There's one big question most people wonder about over the first three
seasons of Rick and Morty: has Rick Sanchez changed? Is he becoming more
caring?
[What's that Rick?]
[I love my grandkids. Psych, just kidding my new
catchphrase is I don't give a fu**.]
Much of the humor in the show derives from the fact
that Rick is not concerned about the well-being of others, especially not his
grandson Morty. This reverses the trope of the wise mentor who has everything
under control and can generally ensure his partner's safety. In Rick's case he
primarily uses his grandson for his own personal gain and shows little reaction
when this causes Morty horrible pain and suffering.
[I'm in a lot of pain Rick.]
[Yeah, I can see that. But do you still think you'll be able to help collect my seeds, Morty?]
[Are you kidding me?]
Rick's tendency to exploit Morty gets more and more extreme and Rick eventually claims
that he only brings Morty on his adventures because his low intelligence
serves as camouflage.
[See, when Rick is with Morty the genius waves get canceled out
by the Morty waves.]
Rick treats his whole family with consistent contempt, disdain
and irritation.
[As far as grandpa's concerned you're both pieces of shit.]
He dismisses Summer, manipulates or ignores Beth.
[I mean, you know, your mom could put me in a purse or a pocket, you know if
she really needs me to go.]
[Nobody needs anything okay? it's fine.]
And openly
insults Jerry on a regular basis.
[If I wanted to watch someone throw their life
away, I'd hang out with Jerry all day.]
But despite this, he insists on taking Morty and sometimes
Summer along on his adventures, often against their will. We get the distinct
feeling that maybe Rick enjoys their company after all.
[Experience!]
As the show goes on
Rick also starts expressing more concern for their safety and emotional
well-being. He even seems to have learned something about the value of
relationships and the perils of trying to be above everything. When he says:
[Take it from me ice you can't just float around space not caring about stuff
forever.]
The other Rick's think it's pretty clear that Rick cares about his
family and they consider him to be an aberration for this reason:
[You're a rogue, Rick -- irrational, passionate, you love your grandkids, you came to rescue them.]
In season two we see Rick experiencing deep emotion. After Rick opens himself up to
his girlfriend Unity but she abandons him, he attempts to commit suicide. The
time lapse after his attempt showing that no one checks on him emphasizes his
loneliness
Rick is gradually revealed to be someone who is in a great deal of emotional pain,
and Bird Person reveals that Rick's catchphrase is actually a cry for help
[In my people's tongue, it means I am in great pain, please help me.]
One reason
it's complicated to decipher whether Rick is actually changing is that
whenever he does feel emotional or close to his family Rick goes to great lengths
to hide this from them.
[Yeah I don't care.]
[Oh I know. Everyone knows you don't care.]
[So?]
And when he does appear to let out a genuine sentiment he dismisses it as a
joke.
[So now you know the real reason I rescued you. I just took over the family
Morty and if you tell your mom or sister I said any of this, I'll deny it.]
He also avoids situations in
which you might be forced to express his emotions. His adventure in anatomy park
conveniently allows him to get out of a Christmas party, and turning himself into
a pickle is done specifically to avoid going to a family therapy session. Every
time Rick grows closer to Morty or other family members he finds a way to ruin or
reverse the connection that has developed.
[I'm not driven by avenging my dead family, Morty. That was fake. I'm driven by finding that Nugget sauce.
I want that Mulan McNugget sauce, Morty.]
Also, some of Rick's most
emotional moments are witnessed only by the audience.
We even see Rick crying when he's shown childhood memories of Morty. In this
moment of vulnerability the wall that Rick has carefully constructed around
himself is shattered. But no one in the show witnesses this moment and Rick puts
the wall right back up again and discourages Morty from trying to form a
bond.
[Hey Morty, you want connection go be part of some stupid Club like all those
dumb Rick's. you know maybe I don't connect because I'm the Rickest Rick
there is.]
