Rick and Morty, season 3 and beyond!

[gomipile]

I navigated over here to see what the forum was saying in the Rick and Morty thread. Apparently, there isn't one. Okay, now w're all caught up with my thought process? Ready? Ready.

Let's do this.

Spoiler: s03e09: The ABC's of Beth

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So, after watching The ABC's of Beth, I'm left with one big question. Why was Tommy's father accused of cannibalizing his son, when that obviously never happened? I think it's relevant that King Tommy says "People should eat people."

I mean, Tommy's father probably at least had a cannibalism fantasy that his son was aware of, yes? Otherwise, he's guilty of several acts of cannibalism, and this is the one the prosecution chose to pursue, since his own son's disappearance was a damning piece of evidence.

Unless there's something I'm not seeing here?

I wouldn't be surprised if in the background of a future episode a news report reveals that Tommy's father has engaged in cannibalism after his release.

[Kid Jake]

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I just assumed it was a throwaway joke concerning him being convicted without a body.

[Rater202]

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IT's a two part thing: It's hard to convict somoene of murder without a body and even harder to get the death penalty--Do you know just how many appeals, technicallities, and retrials a death row inmate can get? Nobody, no judge, no juror, no executioner, wants to be responsible for an innocent person being executed, so they want to make damn sure the guy's guilty before they stick the needle in his arm.

Accusing him of cannibalism explains why there isn't a body and explains why he could more easily get sentenced to death.(Super psychos either get death or permenant incarceration in a mental institution for criminal insanity.)

The dark joke is that you can't prove cannibalism without a body, either--you need human flesh or blood on utensils, plates, or food preparing gadgets or human bones with tooth marks on them... or a partially eaten corpse.

So in explaining why he was sentenced to death, an even bigger miscarriage of justice was committed.

The second part is foreshadowing of Tommy's own foreign into pseudo-incestuous cannibalism to survive.

[HolyDraconus]

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i think the bigger question is.... did Beth leave like Rick suggested?

[Grim Portent]

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i think the bigger question is.... did Beth leave like Rick suggested?

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If she did it's quite likely we'd never know. Even if her decision gets brought up in coversation later Rick could easily make a clone of her that thinks it made the choice to stay. If she did choose to leave it overturns the running moral that family and friends are what matters a bit, unless she comes back after a while, so I don't think she'd leave.

I would like to see some more Rick and Beth episodes though. There's not really any reason she can't explore the multiverse and go home to her family after each adventure the way Rick does all the time, so the two could even do some offworld stuff like Rick and Jerry did.

[BannedInSchool]

And proof Rick comes from a dimension other than our own in which people call stun guns "tasers".

[gomipile]

Spoiler: s03e10: The Rickchurian Mortydate

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So. Season's over.

They came back to the Beth clone idea much sooner than I thought they would. I'm not sure if I like the idea that Beth being comfortable in herself makes her love and be happy with Jerry so quickly. I enjoyed the existential freak-out Beth had, especially the scream and look of terror after hanging up with Rick. This season has made me like and enjoy Beth much more as a character than in previous seasons.

Rick and the President's interactions were a lot of fun to watch. Seeing Rick employ his cybernetics and go "full Rick" was satisfying. It's too bad about all the secret service agents, but I blame the President for the first one, who touched Rick after being warned. After that, I put the responsibility at maybe 25% Rick, 75% the President.

I was expecting something different, given the title, but I like the episode as delivered.

The place Rick is in at the end of this season is pretty bleak, from his perspective. Perhaps worse than the end of season 2, if we believe him that he planned his escape before being captured.

If course, since Rick doesn't deserve the most sympathy on the show, that isn't necessarily a problem. I wonder how long the rest of the family can remain happy? What will the source of conflict be next season? Will Rick be forced to grow emotionally? There are lots of possibilities from here, and I imagine Harmon and Roiland have some interesting consequences planned.

[Grim Portent]

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Yeah, I would have much preferred the clone Beth concept to have been given more time or even just never properly resolved, but I guess it makes in universe sense that Beth would bring it up so quickly given how she's supposed to be smart enough that Rick brings it up.

As for Beth and Jerry getting back together, eh it makes sense. Both have been shown to be conflicted about the whole divorce thing and I don't think they'd even done any paperwork yet, Beth just kicked Jerry out of the house as far as I could tell. Both have gotten a lot of development this season and it could only go a few ways, either they get back together or they don't, and given prior characterization them getting back together was pretty inevitable.

[gomipile]

Spoiler: s03e10: The Rickchurian Mortydate

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By the way, I think it's unlikely that a cloned Beth would have the memory of the conversation about cloning her. I think that not transferring that particular memory would be one of the first steps in making sure the clone doesn't "go Blade Runner."

[Callos_DeTerran]

Okay, honest question considering people are talking about this show.

