Season 1 of Rick and Morty came at us quickly,. It was gone just as fast, but it left us with chaos and hilarity. The creators Justin Roiland and Dan Harmon were given universal acclaim as the show whizzed by, which is rare for Adult Swim shows. The second season has maintained the first's excellent voicing, lovingly satirical sci-fi settings, dark humor, and its ability to get way too real at the drop of a hat. The plot of each episode tends to have multiple (sometimes sick) twists while always keeping its tongue firmly in cheek. Even as Rick and Morty flouts conventional narrative, the show has the ability to make viewers feel and think while they are laughing. Do not expect this from other Adult Swim shows like Aqua Teen Hunger Force. This feat is accomplished with frequent, drastic shifts in tone that are intended to shock the viewer out of a comedy mindset, and into interpretation.
In one episode of the first season Morty goes to the bathroom in a bar on an alien planet where he is nearly raped by an alien. The encounter is disturbingly graphic. Morty escapes, and you cannot help but root for him as he beats the rapist to a bloody pulp. However, the terror in Morty's eyes and voice robs the scene of any subversive humor. The message in this scene is that the universe can be a very frightening and dangerous place. The recurring theme in the first season is Morty's unfailing altruism losing out to Rick's pragmatism and moral bankruptcy. Occasionally, this results in psychological trauma for Morty. However whenever the show is in danger of moving into overly dramatic territory it finds a way to take us back to a zany sci-fi spoof. If the internet is at all reliable then it is safe to say that we eat it up every time. [9.2/10 IMDB; 100% Rotten Tomatoes; 85% Metacritic (really Metacritic? Seems sort of low)] Regardless, between many episodes the writers jam the reset button for the central setting of the Smith's house.
Throw a rager? Just freeze time for six months and have a dance party before cleanup.
After the success of the first season, Rick and Morty's creators Justin Roiland and Dan Harmon were able to attract some big names for guest starring roles. The first half of the second season has featured Christina Hendricks from Mad Men, Jemaine Clement who is on half of Flight of the Conchords, both Key and Peele from Key and Peele, and even Stephen Colbert. At this point it is probably clear that I am a fan of Rick and Morty. However, as a self-proclaimed perceptive viewer, I feel that I have legitimate criticism. So the rest of this article contains something besides glowing praise.
If you bothered reading to this point, here comes the criticism.
I am not opposed to the use of guest artists of any kind for any show. However in the case of Rick and Morty, they are on the verge of over doing it for this season. Ultimately all of the celebrity guests performed admirably in their roles. My personal favorite was Jemaine Clement who recorded a David Bowie influenced original song for his bit part as "Fart". Clement's character is a gaseous telepathic being who Morty saves from an assassin who Rick sells guns to. Fart's musical interludes fit in very well with his background in Flight of the Conchords, a show that often featured music videos interspersed in the plot.
Pretty good for a fart.
Christina Hendricks also provided the voice as an ex girlfriend of Rick's who may be his intellectual equal or superior. She also happens to assimilate entire species into a hive mind in order to survive and/or party with whoever she wants. That kind of ability is necessary when it comes to keeping up with Rick in the sack or in substance abuse. However like many real life couples, Rick and Unity bring the worst out in each other and have to stay apart for each other's sake. Hendrick's character was written to be seductive and intelligent, while also being fun and heartbreaking. This was entirely fitting with her performance as Joan in Mad Men.
Who doesn't love Joan?
My main criticism with the guest starring came with the episode The Ricks Must be Crazy. Stephen Colbert voiced a scientist named Zeep (who is nearly as capable as Rick) living inside of a pocket dimension which Rick had created to power his car battery. Don't get me wrong, the episode was funny. There was a dark subplot in which Summer was ditched in Rick's flying car to murderous results. Rick totally missed a point that Morty was trying to make about his unethical behavior, then tried to make the exact same point to Colbert's character minutes later. There was even a brick joke involving an ice cream parlor and giant telepathic spiders. However, Stephen Colbert's role could have been voiced by anybody. Sadly there was nothing particularly Colbert-y about Zeep. I would not expect for Colbert's character to skewer Republican politicians, or to mock the contemporary news media given the plot of the episode. But some sort of semblance to any work Colbert has done would have made him fit in as seamlessly as the other guest stars this season. I found myself wishing that Roiland and Harmon had asked Neil DeGrasse Tyson or Bill Nye to lend their voices Zeep instead.
Could you resist?
The weakest part of the episode was that Colbert's character never drew emotions from the viewers like the other guest stars did. I won't spoil the ending for any of the episodes, but damn did Hendricks and Clement's characters get at my inside stuff. I am willing to write The Ricks Must be Crazy off as a weak link in the season. However it is a very strong weak link. Let's pretend that before this episode my rating of Rick and Morty was a 10/10. After the that episode my rating would be a 9.9/10. The good news is that the newest episode gave a strong start to the last half of the season, primarily by finally putting Beth in outer space, and by giving us the best Beth and Jerry plot so far. As long as Harmon and Roiland continue to feature voice talents in roles that compliment his or her previous work as an artist, they will have no risk of jumping the cosmic shark this season. I'll be watching every Sunday at 11:30 on Adult Swim. If you are not, you are missing out.
Fuck the Dougie teach me this.