Rick and Morty's Ultimate Fall into Inconsistency

[@LewDawn]

Wow, I never considered the fact that an uncertainty split didn't happen when Rick - as far as he knew at the time - gave his life for Morty's. That's a pretty touching detail.

[@Ryanyontz]

That's because morty only fell in one of the splits, and Rick was certain he would save morty if he fell

[@tritonum]

he's always certain, even when he isn't, he is being uncertain in purpose.

[@slaviceno]

because he need Morty alive that specific Morty from that specific universe Also dud in video is wrong, about inconsistency for season 3 with the premise of Rick taking down gov from inside, and why he dint do it earlier cuz Rick trait is not giving a fuk for shtz he doesnt cares like dear got not knowing main trait of ur char lol @just stop

[@chicken29843]

​@@slavicenoI think the show is pretty clear at least for the first three seasons showing that Rick does care about things but he goes out of his way to put on this persona of not giving a shit. Have you ever tried thinking about the things you watch?

[@jffry890]

​@@slaviceno Cope

[@newthejsterjacob408]

my favorite thing about the inconsistency of season 5 is that MatPat did a theory on them being a different Rick and Morty than the ones we've been following because they were so blatantly inconsistent, and I actually kinda believed it lol

[@mikeexits]

Could be a good excuse to go back to the original Rick and Morty in further seasons.

[@creamylul6390]

@@mikeexits it could work well as there are infinite universes and infinite Rick's so you can do pretty much anything with it infinite possibilities technically

[@OWlsfordshire]

That guy farms autists for views. You shouldn't support a guy fucking with the disabled/mentally ill.

[@_slvgnt]

but they keep calling him rick c-137

[@BBWahoo]

@@_slvgnt matpat BTFO

[@quintupletdestroyer1166]

It’s so weird that the writers aren’t afraid of making an entire episode about morty’s sperm, while simultaneously being utterly terrified of changing the status quo

[@pimenjoyer.221]

Oy vey.

[@jeom3808]

CJ the X explained it best in their Rick and Morty video, it's a struggle of keeping the sitcom formula/ever-green style while making it part of the narrative Rick enforces to maintain a lack of sincerity and attachment while the characters force him and the show to be more sincere and care about things, which creates a good balance/dialectic that is a show being evergreen while also exploring/diving into the character including someone as ""untouchable""/Closed-off as Rick.

[@quincius8638]

I remember seeing a good video about how continuity means change and change means the show is going somewhere and whenever its going somewhere its going closer to its ending, which of course they don't want

[@BBWahoo]

@@pimenjoyer.221 Izt spirm

[@sporepda]

Its not that weird. Being weird and edgy for the sake of being weird and edgy is really, REALLY easy, while writing something actually interesting takes time and effort. And if your fans love you either way, why bother?

[@theeskrungly]

'Rick basically became a redditors OC and it ruined the show' is what I got from this.

[@rappingbeaniedog347]

he kinda did become this

[@JohnWall-lj1mx]

Yeah he went from a wacky mad scientist going on bizarre adventures with his grandson to a edgy unlikable nihilist that needs to constantly put others down to feel superior

[@theeskrungly]

@@JohnWall-lj1mx I don't even think thats the issue, its how it's written. Rick's nihilism has so much potential for good character writing and storytelling but it's used as a cheap joke and thus feels hollow.

[@philv2529]

What is a reditors oc?

[@andresmunoz6356]

@@philv2529 OC means original character, a representation of you as a fictional character, and since redditors are edgy losers who think nihilism is the best thing since the discovery of fire they usually portray their OC as amoral geniuses incomprehended by the society (again, losers)

[@nathanlevesque7812]

The growing nonchalance with everything that happens is what killed it for me. None of the characters can really engage with the situation because it doesn't register emotionally. It's just 'life' to them now. Every concept gets undercut.

[@LiveType]

This show suffers from some serious power creep if you think about it, which while not unique, is a telltale sign of poor management/inexperience. It's not the reason the writing took a hilarious and honestly somewhat sad nosedive, but more a symptom of it. Improper/extremely poor planning and likely way too many new writers who had no idea what was going on and little attachment to the show other than the big dollar signs attached to it. I was excited for season 5 as it showed the writers can make decent stuff in season 4, but it was squandered. I honestly felt bad for the original team. At the end of the day, you don't remember the cool explosions, funny gags, sad moments, thrilling moments, shocking moments, etc... The things you remember are the things that make you go "woah". Only the ricklantis mixup and made me go woah and it seems that was pretty universal as the most praised episode of the entire show. Seasons 1 was intriguing but that's about it. Season 2 was a good bit better, probably the best season. Season 4 was hilarious and season 5 was just sad. Season 3 was, as this video described in excruciating detail, the turning point of likely no return. I no longer look forward to season 6. You either die a hero or live long enough to become the villan. How true this is as it relates to tv shows.

[@wandereringshadow8658]

@@LiveType Honestly, all of the characters basically became like Rick- and thats what killed the show in the end.

[@benjimentv]

@@wandereringshadow8658 of course Beth is ricks daughter and she is influenced by him morty gets used to ricks crazy things like planets aliens and shit summer is just summer same with jerry they can’t stay the same

[@kenoz765]

Season 2: Holy shit a parasite who can create fake memories of people who never existed? What a mindfuck! Season 5: Hey let's just work with parallel versions of ourselves just because "it's fun", yeah, totally normal, just a regular Thursday. Oh yeah, don't forget that Beth suggested killing her own daughter just because. The show isn't even trying. Every family member is just as nihilist as Rick.

[@destinyhero4795]

how can you invest in character that probably different each episodes? This character die? not in this multiverse reality. The world ending? lets jump to another multiverse. At this point im not sure rick and morty in S5 are the same person as them in S1.

[@PrimmsHoodCinema]

I feel like the writers focused too much on Rick's badass edginess. Instead of the crazy ass sci-fi concepts.

[@beerdsy]

I agree that they are either out of ideas or just leaning on Rick being a zero fucks given edgelord Grandpa lazily. I don't understand why everything is so on the nose now.

[@gatsbyisdead5531]

hey it’s primm...he an all-star⭐️

[@DeadPizza]

Which i love the sci fi shit was mad corny

[@TH-zl6jz]

Well what do you expect from workshop writers? I am burnt out on any serialized show that isn't based on a story with an ending. You can promise 6 seasons and a movie and blow trash til you get cancelled. Knowing where a story will end before you start selling it, hard to do

[@TH-zl6jz]

Which isn't to say I dislike the show. I like some SNL skits, I'm not a monster

[@mrb5940]

Rick and Morty is a constant cycle of baiting the audience into caring about Rick, making it a joke and try to make the audience feel stupid for caring in the first place. And then AGAIN baiting the audience into caring, just to show the same feeling of superiority over their audience over and over again It's like an abusive/toxic relationship

[@nas0518]

I know, right?

[@colecube8251]

isn't that the point as that is what rick does to his family members?

[@mrb5940]

@@colecube8251 yeah, that is the point of his chatacter, being shitty, doing something nice, and them being shitty again, that's indeed the point of Rick as a character But it gets repetitive when the show tries to show us again and again that rick can care about others, just to end up being a moron again, it's been like this most of the series and it doesn't seem to be changes to that dinamic any time soon It's hard to care when the writtes make rick do something nice when we know he will simply fuck it up again, like always

[@mykodibear17]

@@mrb5940 I wouldn't even say that the problem is that it's repetitive, but that if that is what they're going for then it's very poorly done. If you want to watch a realistic version of someone consistently screwing up their life despite knowing better/wanting to be better there are shows that do it well and make it interesting, Bojack Horseman being a prime example. The problem with Rick as a character isn't that he knows better and does bad things anyway because he has issues, it's that his character is so inconsistently written that he's incapable of meaningful character progression.

[@bork5268]

You just made me realise why I enjoy and hate the show, this show is my ex.. Uhoh

[@howdoilogin]

Jesus Christ Rick and Morty is ten years old??? I'm gonna go fade into dust now. I've lived too long.

[@WikterRor2807]

I was 12 WHEN IT CAME OUT? Holy shit. Although I did only start watching it in high school

[@merucrypoison296]

Dusterald

[@willnyanyan]

@@merucrypoison296 sharty

[@zimited27]

yeah where's time gone

[@EbitBreazile]

Hey, I worked on this show for the first season, and my now-husband worked on it from the pilot through the end of season 2. I wanted to say it was really nice to see someone call these problems out. There were a ton of problems going on internally which lead to the jump in quality between the seasons that I'm not the person to comment on, but from two people working in the production trenches - we appreciated this review a lot. EDIT: Put your caps away, check the replies for more details

[@looniemoonie5955]

Oh wow didn't expect someone from the staff here in comments! Congrats on marriage

[@mzaite]

Gee were the problems that the show was run by a team of creators consisting of raging narcissist who hates to actually work and the a human personification of ADHD?

[@thedudecalledalan9095]

No offense But who is the right person to comment We need details from the inside

[@mzaite]

@@thedudecalledalan9095 No you don’t, Starburns/Green Portal isn’t a publicly traded company. Unless they’re doing actually Illegal things, they aren’t accountable to anyone but their DIRECT stake holders for not being competent, and bumblefucking their way through television production.

[@yooooooo5186]

🧢

[@cyanmanta]

I binged the seasons available for streaming. I have to admit, I grew to dislike it more and more as I realized that the writers just didn’t know how to handle Rick’s character. I think they lost the nerve to admit that Rick Sanchez is a miserable, sad individual who can do absolutely anything in the universe EXCEPT keep the people he cares about safe or happy. They created a character impossible for anyone but an angry teenage boy to love. I don’t know if more recent episodes have better explored his character flaws, but I’m no longer willing to wait for it.

[@stuglife5514]

I get that. I don’t see why people idolize him. I don’t hate nor like Rick. But the shitty part is understand why he’s the way he is in a way. I’m a bit of a hermit myself, with some serious self destructive tendencies. When I was younger I was easily taken advantage of, and gotten hurt so many fucking times, that I choose to be alone then be around others. I purposefully come off as abrasive and distant to keep people away. I have serious fears of attachment. And I’ve fucked up a lot of relationships not on purpose, but just my self destructiveness. To be, I see Rick as a representation as why you never ever wanna be like that. But the people who aren’t like that don’t understand, and they see those traits as, admirable? The more I watched the show the more it made me uncomfortable.

[@hadinasrallah8928]

"hey created a character impossible for anyone but an angry teenage boy to love." yeah pretty much lmao

[@xenosayain1506]

Nope, instead we have Morty and summer's incest baby...

[@hadinasrallah8928]

@@xenosayain1506 Wait what

[@xenosayain1506]

@@hadinasrallah8928 you read what I said correctly. It happens. Summer names him naruto if my memory is correct. Fact check me if you want.

[@kingbash6466]

It feels like Rick & Morty constantly changes itself not because of any genuine sense of progression, but because the crew don’t want the show to be viewed as predictable. So things being inconsistent is just their way of trying to keep the show fresh.

[@TheDigitalApple]

I fear it’ll take notes from “The Last Jedi’s” “subversion of expectations is good” approach

[@hubblebublumbubwub5215]

I think it's more because the entire crew changes

[@kyotheman69]

no this is just they changed writers, seems to be more anything

[@Istayton95]

That's actually what I thought about when he talked about how it seemed like they didn't have an actual plan for Evil Morty... because they didn't. Harmon once said that they kept up with fan theories so that they wouldn't accidentally release something that someone could guess and share about in an online video. They took so long to actually utilize him because they literally didn't know what to do with him after his introduction.

[@RoninDave]

Then it becomes gimmicky rather than being funny or good story telling. This what happened with Game of Thrones. They got so used to shocking people that when they got out of the books they just kept trying to do this and we ended up with crap like Arya killing the Night King and Bran becoming King

[@ApexGale]

The world hopping from Rick also shows something else about him - this version of him is incredibly quick to give up. Instead of going to a universe where he found the cure and copying the cure from there, he specifically looks for one where he and Morty immediately died so he could replace them. He decides that actually saving their world is just too much work

[@John-X]

just wanna say that nobody hates Pickle Rick. the video author talks about it like it's a universally derided episode when literally everyone loves that episode. & ur opinion is irrelevant if u actually hate it. i mean, he turned himself into a pickle. that's the funniest shit i've ever seen.

[@ApexGale]

@@John-X pickle rick episode isn't good because he's being a badass pickle, it's good because it shows you that rick would literally rather be a john wick pickle than focus on improving himself in a healthy manner, dr. wong's monotone monologue to rick is the punchline sells the entire episode

[@John-X]

@@ApexGale no it's not good because "☝🤓 _it shows you that rick would literally rather be a john wick pickle than focus on improving himself in a healthy manner & blah blah blah"_ it's good bcuz he's a badass pickle merc'ing bad guys in gory ways. 😎

[@ApexGale]

@@John-X nah

[@AxiEisa]

And the fact that every version of Rick is different so he probably inserted himself in the reality where he DID use a different reality to fix his own (dimensions aren't the same as realities before you start that)

[@JDubs1464]

I love diagonal storytelling series, series such as Gravity Falls where there was episodic stories that might be used later for the more vertical aspect. Unfortunately, Rick and Morey can’t seem to decide what they want, they seem to zigzag, big plot points then weird episodic stories but oh but then it feels likes it’s going horizontal, but then they jump vertically again but oh now it’s going down because it isn’t actually meaningful, but then it’s horizontal. They can’t make up their mind on what they want the story to be

[@joshbuoy8661]

Haha, that is well put.