...what on earth is the appeal behind it? I tried watching some of it but it was just remarkably unfunny and...unenjoyable. Not trying to rain on people's parades, just want to understand since I have friends who are avid fans of this show.

[Rater202]

Okay, honest question considering people are talking about this show.

...what on earth is the appeal behind it? I tried watching some of it but it was just remarkably unfunny and...unenjoyable. Not trying to rain on people's parades, just want to understand since I have friends who are avid fans of this show.

1: It's a deconstruction of things you'd see in Doctor Who or Back to the Future(Imagine if Doc Brown or the Doctor was just jaded to the point of fuctional sociopathy as a result of having seen and done literally everything at least twice.) and the concept of an infinite multiverse. Rick Sanchez is the smartest man in the universe and can do almost anything... bit he can barely function as a person half the time because he's aware of just ho cold and uncarring the universe is and of just what infinity means and he can't cope with it.

2: Lots of dark and cringe humor, which some people like.

3: There are a bit of ad-libbing and otherwise improv bits which, again, some people like.

4: There is subtle but surprising depth to Rick's character if you know where to look, more blatant in some episodes than in others. See above.

[Grim Portent]

It also deconstructs the traditional family sitcom. A lot of episodes have similar themes to what you'd find in a more conventional show in terms of family troubles, like Summer getting in a fight with her boyfriend, or the parents having an argument about why they got married and how their potential was squandered. They get resolved very differently from normal, and the moral is usually different, but still the same core premise.

[Rynjin]

Okay, honest question considering people are talking about this show.

...what on earth is the appeal behind it? I tried watching some of it but it was just remarkably unfunny and...unenjoyable. Not trying to rain on people's parades, just want to understand since I have friends who are avid fans of this show.

To be fair, you have to have a very high IQ to understand Rick and Morty. The humor is extremely subtle, and without a solid grasp of theoretical physics most of the jokes will go over a typical viewer's head. There's also Rick's nihilistic outlook, which is deftly woven into his characterisation - his personal philosophy draws heavily from Narodnaya Volya literature, for instance. The fans understand this stuff; they have the intellectual capacity to truly appreciate the depths of these jokes, to realize that they're not just funny- they say something deep about LIFE. As a consequence people who dislike Rick and Morty truly ARE idiots- of course they wouldn't appreciate, for instance, the humour in Rick's existencial catchphrase "Wubba Lubba Dub Dub," which itself is a cryptic reference to Turgenev's Russian epic Fathers and Sons. I'm smirking right now just imagining one of those addlepated simpletons scratching their heads in confusion as Dan Harmon's genius unfolds itself on their television screens. What fools... how I pity them. 😂 And yes by the way, I DO have a Rick and Morty tattoo. And no, you cannot see it. It's for the ladies' eyes only- And even they have to demonstrate that they're within 5 IQ points of my own (preferably lower) beforehand.

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Sorry. It was just a perfect straight line to it.

[lunaticfringe]

Just finished catching up.

Spoiler: Favorite things in season 3

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Rick is shown to have dangerous, high end cybernetics. He uses them later in the episode, the giant deadly mega arm Canon shoots a suction cup dart. It's silly but it made me lol.

Another dumb joke that made me lol... What, you mean a Dictionary?

Morty's Mindblowers. I like this a lot more than interdimensional cable.

Rick vs Potus. All of it, the banter and fighting was great. I really like the shrinking bit.

Beth's character development. I hope it continues & she goes on adventures. I wouldn't be upset if she chose the clone option.

The Saw rip off bit in the Vindicators. Specifically that it quickly devolves into a 'drunken rant' version of Saw.

Moar "Evil" Morty & Tales from the Citadel! Though I'm betting it will continue as 1 a season.

[Pit of Shades]

Season 3 was definitely worth the wait.

[Rynjin]

Season 3 was definitely worth the wait.

Ehhh...overall season 3 was pretty bad, being honest. Most of the episodes ranged from meh to downright horrendous (Pickle Rick being the worst offender) with only a few good ones. I would have preferred it either come out earlier so they at least have some excuse for how bad it was or it had spent even more time in the stew pot and come out better.

[Friv]

Count me in the "Season 3 was clearly the best season" camp. I'm legitimately a little bit baffled by those few people who feel otherwise. Between solid jokes, excellent characterization, a much more interesting time when they focused on Beth and Jerry, who tended to be the dragging elements in the first season and were just kind of a mess in the second, and the continued entertainment that is Summer, it was all-around great.

[Luz]

I have to say for the most intelligent mind of the multiverse Rick really sucks at making clones and copies, if that Beth was a clone it's the second time one of the copies he made went blade runner.

[lunaticfringe]

I have to say for the most intelligent mind of the multiverse Rick really sucks at making clones and copies, if that beth was a clone it's the second time one of the copies he made went blade runner.

