HighWire: [Cartoon Review] Rick and Morty

"Nobody exists on purpose,

nobody belongs anywhere,

everybody's gonna die."

-Morty

I said this in my Over the Garden Wall review, but I guess I'll say it again: it's not just any cartoon that I'll do a review for. Here's the main reason: not every cartoon can stand under the analytical lens without collapsing completely, because at the end of the day, most of these shows are either adult comedies or purely for kids. Put simply, not everything is a Gravity Falls, a Steven Universe or an Avatar the Last Airbender; there's just not enough meat on most cartoons' bones to pick apart, and that's sadly the way it is, thus why I prefer anime. Would I like to do a review of Starr vs The Forces of Evil or something of the sort? Sure, but dedicating an entire review to them... just wouldn't work. So what makes Rick and Morty different?
It certainty isn't as complex or emotionally engaging as some of the best of the genre I just mentioned above, and as a show that runs on Adult Swim, it has a certain crudeness and lack of elegance in certain areas that can really push my patience occasionally. But beneath this rough exterior, Rick and Morty has some quite interesting(and depressing) things to say about existence, channeled through a setting that you would think could push the limits of wonder and imagination. And... I don't know, I thought it was worth chipping in my two cents. With the season 2 premiere not too long ago, now seems the perfect time to give my evaluation.

So, hello people of "The Wired", my name is Quan, I hope you're doing okay, and today, a cartoon review. If you're not interested, I promise I'll be back with a new anime review soon, but for now, let's sit back and examine Rick and Morty.

Story

Morty has never truly lived life to its fullest. A somewhat neurotic teenager living in a household practically falling apart due to his shallow older sister Summer and his parents' relationship hanging by a thread, Morty spends his life crushing after Jessica, a popular and superficial girl in his math class, and trying to live a normal high-school experience despite his extreme social incompetence. He tries his best to make good out of a bad situation, but the heavy anger and exasperation that hangs over his entire life, paired with his own struggles and distress, leaves Morty treading a slow, sad path in life.

One day, his grandfather Rick: the father of his mother Beth, suddenly moves into the household. Rick is an eccentric, alcoholic mad scientist, who is so brilliant that he, along with a host of other destructive gadgets, has a special gun that can rip holes in the very fabric of space, allowing him to travel to distant planets and the such, meeting aliens and discovering new civilizations, and whatever other things he feels like doing over the weekend. To nobody's surprise(and much to the dismay of Morty's father: Jerry), this causes the household to be thrown into even greater disarray, partly because Rick sees fit to take Morty on his often extremely dangerous interplanetary adventures, and also because Rick is sort of an unsympathetic asshole, who doesn't seemingly care about anything or anybody besides himself. As Morty travels with Rick during all sort of weird and wacky adventures, he starts to learn more about his estranged grandfather, and himself. But while Morty's world is undoubtedly getting much bigger, it may not always be in a good way. Increasingly traumatized and disturbed by the reality of the universe, Morty will be forced to ask himself questions: whether his prick of a grandfather is worth humoring, if his parents and family will be better off simply parting ways, and if anything he accomplishes is really worth anything in the end.

Anything at all.

I'll go into the inner-working(or lack thereof depending how you view it) of this show in a second, but what I will admit is that what initially drew me into this show was its sense of humor. The humor is somewhat relentless, spliced in between the rapidly paced dialogue, giving the effect like the show is high on caffeine or something. I stand by my rule that is should only take you 15 seconds to see if you like the show's sense of humor, and an additional 60 to know if you'll like the show. The first episode sort of throws you straight into the action without much explanation, and holds no bars when telling you what to expect. The humor is undoubtedly very crude, sometimes to an extent that is annoying(or just plain ill-willed or nasty), but I found that the undoubtedly well-written dialogue made up for it. Well, at least most of the time. If you're not sure if you will find this quite your cup of tea, again, the first half of the first episode should serve more than enough of a test-run.

But I'll talk about the plot now. Well, plot's not quite the right word. Put more simply, every episode consists of some random adventure that our main duo are having, whether it be preventing a race of hyper-intelligent canines from taking the world, Morty learning how to deal with a son that was conceived by a sex robot, or Morty attempting to save his sister Summer from her boss at the pawn shop(who just happens to be the devil). If you couldn't tell, every episode has little to do with one another, tossing out any sort of congruent story in exchange for episodes that each explore some wildly ridiculous and imaginative situation. I found rarely that any of the episodes were duds; they are were mostly fun to watch and somewhat meaty with their concepts. But it works both ways. None of the episodes are particularly poor, but at the same time, none of them are impressive... at all. Nothing makes you pause for thought. Ever. Except once.

