I like how the picklerick episode had a moment where the therapist pretty much looks at the camera and says why the audience should not want to be like Rick and that he has a toxic worldview and people come away with that thinking the therapist is a massive bitch and that Rick somehow won
I think this is where you need to start talking about how well, or not well, the show is written. The show would be better off showing that, not just having the therapist SAY it. Quinton actually made a video on Filthy Frank, and in it you can point out how Filthy Frank is genius because it manages to be edgy without seeming like it unironically thinks Filthy Frank is the apex of human behavior.
@@marisanya but the show does show it, constantly. He is completely unable to form real functioning relationships, has a massive substance abuse problem, and frequently attempts suicide. If that doesn't show you he is not a person you should want to be i really don't know what is
16:17 Coming back to this video like 2 years later now, I think it's telling that you called this out that "Rick exists in a universe designed to make him right", and then for the Season 6 finale, they reveal that it is literally canon that he exists in a universe designed to make him right.
@@louisduarte8763 I think they mean season 5, where the central finite curve thing is destroyed. Basically, the ricks had a wall across dimensions where they were "the smartest" person in the universe. It'll be pretty interesting to see what stories they come up with as well as the character development. It's possible they'll follow the doctor who route, and rick will end up turning into someone more empathetic. I think it is more likely though that rick will become entrenched in his asshole attitude as ricker non-ricks are now engaged with his reality. Maybe somewhere in between? I don't know how they are going to keep the show going for too many seasons tbh. Tho at the same time, the show already has extremely loose serialization and entire filler episodic seasons where they explicitly throw out the serial story.
I never saw Rick's terrible behaviour as a condition of him being smart even though he says this in the show. He only believes it because that way he can justify being an absolute wad to everyone. Because if it isn't being smart that made him an asshole he would have to accept that he is just an asshole who happens to also be smart and he has way too much of an ego and godcomplex to ever admit that.
@@KombatGod It may be partly that. This is not meant as a boast, but as a person who tested really high on the intelligence scale (I'm in the 99.6 percentile), I think I understand where Rick is coming from to a degree. Things can actually be pretty miserable for you when you're smart. You can't find people who can relate to you, or that you can really relate to yourself; people aren't interested in what you have to say either because they don't understand where you're coming from, or because it's threatening to them because it challenges the status quo and the way they view the world around them, as well as causing self-doubt. In addition to that, it's very difficult to find people who are intellectually stimulating on your level. That lack of connection with others can really eat away at a person.. it drains all the color out of your life. You also carry around the weight of having a more thorough understanding of just how messed up and dysfunctional the world is, when other people tend to just view it as 'normal,' or simply aren't aware of all the suffering that occurs outside of their personal bubbles. But since nobody else really sees what you see, you're not able to get it validated, share it with anyone, or talk about it with anyone, so you just have to sit on it quietly and keep it to yourself. Which can feel lonely, even when you're around others, because you're not able to fully express yourself; you have to hide parts of yourself instead. Very smart people tend to get kicked down the stairs, and the world often isn't fair to them (side note, I think that's part of why Rick keeps saying "school's not a place for smart people"; it's because he doesn't fit the mold, and they don't know what to do with him.. so all they can do is try to force their own 'mold' onto him that they use with everybody else, which doesn't fit him and will only hold him back); their intelligence sets them apart, which leaves them isolated and alone. People who have had to put up with all that pain and misery during their lives really can have a lot of trouble coping with it. It's not all that surprising to me that Rick is a sloppy drunk or an impatient jerk, because of all the suffering he's had to go through because of who he is. And it's suffering that I bet nobody else is aware of or can see because they have no idea what it's like to walk in his shoes every day. It's possible that nobody in the universe truly understands him, and it's hard to feel loved or valued when you don't feel seen, understood or accepted for who you are.
@@Lauderdizzle being intelligent doesn't really seem to matter for people i know. it's how you use it, and how well-built your ego is. if it isn't, you'll be pretty sad, as you are right now. you seem to not know who you are.
@@MsHumanOfTheDecade I understand what your viewpoint is. Many people do not have any problems with it. Yet there is a strong correlation with 'intelligence' (however vague that may be) and certain mental disorders, like depression. If it actually is intelligence or maybe a by-product, like being more critical or trying to view both sides of the coin, is unclear, but the correlation is there.
I really hope for an episode next season where Rick gets stuck at home with severe withdrawal symptoms and acts like a severe addict by the end of the episode
I've always said rick and morty feels like it's written by a freshman who just discovered the concept of nihilism and really wants you to know about it
Well its actually a combination of nihilistic people in movie recently and shows, as well as celebrities like Aubrey plaza, she's pretty but her humor got white washed into oblivion once everyone tried to be "edgy."
I regard it more as a neo-Lovecraftian take on nihilism. When Rick abandoned universe C-137 in Rick Potion #9, that clearly wasn't the first time he did that did that, implying that his original family is already dead. As likely as not, his real daughter died before his grandchildren were even born. In that sense, nothing is even "real" from Rick's perspective. But, I don't say that to justify his conduct. Indeed, he would be barely functional is an actual reality, which is part of the joke.
vizsla826 Hulk Hogan has a common handle bar mustache. If you want to see an example of a real "Fu Manchu stache", look up Aron Ra. He's got a YT channel too. Look him up and behold. lol
I would love to see that too! I’ve always wanted a cohesive series of thoughts on all of the doctors since most people only have opinions on the doctors from whatever era of the show they watched or are watching.
The Human Trash can Hey! I have a solid recommendation for you! I was wanting something like that too, and then I stumbled on a channel called “Clever Dick Films” where a man named Richard Carrier breaks down the real world story behind each Doctor’s era and reviews the in universe narrative while he does it. It’s really good stuff, he’s just wrapped up the Classic Series and most of the Wilderness Years and evidentially a Shalka/9th Doctor episode is on its way soon!
“See, all those years ago, when I began, I was just running. I called myself the Doctor but it was just a name. And then I went to Skaro. And then I met you lot and I understood who I was! The Doctor was not the Daleks!” - 12th Doctor, Into the Dalek (helps your point about the first doctor’s character)
Still hilarious when he jacked Davros' chair and scared the crap out of the Daleks riding around on it: "Admit it, you all had this exact same nightmare!"
@@louisduarte8763 But it's also a show of the fact Moffat had no idea how to write a character with stakes. The Doctor is never vulnerable like he was in RTD's era, he's just completely fucking immortal. The Daleks don't shoot him on sight because then Moffat would have to write an actual scenario with cause and effect, as opposed to the Doctor bashing out a speech in the middle of a situation and getting off easy. Just so happens that Rick also stopped being vulnerable to his enemies right around when Rick and Morty started going downhill. Where were all his superweapons back when he was running from bug-eyed monsters in the pilot episode?
The only time I have seen the "I am smart therefore rude" work is in Doc Martin, his persona is shown as a failing and a condition he would like to sometimes change rather than just the, I'm cool because I pretend not to care. It is also shown in a positive light in other scenarios too and the main thing being it is very funny.
I feel that if it weren't for the mental state "I am constantly unhappy and I want to kill myself" being normalised in most aspects of our society it would be pretty easy for most people to see Rick as the writers intended ie a jaded coward who is too afraid of rejection, pain and mockery to love anything sincerely. Instead, a lot of people see this suicidal sociopath and think "yes, this validates all my life's decisions." Perhaps my favourite recurring joke in Rick and Morty is when Jerry manages to be happier and more successful at almost everything than any other main character. It's understandable that he gets brought down a peg once a season but it interferes with his role in the show. He is often happy and his life is inarguably richer than Rick's and he doesn't need to be a genius or have a spaceship to achieve this.