[@jaelonsanders5878]

It's both? There's the evil morty plan esque stuff but then there's stuff like the toilet episode where we learn how lonely rick os

[@maxdavis7722]

How is this a bad thing?

[@jaelonsanders5878]

@@maxdavis7722 my thoughts exactly

[@tylerbertram7065]

That's funny because Alex Hirsch (creator of Gravity Falls) is friends with the Rick and Morty creators

[@commandertorres]

I once told my friends that Dan Harmon and The rest of the creators have this commitment problem where they want to have random adventures but they also want to have a deep story but the moment the fans are invested in a mystery, the show gets offended of the idea of wanting to tell a story. Its like someone playing an open world in a stream except they dont bother to do any challenges or missions or ANYTHING and the streamer gets annoyed when chat tells them to atleast do SOMETHING that isnt just random open world bullshit. Poor analogy but you get the point.

[@jaelonsanders5878]

Shit analogy because that's not how TV shows work and MOST TV SHOWS have bits of random adventure and also storytelling. There are also canonically infinite universes in the show, like you're complaining about the shows premise even though that's literally the point. This isn't family guy.

[@SImrobert2001]

Thing is, they can HAVE both, but it seems like they simply refuse to get together once a week, or day, or whatever, and talk about the show, and what scripts they are on. Giant Space baby NEVER should have happened, and likely did because someone was writing a script all by themselves.

[@1ULTRAKNIGHT]

No it's worse, it's more like a streamer playing a game and hyping up certain activities, then refusing to go through with what they said. The audience gets frustrated, so the streamer decides it's a great idea to make fun of the audience for caring about what the streamer provides, voiding most good will. Also this streamer would be the sort to start a mission, then never finish it, just to piss people off. Stop watching the bad streamer, especially if they hate you.

[@mobiusbelts3607]

@@1ULTRAKNIGHT I think if you're watching streamers, you probably deserve to be strung along anyway.

[@saysikern4425]

@@1ULTRAKNIGHT perfect way to put it

[@aiwash2766]

Couple years ago, we couldn’t get enough of this show.....

[@ShadeShake]

kzbin.infoWEUxQsl53UE?feature=share Finally it's here...

[@jayjay86443]

Damn bots above me. I remember when Season 3 was hype, and I went with a coworker to go to the 2nd annual Rickmobile. Didn't expect this show to die out so quickly. It's like Pokemon, where it got everyone's attention one time, and then it fizzled out faster than an alka-seltzer. Much like Pokemon, they rely very heavily on merchandising to live, while the main product is the draw.

[@rjs4176]

Now we have too much of it and all we want now is to go back...

[@kingkirby1394]

That does seem to be a trend with plenty of popular western animation (seemingly due to the popularity): The original vision and direction for the series tone, continuity and (in most cases) charm just goes away for trying to appease hype, while ironically dividing it’s fanbases the more and more people think about it in retrospect, even technically ok examples of changing tones in later seasons like adventure time and regular show didn’t exactly hold the overwhelmingly agreed on thumbs up it had before, one of the only exceptions I can think of that lasted several seasons is maybe gumball (gravity falls is easy because it only did 2 seasons…thank god)

[@orxy5316]

It was always cringe

[@Haunted_Plush]

I think the episode in season four where Morty uses the death crystal would've worked so much better if it focused on him just not wanting to die a horrific death. Like, yeah dying old with Jessica would be cool and all, but is it justification for not bringing back Rick? I feel like they should've had him realize his mortality and have all the danger he's been in come crashing down on him. The crystal is basically telling him "you are going to die an agonizing and sorry death and there's nothing you can do about it." That's a *terrifying* concept, imo. Wouldn't have saved the whole season or anything, but I think it would make the episode make much more sense

[@hteety]

I think that would actually be the opposite of one of the motifs in the episode. Morty refusing t bring Rick to life for such a dumb reasons shows just how trivial life is to them. This is further supported by how, in the same episode, Rick is revived and dies multiple times in the span of seconds. That and the show just isn't that serousness. The trivial ty of life and the ridiculous nature of everything just means you dint have to think about it that much.

[@b4ts4life]

Thats the joke, that a 14 year old boy would keep his grandpa dead just to die with his highschool crush

[@Haunted_Plush]

@@b4ts4life I see that you're saying but I think they should've gone harder with that if it's the case, it totally went over my head.. [although the more likely reason is I am a dumbass of the highest degree]

[@sephiroth0409]

@@Haunted_Plush What do you mean with "harder" exactly? He killed many people, refused to revive his grandpa even though he loves him and became a threat to humanity just for a death next to jessica. I don't know how far this would've gone if they went even harder with it, I'd even go so far and say it would be over the top and more people would've disliked it.

[@WestSideWally]

This show became too invested in shitting on fans expectations. Too much time went into this and the show suffered. A focus back on the characters and storytelling will be what is needed. I hope Harmon and Roiland still enjoy making this show.

[@micahberlin8332]

It’s not the show, it’s Rick. He hates serialization because he hates responsibility. So many fans miss that that’s the main theme of the show. Rick doesn’t represent the whole show, just that side of the battle.

[@Tkokat]

@@micahberlin8332 Rick is not a real person, if anything it is the voice of the writers. So it depends on the writers.

[@relaxalways3704]

This I think is the real issue. The creators of the show have grown to hate their own show and they don’t care about these characters anymore

[@maineman5757]

@@relaxalways3704 It was said that they made room for a more diverse team of writers for the later portion of the series. It's like the same people would happily shit on Rick and Morty fans in the early day were suddenly writing the show. At least that's what feels like.

[@EnderSword]

I assume they like making the show without the serialization, and I assume the shitting on fan's expectations is to try and tell people they're not going to be making a drama with a long story arc.

[@LandelRey]

"Inconsistency is defined as a lack of consistency" Ummm... Yes, the floor here is made of floor

[@jakariashafin8685]

People die when they are killed

[@katium9176]

How many times do you people have to make that same joke?

[@omfgjaron4467]

@@katium9176 The joke here is made of joke.

[@katium9176]

@@omfgjaron4467 lmao

[@beanzthumbz]

A tautology implies it's a tautology

[@OmegaPictures318]

Unfortunately, Season 3's downward spiral to what the show is today is Dan Harmon's own idea behind the show's plot: Nothing matters. It was meant to be a sort of experimental theme for the narrative, but at this point is the writers themselves using a pretentious scapegoat with the show's consistency. Its literally the equivalent for Rob and Doug Walker's "Plot Hole" Not to mention by Season 3, Dan pretty much uses Rick as his mouth piece and OC. Rick isn't Rick in Season 3, he's Dan Harmon, the smartest person in the universe. This even comes to a head when you listen to Dan's own obsession with being Lex Luthor, and his own distain for characters like Superman.

[@2mccue4u27]

This is a problem I have with basically every Harmon show. Sooner or later, it devolves into his diary.

[@OmegaPictures318]

@@2mccue4u27 EXACTLY. He literally can't help himself but be self indulgent in his own cynical world view. And it's not even thematic either, he just uses them to spew his thoughts and ideas revolving around nihilism and pop culture, and then thinking he's profound for it.

[@bet3240]

In community, quality dropped when one of the head writers left because of harmon. RaM quality dropped when they chanbed the writing staff. What can we see through this? Harmon is a bad writer, he can create good concepts but cant keep them working.

[@Mr.Monacle]

@@OmegaPictures318 I would hesitate to even call it cynicism, nihilistic pseudo-intellectualism is far more apt. It’s using nihilism as a means to seem far more intelligent than it is, and after a point if becomes incredibly obvious that there is nothing really intelligent about it at all. Rick and Morty/Dan Harmon see themselves as genius for thinking nothing matters, but that particularly belief is utterly asinine because anyone could look at how small we are on the scale of the universe and say “Nothing matters, fuck it”. It’s an obvious and, at least in my opinion, pointless observation. One that assumes things *need* to matter on a scale much larger than we can comprehend to matter at all, when in reality, at least I would posit, the opposite is true. For something to truly matter to anyone, they have to be capable of understanding it, it’s why a serial killer that kills 7 people is terrifying, but a dictator that works to murder hundreds of thousands is merely evil. We can’t wrap our minds around that much death, and so we default to a nebulous, borderline unhelpful, descriptor for the person, devoid of almost any real emotion. Obviously, this is simply my two cents, so you can take them as you will, but I truly think Dan Harmon is an arrogant prick who’s bought into his own hype so much, he believes that he cannot do any wrong, and because of his philosophy, he also believes there is no such thing as wrong, because nothing matters. In other words, Dan Harmon is an idiot, one who believes beyond a shadow of a doubt that he is one of the greatest writers of our time, and unfortunately so many have fed that disgustingly massive ego of his that I truly doubt he will realize the truth of the matter. Ever.

[@ejm1225]

I read a comment from a Tumblr post (I think) that he wrote his divorce into the show, being depicted by Beth and Jerry's divorce, of course. Is it weird to say that the show is better off without Dan's influence?

[@fajnykolesvlog8745]

Timestamps 0:00 Introduction 4:00 Season 1 11:16 Season 2 18:19 Season 3 46:42 Season 4 53:43 Season 5

[@MrDj232]

For all it's problems, I love the running gag in season 3 where the wind quietly whispers "loser" when Gerry is alone.

[@sadako24]

Yes, he is..... ;)

[@user-lr8ow2jg4e]

who gerry

[@frankfrank264]

Lol. Yes it’s awesome , I even use it as joke on certain people lol

[@Shalayah2010]

wow, i never picked up on that

[@tombsofak]

Damn, I had to sit here and think "it can't be that bad, right?" This is honestly on par if not surpasses the downfall of Star VS the Forces of Evil which aside from basically the character of Eclipsa and maybe Tom, everyone gets their character completely assassinated and the continuity feels dumb and inconsistent. Sheesh.

[@Juli_is_Online]

Well that shows problem was that the writers were literally, as in they said this themselves, making things up as they went along, which just does not work for a story/continuity driven show. Rick & Morty's writers on the other hand just seem to hate the thought of being serialized/focussing on continuity "keep it episodic" as Evil Morty puts it, which just really conflicts with the set-pieces they already put in place, not to mention it makes the story-telling feel really inconsistent. That, and its very obvious the writers are using the characters, specifically Rick, to voice their opinions directly which just feels really inorganic.

[@ejm1225]

@@Juli_is_Online You think there might be a future episode where the Rick and Morty cast rebel against their writers and creators for the sake of defying their inconsistent writing.

[@kirin1230]

Tom and Eclipsa were literally the only characters that were good in the second half of SVTFOE. Eclipsa was a great character and Tom was the absolute best person ever, seriously, his redemption was very well done and he grew to be a much better person than star, which I honestly found a little concerning. Star is the creator's self insert and Tom is based on all her exes, so the fact star ends up borderline abusive to Tom rubbed me the wrong way with how all the characters were being handled..

[@alchemystudiosink1894]

I think one issue is you equate Smartest with Wisest a lot. Rick is a lot of "So busy seeing if he can" and not so much "knowing if he should."

[@ellabrown4248]

Yeah I felt that too with his critique I mean Rick's a bit of a self destructive drunk he can make mistakes even with intelligence?

[@drxxg8660]

Underrated comment I agree

[@lunarrstch]

Affirmative, although wisdom is one factor of intelligence, it is possible to be intelligent while lacking said wisdom. However, even then, wisdom is more about knowledge, experience, and sufficient judgment. While Rick's judgment can be debatable, he does (or should) possess a certain amount of experience and knowledge, which felt inconsistent throughout specific parts of the show.

[@dackattac]

plus, i feel Rick's characterization is strongest when they treat his intelligence less like a passive superpower and more like a set of skills he's honed that he needs to find creative motivation to employ. losing interest in an amusement park he built inside of a person because he felt the attractions were creatively neutered. the incredibly low-tech anti-pickle-serum delivery "mechanism". the fake vat of acid. **preying mantis dna.** these things delight me with their weird relatability in ways that "pretty much inspector gadget" Rick just doesn't.

[@asdfniofanuiafabuiohui3977]

intelligence doesn't mean perfectly logical either. Rick is egotistical, thus would not want to use magic even if it was stronger than science. Reading body language requires social intelligence, something rick clearly lacks. When it comes to "intelligence" its using it to mean academic and engineering intelligence in the case of rick.

[@LordParticle]

Rick and Morty is a perfect example of when you let fan reception affect your writing

[@mazeneladl883]

It always ends miserably(my chanel picture)

[@poweroffriendship2.0]

I think Star vs. The Forces of Evil getting the same fate which it's a recall of what happened when the fandom shipping community is getting out of hand.

[@Sleepy_DOOD1701]

defo. The show peaked when it went mainstream

[@luciusnguyen2449]

The funny thing is, they let it effect their writing by trying so hard at subverting fan expectation

[@DrywallMorty]

you obviously don't know dan harmon.

[@infinitedreamer9359]

My main issue with how Rick and Morty handles serialization/episodic is not that the writers want the show to be the latter,but how it seems like it wants to have its cake and eat it too.Every time the show claims it wants to be an episodic thing,here comes some lore and/or continuity that they decided to bring back out of nowhere.Pick one or the other,don't do this half-assed crap.

[@NotSpecialDude]

You pretty much get the vibe, "We will only follow up on the concepts we WANT to follow up on." So that second beth, eh forget it. But that incest baby, yeah we need to show that thing again. They play fast and loose with continuity so as to only focus on the things they want to, and the expense of the entire shows sense of consistency and flow.

[@infinitedreamer9359]

@@NotSpecialDude How can the audience genuinely care about the plot,world, and characters when the show itself seems divided on that?

[@BurningAzure]

Hell, I think the decline started with the Season 2 finale which is pretty much a worse version of A Canterlot Wedding from Friendship is Magic.