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He's also a suicidal alcoholic who "eyeballs" weapons of mass destruction. Intelligence can also make people lazy, apathetic and he has the ultimate Cop-out in his back pocket: he can go to another reality or even create his own. I suspect he isn't even the original C-137 Rick, he slid in there because Morty's Rick is dead.

Also he makes silly human mistakes quite often, he just erases them from your mind.

[Dienekes]

Ehhh...overall season 3 was pretty bad, being honest. Most of the episodes ranged from meh to downright horrendous (Pickle Rick being the worst offender) with only a few good ones. I would have preferred it either come out earlier so they at least have some excuse for how bad it was or it had spent even more time in the stew pot and come out better.

Really? I rather enjoyed it. The only episode I couldn't really get into was Morty's Mindblowers.

The Ricklantis Mixup is possibly my favorite episode of the show so far.

Pickle Rick was good but not great. The psychiatrist sections were far more interesting than Rick's exploits as a pickle.

[Friv]

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He's also a suicidal alcoholic who "eyeballs" weapons of mass destruction. Intelligence can also make people lazy, apathetic and he has the ultimate Cop-out in his back pocket: he can go to another reality or even create his own. I suspect he isn't even the original C-137 Rick, he slid in there because Morty's Rick is dead.

Also he makes silly human mistakes quite often, he just erases them from your mind.

Spoiler

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Rick almost certainly isn't the original from Morty's world. He remembers holding Morty as a baby, but Beth said that he'd been gone for 20 years, which is well before Morty's birth.

[No brains]

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Rick almost certainly isn't the original from Morty's world. He remembers holding Morty as a baby, but Beth said that he'd been gone for 20 years, which is well before Morty's birth.

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Rick can also erase memories. He may not have been gone at all. In Anatomy Park, Morty says he's 14,
but in Morty's Mindblowers, we see in a quick flash that Rick was present for Morty's 13th birthday. Either he erased everyone's memories of him being there or he hasn't been as absent as he seemed.

[LaZodiac]

Pickle Rick was good but not great. The psychiatrist sections were far more interesting than Rick's exploits as a pickle.

That is the point.

[Rater202]

That is the point.

Observations: The "Specialty" Ricks who were the members of the Council, or had high ranking positions in the Citadel, or were widly successful either in their realities or in the Citedel... They were the Ricks who did the Maintainace Work that our Rick hates doing.

Any Rick is smart and talented enough to have an awesome business or take over the World, but most of them would get bored with it or get frustrated and rage quit before they got there. (See Something Ricked This Way Comes, where Rick opens a widly successful busniness to spite the devil, then literally bruns it down when the devil gives up becuase he got bored with it in like five seconds once he no longer had someone to troll.)

[Kato]

Hm... I did enjoy it... I guess about as much as the first two seasons. Maybe a bit more?
It's definitely a fun show, but I still don't quite get why it gets quite as much love as it does. Well, I could guess but Id rather not.

It's fun, if it's just stupid and it's fun if it manages to make it's stupid stuff actually deep. It just,,, falls flat for be when it tries to be deep and fails.

[Rynjin]

That is the point.

Maybe, but that's no excuse for the rest of the episode being boring, seen it before, one note bull**** with a simple dumb twist on it. Even if it was intentionally bad, it was still bad.

Really? I rather enjoyed it. The only episode I couldn't really get into was Morty's Mindblowers.

The Ricklantis Mixup is possibly my favorite episode of the show so far.

Pickle Rick was good but not great. The psychiatrist sections were far more interesting than Rick's exploits as a pickle.

Count me in the "Season 3 was clearly the best season" camp. I'm legitimately a little bit baffled by those few people who feel otherwise. Between solid jokes, excellent characterization, a much more interesting time when they focused on Beth and Jerry, who tended to be the dragging elements in the first season and were just kind of a mess in the second, and the continued entertainment that is Summer, it was all-around great.

I'll break it down episode by episode:

Rickshank Redemption: Generic "Rick kills a bunch of dudes and is impossible to stop, trick, or even briefly get the upper hand on" power fantasy bull****. I found myself yawning halfway through. Zero laughs, slight chuckle at the szechuan rant before it was memed into unfunniness. Still might go to McDonald's today and get some.

Rickmancing the Stone: Decent episode, nothing spectacular. Marked difference here in that Rick is shown to have human qualities like fear for his own safety, fallibility, and a concern for his family, which the previous episode lacked. Fun outing, a few memorable moments.

Pickle Rick: Marked low point of the series, many of the same problems as episode 1. Watching Rick slaughter mooks got old a long time ago. Psychiatrist stuff was good though, and I got a chuckle out of the Jaguar.