This would make sense, except for the fact that Jerry's life is actually terrible. His wife hates him, his kids don't respect him, and he's constantly dunked on by Rick and the plot in every episode. To me, his life seems just as bad if not worse than Rick. At least the family actually seems to appreciate Rick.
Understanding that show is better may require a higher IQ, but seriously it's a proper deconstruction of male antihero that Rick and Morty aren't smart enough to make
For what it’s worth, I think his brain just manufactured an ad hoc hybrid of generic fan sentiments such as “I watched every episode as soon as it came out” or “I’ve binge watched every season,” leaving it to people mesmerized by his new mustache to concoct convoluted explanations as to why his statement wasn’t inherently self-contradictory. Basically it would be like this: Quentin: My favorite baseball player scores so many goals every game. You: Ummm, wouldn’t that be runs? Responders: He’s probably saying that because the baseball player is probably a big hockey fan, so he’s probably saying it like the baseball player would convert the runs into goals in his head. Quentin is soooooo clever like that. I mean, just look at that mustache !!! 🧐🧐🧐🧐
I'm really grateful for The Old Man and the Seat, it's one of the first times R&M unambiguously showed Rick as the broken person he is, made him 100% in the wrong, and set him up for future development, if this is the route the show's taking, maybe we'll get a Bojack Horseman situation. Honestly, seeing Rick being laughed at by his own ego-fueled holograms might be one of the boldest moves the show's taken in a while.
I think a big part of the problem is the same thing as Filthy Frank- five years ago, the edgy shit was awesome, but the edge has worn off and now it's just tasteless
correct me if i'm wrong but i feel like the real toxicity set in the fanbase around season 3 as shown in the fabled szechuan sauce debacle, which i think is when the show hit the mainstream fully. we're only a few episodes into season 4 but i feel like the it's on track to address this at most over the course of the next few seasons. i get the impression from the way the creators discuss the show and the fans especially, that they still know rick's philosophies are problematic and not to be encouraged. i can see the overall arc of the show being connected to this in some way, but only time will tell. i have some doubts as to whether they'll actually be able to hold to the however many season long contract they've signed, but i hope they do. regardless of the negative aspects that surround it, i love the show and do think it is valuable.
jonvart Reminds me of Bojack Horseman which introduced a show in the show with the purpose of addressing how people can use the show to justify bad behavior.
@@abarragan02 exactly, i loved how far they went in season 5 to demonstrate that his behaviour isn't fine just because he's damaged, and that he is still responsible for his actions whether they come from an empathetic place or not
Princess Rainbovvs X Musashi Not anymore...the days of nuance, examination and neutral depiction are long over. For the last five years, depiction = emphatic endorsement.
@@jessreinhardt4408 It's like everyone feels the need to waaay over-analyse the show, and yea I get that it's often clever and has layered jokes, but I mean it still goes for loads of shit and cock jokes too, which I'm all for! ( the jokes... not cock) but the fanbase is the reason it took me so long to actually watch it, smug pseudo intellectuals trying to analyse a show that has a character called Mr Poopy Butthole 😂 they're actually a parody of themselves like
Season 3 literally has him lose out to Jerry, kind of undercutting the whole "the show just tells you not to care about stuff and status quo!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!"
Recent seasons/episodes have partly been a reaction to a vocal part of the fandom that is way too edgy and misunderstands Rick as a character. Far too many of them viewed him completely as a role model.
I feel like Season 3 as a whole is basically a response to this. The series arc is a battle between Rick's combination of intelligence/nihilism, and Jerry's combo of stupidity/principles. And at the end of the season Jerry wins. At the start of the season, Rick becomes effectively all-powerful, and he defeats all his enemies effortlessly in 1 episode. The Council, the Federation, and most importantly Jerry. Nihilism gives him everything he wants. Beth even leaves Jerry to stay with Rick. But Rick's brand of cosmic nihilism ends up terrifying Beth so much that by the end of the season she runs back to Jerry specifically to protect herself (and the kids) from Rick. Despite Rick's ability to do literally anything, he has pushed away his only family and lost the thing he values most. As a final mark of Jerry's victory over Rick, Rick agrees to live under the rules of Beth and Jerry. This serves as a final refutation of the nihilism Rick espouses, as Rick essentially gives up the unlimited power he got through his intelligence in exchange for the "meaningless" sentiment of being with his family. The message I read from the season is that "nihilism might be logical and powerful, but nihilism does not lead to a happy, fulfilling life"
If any of that were actually in the show and not accidentally the message of it just being random horsecrap that doesn't mean anything. Nobody is allowed to develop, because the writers don't care about occasionally just saying "well this character acts this way now. Just shut up. It's a comedy, who cares." And thats a good question; who cares about this show, and why? The only positives anybody can list tend to be "well i liked it" or the dialogue being clever but I argue a show with such little regard for the audience and the plot literally cannot have traditionally good writing or jokes because it's pretty much just a series of absurdist sketches at that point.
Jerry did not defeat Rick. In fact, the only thing that can defeat Rick is his own inner demons. If Rick really wanted Jerry out his family's lives, it would have happened already. In fact, the (or a) punchline is that Rick, despite his intelligence, is in fact barely functional as a human being, not unlike a parody of a "tortured artist," a genius, but being unable to parley his skills into earning a living, maintaining a normal social life, or accomplishing much beyond a random whim.
@@blkgardner Rick started a small business against the devil and won. Jerry is a better person than Rick, even though he is less informed. No Intel is more reliable than bad Intel. It is why 2001 was a bad year for America when it came to fighting terrorism. #TeamAmericaWorldPolice
I'm retro-binging QR content but It's almost like,,,,, when asshats online aren't waging a war against non-binary pronouns,,,,,, a simple change to reflect a person's gender doesn't really stick out as "weird",,,,,, interesting
Rick isn't really smart, nor is he a scientist - he's the protagonist of a show written in such a way that what he says just happens to be true, and his machines no matter how half-assed always work. He knows this and that's what has made him cynical and cruel. And Ricks nihilism is supposed to illustrate that his viewpoint is wrong.
Wow, its almost like he is written to be an impossibly smart scientist in his fictional universe. Half assing impossible machines and having them work perfectly is the easiest way to write that without having him do literal math equations.
Quinton: "Yes, this is partially going to be a Doctor Who analysis, which I know is everyone's favourite thing" Me: "Yes, but unironically." Seriously pls Quinton make more Doctor Who content I beg, look at the insane expanded universe.
Sapphyre Blayze EXACTLY I love Doctor Who it’d be great to see him make some more content about it but I do understand that not everyone is subscribed for that imo if he wants to do Doctor Who content he should go for it, if he doesn’t that’s fine
Genuinely Quinton's content more than anything else has made me want to watch Doctor Who way more than before. I thought it was an interesting series but not worth it to invest the time watching but now I really want to watch it!
Lovemaxman1234 I’ve been a doctor who fan all my life, so I think you absolutely should watch it! The great thing about doctor who imo is that it’s such a varied series with such different casts and settings and spanning across so many styles and genres that you’re bound to find at least one era of the show that appeals to you.
I honestly felt this when watching Rick and Morty when it first aired. This weird tone of "being an asshole=winning" didn't make me laugh or anything, it just came off as mean spirited and unlikable AF. I have similar feelings with South Park when it comes to this. Making fun of both sides and helping nobody.
Eric Cartman is a good example of this. The only time he saw consequences for his actions is when characters were willing to go to jail with him for assault .
16:17 it's fascinating coming back to this and hearing Quinton say that "Rick's universe exists to make him seem right". When and episode that aired nearly 2 years after this video was uploaded, confirmed that this is canonically true.
Quick thought, I just think the ending of season 2 was looking like the beggining of saying more that nihilism. But it kept going unchanged, because sitcom tropes and status quo and all. Anywho, this really was a great take on this show, took a lot of disjointed thoughts I personnaly had into something actually wort it.