[@elcalabozodelandroide2]

@@BurningAzure alicorn transformation is real.

[@CeliMe007]

Then they get so mad when folks want a consistent storyline 🙄

[@PsychicGirl]

The fact that there are years between seasons and they still end up directionless is also unforgivable.

[@elenyaellis]

Its just not serialized. The show is supposed to be Ever-Green just like the Simpsons. We are so used to serialized media that people feel betrayed when shows dont want to have an developing plot but rather stay a never ending fun machine.

[@lukebytes5366]

@@elenyaellis they don't really get to do that when there are actual ongoing arcs.

[@elenyaellis]

@@lukebytes5366 Its a constant balance they try to achieve. Keeping the characters interesting by having arching developments while keeping the show evergreen. They aren’t always doing a good job, i agree with that. I just think that many people take the show too seriously.

[@vibez2806]

@@elenyaellis if people like something then they want it to be good, your "ppl just take the show too seriously" makes zero sense. If they are trying to be balanced then they are failing. Also can't say that they are just going for fun when there is serialization too. Makes no sense.

[@realjoshb]

@@vibez2806 it’s still a good show even if it’s not exactly what people want it to be

[@metal6948]

The writer of pickle rick went on to work on Marvel's She-Hulk show, which is perfectly representative of the writing talent (or lack thereof) they're working with

[@parycartoons6840]

You know as much as I love Dr. Wong, when the person who wrote episode that spells it out to the audience that Rick is not a good person and is very toxic for his family is ALSO the person who worked on the show where we’re told Bruce Banner didn’t go through anything as bad as being catcalled and that Tony Stark is a “billionaire narcissistic playboy adult orphan,” you start to see a very not good pattern that kinda says a lot about how this writer feels about men.

[@metal6948]

@@parycartoons6840 For some reason hollywood double standards state that women are strong and capable enough that they're superior to men, but aren't strong or independent enough in convenient circumstances where they'd have to be held accountable for their actions or take responsibility for their own crappy life circumstances. Female incels are really trendy right now for whatever reason.

[@messagefamilystyled1101]

I attribute the loss of direction and sudden inconsistency to the death of J Mendal. He was a line producer and an important part of the process, losing him must have put a lot of stress on the studio, plus that episode where Mr PoopyButthole goes on a monologue about life and loving people while they’re here seemed like it may have been some sort of tribute.

[@gownerjones]

They also just did a bunch of diversity hires for the writing staff starting in season 3.

[@mikeexits]

@@gownerjones Yeah, it seems like a decent few things went relatively horribly wrong enough to derail the show's spirit and heart.

[@narufan987]

@@gownerjones the new writers might've also been influenced by the way the audience reacted to R&M. For example, a big part of the fandom sees Rick as an unstoppable force, a guy so smart that the show could introduce any concept they wanted and somehow Rick already knows how to deal with it, so from season 3 onwards he was always 10 steps ahead of everyone, and he pretty much became a caricature of what he was. Then in season 5 they overcorrected and nerfed Rick HARD

[@WhoWeBe-ro]

If that Mister PoopyButthole speech was a tribute than it was a self-indulgent one as the bulk of the speech wasn't about loving people while they are still around, but about the monstrous things one does to keep their loved ones from seeing that they are a monster & then leaving which honestly sounds like a problem that not everyone has & specifically sounded like more of Harmon's apology to Gantz where he just beats up on himself a lot instead of actually apologizing .. it still bothers me that she publicly called that a master-class in apologizing as he apologized for his thoughts & actions by just insulting every man whom can see a woman's worth without it having to equate to anything sexual or romantic. Hos apology also said nothing about why he allowed Chevy Chase to be blamed for his firing & as such people whom believed that can still believe that. If Chevy Chase is responsible then he reported Harmon attempting to exploit Gantz & that gives whole new context to the recordings of him yelling that Harmon thinks he is better than he is. I'm not looking for Harmon to admit that he was lucky to get his job back a couple years before #MeToo, but maybe address that he shouldn't be in a position to have authority over others since he can't treat people equally, but instead judges by the contents others bring to his pants. Whether by being brought to the same ends as Kevin Spacey or by just resigning himself & starting over in low positions until he has earned any authority he could exploit & technically get away without apologizing .. pretty sure Gantz felt she had to accept it for her career not to be jeopardized moving forward. I just can't believe that anyone would call that an apology let alone state that it should be an example of a good apology.

[@WhoWeBe-ro]

Whomever it was that liked my comment how Dan Harmon's apology not being an apology #NowThisTimeSayItLikeYouMeanIt I thank you deeply as crying about your mom not being a role model or not having a relationship with her is an excuse why you have mental blocks & is absolutely not an apology or even excuse for the actions you chose to make because you have a the limitation in your abilities to see individuals more than genders .. do you treat straight women the same as you do LGBTQ people .. is a straight woman closer in your mind to a homosexual male or a homosexual female & all of that is still just your limitations. Even if you meet another person named Chevy Chase you can't hold them to any of your opinions of the Chevy Chase that was on Community. You shouldn't judge anyone just off of what you think they are closer to & you definitely can't treat a whole group of people differently because you want to sleep with many members of that group .. being extra nice to all Asians just because you have a thing for Asians more than you do any other race .. not here to argue if only dating black men is racist as that is stupid to be exclusively into a body & just hope a decent mind is in one of those desired bodies & that you just happen to meet them & that they like you too .. shallow for sure, but whatever as long as no one gets fired over it I guess. Again there is no way that anyone should accept someone as old as Dan Harmon is to treat someone in an unprofessional manner just cause he gets erections when he thinks about them (nothing that Gantz did or could undo or was even necessarily aware of) & if he isn't old enough to separate his behaviour from his erections then he shouldn't have the authority of a show-runner & that is then masterful way to handle it - if you can't be a boss while having an erection & you can't control your erections then no matter how sorry you are or how much ratings drop - YOU CAN'T BE A BOSS & wouldn't it be nice if everyone whom can't be a boss just wasn't allowed to be a boss or allowed to stay a boss #NoMoreBadBosses

[@IvoryDelfin]

It still baffles me how the writers got so offended at fan feedback for their terrible decisions for the series that they literally had a Nazi Morty to represent and make fun of how the audience doesn't like what the show's putting out now with absolutely no subtlety or nuance. And that's all you get in recent seasons, petty "cynical" commentary that's just the writers acting smug about taking the show in a different direction no matter how much it suffers both in quality and in ratings. It really feels like the show hates you for being invested in it, every big reveal throughout the series is treated as nothing but a joke at the expense of the viewer, to the point where you become completely desensitized to the characters or the worlds they inhabit, they took their cynisism to the worst degree, as you now have no reason to care about the show at all, and nothing is reflecting this better than the ratings and the show's popularity, i mean God that season 5 finale had everything to be a smash hit and yet barely a week after it released noone was talking about it. They had lighting in a bottle and blew it with their ego, and it's sad that such a great show suffered because of it.

[@teriyaki_chick]

it’s very similar to how the Sherlock writers would commonly mock their dedicated viewers in the script. it’s honestly such a clear sign of an insecure show.

[@donutbevil9669]

"Everyone who disagrees with me is a Nazi" is already an exhausted deflection. Even as a joke, it's not funny.

[@stuglife5514]

@@donutbevil9669 Yea I was just about to say that. As someone who’s ethnically Germanic and had family in WW2, who works at living history events and stuff to teach people about the horrors of it and the real truth of who these people were so we never repeat it, it makes it REALLY fucking hard when everyone goes around calling everyone Nazis. It’s frustrating. Fuck, like for example, don’t get me wrong I didn’t like trumps attitude and I don’t like the hardcore right wing politics, just like I don’t like hardcore left wing politics. But trump and republicans weren’t Nazis, and the constant use of that word by people trying to simply discredit others when they can’t formulate a proper fair argument as to why their opposers are wrong devalues the word, so when real Nazis (Antifa) go marching around, people don’t see them for what they are. Nazis.

[@stuglife5514]

@@teriyaki_chick Yea, I never watched that show but I remember my friend in highschool stopped watching it, she was pissed with the show cuz she saw the jabs at the audience. Like, it’s was a fucking mystery show. Why would the show writers attack their fans for I dunno, partaking in the mystery?

[@Mars-dw2zc]

@@stuglife5514 wtf how are u getting mad at ppl slinging the word nazi around and then calling antifa nazis

[@ZachtheRobot]

Seasons 1&2: Well written comedies that had excellent story elements & character growth. Seasons 3-5: 99% of the episodes have turned the show to a terrible parody of itself.

[@AbrasiousProductions]

all this time i didn't wanna believe the decline was true.. but its getting harder to ignore. i didn't like at all how they handled rick meeting evil morty there was absolutely no tension no drama just a string of meta humor and a poorly executed somewhat half-assed backstory for rick instead of portraying it in a much more natural way it feels like the writers were just like "you wanna see rick's backstory? fine. here now leave me alone" (i can picture dan harmon saying that)

[@adararelgnel2695]

"A parody of itself" is an excellent way of deacribing it!! Thanks!

[@AbrasiousProductions]

@@adararelgnel2695 yeah it hurts and i also feel stupid for being so blind & deluded from the decline..

[@jaelonsanders5878]

Shit take. Seasons 1-2 were episodic and had little to NO character growth. They don't show evidence of changing between episodes. In my eyes they only started takings seriously after season 3. Citadel and Evil morty episodes alone are better than season 1-2.

[@jaelonsanders5878]

@@AbrasiousProductions there's no tension on ricks end because rick knows what's going to happen. These comments are honestly confusing to me cause you folks are acting like you went to film college or something and couldn't write anything that holds a candle to rick and morty.

[@jsheios4073]

I remember when I watched the series from the start again for the first time in a long time, the first two seasons felt like the out of character ones. I was so used to the rest of the show I completely forgot that the majority of the show is out of character. The first two seasons feel like a completely different thing

[@lilbubz2803]

For me it's just become too self aware. Breaking the fourth wall can be a funny little joke if used sparingly. But when every episode becomes "lol, isn't our show so silly?" it ruins any sense of immersion or investment in the story. And when I struggle to be invested in your story I struggle to be invested in your story driven jokes.

[@A68061]

The writer’s got so deep in their nihilism, their “nothing matters and nothing ever will matter”that the story stoped mattering. Or at least that’s how it comes across. Killed by their own Ideology.

[@dilboo]

Yeah, I watched season 5 with my friends and they were all very moved by the ending bc it had cool music. But like, who cares about this story that they only ever remember in the last episode of every season, when they spend the rest of the season saying how stupid canon is and how much they hate it and they wish wish could just make self contained stories by episode. Okay, then why did you guys introduce a through story anyway? Fucking dumb

[@retromixel]

Smiling friends had a character that was all about nihilisim & that character was held at gunpoint & the said: please don't kill me I don't wanna die....so in my personal opinion I think this is a joke at shows that use nihilism

[@kamikeserpentail3778]

I think the thing people don't get is that knowing that nothing matters in the grand scheme of things doesn't mean nothing matters to you on an individual level. When you dream, the people you meet in the dream don't really matter in the waking world. But during the dream they matter. I've had that conversation with ourselves before.

[@retromixel]

@@kamikeserpentail3778 so what really matters is how you feel & how your doing at the moment & even if nothing matters what matters is how your doing & that you can make your own meaning yes?

[@criticality2056]

It was interesting when the mask would slip a bit and you'd see that Rick actually does care and things do matter.

[@readintimely2517]

Let's not forget, that very episode where we get space Beth cameo. Was litteraly a bullshit one that implies that at any point.... we could be watching a different version of the family. In other words a bullshit way to say 'Any continuity you see not following what we're doing? Well that wasn't the same FAMILY.-" SO NOW you get stuck wondering what the POINT of that was. When they complain about continuity, wanting episodic episodes, YET BULL SHIT A WAY TO COVER YOUR ASS WITH CONTINUITY- I don't even know with this show anymore. Edit: to those missing my point, I won’t point fingers. my point is they are trying to have their cake and eat it too. They say they want episodic stuff. NOT one big story. But they make up a Jack all excuse for continuity. They are LATTERLY trying to have. BOTH. Yet complaining that they don’t want BOTH. Either make it be episodic, or be one continuous story.

[@jaelonsanders5878]

What do you mean "bull shit way to cover continuity"? It all makes sense in universe. This is literally like complaining that the story train episode had fucked up continuity. THAT IS THE POINT OF THESE THINGS GOING ON, and it also allows the audience to enjoy seeing the family battle royale each other without having to substantially change the whole show.

[@SImrobert2001]

Which is something I hated, as the creators have repeatedly said that we are seeing the adventures of the same family. Yet here we are, watching dozens of families all over the world, getting blown up and nothing happening to the world at large. The original family is even up in space. It could have been REALLY awesome to try and guess which is which, but we have had gingerbread families for the sake of funny. Robots for the sake of funny, with no real world explianation.

[@skalty9868]

@@jaelonsanders5878 even if it makes sense it does make watching the show feel pointless. Why keep up if it doesn’t matter?

[@jakhar5]

@@skalty9868 For entertainment? Things don’t have to matter to find them enjoyable, which the majority of the fan base can’t seem to grasp despite enjoying 2 seasons of absolute nonsense.

[@caramel9154]

@@jakhar5 people usually like things cause they matter to them, but if they're different people it's hard to tell

[@Halfendymion]

Rick: "I can do anything" Also Rick: "Well I can't cure death"

[@MASTEROFEVIL]

Fast forward and it turns out he can

[@cymes82]

Morty: "You're a smart guy" Rick: "...For you."

