Superficially, Rick and Morty is just another episodic referential comedy, like so many others. What makes it stand out is how it is a lot more focused on its theme and messages than anything else out there. To make this clear, lets compare it to other famous cartoon series:
• Unlike Family Guy which makes nonsensical references that are irrelevant to the plot, the references in Rick and Morty are not only part of the story, they are also part of its philosophy. The jokes are the point, and not something completely separate from whatever is going on.
• Unlike South Park which references social events for making a point, Rick and Morty has a specific and steady meaning, which is not changing depending on the episode or contradicts statements in earlier episodes so it can be contrarian for the sake of being contrarian.
• Unlike Metalocalypse that uses violence simply for shock factor, Rick and Morty is violent as part of its nihilistic philosophy. Life has no value because nothing is important in the big scheme of things.
• Unlike standard cartoons that promote sappy stuff like friendship and love on one hand, while abusing magic and technology on the other for a cheap way out of any problem, Rick and Morty consciously uses cheap ways out of any problem, which explains why everything feels so meaningless in the longrun. What is the point of having friends or being nice to others when you have the technology to do anything you like and get away with it?
• And above all that, while standard stories make it seem like the most important things in life can be bought or gained, and they can be enough to make you happy forever, Rick and Morty openly states what is actually going on but nobody wants to admit. We can never be permanently satisfied no matter how many things we bought, how rich we are, or what we achieved. The universe doesn’t give a shit about you and it won’t spare or favor you no matter who you are or what you have done. If a huge meteor falls on Earth, the just won’t survive, while the wicked will perish. Everyone will die regardless of social status or criminal record. We are all insignificant and nobody up cares about it.
All that sound very depressing at first, and seem to promote some pretty nasty ideologies such as atheism, hedonism, and amorality. It seems like they are a bad influence on people with a healthy mentality and should be avoided at all costs. But you see that is the true beauty of this series. It is not about escapism, it is not trying to make you feel special, and is not trying to tell you everything will somehow work out in the end. It is teaching you modesty by telling you, you don’t matter. You are not the center of the universe, you are not important, and you cannot abuse plot conveniences to have it your way and still pretend it is all for a good cause.
For example, nobody ever seems to point out in stories about alternative realities how pointless it is to bother making a difference in one of them, when there is an infinite number of realities out there. They just use it as cheap way to stop a crisis without any consequences. Not here. Granpa Rick is the guy who will always point out the futility of such a thing, and that all you are left with is having a good time while you are still alive. In most other series, he would be a mad scientist, a villain, the root of the problem. In this show he is the catharsis because he is abusing the power he has and is not delusional about its effects on any man’s mentality.
Which is also why he is not a wise sage out to teach the new generation everything he realized about the cosmos. He doesn’t care about that. The only reason he drags Morty around is because he got old and needs an assistant to be his guinea pig, or scapegoat, or someone to share his burden after a long life of being a failure as a family man. And it’s not like the rest of his relatives are any better despite not sharing his beliefs. They are a very dysfunctional family, caught up in petty squabbles, a proof that it doesn’t matter how much you understand about the universe, you can be an asshole regardless of intelligence.
If I sound like I am sticking too much on a theoretical level, it’s because that is what makes the show stand out. It’s not the set up since it’s just a plotless comedy about a dysfunctional family, and we have lots of those. The characters are also not standing out for what they are but for how they are thinking. I like the tributes to sci-fi but on their own they are not enough to excuse why I like this cartoon so much. It’s very self-aware, it’s not holding back at being nasty, and it’s pretty well presented in a medium that is almost exclusively aimed at kids and manchildren.
But just like all things, it cannot last forever and that happens to be the case with the negative backlash it got during the third season. As it happens with any show that gets too popular, it eventually devolves to silly memes and its fandom becomes unbearable at how it constantly makes the show sound smarter than it actually is. Which is not the case, since the message of the show is not that smart and you are not a genius for getting it.
Also, you can only get that much self-deprecation before it becomes annoying. Once you get used to the style of the show and realize nobody every changes despite the constant mindfucks he is experiencing, after a point it becomes mean and depressing. The third season felt like watching Watamote half the time, since by that point there is nothing new to expect out of it besides more creative ways to make more memes and the characters being assholes to each other. There is no catharsis, there is no pay-off and it borders masochism. It’s still a great cartoon but it grew past its prime. It showed all there was to be shown and has now become just another thing you are watching sadistically when you want to see gore and nihilism.