But not too high. He sounds like a high schooler who forgot the essay was due and tried his best to sound intellectual while not really being too on point. Rick believes he is smart (and obviously by his actions is incredibly so) and that gives him license to be a dick.... that is not what the show is saying. Like Breaking Bad's Jesse Pinkman, Morty is the moral center of the show. But somehow this essay didn't mention all the Morty monologs about morality... in pretty much every episode.
Quinton seems to me to be the type of person who doesn't do or say anything lightly- he really thinks about the words he chooses, the media he enjoys, the "how"s and "why"s of all of it and I really appreciate that. Not only does he consider the consequences of things, he considers the consequences of actively CHOOSING to consider things, to go over them and ponder meanings, causes, and effects- if that makes any sense. I feel like that's very rare to see. Of course, I could be projecting my own thoughts and feelings onto him after watching many of his recent videos, but that's how I see it. It's a pleasure to watch.
I think renegade and this dude are both pretty great. Constantly making good points and arguments. But always taking constructive criticism at the same time. Sometimes bad faith assholes want to harass them and start fights but you always have those fuckadoodles lol. Thankfully they are smart enough to be fairly logical instead of put up with pricks.
The thing that I disagree with on both this and the Renegade Cut video is this idea that the only important read for the show is the textual one where Rick is smart and cruel and its smart to be cruel. And it completely ignores the subtext of the show where Rick and everyone around him is unhappy due to his behavior, and how Rick doesn't even bother to stay consistent with his own nihilistic values because he doesn't truly believe them, they're just a way for him to dismiss the need to become a better person. Its kind of the same kind of surface-level take that a lot of people had about Bo Burnham's Inside recently. "He's wealthy and successful, him being sad is just a performance!" Which, yeah, is true, but thats only because the whole special is about how performativeness is a pervasive issue of being online and how that can wreck your mental health. Engaging with the text at the expense of clearly intended subtext is bad criticism. To be fair though, I think at this point even the creators of Rick and Morty are sick of having subtext. S5 is really just going for jokes and funny ideas, and I think its way better for it.
Am I the only one who loves the show and has never interacted with the toxic fandom? Not by choice, it just actually never crosses my timeline. So I just see an episode, talk about it with co-workers and move on.
I feel like it''s also dependent on how you interact with internet culture and discourse in general too. Like if you're not actively engaging in online discourse and/or taking in content that displays that discourse, you're basically safe from all the shittier parts of the internet, haha.
No, cause the truth is that there both is and isn't a toxic fanbase. This has happend in so many fandoms at this point it surprises me people still fall for it. The reason this guy thinks less of people for liking Rick and Morty enough to have a simple T-Shirt is because he's taking the two or three well known stupid actions and not only assuming that they were real and un-ironic, but also assuming that they apply to the entire fandom as a whole. So what are the well know stupid actions? The first is the copy pasta of "you have to have a high IQ to watch Rick and Morty" It's a paragraphs long copy paste to make the poster sound like an elitist prick who thinks he's better than everyone for watching Rick and Morty. It's also a troll, people only post it to make fun of the "idea" of elitist fans of the show who barely existed on unknown and never cited web forums. The second was the McDonalds schezwan sauce incident. Which was proven to be a youtuber troll who did it for views and makes a habit of acting like a retard as if it's funny. He went on to make videos of him licking the sauce off the ground. His newest video is literally titled "poop review- a show where i review poop coming soon" and it has him playing with literal shit like it's the funniest thing in the world. What happend to Rick and Morty essentially boils down to the fact that it got really popular really fast. Every single piece of media that manages that level of success and respect will instantly start it's own counter culture with either a defined hatred for the media (people saying it's shit cause it's so popular i.e. hipsters) or a secret hatred for it (people acting like they are fans of the show just to obnoxiously troll those who don't like it). Back with MLP it was the "mods are asleep, post ponies" phase of the fandom. Later on it was the horrific cosplay deliberately designed to look as fucked up as possible to troll. There is a lot of shit I have never seen or heard of actual fans of MLP, Undertale, FNAF, or Rick and Morty doing, yet it's public perception that all these things are true and not only committed by the fans but endorsed by them. There is always an aspect of any and every fandom that can be considered toxic or cringey but the ONLY time I've ever seen those aspects prevalent enough to be considered an honest representation of the majority of a fanbase was in League of Legends. Even then that was only about a quarter of the fanbase, it's just that you're highly likely to always be interacting with at least one toxic fan in any given ten player game.
I remember watching the first season before it blew up and just thought. This is wacky and peculiar. Great voice acting and off the wall comedy. It's funny to see how people have ruined that for other people lol. Don't let dudes ruin your enjoyment and see madnesses that ain't there to be seen.
@@vfxninja5503 Do you get some sort of kick out of telling people who like something you don’t that they’re “the lowest common denominator” aka stupid? You’re the ones who is pathetic
In defense of certain bad Rick and Morty fans, McDonalds marketing straight up lied to customers during that szechuan sauce promotion. In Utah, 3 total restaurants got 8 packets each of sauce, at 2 packets per order that's 12 total portions of heavily marketed sauce allotted to a state of 4 million people, all of which was taken by staff before opening. You shouldn't be shitty at the cashiers over something so stupid, even if that stoner cashier may have been part of the reason zero customers were actually able to buy into a promotion selling the world's most overpriced chicken nuggets... But still, Mcdonalds should have expected some kind of backlash when they decided to promote a product so rare that it basically didn't exist.. with extensive social media advertisements that probably would have been illegal in any country with effective consumer protection laws.
I worked at McDonald's during that time and we didn't see the sauces until weeeeeks after the promotion (so we had a fuck ton of fan pissed off that they didn't have their sauce) and then when they finally got us some we got: 2 boxes. 2 boxes to give to people who have been coming in every single day asking for that damn sauce. McDonald's fucked up big time.
I think that when we talk about Rick and Morty fans, we're more talking about the overwhelming mass of arrogant (typically) men who justify their anti-social personalities and nihilism under the guise of "I'm just smart, like Rick"
I remember being really hyped by the season 2 finale because it seemed like they were taking Rick in a really interesting direction but then they kinda ruined it with the season 3 premiere by revealing that Rick really had the upper hand the whole time and then he immediately solved the problem with very little effort. It's like the show was slapping the audience in the face for wanting the character to grow and develop.
I'm diffrent I guess because I like to see a character like Rick bend a situation like being trapped in the most secure prison in the galaxy to getting rid of his 3 most hated enemies that being Other Ricks the Galactic goverment and Jerry. If Rick developed we wouldn't get to see much of the absolute monster and that would make me sad :I Also there was a shit ton of character development in this season. It's just that Rick doesn't change because he thinks he is right... or as he would say it KNOWS that he is right. And it's hard arguing with stuborn people like him. Only way to change him isn't by word but by action or consequence to his action but he can get out of any situation scott free so... 70 more episodes baby :D
Honestly? I want Rick and Morty to slap me in the face for thinking it's going to grow and transform. That, in and of itself, is probably the most appropriate thing a show like this can do. It's meta, subversive, and sets the tone pretty well if you ask me. That's kind of the whole duality of this show. Being both as smart as possible and as stupid as possible simultaneously. The more you read into it, the more you see it's just painting a giant middle finger back at you.
@@hyperducktales I guess so, but being subversive is a part of the humor. Rarely does the show do what you expect a show to do, and they still make it fun. For 3 seasons I've watched it purely because I want to see the crazy junk they do, the surreal gags and hyper-unrealistic characters all contribute to what makes the show unique. IMO, as long as it continues to work for the show, the characters should continue on the way they have. There's some development, some intrigue, but I don't think it necessarily has to have the main problem-causer and driver of plot end up learning his lesson and becoming better.