[@ovencake523]

annnnd then he later can cure death in a variety of ways. He literally clones the guy from froopyland. he clones himself after he dies with operation pheonix. he can get a perfect copy of a guy from an alternate dimension.

[@slXD100]

@@MASTEROFEVIL he can't cure it, just prevent it.

[@sephiroth0409]

Well yeah, both statements don't contradict each other, really. Death isn't something that can be cured, its not a disease or something. If you're smartphone runs out of battery, would consider charging it as "curing" it?

[@SmashingPichu]

The season 5 finale certainly leaves an opening to fix problems. There was finally a character that outsmarted Rick, all other Ricks are dead so he isn’t immortal anymore, and other worlds now exist that have smarter characters than Rick. Now if they can just fix his character development issues.

[@shawno8253]

It would be nice if all of the character development issues were fixed. Morty is very inconsistent, he goes from killing an entire civilization to being completely inept.

[@Have_A_Play]

heh 69 likes

[@Dongdaemun_27]

I don't think all the other Ricks are dead. Only the Ricksand Mortys that were at the citadel at that time died. If Rick Prime survived and wasn't there, surely there were other versions that were out doing their own thing.

[@EJthe24TH]

I mean, Rick being the "smartest man in the universe" there's nothing innately wrong with it for me. Because of the simple idea that he has the capacity to do things beyond what's possible because of his intelligence. But despite that, Rick is shown to lack the wisdom (mostly) that comes with being incredibly smart, especially of someone his age. That may be an issue to some but I'm rather indifferent to it.

[@Birdyboys]

Just sounds like bad writing to me

[@EJthe24TH]

@@Birdyboys Maybe, but I always had the suspicion that Rick was more than capable of doing the things he's done in Season 3 and onward. Seasons 1 and 2 probably never warranted him to go full science god

[@garbearfar1394]

I mean he is the smartest man in the universe. In the ricks universe, the one evil morty broke at the end of season 5. He was literally the smartest man in the accessable universe, the universes he trapped, but none the less.

[@kylebezden]

I agree. What really made it clear to me was Rick has always been a god. Since the episode where he goes to an alternate universe, it’s clear he has the ability to do anything he wants. Rick is a character that essentially is a fight between logical thinking, which has now been rendered almost inert, because of the immense power he has, and emotional connections he can’t get over For instance, why DOES he care about his family. All of them could die and then he could just go to an alternate universe, and nothing would change. The emotional connection they feel toward him would be the same. Does this mean that he’s less intelligent because he doesn’t pick the most easily available option to him. Why doesn’t he just solve all of his problems with this. It’s a be all end all. Any problem, solved, instantly. It doesent make since to me why he points out the illogic in Rick leaving the syringe that turns him human clearly visible, but doesent comment on the fact that there are a million easier ways of Rick handling this situation. Why doesent he just travel to a universe where Beth is just a better person that doesent need therapy? Or just, idk, clone himself, or send a robot, or replace the therapist with a clone that won’t bother him. Or, or, or, or, or. The point of pickle Rick, is that it’s really almost self resentment. He’s purposely putting himself in a dangerous situation, not because it’s anything close to a proper handling of the situation, but more probably because he hates himself. And this is just another small way of him self destructing. Rick IS the smartest person in the universe, it’s his emotional connection, and lack of care that prompts him to do EVERYTHING. Because if he really did just “logically think based on intelligence”, he would probably live an even more miserable life than he already does.

[@stuglife5514]

@@kylebezden I was gonna say something like you did but fuck you nailed it. I’m not a huge fan of the show, and have only watched it when my friends are watching it. But when it comes to rick, I’ve always seen his shitty decisions as self destructive and self sabatoging. Maybe it’s because I do that in my own life, but I don’t think it’s an inconsistency of his character, I think his insecurites and his self destructive tendacies actually add a bit a depth.

[@TheDigitalApple]

Season 5 for Rick and Morty is so different from the earlier seasons (obviously not in a good way). I swear for most of the season a lot of the characters became really shitty and cruel towards one another and I don’t mean the usual shitty and cruel way the characters talk, the Voltron parody episode is a prime example of this! The family acted really shitty towards Morty for no reason in that episode to the point i was hoping Matpat’s theory about how season 5 was actually the origin story of Evil Morty was true just so he could kill them all!

[@TheDigitalApple]

@Just Dope I swear to god I’m sick and tired of seeing fucking comment bots under my comment and they just so happen to be the first comment.

[@yoghurtlord1745]

I think the Voltron episode was the first time I watched a Rick and Morty episode and wondered when it was gonna end - at least the monster sperm episode kept me interested because of how awful it was and how out-of-character the characters were 😅

[@kameronjones7139]

Yeah it is becoming more like family guy where everyone is just flat out asshole to each other

[@ihaveanimeprofilepicsoisma3044]

@@yoghurtlord1745 I completely agree. Season 5 felt so sloppy and I would be a little lenient if it at least had some good jokes but too much of the jokes fell flat throughout this season. Especially certain recurring ones that went on for way too long, such as the baby one and meta humor

[@TheDigitalApple]

@@kameronjones7139 At this point I wouldn’t be surprised if Morty or Jerry just become the Meg of “Rick and Morty”

[@draakisback]

I fully believe that a big reason why this show is so inconsistent especially around season 3 is because it got so popular so quickly around that time. Before that it was just another adult swim show, not a part of the cultural zeitgeist. You can really see that the first two seasons almost had a "we might get cancelled at any time" type of feel to them, in the sense that they kept things tight because they didn't know when they would have to stop. From season 3 on, the show kind of leans into what it thinks the audience really wants to see; a unfeeling Rick and a cynical and jaded morty. I don't really have a problem with most of it because I never really watched this show for its serialized storylines. It is referential and there are small story lines that do pay off over multiple episodes but that's never really been the main focus of the show. The main precedent that they really set up in the first episode is that the show can really kind of go anywhere and do anything without much consequence to the characters. For the most part I think that's fine if the episode has a good conceit; for example, the vat of acid episode can almost be watched without any kind of knowledge of the previous seasons. In the episode itself there seems to be some major character growth for Morty specifically but that gets ignored in later episodes. In a way it almost feels like they're trying to do a sci-fi animated version of Seinfeld but they don't seem to be able to fully commit to that.

[@SirBlackReeds]

It also doesn't help that Dan Harmon is a belligerent drunk.

[@Truthorfib]

@@SirBlackReedsI think that kind of should help cause how are you supposed to write about one if you're not one?

[@EJD339]

@@Truthorfiblol I think he has enough experience to use for the rest of his life. Coming from someone who had a drinking problem for 6 years lol

[@MASTEROFEVIL]

So it's basically a science fiction version of Family Guy?

[@antman7673]

@@MASTEROFEVIL In a way it is. But the episodes are more coherent. (It is random like family guy, but the randomness does make sense)

[@vicvinegar2067]

It's always a gamble watching these channels. It's either going to be the most well researched video you've ever seen or a guy reading a wikipedia page. Happy to see it's the former in this case

[@dineez627]

Not only did he put in tons of effort for the video but this guys also a mind reader. How did he know season 3 made me quit rick and morty?

[@skywalker3360]

@@dineez627 rick and morty season 3 is the best one

[@moldman5694]

@@skywalker3360 **doesn't elaborate**

[@martymcfly88mph35]

@@dineez627 I quit after episode 1, show is cringe

[@thirdfound]

No

[@thegloriousryan8981]

I actually really like the whole thing of rick going into his car battery and finding someone just as smart as himself, because it in a way shows what happens when rick explores outside of the central finite curve (The spiral thing at the end of season 5)

[@simonsanchezkumrich8489]

Makes no sense, the battery was inside the CFC if i remember well

[@ChupaTHINGYXD]

@@simonsanchezkumrich8489 doesn't have to make sense it's a cartoon. Cartoons literally don't play by rules set in "sense".

[@simonsanchezkumrich8489]

@@ChupaTHINGYXD makes no sense saying it doesn't have to make sense, so then i can come up with any wacky hypothesis about R&M and justify it bc of that 🤔

[@cualquier6cosa]

@@simonsanchezkumrich8489 maybe is cause the mini universes were made after the infinite central thingy or cause they where contained inside a universe that fitted the requirements.

[@nomzz1]

@@simonsanchezkumrich8489 no but the CFC doesn’t include created universes. The micro verse that Rick made was entirely independent from the CFC making it possible for someone other than Rick to be the smartest person in the universe

[@rogerroger9952]

I didn't know why I lost interest in the show, but I'm glad someone could put my feelings into words. It's cathartic in a stupid sort of way lol. I was afraid I had lost interest because it had gotten popular, so it's good to know that my intuition was actually picking up on inconsistencies and not just "popular thing bad now."

[@as7river]

The one thing I can give RaM is that it is unique. It's not like any other show. It breaks the mold every chance it gets; both for better and for worse. I can appreciate focusing on staying original, even if it's just for the sake of it. It's not perfect, but it's good, borderline great.

[@TheSydnick]

i think it’s very telling that s.5 had everyone SO out of character that there was popular and widespread fan theory that we were actually following evil morty’s backstory and that the finale was going to reveal that. Which. Like. Would have been a MUCH better season arc and the season finale could have been relatively the same but stronger

[@deni4l164]

This quote felt personal to me. Dr.Wong: "You are the master of your universe, and yet you are dripping with rat blood and feces. Your enormous mind literally vegetating by your own hand." Intelligence and character growth are seperate things. Rick is portrayed as a scientific genius with the maturity of a 12 year old. There is so much more that he could be, but there he is, dripping with rat blood and feces because he tried to avoid going to therapy in the most unhealthy way possible, by turning himself into a pickle.

[@killmaidie6469]

Yea the video shit on Dr.Wong scene, but I remembered liking it as well.

[@TheSuperappelflap]

in my experience, going to therapy isnt a good thing for people who have half a brain, because the therapists dont have any. would turn myself into a pickle every time.

[@TheSuperappelflap]

@@deanjustdean7818 your problem here is that youre taking a comedic cartoon seriously. they wouldnt hire you because whatever you write wouldnt be funny.

[@alien0gamer139]

@@deanjustdean7818 I can't take either of you seriously

[@TheSuperappelflap]

@@deanjustdean7818 what, you think its hard to get a degree in psychology? hahaha. try getting a degree in any type of engineering, or actual medicine, thats a real job.

[@lazy7789]

I think the problem when attempting to nail “consistent canon” to the show is that there was the cloud creature that M killed. But it turned out that it’s not OUR M. We followed a different version of that family. And it got a sequel, the good memory parasite episode. There can be a through line between episodes if they’re consistent with past events, but I think they’re taking advantage of the idea that “the characters you’re following may not be the ones you started with.”

[@seditt5146]

how do ya know it wasn't our morty?

[@lazy7789]

@@seditt5146 at the beginning of the episode, they take a ticket with numbers that’s registered to the Jerry they dropped off. At the end, you can see the same numbers on that ticket on the “other” Rick and morty

[@kain6996]

@@lazy7789 ok do you see how you had an answer for that. Now do you see how just applying that theory to EVERY episode, or even multiple episodes that don’t have clear signifiers, is pretty much just an asspull to give them an out on inconsistent character development

[@AdamOwenBrowning]

Not sure what you're on about. The real key to "consistent cannon" is to set up a well-regulated line of men with clear and distinct jobs to hasten the reload time of each cannon.

[@SImrobert2001]

I'm not sure they are taking advantage to that at all. The show's creators have said, repeatedly, that we are following the same family over and over. Which just means that the write just can't write for R&M at all. ITs likely the complete lack of a signified writers room, and writers hammering out concepts, then writing them independently with no feedback.

[@EthanSchaner]

After I watched this I had to go back and watch seasons 1 and 2 again. It made me realize why everyone was obsessed with the show. It was so good. It's really depressing how far off that bar of quality so many of the episodes are nowadays.

[@starlined2351]

I always feel like I’m going insane as a fan of this show. This subreddit and many other groups related to the show are so “hush-hush” about criticism. I thought I was alone in being disappointed in the seasons following season 2. It feels like a completely different show. I only still watch for the brief glimpses it has of good writing . Like the Atlantis episode.

[@itspienoon7883]

Exactly, in fact, read the comments on this video. The fans coming in the defense that "lol it's just a cartoon stop watching it then, lol it's a comedy" are the same ones who would write essays ab how R&M is the most intelligent show in the universe and that u need a 400 level IQ to understand it. You wouldn't see this type of pettiness on a POSITIVE video feedback of R&M but bcus it's negative, fans are salty.

[@_Aemse]

bruh that episode is like the definition of jumping the shark - was riding the already dwindling DC hype about aquaman like years after the movie came out. (to lukewarm applause, i'll add)

[@Shenaldrac]

@@itspienoon7883 But... but IQ doesn't go above 200, that doesn't even make sense! Frikken hypothetical fanboys and their not understanding IQ tests...

[@KamikazeCommie501]

That what you get for using reddit. It's a dumpster of losers that think they're smart all circlejerking each other. Nothing constructive comes from there, they can only re-use what others create.

[@kernelparadigm]

reddit sucks.The mods banned me cause I critisized season 5 XD.

[@Laxhoop]

I kept saying to fans for years, up until season 3’s release: “Jerry is the key to this show proving it’s ACTUALLY different from other animated shows. Jerry could easily be turned into the show’s punching bag in season 3, he could easily become the Meg, the Squidward, etc. If the show can avoid just turning him into a punching bag, where nothing he does matters, and every other character unfairly looks down on him, then I can easily say that it’s great. The show did not avoid turning Jerry into a punching bag. In fact, it got REALLY bad. It got to the point where both of his kids just casually left him to get killed by an alien woman, because he slightly f*cked up, when not 5 episodes earlier, both Morty and Summer had caused their own respective genocides. The show went out of its way to condemn Jerry for slightly not O.K. actions, when every other character has done FAR worse.

