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Rick & Morty: A Modern Tale Of An Alcoholic And An Incipient Beta
09-25-2017, 08:17 PM
After yesterday's episode, I think we can officially declare that Rick and Morty has been converged by social justice.
Season 3 has been unrelentingly hostile to Jerry, from him getting divorced from Beth in the first episode to the wolf randomly eating his unemployment check in the second episode while "Loser!" hisses in the background, but the most recent episode is beyond mean-spirited.
The episode is focused on attacking him for daring to date someone else now that it's clear he and Beth are not going to reconcile, and both his children have been turned against him by her, to the point where Summer tells him that she and Morty favor Beth. He's depicted even worse than Beth, who literally goes on a murder spree in a pocket dimension and ends up killing the person she was going there to rescue.
In fact, after Jerry's girlfriend drags them on too many hunts, Summer forces him to admit that he's a "racist" and "beta male sexist" if he wants her's and Morty's help in getting rid of her, only for her to abandon him anyway. I guarantee you that Dan Harmon put that line in himself: it smacks of how gamma males co-opt manosphere terminology in an femme, bitchy way to bash it (see: Thunderf00t calling Aurini's editing "gamma-level" or the countless leftoids/alt-right homos who will claim that me, Roosh etc. "aren't really alpha" even though we've never called ourselves "alpha").
The constant savaging of Jerry---contrasted with how he was depicted as a dim but good-natured family man in the first two seasons---is completely in line with how feminists whine about "nice guys" and other male archetypes that exist entirely in their imaginations. Watch: we'll soon be seeing headlines like "Rick and Morty is the Most Feminist Animated Show on TV" and "How Rick and Morty Creator Dan Harmon Became a Feminist Hero and Told His Dudebro Fans to Fuck Off."
It's not just Jerry's characterization that's terrible. You've got Rick increasingly depicted as a Secret King who is always right and saves the day but can never catch a break, such as in the first episode, where it's revealed that his touching sacrifice at the end of the previous season was... all a ruse! He didn't grow a conscience and turn himself in to protect his family, he had this super-secret plot to wipe out the Federation AND the Council of Ricks all at once! Why won't you recognize his genius, guise???!!1
At the end of the episode, he also reveals that he orchestrated Jerry and Beth's divorce, ensuring that Morty and Summer will grow up in a broken home, and yet we're STILL supposed to feel bad for Rick and the fact that no one appreciates how brilliant he is. Blow me. Hilariously, Harmon keeps undermining his own characterization of Rick by increasingly depicting him as a callous, petty jerk, whether he's torturing and killing an entire superhero team or erasing memories from Morty's mind whenever Morty shows him up or embarrasses him.
The writers on this season are also just plain bad outside of politics. Season three increasingly relies on deus ex machinas to get the characters out of impossible situations. In the most recent episode, after Beth kills Tommy (who she was trying to save), she has Rick conveniently make a clone of him. In the "Morty's Mind Blowers" episode, one of the flashbacks is about Rick and Morty fleeing their dimension after arousing the wrath of the squirrels, which completely cheapens the first time they did it in "Rick Potion #9" back in the first season.
It calls to mind the last seasons of Star Trek: The Next Generation (or the entirety of Voyager), where the writers would pull some random Treknobabble out of their asses after painting the characters into an impossible situation. It's lazy, shitty writing and cheapens any emotional impact the show might otherwise have. "Tales from the Citadel" was really the only good episode this season because it broke from the formula of "Rick always good, Jerry always bad, and here's some random plot device to unfuck the Gordian knot we wrote ourselves into."
The show is also not funny. I laughed hysterically through most of the first two seasons (outside the Interdimensional Cable episodes; getting rid of that was the only smart decision the writers made this season). The only time I got a good laugh this season was during the alien torture scene in "Morty's Mind Blowers."
At this current rate, I wouldn't be surprised if the show gets cancelled after its current season, though given the increasing praise it gets from the social justice set, maybe that will save it from the chopping block. The market can stay irrational longer than your predictions of doom for the NFL, SJW mass media, and socialist-run Twitter can stay solvent.
I only got turned on to Rick and Morty recently: I binge watched the first two seasons while I was sick with a fever. I've had to deal with a bunch of alcoholics in my life in recent years (including a girl I banged), and Rick's characterization nailed the alcoholic mentality perfectly: unrelentingly selfish, short-sighted, zero attention span, self-immolating, and self-pitying. But the show also balanced it out with positive qualities for each of the characters. A truly daring season three would have had an episode where Rick tries to quit drinking, but Dan Harmon didn't want to go there as it would screw up his depiction of Rick as an idealized version of himself, the Secret King who don't get no respect.
I doubt I'll be watching the next season of Rick and Morty. Dan Harmon made it clear he doesn't want me as a fan, so why fight it?
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Rick & Morty: A Modern Tale Of An Alcoholic And An Incipient Beta
09-25-2017, 09:07 PM
There's only one more episode to season 3.
Then if it takes 14-18 months for season 4 to emerge.
The political / social climate will have changed some what.
If the show creators are clever, they'll continue on their "story circle" structure & the show will advance on it's own merits rather than attempt a forced narrative to fit into whatever social climate may exist.
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Rick & Morty: A Modern Tale Of An Alcoholic And An Incipient Beta
09-25-2017, 09:59 PM
I think the biggest Gamma tell of this last episode was after Beth ends up going on a killing spree and then asks Ricks "Am I evil?", to which Rick replies "No, you're just smart." He then goes on the usual shtick about in infinite universe everyone else is just too boring and common for special people like themselves. This combined with Harmon's rant about dudebros watching his show really cements his status as a sperg who never grew out of his 14 year old "Everyone is stupid but me because I read a Richard Dawkins book and wear black eyeliner and respect women for their minds" phase.