I'm just baffled why people keep trying to pick out Rick and Morty's fans as the worst ones when every single popular series's fanbases are just absolute cancer. I mean, seriously, think of anything with a gigantic fanbase and I can guarantee you'll find a lot of toxic assholes there who taint things for everybody.
@@dracocrusher R&M has its share of weird properties compared to other fandoms. Most fandoms never had people losing their shit at McDonalds establishments over the lack of a licensed product. It also doesnt help when the show ends up being interpreted at face value and already presents a grim, nihilistic message. Its not the worst fandom, but the type of obnoxiousness it exudes is one of pretentiousness rather than just obsession, which is honestly worse. Like the worst of the bronies had some cringey moments, but it was usually over their obsession, you dont see someone with an MLP shirt on thinking "ugh theres a good chance this guy thinks hes better than those around him", a heuristic one might be more inclined to feel about R&M fans. (And Ill admit I do still like R&M, still have a meeseeks shirt myself from the first season, I know its just an annoying minority)
I never liked the show. Its not very good. Its just adventure time surreal= funny. Its incredibly boring and all the characters are depressed all the time its not a very fun show to watch.
@@icecreamhero2375 it basically tries to have the animation of SuperJail!, the humor of Aqua Teen Hunger Force, and the Writing and emotional moments of a show like Moral Orel, while simultaneously failing at all three. Rick and Morty is essentialy Adult Swim Lite.
@@cameronkoontz6393 I hate Aqua Teen Hunger Force so that explains alot. I also can't stand the way it is written. It has a bit of what I like to call the South Park problem. Instead of writing a story and filling it with jokes like you are supposed to instead the whole story is one long drawn out joke that gets old fast. Rick and Morty has a little bit of this problem but its less blunt than South Park. I also dislike the constant gross humor.
'The choice of the show to have Rick's cruelness be caused by how smart he is is an unfortunate side effect of just how the show is written'. No, that *is* how the show is written. It's the literal text of the show.
The tricky thing about Rick and Morty is that the show is too well-written for its own good. Your characterizations of Rick are useful to your point, but not entirely accurate. We’ve seen Rick care deeply about Morty, even to the point of genuine tears. We know that Rick secretly cares, and his nihilism is a front for his crippling depression and suicidal ideation. Rick and Morty, as a show, is so good at crafting its characters that it actually takes all of the ways you attempt to justify its morals and refutes them. The show isn’t saying necessarily that Rick is the worst person imaginable you’re not supposed to like-it’s saying he’s psychologically traumatized and abusive and a person capable of genuine love simultaneously. The show isn’t saying necessarily that being smart makes you cruel-it’s saying Rick believes that because it’s how he can excuse his own apathy. You can try and claim that the show is just a parody of real sci-fi and that’s why it works-but the secret is that the reason it really works, the reason it’s actually good, is because it’s not two-dimensional. The people who idolize Rick don’t realize he’s a tragic character you’re not meant to think is a hero. They may relate to his depression and understand him as tragic. But they also don’t realize that the parts of him that care about others are the only good parts about him. The show does. That disconnect is the real root of the problem.
I dunno what show are you watching, but it wasn't R&M. Yeah, Rick isn't a Hero, but the show and the show's universe only exists to reaffirm him and his behavior. And all the "Oh no he actually cares" alwaya sounds like people trying to justify abuse.
Just down here representin December birthdays, this year I'm 33 on the 24! I sincerely appreciate your content, it has been wicked rad watching you grow cannot wait to see what you can push out this December and beyond.
I don't think you're giving Rick and Morty enough credit. Beginning in season 3, the show really begins to deconstruct Rick's nihilism and expose it for the vacuous excuse that it is. There's a brilliant monologue by a therapist in which the therapist basically calls out Rick, telling him "the only link between your unquestionable intelligence and the sickness destroying your family is that everyone in your family, you included, use intelligence to justify sickness." And of course there's an episode in season 4 that basically calls Rick the most pathetic sad sack in the galaxy. Are there R&M fans that completely missed this point and still treat Rick as a heroic alpha male when in reality he's a pathetic excuse for a human being? Absolutely. But I think it's disingenuous to suggest that the showrunners aren't aware of Rick's problems.
He banned me on his Channel despite being a big fan for very little reason aside maybe giving him too much positive comments, he partly made me a commie, but also a jerk that may threw Contrapoints under the bus just for a friggen cameo and a bad retweet. Also he told he's not part of the revolution. I tried to give him Patreon money, just for an explanation but like M Bison he doesn't remember and give the money back... Than I vow to him to be a better Breadtuber than him.... Maybe not ending a conversation with him on best terms, though he better not take my concept of analyzing Steven Universe just parental White Savior Neoliberalism
I always worry when a series works on subverting expectations. You do too much and it becomes expected thus becoming its own internal logic. Or you keep trying to outsmart/mislead the audience to the point it stops making any sense.
Your point at 16:58 was exactly why I was starting to get nervous with the future of the show. I completely agreed with you. In my opinion, after seeing the first couple episodes of season 5 it appears thankfully the writers also thought the same thing. I enjoy the direction that they’re taking the characters
16:19 OMG Quinton! You nailed it, watch the last two episodes of season 5. That's **exactly** what his multiverse was. His own perfect multiverse split off from the other multiverses.
I thought that the implication of people being horrible and destructive when Unity's hold on them is broken is that their socialization and sense of morality had become horribly atrophied by the loss of their free will.
I like to use it as an illustration of how utterly cartoonish (and frankly fashy) some Christian interpretations of their theology results in the notion that humans are absurdly depraved & incapable of virtue, rather than merely imperfect & vulnerable to the full spectrum of bad choices. There’s a “you deserve hell” rationalization for hell’s existence as a perpetual torture dimension that claims that everyone is perpetually full of hate or whatever from birth, and Yahweh supposedly holds back the infinite tide of evil in humanity a slight amount. Just enough to sustain civilization, but not enough to render us independently capable of constructing morality... or something similarly unable to stand to scrutiny.
This is a good video but one thing, which applies to renegade cuts especially. Morty isn't shown to be "wrong" for having empathy, he's shown to have a moral compass but also be naive which makes him incompetent. Rick isn't shown to be "right" or "correct", he's shown to be successful while also being an asshole, while then saying a dumb catch-phrase and expecting us still to like him. That's a fundamental part of the shows humour, its not a philosophical commentary its just funny because his character is cocky and silly enough to make it work
Rick, Bojack, Walter White, The Joker, Filthy Frank, The Gang from Always Sunny, etc are all supposed to be what people aspire NOT to be. Yet people still latch on to treating these characters as a guide for life to be the “cool edgy badass nihilist” that everyone thinks is so cool until they become it. Alcoholism and addiction aren’t quirky and cool. Depression isn’t cool. Being an asshole isn’t cool and people refuse to realize the whole point of these shows are that these people are miserable
Who says this is a problem and that "people refuse to realize" it? It's very obvious from watching the show. Walter White? Are you serious? Btw, they ruined Bojack with the same paranoia and now we're on a similar track with R&M.
I love R&M but the beggining in this video completely sums up my feelings. I'm especially irritated when people claim how smart it is when none of its themes, characterization, or science is new or novel. Rick is every main character who thinks they're allowed to be a self centered asshole because they're smarter than everyone else (e.g House, Hank Moody, Sherlock, Sheldon, Dan Fielding, Dr Cox, etc). And it doesn't get any deeper about that than the baseline themes, especially compared to something like Bojack Horseman. And the science of the show is basically magic. As opposed to something like Futurama that literally created a irl mathematical theorem to solve an episode's dilema, Rick just magically knows all science all the time and can basically create any deus ex machina to fix a problem. And the humor is basically South Park without the levels of satirical brilliance it can reach at times. I got into R&M mid season 2 and it was fun being a fan then, but now I don't talk about it much bc it's just a show.