[@nathanlevesque7812]

I feel like every character started getting the Jerry treatment so it seems kinda moot

[@Vilify3d]

I think the creators really wanted to drive home the point of to not be a pussy like Jerry to whereas Meg from family guy just gets shit on for existing.

[@LB-yg2br]

If you thought Jerry was the key, that HIS character was “what made it different”…ooph…I don’t even know where to begin untangling that Gordian knot

[@nathanlevesque7812]

@@LB-yg2br Literally anywhere would be fine

[@LB-yg2br]

@@nathanlevesque7812 ok, "slightly not O.K." actions??? He literally used his children as his "excuse" to break up with someone that he full well knew was a killer and thereby placed his own own life over theirs. LIke, your ENTIRE RANT was just so completely baffling disconnected from anything remotely resembling a rational thought. Thats just one of about a thousand things wrong with what you said. "We are all now dumber for having listened to you. I award you no points, and may god have mercy on your soul"

[@IanOPadrick]

To me, the problems are tied in well with the Citadel of Ricks. The show goes from "Mad Scientist and his grandchildren exploring a universe and all the horror that implies" to "it's all just this one guy in most if not every universe" and that's just a different show

[@Snuffsaid2007]

They actually explain this; Rick is only "the one guy" in a specific group of Universes they've called "the Central Finite Curve". Because of the existence of infinite Universes, there are an infinite number of Universes with no Ricks at all. This is why Evil Morty's goal was to break out of the Central Finite Curve and escape into the rest of the multiverse where he could be free of Ricks. Due to Rick's narcissism, all the Ricks are only interested in the tiny portion of the multiverse where they dominate everything.

[@IanOPadrick]

@@Snuffsaid2007 There being an in-universe reason doesn't make me like the dynamic. It's fiction, they could have written it differently

[@Snuffsaid2007]

@@IanOPadrick Ah, well sure, although I'd say it was only a "mad scientist and his grandchildren exploring a universe" for a few episodes of the first season, if ever. The presence of other Ricks is shown in episode 6 of season 1, and the Citadel Of Ricks is introduced in episode 10, so it's kind of never been the show you wanted it to be.

[@IanOPadrick]

@@Snuffsaid2007 Yeah, I feel like if they knew they'd get as many seasons as they wanted they would have rolled that out a little slower. But not every show has to be for everyone, and this one kinda isn't for me, at least not the episodes on the citadel

[@jakepierce1153]

@@IanOPadrickWho cares, the story is complex

[@FrogInShorts]

It's important to remember that just because Rick says something about himself that doesn't mean it's true. Like how he said he meant to take down the government from the inside. He contradicts his own actions with his words constantly. It's one of his biggest character traits.

[@LittleMizzJonas]

Thank you for saying this lol

[@WikterRor2807]

Yeah this isnt a płot hole, or a deconstruction of his story arc. He also didn't destroy the space gouverment because he know a new one will just pop out, with it being heavily focused on him😅

[@leileilei23]

yea i thought that same thing

[@acemagalor2519]

One point I’d like to kind of touch on is I feel like Rick didn’t top of the galactic federation before season 3 BECAUSE bird-person died: In the flashbacks that occur in season 5 It’s implied that Rick only joined the rebellion because he thought it was cool and fun and he wanted to have a ‘Star Wars’ as it were, So he put up with them for fun but after spoiling it by killing BP he Basically just gets pissed and tired of the bit so he destroys them

[@hammieli1875]

Exactly. He says to Space Beth that "everyone wants to take over the universe. The trick is to be left alone by whoever does." It's just that Birddude's death was too much for Rick to leave them alone.

[@JJ_Jonah]

So they only bothered to bring it up multiple seasons later.

[@andalilbitqueer]

@@JJ_Jonah yes, cause Rick is the most-closed off character in his universe lmao

[@jennifersanchezZ414]

Didn't he join the rebellion to help birdperson because he wanted that birsperson helps him to kill the ricks from the citadel?

[@therealfakecaptain7978]

I was entertained enough by S3 to not notice the inconsistencies, to me the decline in the writing was really noticeable in S4 though.

[@mikeexits]

Yeah, I personally thought parts of Season 4 were better than 3 but it was the most "mixed bag" season of any show I've seen. Season 5 felt like the baseline quality went up and didn't have as low of lows (except perhaps the obvious exception). I think my favorite newer episodes are the Vat of Acid one and the Story Train one.

[@OWlsfordshire]

People could 100% tell the massive drop in quality in season 3. That's when the show became meme based.

[@therealfakecaptain7978]

@@OWlsfordshire Well, I'm a bit slow you know.

[@KhaosAdmiral]

Honestly the episode of season 3 that got me to notice how bad the show got was the Vindicators episode, because to me it felt way too mean-spirited of an episode even by Rick and Morty's standards, also the fact that for a superhero parody it just feels immensely lazy and half-Assed.

[@MintyBlueNobody]

i'm glad i'm not the only one 😭i thoroughly enjoyed season 3 (i just rewatched it recently, too, and i still hold that belief), but i also don't watch r&m on the basis of it being "smart"

[@MS-sw6kx]

I thought the 'Smartest Man in the Universe' thing was properly solved in the season 5 finale where it was revealed that Rick has engineered himself to be the smartest man in the central finite curve, his version of the universe.

[@betozun8850]

Yeah it was stated he’s the dominant being in those universes so even if he’s not infallible he can still outsmart everyone else. I also don’t get how the other scientists on the micro and mini verse are proof that Rick isn’t the smartest man in the universe when they’re literally in another universe 😂

[@mikeexits]

@@betozun8850 ... Inside his universe. But yeah, I mean, they're basically their universe's version of Rick, with some life differences.

[@КровавыйОхотник-и6г]

What? When did it happen? Explain me pls

[@spencerstrunk6819]

No it 100 percent explains how it is impossible for Rick to be the smartest being in the universe

[@fortsechs]

It´s really depressing to see people arguing over whether or not Rick may be the smartest person in whatever amounts of universes when it´s absolutely clear that the writers´ idea was to characterize Rick as an extremely narcissistic person and to imply the concept of smartness to be equally questionable.

[@t4ngy]

the first 2 seasons were clearly planned out and meant to have a continuity. i think from then forward the goal was to produce fast as many episodes as possible without caring about continuity so people could watch on tv whenever they wanted. but by doing that they lost a lot of fans of the show who were willing to watch the development and continuity of the story. i feel like now people don't care that much about the show and they watch a few episodes here and there to have the references, but you rarely see people even talking about it. it became something like the simpsons really, you watch it sometimes when it's on tv, but you never really care about what is going on and the characters. also, it's easier to keep the status quo because people who are randomly watching on tv can laugh at the characters without knowing anything about them.

[@ovencake523]

they even explicitly say it: "rick and morty, 100 years" and then "9 more seasons" in the premire of episode 3 and the writing changed to fit that goal of every arc ending where it starts, and the status quo maintained. The death crystral episode even makes a joke about this, where a news anchor character says "as far as continunity goes, the reset buttons been hit" on some level, they know its bullshity logic, and with the tone of the show, it can roll with it. Its rick and morty

[@amirgarcia547]

I think the main issue with later seasons of Rick and Morty is that it’s suffering from a bit of an identity crisis. One portion of the show wants to be just a episodic show that has little to no connective tissue, much like the Simpsons or Family Guy, while the other half wants to be more serialized and have an overarching narrative with characters that actually grow and develop like in Avatar: The Last Airbender and Teen Titans. You can have both and make it work, much like in shows such as Adventure Time, Steven Universe and Gravity Falls, but Rick and Morty doesn’t since its main problem is pretty much getting a different writing team each season. This can work to inject new life in a show that’s been growing stale, but with different people handling these characters, they of course won’t write them in the same way. Which then leads into the inconsistency with their development and actions, as well as the entire reason this video and most of the umbrage with later Rick and Morty seasons exists. It’s a shame, since Rick and Morty had the potential to be one of the best modern adult cartoons, but I feel like it got too big and popular for its own good and so squandered said potential.

[@metalgearzwei]

“you can have both and make it work” *cites Steven Universe you might want to rethink that a bit

[@BBWahoo]

@@metalgearzwei Yeah, I like SU but God damn, rewatching it is just so jarring. It dropped the ball considerably in S3(Production)S5(Syndication)

[@amirgarcia547]

@@metalgearzwei Steven Universe has its issues, don’t get me wrong (especially in the later seasons), but I do genuinely thing it did a good job of balancing episodic content with more serialized content that added to the overarching plot.

[@nickgonzalez7114]

Yea you can do both. There's an infinite amount of universes so you can have a rick c-137 timeline and "random" episodes consisting of other rick and Mortys

[@jakeoswald8017]

The ironic thing is that the writers are aware enough of this inconsistency they’ve written themselves into (which is explicitly referenced in one of the last episodes of season 5) but is then never addressed beyond some half baked meta commentary

[@davidburnett5049]

Contrast this with Futurama, which has a fairly consistent group dynamic. Fry and Bender are best friends. Fry loves Leela. Generally the people care about each other to varying degrees. Regardless of how nihilistic and screwed up they can be, that still matters more often than not.

[@Rose_Bride]

I'm SO glad more people are coming forward with criticisms of this show. I LOVED this series during it's first 2 seasons. Season 3 was "okay", but just as you pointed out,what _really_ made it great was episode 7. (When Evil Morty™ became president over the citidel) Ultimately, season 5 felt like the writers just sort of rolled their eyes and were like, _"let's just get this whole Evil Morty/citidel thing out the way so folks stop talking about it, already."_ 🙄I also dislike the way the writers kept insulting fans for liking Evil Morty and wanting more of his story rather than the rando "one and done" style eps Dan Harmon favors for whatever reason. I *NEVER* understood his reasoning, honestly. All the "best" _Rick and Morty_ episodes happen to be either the ones about Rick's past or when he is interacting with someone FROM his past. The random episodes just sort of feel like filler to me... interesting to see every once in a while, but ultimately useless. I can't speak for anyone else, but to be honest, after a certain point, my whole purpose of watching the show was to learn more about Rick and his mysterious past. I feel like part of the reason Dan Harmon became so frustrated, resentful, and angry at fans was due to pressure. With such increased focus on the show, there was an _immense_ amount of pressure to make Rick's mysterious past live up to the hype fans had built in their heads over the years. Harmon likely felt that he would never be able to live up to that. As an artist and storyteller myself, I can *100%* sympathize (if that's the case). But where he lost me is the *CONSTANT* insults, the *PRETENTIOUS* in-universe eye rolls and *CONDENSATION* from characters directed _solely_ at the audience. We _'get'_ it; you prefer "one and done" style episodes to ones with on-going storylines. But the issue is that your filler eps are usually *BORING,* *STUPID,* and actually *REGRESS* the characters! The _Voltron_ episode as well as the _$perm Baby/horse people_ thing was super WEIRD, super CRINGE, and felt like the writers were trying too hard to appear random and "edgy". In fact, it didn't even _feel_ like _Rick and Morty;_ it felt like an episode of _South Park._ And the finale of episode 5 was SUCH a let down. Harmon clearly wants to write a different show than what _Rick and Morty_ is. He is fine with completely destroying the characters, and when people criticize him for it, he just acts like we're not "intelligent enough" to understand. 🙄 In all, I don't plan on watching any further seasons. I can see why Justin Roiland jumped ship. Unfortunately for Harmon, Roiland seems to have taken all the shows best writers with him to work on _Solar Opposites,_ so...

[@Shalayah2010]

"your filler eps are usually BORING, STUPID, and actually REGRESS the characters" ... I totally agree! Your so right, the $perm baby/horse episode was super cringe and weird. Also it seemed like a duplicate storyline from season 1, episode 7 when Morty had a son with a Gazorpazorp. Season 5 was very underwhelming and has no replay value.

[@leyvadira]

THIS! SO MUCH THIS! I was so interested in Evil Morty and wanted to see where the story would go with him and the Citadel so it really felt bad to see the show make fun and insult that hype! I even saw comments of fans making fun of other fans who wanted to see Evil Morty, like ???? what's wrong with that, he was an intriguing character since his first appearance, you can't tell me you didn't want to see more of him when that episode ended, lol

[@ExplosiveDevil]

Rick went from a "quirky grandpa struggling to deal with his own feelings" to "that one always edgy, sarcastic, douche that is always trying to be different cause everything is beneath them." I'm hoping in Season 7 we get to see the slow return of Rick's old season 2 personality.

[@jocelynsmyth6604]

Yeah I haven't watched the show for years, so exactly this reason... the show changed, and that's fine, but it lost ita charm and I don't have enough time in the day for something I don't like anymore

[@matty_isthemotto]

I got bad news for you

[@billystanford275]

Its on season 7???? I last heard of it on 3 and nothing since 😂

[@fraserthomson5766]

S7 is utterly lame beyond words I'm afraid. It's like they're all on Xanax.

[@simonsanchezkumrich8489]

@@fraserthomson5766 yep, r&m is dead for me, s6 got some improvements but still felt off, this s7 was an embarrasment

[@ShadyDoorags]

I always thought Rick was making up the fact that wasn't just winging everything at the beginning of season 3. He actually did have selfless reasons, he just didn't want to admit it and ceased an opportunity when he saw it. Good gravy, do I hate EVERYTHING involving giant incest baby.

[@somethingfunny666]

Why did you have to put gravy and baby in the same sentence smh.

