Rick and Morty establishes itself immediately in the first two minutes of its pilot episode. A drunken Rick stumbles into Morty’s room in the middle of the night and drags the timid boy to his spaceship. There he boorishly announces his grand plan to blow up Earth. Only Morty’s vehement protest forces Rick to change his mind, with an unconvincing confession this was a secret test of character. To say this is the highlight of Morty’s life is an understatement.
Rick and Morty is the latest offering in Adult Swim’s library of deranged humor. It’s also the most vividly imaginative series I’ve seen yet, successfully pulling plot twists when you least expect them to.
Rick Sanchez is a mad scientist who travels across time and space to pursue science or whatever shenanigans he feels like getting into that day. Dragged along for the ride is his traumatized teenage grandson, Morty (both title roles played Justin Roiland, who also co-created the show with Dan Harmon). Secondary characters revolve around their immediate family, the Smiths. They compose of Beth Smith; the tired, bitter wife of the household; her down-on-his-luck husband Jerry; and Morty’s older sister Summer.
Much like The Venture Bros. dissected the Boy Adventurer subgenre, Rick and Morty’s raison d’être throws a wrench into the bizarre world of aliens and futuristic tech by deconstructing the sci-fi genre and its associated tropes, blending them into a madcap mishmash of demented violence and nightmarish events. The show takes the Doc Brown and Marty McFly mentor/student template and bashes it to the ground. Rick is a cantankerous old man who callously scapegoats Morty and teaches him nothing except how to cheat the system. He rarely thinks about any long-term consequences and leaves any place he’s been in a much worse state then what it was prior. Morty isn’t a wide-eyed youth who longs for adventure, he’s an anxiety-ridden mess who’s pushed to the brink of insanity from constant near-death encounters.
The show attempts to break the mold and explain why exploits into foreign planets and weird dimensions are less appealing than they may seem. The pilot episode delivers a cynical look at cannon fodder when Morty is forced to shoot alien security only to find out they’re not faceless automatons, but sentient beings with lives of their own. “Meeseeks and Destroy” introduces the blue-skinned, Muppet-like creatures called Meeseeks whose sole purpose is to fulfill whatever minor task is requested of its user. Their friendly demeanor and goofy voices make them look like extras from Sesame Street, but the episode gradually reveals they cannot live for long or they’ll go into a murderous frenzy attempting to fix that problem. By far my favorite is the ending of “Rick Potion #9.” A love potion goes awry, turning the entire human population into mantis people. Rick’s solution is one of the most shocking and disturbing segments of the season and a mind-blowing subversion to alternate counterparts and deus ex machina. I won’t spoil it, so you’ll have to trust me when I say you need to see it for yourself. Needless to say, this is what ultimately sold me on the show.
Each of the eleven episodes is impeccably versatile, able to pull scenarios from different corners of the genre to abuse the characters further. “Close Rick-counters of the Rick Kind” deals with a society of alternate Ricks and Morties. “Meeseeks and Destroy” puts Rick and Morty in a fairy tale land that is anything but magical. “Anatomy Park” is an inspired splicing of Fantastic Voyage and Jurassic Park where Rick builds an amusement part inside a hobo’s body, only to crash and burn when viruses invade. Meanwhile, “Lawnmowner Dog” takes the main plot of Inception and integrates it with famous horror movies. No two episodes are the same; the only theme tying it together is the chaos Rick and Morty (un)intentionally create. This works wonders for the visuals. Rick and Morty step into a number of different alien locations and alternate universes that delve into surrealist nonsense. It’s like the creators were picking concepts and ideas off a hat to see what would stick. More often than not, they succeed. This is best exemplified in “Rixty Minutes” which is twenty-two minutes of on-the-spot, out-of-control improv skits.
Unfortunately once you get past the strong A-plots, the secondary stories come off comparatively bland. These often focus on the rest of the Smith family and their problems are too reminiscent of a typical family sitcom. Rick’s daughter Beth constantly second guesses her marriage to her high school sweetheart due to an unexpected teen pregnancy years back. Her husband Jerry is an unlucky schmuck whose insecurities constantly drive him bonkers; his pathetic lifestyle is frequently played for laughs as much as pity. The only relief is not seeing him reduced to the role of idiotic manchild that paternal figures are frustratingly straddled with. Their eldest child Summer is every stereotypical teenage girl in existence. Luckily, the show is smart enough to keep most of their antics to the sideline and they’re relatively minor all things considered. The Smith family is just as likely to be caught up in Rick’s mess, sometimes in tandem with their everyday dilemmas. Their problems are infinitely more interesting when it involves the fantastical.
Rick and Morty is available in both Blu-ray and DVD. Extras include animatics for every episode as well as deleted scenes. There is a twenty minute behind-the-scenes feature that sadly isn’t as informative as it could have been. It’s mostly mild self-indulgence amongst the crew members as they toss around nonsensical interviews and crass humor (like a grand tour of all the restroom facilities in the office.) It’s slightly amusing, but not worth the near half-hour span. Fortunately the commentaries provide the meat of the show’s progression with occasional goofing off (Justin Roiland really loves to rap.) Every episode has one commentary from the main crew, but three of them get an additional commentary featuring an array of guest stars appearances. These include Matt Groening and Al Jean of The Simpsons fame; Pendleton Ward and Kent Osborne from Adventure Time; and perhaps the most out there, Robert Kirkman and Scott M. Gimple of The Walking Dead. It’s a neat feature and provides an outsider perspective from other professionals of the field. Also included is a miniature comic entitled “The Good Morty” that cheekily mocks the infamously fundamentalist works of Jack Chick. The Blu-ray version also provides ultraviolet digital copies of the show.
Rick and Morty surprised me. What I assumed to be a derivative mish-mash of edgy humor quickly reveals its true colors as a brilliant love letter to the sci-fi genre and an exercise in creativity all wrapped up in one hilariously unhinged package. There’s no limit Rick and Morty can’t reach and I’m eager to see how far the insanity will take them in season two.
All screencaps are from the DVD release.