I agree 100% with this. I've tuned out from the show since episode 3-4 of season 3 when it first aired. I used to really enjoy the show during the first 2 seasons and was actually one of those people who thought that Rick's thinking and behavior was correct (I was a dumb 19 year old). But watching his character not progress and him continuing to be mean and right, started to annoy me, to the point where I just stopped caring about the show and did some introspection on my part. When I hear anything about Rick & Morty, I just don't really think much of it these days. Plus, I think there's better shows out there with smarter scripts, characterization and themes.
The veil only really came off of the fandom with regards to The Pickle Rick episode. Here we have the therapist character explain as clear as possible that rick is the only person responsible for his actions and problems. That he can’t claim he is in god-like control of the universe yet a slave to his own “intellectual nihilism” at the same time. That the reason his family is so toxic is because all of them, especially him, “use intelligence to justify sickness.” The writers told the newer fans loud and clear what they were missing and their response was to only take away the shitty meme value of the pickle plot and start whining online about how the addition of a female writer ruined the show or bitching over watching their icon get taken down a peg. Morty, who knows Rick better than anyone, even laid it out flatly that Rick is NOT supposed to be your hero.
'Where are my testicles Summer?' When Snowball said that, standing over Summer's bed, in the dark, in his giant Robo-Suit, I lost it. When it all clicked, and my mind filled in the blanks, I went into full on hysterical laughter, like rolling around, 'oh god I can't breathe', tears streaming, sort of laughing. It was just so beautiful. Hmm. Also, judging from what you've said. I get the impression that perhaps your position on the show is driven more by your desire to separate yourself from 'the popular thing,' than the deeply complicated, sophisticated reason you've presented in the video. As you seem to dwell on it's popularity, your disgust of people who openly show a liking for it, and your desire to keep your fondness of the show hidden from others. Obviously only you can know if there's any truth to that.
Thank you! As someone getting a minor in Animation, I've been mocked to high hell by some peers for never getting into Rick and Morty. People told me I didn't understand it. I always retorted that they were watching it out of context and it was never meant to be taken seriously. I mean, what's not to understand about it? There's a character named Mr. Poopybutthole, for God's sake. And another frustration of mine is people idolizing Rick. That's the opposite of the point, people.
@@lProN00bl No, I was a big fan of Dan Harmon from Community so I was very excited to see him get involved in an animated show. When R&M came out, I found it to be very unfunny and grotesque compared to what I loved about Community. People constantly accuse me of hating the show because it has a hype train, just like you did here... I don't see why people can't accept that I just genuinely dislike it.
I've known a couple of people that were 'so smart' they used it as justification to tell how dumb you are and, for want of a better term, to be cruel to you. Instead of at least educating or enlightening you, they would rather just say you're stupid. And that attitude tends to turn people away, in which the 'smart' person will say 'well you're too stupid for me anyway' and they wind up alone. They wind up cycling through many friends until one invariably gets sick of the other. I don't watch this show thinking that Rick is the best character ever, in fact if he didn't have funny moments and witty zingers, he would be extremely unlikable. He's not even in the category of 'love to hate', he's just funny. I think the better arc is Morty and the rest of his family becoming increasingly aware of how shitty Rick is and slowly turning against him. It seems Jerry is the only one that's cognizant of how toxic Rick is from the beginning but he's painted as the 'pathetic loser' so we shouldn't empathize with him. Even when Rick facilitates him being removed from the family for the petty reason of 'he crossed me.' Rick and Jerry are both the stoic characters of the show, they don't really change based on the events of the series, it's mostly Morty and the rest of the family, and the direction is see Morty going towards is him standing up to Rick, calling him out and finally acting on his newfound realization that Rick sucks. That's pretty much it. Haven't been terribly impressed with the new season. Maybe I'm getting jaded too. But what's telling is that in the season premier, the wasp version of the family has clearly set boundaries between what Rick can and can't do with Morty and while Rick's abrasive and self aware personality is still there, he does seem to be happier, as does the rest of the family. So I know the show writers are aware of the faults too.
I say it’s just a tv show written by an experienced writer, and created by a shock value flash animator/voice actor. It’s derivative by nature to back to the future, but it plays with dimensions instead of just time travel. Rick is Justin’s/dan’s ego, and morty represents the audience’s Stockholm syndrome following the discouraging and misleading messages of each episode. Toss in clever animated scenes and poop jokes , you have yourself a hit tv show. The fans mean well enough, it’s not that rick and morty causes douches but that douches already exist in the population. You have easily influenced people who let the new popular thing be their new favorite thing, fads come and go as they leech off of good content making total toxic waste in the form of memes. These memes infect non-funny people who just adopt what’s popular for views as they dress up to look like a cartoon. People complain about how cring-tastic the fan base as a whole is, not realizing it doesn’t fucking matter. The creators get their money, the fans get their product, and the people who want something better can go write their own content. Pitch it to adult swim and put their work out there to be judged.
Supreme Irony: -Quinton finishes with moral point I agree with. -One second later: Insert Nihilistic Clothing ad for profit -Nothing matters. Go watch TV.
I think ever since season 2, there has been more of an effort to make episodes where it is clear that Rick isn't really as smart as he thinks. He obviously still has the ability to make any gadget or whatever he wants to a superhero degree, but he's also kind of miserable and doesn't know how to deal with it. It's also clear that his whole nihilistic outlook is really just a facade. Rick does care about things too, he's just way too proud to ever express that directly and has to act like he's above everything, even though anyone watching can clearly see that he isn't.
He Actually IS The smartest being in the universe, But The Result Of that causes Severe Depression And Loneliness, No One can deal with that with a gadget! Rick 'Acts' above everything else to avoid emotional attachment, Because traveling from a reality To reality life-style would give you a keen eye on what to care-And-What not to care for, So Rick would feel like there are no consequences In, or outside of life, Being A Super-Genius is the result of his isolation
recently i watched rick and morty from the start and i noticed a sudden shift in how rick reacted to things and how he talked to morty. i honestly started to believe that morty is the true protagonist of the show not rick and we are just being dragged along bc we follow how morty reacts to stuff. how morty started out as a child being impressed by everything and how he wanted to save lifes to always end up realising that the people he tried to save where horrible people. how he slowlely loses fate in everything is directely connected to how we start to feel about the rick and morty universe we start to see rick and morty as the only people we want to survive. at least that's how i see it. i also like how the show didn't go full serious with the evil morty plot and its only being refered to a few times in the show in such a way you don't know its evil morty while watching the episode
Unfortunately, RnM went through this Justin Bieber phenomenon, when it was loved by a lot of people, but all of the sudden it got too famous and people who didn't even care about the show started hating on it for no reason.
I think a lot of people miss the fact that rick is often the cause of his own conflicts, yes he solves them in the end but it's only ever to re-achive that level of normality for the next episode, he is always the cause of his own conflict, however, because of his selfishness. Like rick fucking DIES in episode 2 of this new season, and spends the whole episode being killed over and over again until eventually he manages to find a nice rick who helps out.
I don't know. I kind of disagree, I always thought that Rick was portrayed as an arrogant asshole who is smart, but he uses his intelligence as an excuse to be a piece of shit. Then, he pushes everyone he cares about away and nobody wants to be around him. He's an alcoholic who also abuses other drugs, and has tried to commit suicide throughout the series several times.
Great video and also congrats on the editor. A lot of times when youtubers get new editors they try too hard and end up with he obnoxious overediting a la Game Theories where they have images distractly pop in or even jump in rather than just cutting to them, or they caption every single word (like showing a butt when you say "but" or showing a well when you say "well") rather than accurately showing what you're talking about.