[@lilyclair]

i totally agree, i didn’t see that as a plot hole i just always assumed his motivations were genuine in 2x10 then while in prison he realized he can’t go down like this and then improvised his way through 3x01, and then lied to everyone saying it was his plan all along. seems very rick to me.

[@armouredjester1622]

I didn't think incest baby was as bad as the Thanksgiving episode, but you know, that WAS a bad story. You gonna do Rick and Morty longform, or nah?

[@lilyclair]

@@armouredjester1622 THANK YOU! i found the thanksgiving episode much worse than the sperm one actually lol (i think the dragon one is worse too honestly)

[@armouredjester1622]

@@lilyclair dragon episode, if you ask me, was a good premise, but piss poor execution. Literally the only bit that stands out in my memory(drunk as I am at the moment) is "OH FUCK, MY FUCKING EYE" I'm disappointed with where the series went. I really had hope for this show, man. I don't honestly know of it was the writers or the rest of the fanbase that ruined it. There was real promise in the first couple seasons, but it was just pissed into the wind.

[@_toulouse]

Something that bothers me about the show’s writing, especially in the later seasons, is that they have a hard time writing good episodes that explore Jerry and Morty psychologically. They have no issue with exploring Summer, Beth, and Rick’s psyches’ more vulnerable sides without making fun of them, but Jerry and Morty - the softer members - are there to react or go along with antics rather than have actualized characterizations. I mean, they had Rick be the one to realize his dynamic with his grandson was toxic; they didn’t give Morty a chance to conclude that with introspection on his own. Instead, Morty pathetically chases after Rick. Morty had more personality in season 1; he felt like an actual kid.

[@aletanook]

I really wish that there was more episodes that explore the characters flaws and their motivations and how they grow from them rather than just having them being moody and shitty for no reason whatsoever. I think one of the few times where Morty had some sort of depth and flaw exploration was the fart episode and that's pretty much the only one off the top of my head. I'm tired now so I can't think of any more.

[@micahcook2408]

I find Roiland, with the two animated shows he has right now, loves the in between of change and stagnation. Those elements exist in Solar Opposites as well but I’m afraid in S2 or 3, the same problems repeating due to the fact Korvo’s main obj is to get the ship running so they can leave or with the Pupa restarting Planet Earth into their planet with him loving mini adventures so idk 🤷🏾

[@kamikeserpentail3778]

Being the typically weaker members, they're often used for them to explore the other side of them. Like Morty going full genocide in that wine episode, or Jerry refusing Ricks help when he was floating way up there and could end up dying.

[@AdoptingYoishis]

I think the funniest thing to come of the later seasons inconsistency was the fan theory that the rick and morty we were following werent the rick and morty we knew purely because they were written so poorly

[@c.nelson3747]

It takes a really special kind of fall from grace to drive the fans of your show to make such an insane excuse for you lol. This reminds me of that "secret fourth episode" of BBC's Sherlock that was supposed to be REALLY good to make up for how bad the season had been up to that point.

[@kenyonelliott2628]

I too thought that same thing. Does seem like the show just enjoys trolling the fans

[@thetommyshades5347]

What I've realized about Rick and Morty is it distracts you from the bad writing by using a couple of tricks. Being constantly meta, fourth wall breaking and parodying everything with this nihilistic tone which tricks you into thinking the show is clever. On another related note I think we as an audience tolerate this bad writing because it's so bloody prevalent. It's everywhere in our media that I think we're just numb to it and it's making us dumber.

[@realdragon]

There have been few episodes that are just confusing like time train. I also got confused with snake episode because a lot happened there and with additional time travel everything became just chaotic

[@Bloodhoven]

@@realdragon which was literally the point of the episode. there's no deeper subtext to it.

[@realdragon]

@@Bloodhoven Well I don't like it. They have serious issue because one time they have an actual story and one time they have this. They should decide what they want to do because they clearly don't know

[@tylarjackson7928]

​@@realdragonI actually really like both of those episodes, but I get your point. Honestly, the show is a lot like baseball to me: sometimes you get hit a home run, and sometimes you strike out. Sometimes you get beaned right in the ball sack. But hey, at least you're playing baseball. Which doesn't really apply to me because I hate baseball, but the point still stands. I think.

[@dr4gonstear]

Do you know what I'm actually numb too? Everyone having a "this show sucks" attitudes to shows they just don't like anymore. Disney Star Wars sucks: "Rey Skywalker", except when it doesn't: "Andor". You're allowed to just stop watching a show/movie, and move on with your life. There are literally hundreds of new shows a month. Go find something you like.

[@gringochucha]

One of the big things about the first seasons was that, although he pretends not to care about anything, Rick does ultimately care about certain things, including his family and his best friend Birdperson, for example. In season 4 they seemed to do away with that and make him really not care about anything. That's when I as a viewer stopped caring as well.

[@jammygamer8961]

i really disliked the season 4 heist episode

[@TerryPlays]

Season 5 finale proves that rick cares about family

[@Grandof-the-PentastarAlignment]

@Comp This is the truth. No creator cares until the moment where they get money upfront. The business is unforgiveable but when this is how creators and writers react when they are given an opportunity it is the hell they deserve. Same thing happened with Legend of Korra.

[@blkgardner]

In season 1, Rick casually abandoned Beth and Summer, and in season 5, it is mentioned that Rick's original Beth is dead, presumably dying in childhood. Rick does not care about anything because nothing is truly "real" to him, as he has an infinite number of possible alternative families. He does 'care' about his family, but he is aware that they are not 'real' from his perspective. From Rick's perspective, caring about his family is in fact a vice. His concern for them is not out of love of them as people, but an immature loneliness. He knows that he has better things to do than hang around his fake family.

[@SoloDoloToker]

Yep I think the first 3 seasons are great. Season 4 tho... sigh.

[@animewatcher14]

I always thought the show was fun and that's all that really mattered to me and while this video doesn't change my opinion I can definitely see where people with your mindset are coming from. Excellent analysis though

[@erikstrickland96]

Same here. I understand his points but I guess I never took Rick and morty as seriously due to the nihilism.

[@andrejsf]

Same here and I guess subconsciously my brain found reasons for the inconsistencies. Rick's character changes are purely from his craziness, paranoïa, drunkeness and PTSD, and Morty inconsistencies is the result of PTSD from his early adventures and having Rick as a rolemodel. For example Rick's change of motives from S2 to S3 would be him thinking "wtf am I doing this is not me" after some time in isolation and actually using his intelligence to turn the situation around to fit more what he would think himself to be more in character. For what is of being the smartest man in the universe, I guess Evil Morty explains it at the end of S5. Each Rick in the Central Final Curb is the smartest man on their respective univers, but Rick's tend to change universes and it isn't clear that they would be the smartest person in the univers they jumped to. Therefore you feel that C137 may lack some smartness against certain situations and also why Dumb Rick that befriends Jerry or Slow Rick, I mean hmmm Tall Morty exist. Because in their univers they would be the smartest. Anyways S6 looks looks promising and I'm excited to see what's coming from it.

[@sarahthomas8670]

@@erikstrickland96 ily

[@pdpUU]

The pacing seemed to get faster in later seasons! I think concepts and jokes had more room to breathe in earlier seasons. There were longer pauses on character reactions, letting things land better. Plots were more straightforward, which let the characters be the chaos. In season 5 the jokes are stepping all over each other! I couldn’t laugh at anything bc taking two seconds to think “that was funny” means missing the next joke and plot point. The plots are more convoluted so the characters blend into the noise. I think they need to slow it down. I want a beat or two to feel it, take it in. I want to spend some time in this silly world for 20 minutes, not feel dragged through it.

[@aletanook]

And also, have Rick figure things out on his own instead of pulling a laser shield out of his ass to fix everything.

[@Boonk29]

In hindsight, I believe that Rick’s season 2 character development should’ve been introduced at the end of season 6. It’s disappointing to see his character regression in 301 but it’s understandable as to why they did it. The show had become massively popular and they needed to milk the show as much as possible. They had to regress Rick back to his major character flaws, so that they can emulate more of the random season 1 shenanigans.

[@Howesenberg]

The part where you talk about Rick being fun to party with but then no one wants to know him further was amazingly well put, I never thought of his struggles to fit in with crowds like that. I've watched this vid a few times and keep discovering different parts I like about it

[@ravindupadmanath2802]

It's all fun and games until JUST STOP puts a BOX with TEXT on a character's eyes

[@destroyerofturtles5024]

Oh shit, now it’s serious.

[@somerandomnesspoo8467]

I don't necessarily mind Rick being the smartest ever, so as long as he's not treated like an invincible swiss army knife god by the show. He needs to stay at a consistent power level where his ass can be kicked by demigods.

[@timgray1664]

I preferred it when Rick was simply a smart, weird depressed old man doing wacky stuff with Morty rather then him being invincible Jesus who is the smartest man ever to have lived. The change coincided with the show believing it was the smartest show out there too after season 2 as well.

[@ShhEchoes]

@@timgray1664 no YOU believed it to be the smartest show

[@timgray1664]

@@ShhEchoes I really didn't

[@mobiusbelts3607]

Rick outsmarted & physically destroyed the devil in the 1st season; where did your expectations of Rick not being invincible ever come from???

[@islandboy9381]

@@timgray1664 He was already nigh invincible in season 1, that's what makes the Morty Love Potion episode so effective is realizing just how ominpotent Rick is with being able to go from universe to universe and how that makes you see his viewpoint for just a moment, it's the only possible way to justify in-universe why the show is episodic in nature most of the time. The difference in season 1 and 2 is Rick tried his utmost to keep everyone else from thinking about it too hard until actual consequences to his actions started to happen.

[@donny8619]

There are two consistancies with the show: Nazis and incest. Seriously go ahead and count how many times they’re brought up or referenced.

[@oldoutlet6946]

Rick goes from being treated like a human to being treated like a god to the writers. The issue with this is most (if not everyone) can relate to a human who shares understandable flaws while practically no one can relate to an all-powerful being who only chooses to be in complete control of everything when necessary for writing convenience. Granted that's not to say god characters can't be relatable and enjoyable so long as they have a sense of weakness and that it's clear what they are and aren't capable of. Post season 2 Rick, like the video stated, is completely inconsistent with this.

[@kalleroseworld1919]

yeah thats my biggest problem with rick. sometimes hes naive and almost idiotic and the next minute hes god who doesnt make mistakes and knows everything, whatever fits their narrative in at that point. thats just lazy tbh

[@UberDragon]

Rick becoming too powerful is my main issue with the series. It's definitely difficult to explain the inconsistency of the characters decision making away, but I could live with it (mainly because I got used to it from many other shows), if it weren't for the fact that the show has made it literally impossible for me to believe anything has any stakes at any point. Also I don't understand why apparently in modern show making it's the "new and cool thing" to hate on any sort of serialization and only embrace episodic plots. Southpark, which I still love, had its best seasons, when they built up toward something for an entire season. Rick and Morty has its best episodes, when it explores the topics that affect more than just one episode. Yet somehow the makers of both shows apparently hate doing it.

[@jammygamer8961]

"Yet somehow the makers of both shows apparently hate doing it." Because writing a good story is much harder than writing a good 10 minute episode. And currently Rick and Morty can't even do a good 10 minute episode

[@jamesblake5176]

south park has always been meh to me, because of the mainly episodic plots based on popular politics or situations of the times. i've always felt that consistent world/universe building was the greatest asset of animated shows like the simpsons, family guy, and south park, and when they leaned in to that it made for the best story telling. Rick and Morty did a great job of creating a multiverse for itself, only to fail to really use it in a compelling manner. There's good call backs once in a while, but this last season really felt lackluster compared to previous seasons.

[@UberDragon]

@Comp "indefensible trash", alright, okay buddy you have your strong opinion if that suits you.

[@miks301]

Bro southpark really dropped the ball with the 2016 election season

[@dylansharp8471]

That don't sound right.

[@francisboio]

As a fan of the early seasons I kinda agree with you, after season 2 the show started to go downhill, but I actually liked the Season 3. The part that disappointed me was in Seasons 4 and 5, I mean it's just random stuff that is put once or twice but then not considered anymore, for example I wanted Space Beth to appear more in the series but after Season 4's finale appeared once in "Mortyplicity" and indirectly mentioned in the Bird person's memories episode. That's a shame honestly because I still like the show

[@timgray1664]

After the first 2 seasons I feel like the show's tone shifted to being aware of how big it is, and just didn't feel quite the same to me. I don't want to watch something that feels like it spends half of it's episodes scolding you for trying to enjoy yourself. That being said, it is still capable of being excellent TV, the first episode of season 5 was the best in a while for me. It was so funny, fast-paced and tightly written.

[@francisboio]

@@timgray1664 I don't deny that Season 4 and 5 had good episodes for example I liked the Death Crystal episode and the heist one in Season 4 and in Season 5 I liked the Narnia episode, the Planetina's one and the finale (even if it felt a bit rushed) but those seasons felt like less interesting than the early ones. Sorry if my English is not the best, it's not my mother language

[@kirin1230]

I liked the first episode of season 3 but the rest was a mixed bag. I hated season 4a but honestly, once 4b came out I grew to really like it. It was still a mixed bag but 4b was very good imho. 5 was a mixed bag but somehow worse... They're trying to have their cake and eat it too.

