4. RICK AND MORTY (ADULT SWIM)
It’s unfortunate that the narrative around
Rick and Morty’s long-delayed third season has revolved to such a degree around
how some of its most devoted fans are mean-spirited, entitled morons, because the
show itself had its best year yet. To
think that you are some sort of intellectual ubermensch because you learned the
proper way to interact with the world from a farcical cartoon is rather
pathetic to start with. And that is only compounded by the gross misunderstanding of the text required to view it as a straightforward
endorsement of Rick’s misanthropy.
But leaving the fanbase aside, this season
was wildly original and relentlessly, riotously, scabrously funny from top to
bottom. There are jokes that Rick and Morty does that only Rick and Morty could do, which is one
of the things I appreciate most in a comedy. Maybe some other Adult Swim show could wring its biggest laughs from a child accidentally murdering his sister, or the
heroes’ hyperviolent pissing match with the POTUS. But I can’t think of another that could build
some of its most affecting emotional moments from its hero turning himself into
a brutally homicidal pickle to avoid family therapy, or an imaginary land ruled
over by a deranged refugee cannibal that sustains himself by impregnating the
wildlife to produce his own incestuous livestock. And there damn sure isn’t any that could even
attempt the insane nesting doll of the Citadel Of Ricks spotlight episode,
which layers a Stand By Me coming-of-age
parody into a Dog Day Afternoon
hostage standoff into a Training Day gritty cop drama into a Face In The Crowd political allegory,
with the entire cast consisting of only two characters, but not the versions
of those characters we actually "know". That
all that comes out mildly coherent is stunning. That it is top-to-bottom hilarious is just
incredible. And that it is actually
somewhat thoughtful about the attendant sociopolitical underpinnings of all the
tropes it is subverting is just phenomenal.
And that may not even be the best episode of
the season, not with the surprising pathos of “Pickle Rick” and the loopy
clip-show that revealed added layers to the central relationship even as it
sprayed out insane and hilarious gags at a Gatling gun pace. For as much as the ugly fringe of the fanbase might wax egotistical about the philosophy and conceptual fuckery as the source of the show's brilliance, they have it twisted. It brings to mind an aside in the "Vindicators" episode where Morty is justifiably angry at Rick's drunken pettiness getting several of the titular heroes killed, and Rick uses the fact that he saved the universe the day before as a deflection. Morty insists that isn't the issue, to which Rick shrugs "eh, would've been if I hadn't."
I hope you're proud of yourself. Uh, I kind of am. I saved the God damn universe. That's not the issue, Rick! Ahh, it would've been if I hadn't! Read more: https://www.springfieldspringfield.co.uk/view_episode_scripts.php?tv-show=rick-and-morty-2013&episode=s03e04
I hope you're proud of yourself. Uh, I kind of am. I saved the God damn universe. That's not the issue, Rick! Ahh, it would've been if I hadn't! Read more: https://www.springfieldspringfield.co.uk/view_episode_scripts.php?tv-show=rick-and-morty-2013&episode=s03e04
The sci-fi in a sci-fi comedy is not the issue. If the jokes aren't working, none of the rest matters. And the this season had at least three episodes that could stack up competitively with any other half hour of comedy you could find as the funniest ever on a minute-per-minute, joke-for-joke basis.
Watch It For: Pickle Rick. The promos had me thinking it might be where I jumped off the series for good, but it may be the best episode of the entire run.
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