What's bad about loving this show? Seriously, I get the objection to the show being that some idiots are going to use it to justify their awful behavior to themselves, but you're not that idiot. Purely for the fact you're thinking about the show and its messages, you're pretty much immune to taking that surface-level idea at face value and applying it as a truth in your life. If you put in any amount of thought, you're immunized to the potential harm this show can do. Boom, no longer a problem. If all this show is is edgy, subversive fun, and you enjoy that, there's no need to apologize.
I only ever see people complain about the fanbase, never the things they are said to do... Outside of musical.ly/TikTok. Those people are cancer manifested in meatbags.
You seem to think the show is trying to say that Rick is the good guy of the show, or that his philosophy should be adhered to, even though the show makes a point to depict people suffering because of Rick and even Rick suffering himself, as well as Rick contradicting his own narrative several times by caring about Morty and his family and having certain small motivations. I also find it ironic that you showed a clip from the Pickle Rick episode where they are in the therapist's room because in that scene the therapist bluntly tells Rick that he uses his intellegence as an excuse to be self-destructive when it has nothing to do with the fact. Rick has been written by the creators as a protagonist with a flawed mindset, he was never some bizarro Doctor Who parody.
It seems unfair to me that you seem to disregard absurdism in favour of some sort of virtue philosophy. The show doesn't frame the "Stop caring, come watch TV" as a positive solution to the absurd, but rather as a defeatist attitude. The way I see it, the show is mainly about the failure of a character who has become conscious of the absurd, fails to come to terms with it, i.e. Rick. Rick as a character is in this regard a reflection of the subgroup of society, that the show is marketed to, live in. One characterised by a general desensitisation from previous ideology and the concept of purpose. However, the show also rejects Rick, by having him be chronically depressed and showing him to be conflicted at times, thus failiing to achieve status as an übermensch. This can be read as a rejection of nihillism, and as encouragement for the audience to attempt to find a deeper meaning in life, not characterised solely by their comprehension of the absurd. tl;dr The show is about how having your entire character be defined by edgy nihilist beliefs leads to depression.
Your point about the show needing to evolve from the punchline of "nothing matters" is already being disproven in the show on multiple occasions, where rick is shown as being a hollow, empty person. Finding nothing of value in his outlook on life. The new season dives even deeper into Rick's psyche, showing the audience his own doubts in that philosophy, humanizing him more.
I saw an interview with Dan Harmon where he says Rick's philosophy that nothing matters, even if it's true, gets you nowhere, and even says that Jerry, of all people, is better off than Rick. You can create meaning even in supposed meaninglessness. I don't think the creators of this show are oblivious to what you're talking about, and the developments you want are probably going to come. Episode 4x2 is good evidence of this, I think.
Art is art. Some people will interpret it in the worst ways, some in the best. What the creator intends and the viewer believes rarely coincide, so its not worth addressing or debating.
I think this show is very interesting to observe in a meta context because you can trace when the writers and creators became aware of the effect they were having on their audience. Season 4 and 5 basically went out of the way to dethrone Rick and humble him. Rick actually develops into a more caring person and the show starts to buck the whole edgy nihilism thing. Rick was never meant to be admirable and it can be argued the show is effectively trying to deprogram asshole nihilists in at least some capacity. I’m hoping season 6 continues this pattern.
Holy crap I actually didn’t click off of this 2+ year-old video during the Patreon crawl and you said it was YOUR BIRTHDAY IN DECEMBER 7TH??? IT’S DECEMBER 7TH TODAY! *HAPPY BIRTHDAY, TALENTED INTERNET STRANGER!* Seriously though, what a bizarre coincidence that I randomly decided to watch this video today.
I like how the picklerick episode had a moment where the therapist pretty much looks at the camera and says why the audience should not want to be like Rick and that he has a toxic worldview and people come away with that thinking the therapist is a massive bitch and that Rick somehow won
Yes, I also had that observation.
I think this is where you need to start talking about how well, or not well, the show is written. The show would be better off showing that, not just having the therapist SAY it. Quinton actually made a video on Filthy Frank, and in it you can point out how Filthy Frank is genius because it manages to be edgy without seeming like it unironically thinks Filthy Frank is the apex of human behavior.
@@marisanya but the show does show it, constantly. He is completely unable to form real functioning relationships, has a massive substance abuse problem, and frequently attempts suicide. If that doesn't show you he is not a person you should want to be i really don't know what is
@@marisanya The whole episode was showing us that.
Instead, people use that scene to try to claim that Rick isn’t a giant Mary Sue character.
“If I see someone in public wearing a Rick and Morty t shirt, I think less of them as a person”
- Theodore Roosevelt, 2019
"To be fair, you have to have a very high IQ to understand Rick and Morty"
- Adolf Hitler, circa 2017
“If you make one more Rick and Morty reference, I’m gonna drop an atom bomb on you.” - Harry Truman, 1948
"Wubba lubba dub dub"
- Anonymous Homeless Man
Wakka: Made in Yevon personally I prefer family guy
-Mussolini 2019
Spending a century in a cryochamber was a bully brilliant idea!
16:17 Coming back to this video like 2 years later now, I think it's telling that you called this out that "Rick exists in a universe designed to make him right", and then for the Season 6 finale, they reveal that it is literally canon that he exists in a universe designed to make him right.
Season 6 finale? I thought that just started a couple weeks ago.
@@louisduarte8763 I think they mean season 5, where the central finite curve thing is destroyed. Basically, the ricks had a wall across dimensions where they were "the smartest" person in the universe.
It'll be pretty interesting to see what stories they come up with as well as the character development. It's possible they'll follow the doctor who route, and rick will end up turning into someone more empathetic. I think it is more likely though that rick will become entrenched in his asshole attitude as ricker non-ricks are now engaged with his reality. Maybe somewhere in between?
I don't know how they are going to keep the show going for too many seasons tbh. Tho at the same time, the show already has extremely loose serialization and entire filler episodic seasons where they explicitly throw out the serial story.
Pre-irony: Doc and Marty
Irony: Doc and Mharti
Post-irony: Rick and Morty
Meta-irony: Bushworld Adventures
Yesssss we going to bendigo!!
ah goa’ah get me cyhube, mourtey! fram Bendigeauuuu!!!
Then what would be Post Meta-irony?
@@stevonico that's just another layer of irony. It's all relative. The terms change depending on what you consider the starting point.
Just one little ｓｕｃｃ
I never saw Rick's terrible behaviour as a condition of him being smart even though he says this in the show. He only believes it because that way he can justify being an absolute wad to everyone. Because if it isn't being smart that made him an asshole he would have to accept that he is just an asshole who happens to also be smart and he has way too much of an ego and godcomplex to ever admit that.
Exactly. And being legitimately incredibly smart he manages to make up excuses so good that they manage not only to convince others but also himself.
@@KombatGod It may be partly that. This is not meant as a boast, but as a person who tested really high on the intelligence scale (I'm in the 99.6 percentile), I think I understand where Rick is coming from to a degree. Things can actually be pretty miserable for you when you're smart. You can't find people who can relate to you, or that you can really relate to yourself; people aren't interested in what you have to say either because they don't understand where you're coming from, or because it's threatening to them because it challenges the status quo and the way they view the world around them, as well as causing self-doubt. In addition to that, it's very difficult to find people who are intellectually stimulating on your level. That lack of connection with others can really eat away at a person.. it drains all the color out of your life.
You also carry around the weight of having a more thorough understanding of just how messed up and dysfunctional the world is, when other people tend to just view it as 'normal,' or simply aren't aware of all the suffering that occurs outside of their personal bubbles. But since nobody else really sees what you see, you're not able to get it validated, share it with anyone, or talk about it with anyone, so you just have to sit on it quietly and keep it to yourself. Which can feel lonely, even when you're around others, because you're not able to fully express yourself; you have to hide parts of yourself instead.
