doesn’t take over the show, but when it gets dark it might become off putting to some viewers. The storyline involving the Jelly Bean King might be considered grossly insensitive to some, and even triggering to others.
Community fans will probably recognise Harmon’s unique brand of pop culture mixed with snark and ridiculousness. How they’ll handle some of the more adult story beats is another question, but they’ll likely enjoy the show’s greater license to explore weird worlds. If a reality where sentient pizza slices order human take out isn’t your hat, perhaps you’d prefer one ruled by a hyper intelligent dog called Snuffles.
While co-creator Roiland voices the two title characters in an almost improvisational way the rest of the voice cast give strong but understated performances. Chris Parnell of Archer fame brings a unique insecurity to Jerry, while Spencer Grammer is the standout as Morty’s oft overlooked older sister Summer. The only weak point is Sarah Chalke as Beth, but this can be attributed more to the show’s writing than Chalke’s performance. Beth as a character is by far the least developed through the first series, but when Chalke is given something to sink her teeth into she has the power to elevate the whole storyline. A little more of Beth in season two please.
Roiland himself, whose voice credits include Adventure Time and Gravity Falls, makes both Rick and Morty recognisable voices, with his sardonic version of Rick’s Doc Brown being especially fun to listen to.
If Rick and Morty has a down side, it’s that many of the homages and jokes relating to pop culture require you to know your science fiction tropes. Watching Rick dragged in front of a inter-dimensional council of his alternate selves isn’t funny unless you’ve seen that sort of thing in more serious TV shows or movies. The second episode probably won’t make a lot of sense unless you’ve seen Christopher Nolan’s Inception.
If you don’t like crass humour, Rick and Morty probably isn’t for you either, though there’s usually a good character reason for encroaching on this territory – usually relating to Rick being a thoughtless jerk.
Like all comedy whether you laugh is ultimately a matter of taste. But if you’re a Community fan, or just like the sound of Rick and Morty, it’s definitely worth a look. Just be sure that the humour doesn’t get too dark for you.
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