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Rick & Morty: A Modern Tale Of An Alcoholic And An Incipient Beta
09-26-2017, 03:59 AM
So the idiot thinks he can write this scene...
...and then seamlessly reintegrate into SJW territory?
Idiot.
Anyway, I got bored with this series by the second episode of season 2. Like a certain thread, I sensed it was going in a direction I didn't want.
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Rick & Morty: A Modern Tale Of An Alcoholic And An Incipient Beta
09-26-2017, 12:01 PM
Yep. The thing that makes Adult Swim shows (and a lot of other adult cartoon shows) is when they don't take themselves seriously and are relatively free to be silly...especially when they take something that's "academic" and use the more ridiculous aspects of it for laughs. A few of the first season episodes, Aqua Teen, and South Park have done this very well in the past.
But you now...same way with Harmon and his new team...and most of the SJW's that now infest media. They have major character deficits that make very literally impossible to not preach at their audience in a sanctimonious, condescending manner.
And it's entirely preventable too in a manner that's inconsistent even inside the same show. The "Pickle Rick" encounter with the therapist is hilarious because both Rick and the therapist are completely right in their own way: our own therapy-like focus on "inner calm" and such is antithetical to reaching a state where you have power over your own reality, and Rick actually does use his own intelligence to justify his own asshole behavior. Most important, it is not political. It's a character play because the idea of Rick's character trying to interact with a therapist is funny.
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Rick & Morty: A Modern Tale Of An Alcoholic And An Incipient Beta
09-26-2017, 04:18 PM
I think Harmon is just watching his ass with these statements in public, he does not want to end up like Million Dollar Extreme. MDE was funny as hell and had a big audience, but did not play the game of Hollywood well , and was axed. MDE (which was also on Adult Swim) made other creators take note , toe the line or get cut and blackballed. If I was Harmon I would do the same song and dance in the media he is- When I am at work you better believe I keep it PC as hell.
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Rick & Morty: A Modern Tale Of An Alcoholic And An Incipient Beta
09-29-2017, 02:35 AM
The sense of humor really sucked in this latest episode. I notice there's a couple episodes this season where the jokes and delivery is on point, but I'm finding too many episodes where the rhythm and dialogue come off as awkward and tryhard as hell.
I think the episodes that suck the most are mainly written by the women they added on (hence the episodes with more focus on Beth and Summer). Case in point: the Mad Max parody where suddenly Summer is magically "badass", but they show plays it off seriously instead of riffing on it. Or the episode where that guy gets cronenberged for liking big tits.
This season feels less like "Rick and Morty" and more like "Beth and Summer plus that weird kid and the old guy with hair and by the way Jerry's a loser. Did we mention we think Jerry's a pathetic loser? Now let's repeat this same joke for 11 episodes."
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Rick & Morty: A Modern Tale Of An Alcoholic And An Incipient Beta
10-02-2017, 05:43 PM
God damn, they really did jump the shark on the "secret king" omega/gamma shit on last episode.
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Rick & Morty: A Modern Tale Of An Alcoholic And An Incipient Beta
10-02-2017, 09:02 PM
I enjoyed how Jerry's robe says weak on the back.
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Rick & Morty: A Modern Tale Of An Alcoholic And An Incipient Beta
10-02-2017, 10:14 PM
I'm late to the party on a lot of the episodes this season. I just saw episode seven and it was just mind blowing. I loved it when the cop Morty was like, "oh you know how it is..just Mortys killin Mortys"
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Rick & Morty: A Modern Tale Of An Alcoholic And An Incipient Beta
10-02-2017, 10:32 PM
Really underwhelmed by the finale. Rick's invincibility and absolute superiority over everyone in existence smacks of gamma wish-fulfillment, and it's a dumb choice from a writing perspective because an invincible protagonist is boring. Also bugged by how this season didn't resolve things the show previously set up (Robo-Birdperson, Evil Morty, etc.) A few individual episodes were really good, but they seem to be writing themselves into a corner. And Summer and Beth are pretty boring, the amount of time spent on them feels like it's wasted.
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Rick & Morty: A Modern Tale Of An Alcoholic And An Incipient Beta
10-02-2017, 11:56 PM
And now we have to wait another two f*cking years for the show to come back.
Honestly, this is what happens when creatives don't have the gauntlet over their head. There's absolutely no reason for this to take so long to do.
I'll be in my late 40s by the time this show wraps up because these two can't keep their creative process intact.
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Rick & Morty: A Modern Tale Of An Alcoholic And An Incipient Beta
10-03-2017, 01:27 AM
To be fair, you have to have a very high IQ to understand Rick and Morty. The humour is extremely subtle, and without a solid grasp of theoretical physics most of the jokes will go over a typical viewers 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 realise that they're not just funny- they say something deep about LIFE. As a consequence people who dislike Rick & Morty truly ARE idiots- of course they wouldn't appreciate, for instance, the humour in Rick's existential catchphrase "Wubba Lubba Dub Dub," which itself is a cryptic reference to Turgenevs 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 wit unfolds itself on their television screens. What fools.. how I pity them. ?
And yes, by the way, i DO have a Rick & Morty tattoo. And no, you cannot see it. It's for the ladies' eyes only- and even then they have to demonstrate that they're within 5 IQ points of my own (preferably lower) beforehand. Nothin personnel kid ?