Very smart people tend to get kicked down the stairs, and the world often isn't fair to them (side note, I think that's part of why Rick keeps saying "school's not a place for smart people"; it's because he doesn't fit the mold, and they don't know what to do with him.. so all they can do is try to force their own 'mold' onto him that they use with everybody else, which doesn't fit him and will only hold him back); their intelligence sets them apart, which leaves them isolated and alone. People who have had to put up with all that pain and misery during their lives really can have a lot of trouble coping with it. It's not all that surprising to me that Rick is a sloppy drunk or an impatient jerk, because of all the suffering he's had to go through because of who he is. And it's suffering that I bet nobody else is aware of or can see because they have no idea what it's like to walk in his shoes every day. It's possible that nobody in the universe truly understands him, and it's hard to feel loved or valued when you don't feel seen, understood or accepted for who you are.
@@Lauderdizzle being intelligent doesn't really seem to matter for people i know. it's how you use it, and how well-built your ego is. if it isn't, you'll be pretty sad, as you are right now. you seem to not know who you are.
@@Lauderdizzle didnt even read shit but god did a laugh so hard, when youre not even sure if this is sinscere or not it becomes fucking peak irony
@@MsHumanOfTheDecade I understand what your viewpoint is. Many people do not have any problems with it. Yet there is a strong correlation with 'intelligence' (however vague that may be) and certain mental disorders, like depression. If it actually is intelligence or maybe a by-product, like being more critical or trying to view both sides of the coin, is unclear, but the correlation is there.
6:04 It's also funny to note that having adventures is, in one episode, seen as almost an addiction for Rick.
I really hope for an episode next season where Rick gets stuck at home with severe withdrawal symptoms and acts like a severe addict by the end of the episode
@@DaveBob96 That'd actually be pretty funny to watch. Like a B-plot where he's put on house arrest lmao
I've always said rick and morty feels like it's written by a freshman who just discovered the concept of nihilism and really wants you to know about it
lol
@@simachmasgof8445 even though this comment has been written 5 months ago, I gotta say it's on point.
Well its actually a combination of nihilistic people in movie recently and shows, as well as celebrities like Aubrey plaza, she's pretty but her humor got white washed into oblivion once everyone tried to be "edgy."
I regard it more as a neo-Lovecraftian take on nihilism. When Rick abandoned universe C-137 in Rick Potion #9, that clearly wasn't the first time he did that did that, implying that his original family is already dead. As likely as not, his real daughter died before his grandchildren were even born. In that sense, nothing is even "real" from Rick's perspective.
But, I don't say that to justify his conduct. Indeed, he would be barely functional is an actual reality, which is part of the joke.
@@blkgardner that was so dumb i think you just gave me cancer. This show is a disease.
I think Quinton is accidentally recording his devolving fashion sense
Look we all turn thirty eventually!
@@FreyaEinde I'm 35 and my mum still says I look cool. 😅
@@devote I feel that in my spirit.
You mean his ascencion to godhood thorugh fashion.
I would use a mustache like that if I could grow it, it's GLORIOUS
I personally feel as though House of Cosby’s has aged like fine wine
If anything it's better
It's much funnier now.
Stephen Cantarero aged like fine roofied wine
Getting darker in color and steadily more damaging to the liver?
I kind of absolutely love it...
70'S GAY BIKER VIBE
He bings every episode as they come out... Because binging is watching a single episode one day of the week.
Handlebar Reviews
Leather daddy AF
I don’t think you needed to specify the decade. It could have been 1870s Gay man on a bike or 2020 Gay biker. The look is timeless.
Bear
Childhood is idolizing Rick. Growing up is realizing Jerry makes more sense.
Why does Quinton look like a king of the hill character
Movember?
Bobby Hill as an adult? lol
Got a fu manchu stache like hulk hogan
vizsla826
Hulk Hogan has a common handle bar mustache. If you want to see an example of a real "Fu Manchu stache", look up Aron Ra. He's got a YT channel too. Look him up and behold. lol
he looks more like Evan Wright from Hotline Miami 2
I’d love to see you breakdown each Doctor’s personality and character similar to what you did here with the First Doctor.
I would love to see that too! I’ve always wanted a cohesive series of thoughts on all of the doctors since most people only have opinions on the doctors from
whatever era of the show they watched or are watching.
The Human Trash can Hey! I have a solid recommendation for you! I was wanting something like that too, and then I stumbled on a channel called “Clever Dick Films” where a man named Richard Carrier breaks down the real world story behind each Doctor’s era and reviews the in universe narrative while he does it. It’s really good stuff, he’s just wrapped up the Classic Series and most of the Wilderness Years and evidentially a Shalka/9th Doctor episode is on its way soon!
“See, all those years ago, when I began, I was just running. I called myself the Doctor but it was just a name. And then I went to Skaro. And then I met you lot and I understood who I was! The Doctor was not the Daleks!” - 12th Doctor, Into the Dalek
(helps your point about the first doctor’s character)
Still hilarious when he jacked Davros' chair and scared the crap out of the Daleks riding around on it: "Admit it, you all had this exact same nightmare!"
@@louisduarte8763 But it's also a show of the fact Moffat had no idea how to write a character with stakes. The Doctor is never vulnerable like he was in RTD's era, he's just completely fucking immortal. The Daleks don't shoot him on sight because then Moffat would have to write an actual scenario with cause and effect, as opposed to the Doctor bashing out a speech in the middle of a situation and getting off easy. Just so happens that Rick also stopped being vulnerable to his enemies right around when Rick and Morty started going downhill. Where were all his superweapons back when he was running from bug-eyed monsters in the pilot episode?
The only time I have seen the "I am smart therefore rude" work is in Doc Martin, his persona is shown as a failing and a condition he would like to sometimes change rather than just the, I'm cool because I pretend not to care. It is also shown in a positive light in other scenarios too and the main thing being it is very funny.
Also, in a super-un-self-conscious way, there's OG Sherlock Holmes. Like, Conan Doyle's Holmes.
@@elvellarambles9151 OG Holmes is the living embodiment of a wink and a finger wag
@@elvellarambles9151 damn oh yeah of course
Never thought I'd see Doc Martin brought up in a video on Rick and Morty, but you are correct
im assuming you mean doc brown?
I feel that if it weren't for the mental state "I am constantly unhappy and I want to kill myself" being normalised in most aspects of our society it would be pretty easy for most people to see Rick as the writers intended ie a jaded coward who is too afraid of rejection, pain and mockery to love anything sincerely. Instead, a lot of people see this suicidal sociopath and think "yes, this validates all my life's decisions."
Perhaps my favourite recurring joke in Rick and Morty is when Jerry manages to be happier and more successful at almost everything than any other main character. It's understandable that he gets brought down a peg once a season but it interferes with his role in the show. He is often happy and his life is inarguably richer than Rick's and he doesn't need to be a genius or have a spaceship to achieve this.
This would make sense, except for the fact that Jerry's life is actually terrible. His wife hates him, his kids don't respect him, and he's constantly dunked on by Rick and the plot in every episode. To me, his life seems just as bad if not worse than Rick. At least the family actually seems to appreciate Rick.
@@elijahfordsidioticvarietys8770 You're huffing copium.
Watching this made me think I want to see you do a video on Bojack Horseman.
i would love to see what he has to say about bojack horseman
@@oof2731 Most of the deepest stuff has already been covered by other channels.
