Fun:Rick and Morty

Rick and Morty is a satirical adult cartoon created by Dan Harmon and Justin Roiland. Originally conceived as a parody of Back to the Future, the show is equal parts science fiction parody, sitcom, existential dread, the inherent meaningless of life, and offensive jokes.

Characters and synopsis

Main

Rick Sanchez: Father of Beth, grandfather of Morty and Summer. Stated to be the smartest creature in the universe. He invented (maybe) an interdimensional portal gun, the results of which have driven him partially insane due to the vastness of infinity, and how in the grand scheme of things no matter what he does the multiverse is so infinite that he will never have any meaningful impact upon the world. As a result, he's an alcoholic with virtually no morals, regularly abusing and/or enslaving others for his own benefit. As can be guessed from the name of the show, it mostly revolves around him dragging his mostly unwilling grandson on trauma inducing "adventures".

Morty Smith: A stereotypical teenage boy, but horribly traumatized by his grandfather's "adventures". In spite of the constant insults to his intelligence, he's been forced to become one of the smarter members of his family.

Summer Smith: A stereotypical teenage girl. Admires her grandfather, in contrast to her brother.

Jerry Smith: The father of the family. Not particularly stupid, but the dumbest and most pathetic member of the family, who gets through life on other people's sympathy.

Elliot from Scrubs Beth Smith: Rick's daughter. Rick left her when she was young for as yet unknown reasons, leaving her with serious abandonment issues. Implied to be intelligent and sociopathic like her father. Since the episode "The ABC's of Beth" in Season 3, there is the possibility that Beth is a clone created when the original left due to the stresses associated with raising Summer and Morty.

Note that these characters are actually plural. The nature of the show is that while you are ostensibly following the same characters, you can never quite tell if you are watching the "original" Rick and Morty or alternate realities of them. In fact, since the episode "Rick Potion #9", the original versions of Jerry, Beth and Summer have been stranded in a version of Earth overrun by genetically-mutated creatures known as "Cronenbergs". Assuming of course that that set of Jerry, Beth and Summer were indeed the original, as opposed to a replacement family from when Rick may or may not have destroyed a prior reality. Don't think about it.

Recurring

The Citadel of Ricks: A fascist society created by (almost) all of the Ricks and Mortys of the multiverse. Rick C-137 (the main one... probably) is usually the target of their ire because he is one of the few Ricks to not associate himself with the Citadel. It was almost destroyed by Rick's plan to destroy both of them and the Galactic Federation. It is now ruled by President "Evil" Morty.

Jessica: An attractive redheaded girl that Morty has a crush on, sometimes to her detriment. The "original" one was given what was effectively an extra strength date-rape drug in an exploration of just what a "love potion" would actually mean if it existed. This led to an apocalypse.

MISTER MESEEKS: Look at me! A slave race created to perform very simple and specific tasks. The entire premise behind their creation (by the writers) was to explore the idea of a race of being that actually did know what their purpose was, and the absolute hell such an existence would actually be if that purpose was unfulfillable. Originally only supposed to appear in one episode, they proved so popular with the fans, that the writers decided to bring them back from time to time.

Mr Poopy Butthole: A weird 80's cartoon sidekick character, introduced and implied to be an alien parasite, but was an actual person. There's multiple theories to explain his existence. For instance, if we allow for the possibility that the Rick and Morty we watch aren't always the same Rick and Morty, it's possible that the pair that interact with Mr Poopybutthole are in fact a different set, and most of the time we are watching a pair of Rick and Morty's that are not friends with Mr Poopybutthole.

Dr Wong: A therapist. Unlike most TV show depictions of therapists, is actually extremely competent. Something rather useful considering that the show is a tiny part about living with Autism.

Philosophy

Focusing less on the entertainment, a number of people are obsessed with the philosophy espoused by the characters.

The show has quite a bit of existentialism. As mentioned above, nothing ever has any permanent impact upon the multiverse, so the question becomes, what's the point of morality if doing the right or wrong thing has no ultimate impact on anything?

Anarchism fits in as well. Rick has a deep-seated hatred of government, though this is not depicted as necessarily a good thing to have. Rick is one of the most destructive forces in the entire multiverse, so using him as a poster child of anarchism doesn't really do that philosophy any benefits.

In one of the better episodes, the show goes into detail of a hypothetical society where everyone is basically clones of just 2 different people, paralleling White vs Black race dynamics in an absurdist yet uncomfortably familiar manner. Racism is incredibly institutionalized, from schools designed to ensure that the lesser race never questions its role as a sidekick to an alleged democratic system where the very idea of a member of the lesser race being elected is treated as a pipe dream. Mortys that don't comply with the system are forced to live in slums. While the Ricks are all almost identical in intelligence and ability, someone still has to do the humiliating and mind-numbing work, and so even the majority of the "privileged" class are still working menial jobs with little chance of advancement. Promotions are still based on connections and charisma rather than actual experience and contribution, resulting in a vast difference in wealth.

External links

• Rick and Morty on Adult Swim