Early on in season two Rick's character makes a major leap
forward by sacrificing himself to save Morty. But again this sacrifice is
something only the audience sees, and Rick will not admit that it took place.
He prefers the illusion that he is cold and distant.
[But I feel like one of the
64 Rick's like sacrificed himself for me maybe? I think?]
[Shut up Morty. The last
time you felt something we all almost died. You little piece of shit.]
And Rick is
clearly successful at hiding any emotional depth he has from his family,
since at the start of season 3 Morty says this:
He left you to rot in the world that he ruined, because he doesn't care. Because nobody's
special to him Summer. Not even himself.]
We see how lonely and miserable Rick is
and how much each of his family members longs for acceptance from him. So we
desperately want to see Rick showing his caring side to his family:
[I love you Jerry.]
But the show plays with our desire to see Rick openly care and we're
constantly duped into thinking he's expressing genuine emotion when he
actually isn't. This cycle is set up in the pilot episode when Rick gets into an
argument with Jerry at the breakfast table and then masterfully manipulates
his way out of it by getting his daughter on his side.
[This was a good
breakfast Beth. You really made the crap out of those eggs. I wish your mother was
here to eat them.]
[Oh, Dad.]
The show continues toying with our desire to see
Rick care as Rick turns himself into the Galactic Federation in the final episode
of season 2 after hearing his family express their love for him and seeing
the damage he's inflicting on their lives. Of course it emerges later that
Rick actually turned himself in as part of his plan to destroy the galactic
federations economy and not to help his family. In Vindicators 3, The Return of
Worldender, viewers were led to believe that a drunk Rick was declaring his
feelings for Morty but he was actually talking about noob noob. So
where is Rick heading emotionally? He goes through cycles of caring and not
caring about the family and everything else, making his notorious character arc
look more like a sine wave -- he can fluctuate between caring and not caring
multiple times even within a single episode. On top of this we get cycles of
his pretending to not care when he actually does, and pretending to care
when he doesn't. In Rick talk, Rick caring and not caring at the same time are two
equally possible impossibility making him the Schrodinger's cat of
emotional connection since we can't really see inside he both feels and
doesn't at once. Dan Harmon, the show's co-creator, points out the duality at the
root of Rick's character:
[The planet is dying, the Sun is exploding, the universe
is cooling, nothing's gonna matter. The further back you pull the more
that truth will endure. But when you zoom in on Earth, when you zoom into a family,
when you zoom into a human brain and a childhood experience, you see all these
things that matter.]
These comments reveal a key insight -- that the secret to finding
meaning in our lives isn't actually about what we know or don't, or
understanding some truth.
[Unity I am so sorry. I didn't know freedom meant people
doing stuff that sucks. I was thinking more of a choose your own cell phone
carrier thing.]
It's about what size view we take; what we choose to focus on. So if
the key is really about how we look at things then finding meaning is a choice.
Rick's arc isn't really a prolonged search for meaning though -- it's a back
and forth between finding meaning and his love for family, and then rejecting
it because he can't reconcile that with his knowledge of the vastness of the
universe. This duality and fluidity and changing his mind are what make Rick such
a fascinating character.
[I just got bored. Everybody out.]
His behavior can go
unexplained and his personality can go rogue depending on his mood and the
context. The choice is a rejection of typical narrative structures in which a
character must move permanently in one definitive linear direction. So far the
show's creators consciously avoid giving Rick a backstory except for that fake
backstory he concocted, so as not to reduce his complex character to a flat
explanation. Even if we learn more it's doubtful they'll ever take Rick out of
this constant state of flux. Most importantly this lack of resolution
mirrors real life -- what we feel and how we act changes from year to year and day
to day. We can't always explain our own behavior; we certainly don't know each
other's character arcs, and we can go through cycles of despair and happiness,
connectedness and loneliness. We've all at some point lost and found meaning in
our lives, and then lost it again and then found it again. So we can all relate
to the true answer to this question: Has Rick changed? The answer is yes and he'll
continue changing on and on with no comforting certain end in sight.