Episode 8 is, undoubtedly, the best the series has to offer, and as individual episodes go, it's one of the best written I have ever seen. And yes, I understand how big of a statement that is, but episode 8 was when I realized, just what "the deal" of this show was. I understand nihilism is a big thematic umbrella, so I won't quite go as far, but Rick and Morty, all the same, is a show that doesn't seem to have a lot of morals about existence. Dan Harmon, one of the original creators of the show(and also the NBC show Community), has admitted inspiration from various shows such as Doctor Who and The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy. I think that's the key part of the "psychology" of Rick and Morty. But I'll save that for last.

Characters from left to right: Beth, Jerry, Summer, Rick and Morty.

Characters

This is the most mixed bag of all of them. This show doesn't have a lot of important characters, at least ones that are worth talking about, but despite that, they all represent many different levels of depth. Morty, our main character, is sort of interesting in that regard. He's not particularly complicated, he more or less stays awkward and distressed throughout, but the intrigue comes from the trolling of expectations. Usually, Morty's development in a show with this kind of premise would typically be him gaining confidence and moving into a stronger role. This happens... a little, but the trauma of all of his adventures with Rick seems to be the more stronger element to craft his character in later seasons. Makes you wonder if he will be able to stay unbroken.
Rick seems to have a little more potential. Mostly, all we see from him is his "mentally-unstable alcoholic jerk persona", but we do get hints throughout that there may be something resembling a human being buried deep beneath his crudeness and beer-swigging. The closest the show comes to anything sentimental is with his relationship with Morty, which is always swaying on the line of superficiality... or if he really does care about his grandson.
I don't have much to say about the other characters that make up Morty's family and school-mates, but I will give special mention to Morty's parents: Beth and Jerry. In a show constantly bouncing between ridiculous sci-fi mumble-jumble and saturation of family drama, their "hanging by a thread" dynamic was actually really easy to take to heart, and you're able to understand the mindset of both parties surprisingly well. Its something for me to fall back on once the show's humor become a little too ill-willed; a rare bright spot of clarity in a show so befuddled by insane elements. Needless to say, it made me happy their relationship was one of the most-focused parts of Episode 8.

A background example.

Animation

We're into animation now, and my one word description is "crude". Now, I don't mean that necessarily in a bad way.. but at the same time, it's not exactly a compliment either. In order to push forward the somewhat gruff tone of the show, colors seem to favor the more the more grainy side of the spectrum; with nothing being exactly expressive or eye-catching, though the show can sport some decent backgrounds occasionally. However the "crudeness" is shown no better than in the character designs, which are extremely simplistic and can use somewhat unrealistic characteristics in order to get the desired effect. Now, I have nothing against Rick and Morty's choices for its aesthetic, but at the end of the day, it's just not something I like that much, being a fan of very polished artwork myself. I'm not saying that grim and rough artwork can't work for a show, I've seen it work amazingly, but for Rick and Morty... I just don't like it. Sorry.

The Intro Sequence

Verdict

So, what do I think of this show? Well, I like it a lot, if that weren't obvious enough. It takes the whole whimsical aspect of the entire genre and pretty much regurgitates it as a satirical mush of crude humor and gags ...though at the same time that seems to be the show's greatest downfall. In its efforts to be... well what it is, Rick and Morty somewhat losses that emotional core that every show so desperately needs way, way too often. The show works best when it pits real emotion against the crushing bleakness of its tone, but it just isn't able to do it correctly most of the time, and just leaves me feeling depressed when I watch it sometimes

I probably won't be watching the second season of Rick and Morty, at least not anytime soon. I think I've made my qualms with the show clear, and taking on another season of undoubtedly those same issues just isn't something I'm up for right now. But as for the first season's eleven episodes, I'd say give it a watch, if just for the experience. It's a funny, well-written, somewhat gross show, that at the same time can make you feel a little insignificant; reminding us all that even in a universe of infinite possibilities, we're all insignificant, faceless shapes hurting through space on a hunk of rock so small in comparison to the yawning mass of existence that we literally can't comprehend it. And maybe the best solution... is to just sit down, forget about all of that... and watch TV. Goodbye for now guys.

Final Verdict: 7/10

P.S: I'm in great pain.

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