Vindicators 3: Pickle Rick is my least favorite, but this one is a cloooooooooooooose second, and possibly worse in an objective sense. Unpleasant for no reason all the way through. at least it had a decent concept (Rick Saw) which is more than I can say for Pickle Rick. Usually when the show delves into the nihilistic philosophy of Rick it's to make some kind of point, or at least set up a good punchline. This episode was just surface level "Haha everything you know is a lie everyone's an ******* life sucks" with no message beyond that. Really lazy is the best word to describe this one. Considered dropping the series entirely here, but soldiered on. Thankfully, they got the last of the really bad episodes out of their system here.

Whirly Dirly Conspiracy: Contender for my favorite of the season. It was fun, utilized Jerry in a unique way for once, and Rick was characterized properly again. Trippy sequence at the end was fun.

Rest and Ricklaxation: Good concept well executed. I liked sociopath Morty. Had an actual well thought out philosophy (there is no objective measure of what is good and what is bad in your personality or life experiences). Funny jokes, though none so memorable I can think of them off the top of my head.

Ricklantis Mixup: Really good. It was interesting seeing what the actual culture of the citadel of Ricks was like, and the return of the anticipated character was well done (if a bit obvious). Managed to have multiple concurrent plotlines and resolve them all within 20 minutes in a satisfying manner which is REALLY impressive.

Morty's Mind Blowers: After the disappointment of Interdimensional Cable 2, I was expecting to cringe hard. But this was a fun little episode, and makes sense in-universe with how much of a prick Rick is and how fragile Morty's psyche is. Lot of memorable moments and jokes ("true level" was one of my favorites).

ABC's of Beth: Gloriously mediocre. Which is impressive given that Beth was the primary character in this episode. It managed to make me almost like her for a bit. The sub-plot with the dad getting executed seemed unnecessary (and absolutely nonsensical) though.

Rickchurian Mortydate: Fluff, absolute fluff, but fun fluff. Points off for "Rick murders a bunch of people haha" for the third time this season, but at least it wasn't A.) The primary focus of the whole episode and B.) Played strictly for laughs as the stakes with his pissing contest with Vice President of the United States Keith David kept going higher and higher. It made a terrible finale, but an overall decent episode.

[lunaticfringe]

Vindicators 3 follows the theme from Meeseeks & Purging. It's a Morty adventure that does not end well for Morty.

Those episodes also explore other characters or to be specific Jerry the Patriarch & his failings. Jerry is absent or distant at this point in the Season so we get Rick who has replaced Jerry (which we are lead to believe was by design) in the home.

[Rynjin]

Vindicators 3 follows the theme from Meeseeks & Purging. It's a Morty adventure that does not end well for Morty.

That's a vague theme at best, and poorly executed. The Meseeks episode went bad due to a combination of bad luck, the dark underside that exists in any world, and to a minor extent Rick being a wet blanket the whole time. Ultimately though, it showed that Rick cares very deeply for the well being of his grandson.

Vindicators is Rick getting drunk and murdering a bunch of people that Morty used to idolize solely because he wants to shatter Morty's idealism...kinda...sort of...but not really because the ending joke was just as pointless as the rest of the episode.

Rick and Morty is at its best when Rick is an *******, even downright amoral at times, but overall at least consistently does whatever's best for himself and his family. This version of Rick is a selfish prick, but he loves his family.

Rick and Morty is at its worst when Rick gets, essentially, Moffatized as an inverse of the Matt Smith Doctor and is treated as a malicious god (Morty even refers to him in similar terms in the season opener). This version of Rick is a selfish prick (as a charitable description) and...full stop. That's it. That's his whole character.

Messeeks is an example of Rick as the former, while Vindicators is an example of the latter.

You COULD read more into it that Justin Roiland and Dan Harmon wanted to make some commentary on how alcoholics behave when they're sober vs when they're drunk, lashing out at even their loved ones and apologizing or trying to make up for it later, but I don't feel like giving them more credit than is due when the more likely answer is that Rick's characterization is schizophrenic in this season because they had a lot of creative differences behind the scenes this time and had to break in a new writing staff and the episode(s) are legitimately **** because they couldn't quite make them work than any deep philosophical meaning.

[Friv]

I'll break it down episode by episode:

*does so*

That's fair. I don't entirely agree with you, but I see your points, and they are well-argued.

I think what tripped me was your original statement that "Most of the episodes ranged from meh to downright horrendous", whereas when you broke them down, you pointed out three bad episodes, three okay episodes, and four good episodes. I can see how having all three of the episodes you disliked the most as three of the first four would tilt you towards giving up on the series, though.

[Rynjin]

After the breakdown I realized there were a couple of episodes I forgot about that tipped the scales toward good, it was just the first 4 episodes put a bad taste in my mouth overall, and the three bad ones were really memorably bad to me.