[@francisboio]

@@kirin1230 I agree, also I can't stand the overuse of gore scenes because gore=funny. Also Invincible has gore but at least it was put to represent realistic violence in fight scenes not for laughs like "Hey look that guy turned into a bloody mess"

[@notmocka]

Yeah I liked third season, many of the over/under powered criticism could be explained as references, gags, or rule of cool (And if you want to go about that, how is someone who literally created a portable gun that accesses the multiverse at will also think mantises are the fix for hornyness tHaTs iNcOnsIsTeNcE)

[@aoric]

Season 3 makes the most sense to me because its the best illustration of my struggles with alcohol and human connection. All my feelings, ideas, and motivations are fleeting and situationally specific to my environment. Varying degrees of intellect, vulnerability, and optimistic naivety are a direct reflection of who I am as a person. Season 3 was a great representation of what life is like with someone who suffers from poor mental health/substance abuse. So the character consistency for me was at its best for season 3.The way Just Stop feels about season 3 though is how I feel about everything after season 3....

[@elementalscreator10]

508 and the S5 finale is what made me despise the writing for the show. The show makes it seem like they shouldn't be making these mistakes. The worst part of it now is that we have no clue if Rick's gang can cross the multiverse. To make that even worse, Birdperson's "memories" (because we have no idea if he's from Rick's original universe) pretty much told us that Birdperson isn't the type to cross the multiverse. So now, Rick's memories are wildly inconsistent. To Try and Put simply: Our Rick is from universe A. Where his wife and daughter died. Our Morty is Universe B. Both left Uni B after the kronenberg incident. Universe C: The Season 1 finale is when we get the first instance of Rick's gang. Are they from Universe C? Do they have the same backstory as Uni A? How, if the Uni C Rick didn't lose his family and hasn't been through the same grief? A show that tries to come off this smart shouldn't have such a big hole.

[@francisboio]

I think is even more confusing because they had to change the universe again in third season for the squirrels thing shown in "Morty Mind Blowers"

[@elementalscreator10]

@@francisboio somewhat, but that is treated more like a filler episode (it could've technically still happen before the s1 finale)

[@AZAtro2648]

My theory is Battle of Blood Ridge took place in Universe C, with Birdperson from C and Rick A. The Rick that lives in C with Morty C had a different past, Rick was just an absent father, like how Beth A was, saying her Rick left her and Diane and came back into their lives. Rick C and his Morty fixed everything and died, only for Rick A and Morty B to take their places.

[@ZenKrio]

Honestly I don't know why this is so hard for people to understand. When Rick does jump to a different universe with Morty, it's usually one that is exactly like his in every single way except his Rick died at the moment he replaced them, they literally show this in season one, so it isn't hard to understand that Birdperson or anyone elses memories are exactly the same... Rick chooses a reality that caters to that, or he's able to create one of those splits in reality where his basically prestiges himself like he had Morty do in the vat episode... I dunno why others don't see how easy this is...

[@elementalscreator10]

@@ZenKrio Here's the main difference, Billy. Our Rick never had his own Morty, because Beth and Diane died. And in 508, he asks Birdperson if he would want to go universe hopping with him. He tells him NO. Our Rick has been the only one to universe hop. A timeline without Rick's family is going to be very different from one with it. Especially since the reasoning for going on his initial revenge quest is entirely different. Timeline theory isn't hard to figure out.

[@coffeemaenad7455]

I agree with so much of this. And I wanna talk about Jerry, lol. I liked early Jerry. It seemed pretty obvious to me up until s3 that he was being pretty reasonable, in not wanting his children to be placed in mortal danger repeatedly so his father-in-law can exploit his wife's abandonment issues for his own benefit. Said father-in-law being responsible for those issues in the first place. Like, that's very understandable, anyone would feel the same! Then I saw loads of fans hating on him, and its like "Oh, you're literally only looking at this from Rick's perspective, whatever". But then the show started doing it too, and that marks where my interest in it faded. Rick should think Jerry's an irredeemable piece of shit because Jerry makes him feel bad about himself and he doesn't want to confront any of that. That shouldn't be the same thing as it being objectively true! But we've slid from Rick being another character in a world full of other people with their own lives and perspectives, to kind of a world where he often feels like the only character. And that's boring.

[@micahcook2408]

I guess that’s why I liked Dr Wong because she was the mouthpiece for that in a way? To make us realize Rick feels bad about himself underneath all the cynicism and other people’s responsibility (over his own) or aloofness make him feel shitty? HOWEVER, I do agree with Braxton when he said we already know that about him and it’d be better for actual recurring characters to state those thoughts again, not “one offs”… I guess since I’ve watched this series from High School (2014-15 iirc) all the way through Covid (I’m in my 20s now), the episodes and the specific dialogue can become a blur and you can forget if Rick or any other character has stated how pitiful he is since their flanderizations… cause honestly? All you tend to remember is the flanderinzing personalities when thinking back on a series and how it fell off (Shameless comes to mind).

[@sauerkrautlanguage]

In a lot of ways they made Rick's perspective to become the main perspective of the writing irself for some reason. It's also why the "smartest man in the universe" extended not to Rick's own conception of himself but that of other characters as well, and why the characters started becoming so unbearably cynical like Rick at his worst. They literally let the character consume the show itself, and distorted him in the process

[@robb8991]

You think waaay to hard about a cartoon man. That's the problem. Also once you bang a space alien after you an your wife separated an get back together. A lot of shit don't matter anymore.. Did I mention this is a spoof sci-fi cartoon?

[@milkman4743]

@@sauerkrautlanguage that's such an amazing point, it's like they all lost their personalities and became Rick

[@yo-sv7nu]

Bro this comment is a chefs kiss

[@Zilkenian_Davenport]

The comics (sometimes) give Rick some much needed character development (although you need to differentiate the comics that follow the series canon, and the ones that follow the comics canon). In the mini series "Rick and Morty Go To Hell" (which I think follow the cartoon canon), Rick tells Morty about legacy and what everyone leaves behind when they're gone. He doesn't outright say it, but it's indirectly told that his legacy is, in fact, Morty, and he's preparing his grandson for when he's no longer around. That also indicates that he's aware of his own time and how much he has left to live. I only wish they would put that in the cartoon and not in a secondary type of media. Also, if you wanna read the comics, keep in mind that those that are numbered follow their own canon and universe (which is a twin universe to C-137, funny enough). Cartoon canon comics are more the ones called "Rick and Morty Presents", as well as "Ever After" and "Worlds Apart".

[@nelmae6026]

I liked the Rick from Rick and Morty: Ever After. He isn't as condescending or dislikeable compared to C-137 from recent seasons of the show. The comic exploring magic systems further was definitely interesting to me and the character designs looked good there, especially from the side characters. Personally, I think it's better than the Dragon Orgy episode 😅

[@Zilkenian_Davenport]

@@nelmae6026 Right? Also, in the comic "Worlds apart", they managed to make a better story for the slut dragons (sigh...) without as many sexual tones and just using any sexual name for puns and nothing else.

[@Lumberjack_Linnie]

I stopped caring about Rick and Morty when I said S3 sucks and someone unironically replied: "I bet, you don't even have an IQ of 150." Yes, I am too stupid to understand a show that thinks it's way smarter than it actually is.

[@SpellboundWolf]

This is an excellent episode. I really appreciate KZbinrs that will take the time to analyze & openly talk about things such as TV shows & their characters in such critical & detailed ways. Think deeper about the shows you watch, folks. It's fun.

[@Heidegaff]

My point of no return for R&M is when they started to address Rick as "the smartest guy of any universe". Before that, he was smart, but still human, vulnerable physically, and fundamentally a broken person. Then fans started calling him the smartest guy in the universe, and the writers followed the fans. Now Rick is left to be basically an almighty god who can't be killed and is hard to justify in any situation of danger, and the part where he's a lonely alcoholic incapable of demonstrating love who suffers from his mortal and irrational condition of human being is left in a drawer to rot. EDIT: Yeah I made this comment BEFORE getting to the part where Braxton says this exact same thing. Kinda happens when you make a one hour long video. Glad to see I'm not the only one hating this.

[@noxus158]

After the last season ending it turns out there are others who are smarter and stronger

[@islandboy9381]

Rick was already omnipotent the moment multiple universe travel started to get introduced in season 1

[@Baker.Matthew]

Rick dies all the time.

[@wolfofwarframe3807]

Doesnt that make sense with the S5 Finite Curve explanation? Rick is the smartest, because he didnt allow other beings than Rick being the smartest? Didnt he do that to track the Rick who killed his original family? There are plenty things the show does wrong, but making Rick the smartest being in any universe (that exists in the Finite Curve of course) isnt what I would count as a point of no return.

[@rj3817]

This is so crazy bc i was just talking to my roommate the other night about how I couldn't get pasy season 3 of rick and morty bc the characters got super inconsistent and she blew it off as me not understanding the genius in Rick's character. "He's a broken man!!" Nah it's a broken show idk wtf happened after season 3

[@DodgeThatAttack]

I feel like for the first 2 seasons the show was actually going somewhere and developing their characters, whereas after season 3, they keep _pretending_ to do something, only to roll it back so the show can keep existing. it even seems like the show wants to make fun of the idea of development, which just makes it seem like its intentionally abandoning what it started out as in service of silly gags, internet references and a long drawn out plot to string the viewers along for as many new seasons as possible

[@aregularfan7506]

I got into rick and morty before the third season, around 2016 and I loved the first two seasons. I was really excited for the third season, like a lot of people, only to be left with just disappointment, so much so that I stopped having interest in the show until I rewatched it recently and saw the newer seasons, only to feel very indifferent. The original show I really enjoyed felt completely gone after the second season but I could never really pin point why. The points you made in this video perfectly sum up the reasons that I couldn’t put my finger on. It’s such a shame to see what a genuinely great show with a very good sense of humor and characters has become, but here’s hoping for the best.

[@sadako24]

Same here. Season 3 very quickly soured my excitement and just left me baffled at what was suddenly going wrong with the show.

[@sadako24]

@Moody Fuck It was just a horrible season, and I really wasn't expecting it to be. I was used to the show being solid, and at first when I was left disappointed by Rickmancing the Stone and Pickle Rick, I just hoped they had been a few one-off bad episodes and the next would be back up to quality, but it slowly dawned on me that this was turning into a horrible run. By the finale I just couldn't believe the mindless nonsense the show had degenerated into. I think for some fans, if it's got the look, attitude and memeology of the show then that's enough for them. But I think that's the problem. It turned into a show that was all about finding any excuse to contrive moments of hollow fanservice and gratuitous violence for its own sake, simply because the makers thought that was what was expected of the show now (and a lot of fans ate it up). It was no longer about good storytelling or cause and effect. When fans say R&M is an intelligent show, I think at best it was a shrewd show that knew how to draw the audience in and how to sucker-punch them. Series 3 just felt like the creators indulging themselves and showing off. Often not knowing when to stop. If Pickle Rick had just been its first three minutes, it would've worked great as a short or a non sequitor, but it just felt like they were trying to conjure the rest of it all out of nowhere. Ditto with the finale, with Beth's panic about whether she's a clone or not, and Rick's stupid feud with the President. In short, I think when it comes to Series 3, a lot of fans don't seem to get the difference between being clever and just being smart-arsed.

[@luan28martins4]

I actually like the therapist, because the way she easily explain Ricky's way of thinking subverts how he is so arrogant. Like, he claims he's the smartest man in the universe, and, somehow doesn't has the emotional maturity to figure out something the therapist realizes instantly.

[@oO_ox_O]

"Show, don't tell" would have been much more powerful.

[@wavebuilder14udc75]

@@oO_ox_O thats a part of the joke. Rick hates therapists for the exact reason we all hate the therapist scene. The whole point is that the therapist is right and has to make a boring explanation of her perception of their life. Thats the whole joke.

[@diobrando5896]

@@wavebuilder14udc75 nah its just shit.

[@wavebuilder14udc75]

@@diobrando5896 well we all have our own opinions

[@TheSuperappelflap]

thats because therapists just make stuff up based on first impressions and casual observations and have a huge amount of equally made up "scientific" literature that cannot be reproduced that they can use to argue literally any point they want to make. but the only goal really is to convince you that you have problems and need to pay the therapist more money to get better. ricks attitude towards therapists is the only healthy attitude towards therapists. i would trust a lawyer before i trust a therapists. at least lawyers know that laws are made up.

[@chrisghorayeb9393]

my personal theory is the episodes where he's super powerful is him sober. season 1&2 he was drunk a lot but after spending time in space prison he sobers up which is why he's able to take down the government. as to why he didn't do it before is because it wasn't worth it to him. only after they killed someone he truly cared about he was out for revenge not for his own personal benefit. also a lot of people overlook that after the jerryboree it is a jerry from a different universe. this explains why he's so diffrent to season 1&2 because hes a diffrent person the story train isn't rick hes beatable because the rick we see isnt real. it's a simple product that morty bought from the citadel of ricks

[@JoseRamirez-dv5uo]

sobreity doesn't just end like that, in fact it gets worse.. PAWS (post acute withdrawal symptoms) can last years, aka bad memory, shakes, withdrawal symptoms can hit u at any time, it can last years, decades even depending how much u used and for how long.. he would've done better drunk is what im saying.. cuz ur brain is working a certain way while on alcohol, its made new pathways, when u stop using, ur brai is now using pathways it hasn't used in a long time, making u slower, and its harder...

[@chrisghorayeb9393]

@@JoseRamirez-dv5uo except he's cybernetically upgraded to the point he's pretty much a cyborg, besides he was in space prison long enough for society to completely flip on itself and jerry to get promoted 200 times

[@caramel9154]

I'm kinda disappointed the show didn't take the bojack horseman route where it started out as weird but found its way into mental health topics, as doing that with a character like rick would've probably helped a lot of the fans of the show with how they act. With his depressive states every so often I thought they were setting up for it. Like when he sobered up he couldn't handle the guilt of what a shit person he was but 'eventually', I thought, 'he'll surely dig his heels in and start working on himself to a degree!' 'Maybe he'd open up why the way he was naturally and we'd find out some actual stuff about him- like what if he was just the one rick who was regular and felt spiteful no one else respected him?' but alas, I was fucking naïve to think the writers would do that and instead [spoilers] we got an episodic flashback of his evil backstory that a newbie dnd player would cringe at.

