Rick and Morty ★★★★☆

I just rewatched all of Rick and Morty in anticipation of season 8 coming out some time in 2025. I've been a huge fan of the show since it was first released, but I remembered season 5 and 6 being a disappointment. However, I also remembered season 7 as being very funny. Weirdly, though, I had seen other ratings that showed that season 7 had a lower rating than season 5 and 6, which I thought was weird. I wanted to see if I was misremembering or if season 7 really did represent a potential comeback of the good old days of Rick and Morty. So I watched all seven seasons and gave every episode a rating out of 5.

Rick and Morty is definitely a hilarious show, but there were a lot of episodes that didn't make me laugh and yet I enjoyed them as much or more than funnier episodes. I think RIck and Morty succeeds not just because of the wacky humor, but also because the premise of interdimensional travel is so bonkers, that it allows for them to explore all kinds of crazy sci-fi scenarios, and the wild consequences that other sci-fi stories might gloss over. Nothing is off limits, though, as referenced in the show, they go pretty light on time travel, only visiting the concept twice. I'm a huge fan of sci-fi and animation, so this show is automatically in my top favorite shows of all time for that reason.

The characters in Rick and Morty show natural growth over the 7 seasons. For example Rick starts the show as a sociopath who doesn't care about his family since he knows that there are infinite versions of them, and he can always jump to another dimension and find new versions of them to spend his time with. In the later seasons, he grows to become attached to the specific family he has found, and starts to learn how to treat them better. Introduced in season 3's episode "Pickle Rick," his therapist Dr. Wong challenges Rick to face his problems instead of running from them, and he very slowly, very reluctantly begins to do so.

RIck and Morty has a mixture of serialized episodes and standalone episodes. I used to think that TV shows that are serialized are best, but now I believe that serializing a whole show can make the stories very tedious. Rick and Morty does a good job of mixing it up. I enjoy every single lore episode, but I think it would be too much if every single episode were a lore episode. Dan Harmon, the co-creator of the show, is brilliant as a writer. He created another of my favorite shows, Community, which shares its zaniness and pop culture homages with Rick and Morty. Dan Harmon uses his formula of the "Story Circle," derived from Joseph Campbell's Hero's Journey, which is what helps each episode feel like more than just a comedy sketch, with stakes, growth, and a satisfying story.

Comparing IMDb ratings (divided by 2 since they use a scale of 10) to my own ratings, I can see that what I originally thought was true. I enjoyed seasons 5 and 6 less than season 7, but reviewers on IMDb don't share my opinion. That was my subjective experience as well. As I watched seasons 5 and 6, especially 6, I just felt empty inside after most episodes. There were definitely a few duds in season 7, but I rated half the episodes 5/5, while season 6 had no 5/5s and season 5 only had two.

My hypothesis is that since viewership peaked in season 3 (according to Wikipedia via Nielsen), the people who watched season 7 were mostly the people who enjoyed the humor of season 5 and 6, which was weirdly, a lot of incest jokes and other gross humor. Another hypothesis is that people didn't like the new voice actors for the titular characters Rick and Morty after Justin Roiland was forced out due to sexual misconduct allegations. For the most part, I don't mind the new voice actors. Morty in particular is pretty much impossible to tell apart from his old voice. However, there were several episodes where I felt Rick's voice didn't match as well, a little deeper and a bit less scratchy. And Justin Roiland gave the characters, especially Rick, more of an off-the-cuff feel, which I think is lacking in season 7. So it sometimes feels like I'm watching a different Rick.

Overall, the show is great, especially the first 3 seasons. If you haven't seen this show, I definitely recommend you watch it. You may want to skip some episodes, but you have to be careful, because there are some important (and fun) lore episodes even in the bad seasons.

Here's a helpful viewing guide if you just want to skip the worst episodes:

Season 1: Watch all the episodes, though you can skip episode 7: Raising Gazorpazorp if you want to

Season 2: Watch all the episodes, every single one is a banger (at least a 4/5 on my scale)

Season 3: You can skip episode 2: Rickmancing the Stone. The last 2 episodes aren't my favorite, but they're somewhat important for the lore

Season 4: Watch all the episodes except DEFINITELY skip episode 4: Claw and Hoarder.

Season 5: DEFINITELY skip episode 4: RIckdependence Spray, and you can also skip episode 5: Amortycan Grickfitti and episode 6: Rick and Morty's Thanksploitation Spectacular

Season 6: You can skip episodes 5, 6, 7 and DEFINITELY 9

Season 7: You can skip episode 1: How Poopy got his Poop Back and episode 8: Rise of the Numbericons, and DEFINITELY skip episode 7: Wet Kuat Amortican Summer

If you just want to watch the best of the best episodes (according to both me and IMDb) along with the important lore episodes, here's the guide:

Season 1: 1,2,4,5,6,8,9,10,11 (skip 3 and 7)

Season 2: 1,2,3,4,5,6,7,9,10 (skip 8)

Season 3: 1,3,4,6,7,8,9,10 (skip 2 and 5)

Season 4: 1,2,3,5,8,10 (skip 4, 6, 7, 9)

Season 5: 1,2,8,9,10 (skip 3, 4, 5, 6, 7)

Season 6: 1,3,4,8,10 (skip 2, 5, 6, 7, 9)

Season 7: 2,3,4,5,6,10 (skip 1, 7, 8, 9)