[@cassmills4509]

this is exactly what i thought (and wished) would happen …

[@BBWahoo]

Instead the show turned into pretentious neoliberal garbage

[@wtel9536]

@@BBWahoo They both did.

[@BBWahoo]

@@wtel9536 Ahhhh honestly you're right, there's no escaping it, life is suffering (for western cartoon fans)

[@consistentlystupid4726]

Unfortunately the writers of Rick and Morty seem to really dislike their audience. It's wild to me. Bojack Horseman's writers obviously cared about the show they were creating. The show has solid continuity, deals with difficult subject, and I always felt like they wanted me to be engaged with the story their telling. Harmon and the other writers for Rick and Morty are basically stuck as 15 year old edgelords and can't work past that.

[@ey-te1jx]

I was originally really interested in the backstory of the characters, but with season 4+5 felt like the writers actually hated the fans that were interested in the show..? In my opinion, you can't build a show with stakes and "grounded" characters that change with storylines and then laugh at anyone who takes it even a little bit seriously. How am I supposed to care about the show if you're constantly telling me not to? Everyone was so excited for evil morty after his first reveal, and then they essentially tossed it aside with the characters merely shrugging their shoulders at the whole thing

[@th9986]

Yea it’s to episodic. It’s to random. Just about every episode had nothing to do with the last.

[@TheSuperappelflap]

hate to say it, but clearly your iq just isnt high enough to truly appreciate rick and morty. of course theyre going to show you evil morty and then throw him away. you thought it was cool right? mission accomplished. of course theyre not going to expand on that because nothing they can write will be better than what you can do with your own imagination. they just mash together a bunch of cool sci fi concepts in an episode and then leave you to think about what the implications of it would be. also the creators clearly dont have the attention spans or the time to iron out all of these stories, it would take 100 seasons lol. think about it like this, do you really want a whole season of evil morty plot development when they could make 1 evil morty episode and then 9 other episodes that have a completely different equally interesting idea?

[@DomR1997]

Do you only care about stuff when people give you permission to care about it???

[@Rockzilla1122]

@@DomR1997 buddy hes saying that the writers made it impossible to care about because they don't *reward* anyone caring about it. they make it entirely into a joke, so why care?

[@DomR1997]

@@Rockzilla1122 You need a reward? You want a shiny gold star for watching an animated comedy show? You can't just care about something because it's entertaining? Or are you unable to care about something that doesn't take itself seriously? I don't know, it all smells like a load of horseshit from here. The whole premise of the show is that nothing matters, nothing is sacred, nothing should be taken super seriously. If you went in with different expectations, that's literally on you and not a fault of the show.

[@TheDevilsbard]

I think this video articulates so many points I couldn’t. But it also seems to ignore obvious answers to questions for the sake of having another thing to talk about. The season 5 finale did totally feel unearned, rushed, and out of place, but somehow having a good finish. i totally agree there. But pointing out things like Rick not having body augmentations in an early season and having them in a later season seems to ignore that he would modify his body after those earlier incidents.

[@dman6093]

I think more so the body modifications came from him literally swapping bodies in the Season 3 premiere. His original body is now a corpse in a government interrogation room, and his current body was formerly the body of the Citadel of Ricks' commander-in-chief of the militia. Stands to reason that that Rick would have some body enhancements going on.

[@gownerjones]

Well the problem went further since Rick also doesn't use those modifications AFTER he gets them when in situations where they would be useful.

[@rogueObscura]

Also, a lot of his "Why can't he use this" ignores the basic principles of episodic adventures. Why couldn't Rick resurrect in future death stakes? Same reason he doesn't hop to a new universe each time, or have his car pull something out. You're not meant to care about the powers that much, that's been consistent since s1.

[@robotpanda77]

Its just a silly cartoon show it is like wondering why inspector gadget has different inventions every episode. Rick can invent whatever the plot needs him to. What makes the show good or bad isnt if he has the freckle on the same side of his face every season it is things like good stories, dialogue and drama. The show didnt fall apart because he had a blue shirt in season 1 and a off blue shirt in season 2. It fell apart because the writing went into the gutter and lost its creative juices.

[@ravenderose]

I checked out of Rick and Morty after the two crows fiasco in season 5. You can’t break up the best duo and expect me to come back as if nothing happened. To me that’s when the inconsistency really started to show for me and I just miss the older original episodes from the series

[@RobRIPDG]

For me it's the lack of humanity. Simpson's did it, family guy, American dad and even Rick and morty. The characters become so awful, so irredeemable it's hard to watch them because you don't care if they win.

[@nas0518]

Took the words right out of my mouth. Oh and I still like American Dad because it got funnier.

[@AnAverageGoblin]

American Dad still thrives because when its characters got bad they threw out the original premise and turned it into absurd show

[@johnynoway9127]

@@AnAverageGoblin + they were never "good" The closest to a "GOOD" character is Jeff Everyone else are aholes in their own way. Which actually works to their advantage. Roger is a psycho. Stan is a patriot who uses violence or being ALPHA MALE 24/7. Steve is a nerd but is a bastard in his own right. He will cheat and lie and manipulate odds in his favour. Hayle is also scummy and does what she wants most of the time not caring much about what others think which can be both good and bad. Francine..tbh she is a wild card.. Shes a psycho herself at times and a loving wife too. She kinda flip flops from episode to episode.. bit inconsistent. Klaus is a nazi lover and he is a drug dealer and clearly wants Francine. . Shmuly is an ahole mainly cuz he has nothing in his life. Toshi is Imperialistic. Just read the subtitles.. hes..racist and a killer. Barry is a serial killer when not on heavy medications.

[@olivia7sergio705]

You hit the nail on the head It's like the characters become dolls for the writers to mess around and push how obscene they can get instead of actual fictional people

[@as7river]

This. Absolutely. What really got me off Family Guy was that Peter evolved from an innocent idiot into a reckless and psychopathic imbecile. And I never could stand watching episodes about Brian. Too much of a good thing eventually turns bad.

[@jazimonstah]

So after watching this, I rewatched the S5 finale because I finally figured out what bothered me so much about it; even with all the inconsistencies, i think it could have gotten the show back on track(ish) like they seemed to be aiming for, but the scene where Evil Morty shows Morty all the realities where Rick is a monster&Rick goes, "You can't blame me for every bad Rick"... but there's a whole episode dedicated to letting us, the audience, know that Rick erases memories that don't favour him. Some of those memories even look extremely similar to some of the realities we saw flashed by Evil Morty. like, it's hard to take the redirection seriously when the writers went so far out of their way to change Rick's character&basically demolished all the growth.

[@drewmortenson]

Arguably thats not a distortion of the story at all, in fact it makes sense. Rick is narcissistic and willing to go to extreme lengths for his desires and his families. You think he would have a problem telling morty a lie in order to keep morty on his side?

[@lukebytes5366]

@@drewmortenson maybe it would make sense if you got rid of his character development in the first few seasons.

[@alexworman]

For me seasons 1 and 2 are classic; amazing through and through with great concepts, humor, character, and heart. For seasons 3 and 4 the overall writing took a hit but most of it is still entertaining, even though s3 is overly expository and s4 doesn't have an stakes. Season 5 however has some of the worst TV I've seen in a while. A couple of fun episodes but mostly garbage. Either boring or downright cringy. Things started to decline with s3 but s5 is where it tanked hard

[@FredCracklin]

Aside from other valid complaints about it, season 5 relied way too much on pop culture references, it felt pretty lazy in that respect. There were very few episodes that felt like original ideas; very little of the season 1-2 style. Dan Harmon loves his pop culture references (Community is a n obvious example of that) so I'd largely blame him for that turn.

[@SchlaftaterNrzZz]

Im Happy i stopped after season 3 "Yup thats it" and didnt miss it Like after the Last Jedi "Nope i Take the good memories and dont waste more time on this"

[@truthseekingtillweascend387]

Facts

[@MollymaukT]

Agreed, but I'd say Season 3 is way closer to the first two in quality than season 4 is.

[@alexworman]

@@MollymaukT yeah I agree with you there. I just don't think 4 is quite as bad as people make it out to be. Feels like one of those seasons that would've been considered good if what came before wasn't so much better

[@AndrewTFenn]

You're reading too much into the character of Rick in seasons 1 and 2. He didn't turn himself into the government earlier because they were just an annoyance that he ignored until they're a significant threat. The same way the council of Ricks are. You forget that numerous times throughout all episodes, Rick is extremely lazy, even to explain threats to Morty which results in multiple situations. So I don't think it's a character shift or Rick taking responsibility at the end of season 2.

[@matheusmariani3108]

Rick: a troubled genius -> basically God, the biggest Mary Sue in a while Morty: a dumb insecure teen -> a guy that went through a lot and finds out existence is meaningless -> a dumber insecure teen

[@notsosadbart6343]

Can I just say how fucking validating it is to see someone else who thinks the S5 Finale backstory reveal felt so last minute? Everyone I know was practically jizzing over it and I was starting to think I was being too nitpicky and critical for seeing that it was CLEARLY pulled out of the writers asses. Especially when there's so many plotholes in it.

[@kirin1230]

I think everyone was just so starved for a larger story. The finale was rushed and felt like the writers had no idea what they were doing, but just seeing SOMETHING was enough to get people hyped, at least at the time.

[@King-tk5bg]

The writers made it pretty clear in that episode that they don't give a shit. It really is a mystery why you people still want to take this show so seriously and long for more serialisation. It ain't happening.

[@notsosadbart6343]

@@King-tk5bg I don't "long for serialization" in the show, in fact I wish they stuck with episodic for the whole thing. I just think it's so unbelievably stupid to waste time on backstory shit if it's clear they don't care about it, and even dumber for fans to get excited and praise it for throwing a half baked story at everyone so that "everybody can shut up about it now"

[@King-tk5bg]

@@notsosadbart6343 I think they get a lot of pressure.

[@za-ir5ni]

Because you're absolutely being too nitpicky and critical. That was great finale. There are no plotholes.

[@hakkesho12]

You’ve got every right to not expect the show to deliver anymore lol, not after they abandoned the internal dilemmas of their main characters and then had the gall to blame the audience for over-fixating on lore/continuity instead 🙄. It’s fitting that Rick loses his ability to take responsibility for his actions (post season 2), cuz it seems the writers weren’t willing to either. Also, it’s a shame that characters like Morty tend to have their own arcs thrown out in favor of turning them into a) perpetual comedic fodder or b) self-righteous assholes. All that said, this was an excellent recap so thank you 😆.

[@sapaulgoogdmen9542]

I would say a few things. Being the smartest person in the universe doesn’t mean it’s impossible for Rick to make mistakes. Other people being able to make universes in a box doesn’t make them equal in intelligence. It means they can also make a universe in a box. The reason Rick is said to be so smart is cause he has access to portal technology. I think the dinosaurs do a better job illustrating that people smarter than Rick exist but the story also says that the finite curve making it so Rick is always the smartest no matter where they go was destroyed. I’m not a fanboy and I clicked on this video in hopes of watching someone dunk on the show but this feels like nitpicking from where I am so far. Calling things “plot holes” that aren’t and nitpicking based on the logic of “in hindsight I can see why it’s a bad idea therefore the character should’ve known the entire time if he’s so smart” and I don’t know what stories they’re looking for at this point. Just a show about the smartest man where he never comes into any conflicts cause he’s soooo smart he can solve any problem before it comes up. Idk I don’t take “smartest man in the universe” seriously and tend to treat it as they haven’t personally met anyone smarter than him so they have to take it as a fact. Not that he is literally God therefore there should be no conflicts in the show.

[@high_define]

They're being overly critical of the show that everything is wrong

[@theliamandjustinshow5293]

I’m so glad you made this video. As someone who’s grown up on Rick and Morty since episode 1, i’ve been noticing this since the end of season 3 into season 4. I’m starting to think that Dan Harmon is the issue here. Community was another one of his outstanding shows that epitomized jumping the shark. It’s strange that he’s made two of my favorite shows of all time and both had just given up right when they reached their strides. This new season of Rick and Morty felt unrecognizable from the other seasons. In terms of quality it was definitely season 4 where you can see a sharp decline. The season 4 finale was just straight up terrible and the season 5 finale was bizarre and clunky (although it was somewhat fun and interesting.) I appreciate that the payoff of Evil Morty was subversive but honestly it was a bit underwhelming when the shock factor faded away. I hope the new season gets back to the roots of the show instead of falling back on constant self-references and extremely fatigued meta humor.

[@gamermonkey153]

I don't think you can blame Dan Harmon for communitys problems post season 3 season 4 he was removed from the show so season 5 when he returnee they had to spend time reverting the dumb decisions made in 4

[@joannalee7]

Thank you!! To finally have a video where someone explains exactly how it felt for me when I began watching season 4. I was obsessed with R&M… and yet watching each episode of season four I couldn’t shake the feeling of being attacked by the writers and creators, as if being a long time fan of this amazing show was a bad thing? It was strange and bizarre but thank god for the season finale of season 5 but still I’m not even looking forward to it anymore. Thank you so much for sharing this.

[@TheSuperappelflap]

being a fan isnt a bad thing. taking it too seriously is. its a fucking cartoon.

[@joannalee7]

@@TheSuperappelflap Oh it is? 🤷‍♀️