Understanding that show is better may require a higher IQ, but seriously it's a proper deconstruction of male antihero that Rick and Morty aren't smart enough to make
Bojack is a masterpiece
I had you’re picture you use for your account thing as my screensaver for a year
"I binged every episode as it came out"
what did he mean by this
I think by "binged" he meant to say "rewatched a lot"
Probably watched it after it became available outside live viewing
Lieselotte Aya Yeah, it's kind of like saying "I celebrated every day of my birthday!"
For what it’s worth, I think his brain just manufactured an ad hoc hybrid of generic fan sentiments such as “I watched every episode as soon as it came out” or “I’ve binge watched every season,” leaving it to people mesmerized by his new mustache to concoct convoluted explanations as to why his statement wasn’t inherently self-contradictory.
Basically it would be like this:
Quentin: My favorite baseball player scores so many goals every game.
You: Ummm, wouldn’t that be runs?
Responders: He’s probably saying that because the baseball player is probably a big hockey fan, so he’s probably saying it like the baseball player would convert the runs into goals in his head. Quentin is soooooo clever like that. I mean, just look at that mustache !!! 🧐🧐🧐🧐
The only other explanation is that he doesn’t understand what “binge-watching” means.
I'm really grateful for The Old Man and the Seat, it's one of the first times R&M unambiguously showed Rick as the broken person he is, made him 100% in the wrong, and set him up for future development, if this is the route the show's taking, maybe we'll get a Bojack Horseman situation.
Honestly, seeing Rick being laughed at by his own ego-fueled holograms might be one of the boldest moves the show's taken in a while.
It is this episope that I will point to when trying to explain to people that they have misunderstood the show and it's characters.
I think a big part of the problem is the same thing as Filthy Frank- five years ago, the edgy shit was awesome, but the edge has worn off and now it's just tasteless
Nope. Papa franku has aged like Batman
@@guldmattbb473 batman famously aged poorly in all the stories he appears in as an old man.
Edgy content has lost the shock value it once had.
@@wiibrockster tell that to idubbz lol
Nah, Filthy Frank still slaps.
correct me if i'm wrong but i feel like the real toxicity set in the fanbase around season 3 as shown in the fabled szechuan sauce debacle, which i think is when the show hit the mainstream fully. we're only a few episodes into season 4 but i feel like the it's on track to address this at most over the course of the next few seasons. i get the impression from the way the creators discuss the show and the fans especially, that they still know rick's philosophies are problematic and not to be encouraged. i can see the overall arc of the show being connected to this in some way, but only time will tell. i have some doubts as to whether they'll actually be able to hold to the however many season long contract they've signed, but i hope they do. regardless of the negative aspects that surround it, i love the show and do think it is valuable.
jonvart Reminds me of Bojack Horseman which introduced a show in the show with the purpose of addressing how people can use the show to justify bad behavior.
@@abarragan02 exactly, i loved how far they went in season 5 to demonstrate that his behaviour isn't fine just because he's damaged, and that he is still responsible for his actions whether they come from an empathetic place or not
People often forget that depiction ≠ Endorsement
Princess Rainbovvs X Musashi
Not anymore...the days of nuance, examination and neutral depiction are long over. For the last five years, depiction = emphatic endorsement.
"The Sauce Debacle" is why the fandom got such a toxic reputation.
“Rick and Morty isn’t a sci-fi show, it’s a parody of better sci-fi shows”
I can hear the ‘reee’s from here
My issue is that I like R+M more than Dr Who but they're both 'bad' in different ways
but rick and morty is "sci-fi", obviously
@@StayFractalesque I agree, I'm just quoting what he said in the video.
@@jessreinhardt4408 It's like everyone feels the need to waaay over-analyse the show, and yea I get that it's often clever and has layered jokes, but I mean it still goes for loads of shit and cock jokes too, which I'm all for! ( the jokes... not cock) but the fanbase is the reason it took me so long to actually watch it, smug pseudo intellectuals trying to analyse a show that has a character called Mr Poopy Butthole 😂 they're actually a parody of themselves like
And I see the first sheep has turned up.
I think season 4 has been better at showing how Rick’s lifestyle makes him miserable and how having empathy would improve his life.
Season 3 literally has him lose out to Jerry, kind of undercutting the whole "the show just tells you not to care about stuff and status quo!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!"
@@lProN00bl Rick loses to Jerry in order to mantain the status quo tho? It's literally the reason why the family is still married
Recent seasons/episodes have partly been a reaction to a vocal part of the fandom that is way too edgy and misunderstands Rick as a character. Far too many of them viewed him completely as a role model.
*What I see:* People stopping commenters from hating on Quinton's mustache
*What I don't see:* Commenters hating on Quinton's mustache
No one should hate it
Ikr I'm looking for the hate
oddly same. idec about the stache but i hate that comments get auto-moderated. i dont need a nanny
I’ve seen neither. I’ve only seen this comment.
This happens a lot tbh
I feel like Season 3 as a whole is basically a response to this. The series arc is a battle between Rick's combination of intelligence/nihilism, and Jerry's combo of stupidity/principles. And at the end of the season Jerry wins.
At the start of the season, Rick becomes effectively all-powerful, and he defeats all his enemies effortlessly in 1 episode. The Council, the Federation, and most importantly Jerry. Nihilism gives him everything he wants. Beth even leaves Jerry to stay with Rick.
But Rick's brand of cosmic nihilism ends up terrifying Beth so much that by the end of the season she runs back to Jerry specifically to protect herself (and the kids) from Rick. Despite Rick's ability to do literally anything, he has pushed away his only family and lost the thing he values most.
As a final mark of Jerry's victory over Rick, Rick agrees to live under the rules of Beth and Jerry. This serves as a final refutation of the nihilism Rick espouses, as Rick essentially gives up the unlimited power he got through his intelligence in exchange for the "meaningless" sentiment of being with his family. The message I read from the season is that "nihilism might be logical and powerful, but nihilism does not lead to a happy, fulfilling life"
And he also turned himself into a pickle. Funniest shit I’ve ever seen, man.
If any of that were actually in the show and not accidentally the message of it just being random horsecrap that doesn't mean anything. Nobody is allowed to develop, because the writers don't care about occasionally just saying "well this character acts this way now. Just shut up. It's a comedy, who cares."
And thats a good question; who cares about this show, and why? The only positives anybody can list tend to be "well i liked it" or the dialogue being clever but I argue a show with such little regard for the audience and the plot literally cannot have traditionally good writing or jokes because it's pretty much just a series of absurdist sketches at that point.
Jerry did not defeat Rick. In fact, the only thing that can defeat Rick is his own inner demons. If Rick really wanted Jerry out his family's lives, it would have happened already.
In fact, the (or a) punchline is that Rick, despite his intelligence, is in fact barely functional as a human being, not unlike a parody of a "tortured artist," a genius, but being unable to parley his skills into earning a living, maintaining a normal social life, or accomplishing much beyond a random whim.
@@blkgardner Rick started a small business against the devil and won. Jerry is a better person than Rick, even though he is less informed. No Intel is more reliable than bad Intel. It is why 2001 was a bad year for America when it came to fighting terrorism. #TeamAmericaWorldPolice
It's a small detail, but I really dig how you handled The Doctor's pronouns here. It's cool!
extremelylargecat I didn’t even notice it until I read this comment.
I'm retro-binging QR content but
It's almost like,,,,, when asshats online aren't waging a war against non-binary pronouns,,,,,, a simple change to reflect a person's gender doesn't really stick out as "weird",,,,,, interesting
Rick isn't really smart, nor is he a scientist - he's the protagonist of a show written in such a way that what he says just happens to be true, and his machines no matter how half-assed always work. He knows this and that's what has made him cynical and cruel.
And Ricks nihilism is supposed to illustrate that his viewpoint is wrong.
Unfortunately, most audiences do not see that because they passively observe. @Lars_Thorson
Wow, its almost like he is written to be an impossibly smart scientist in his fictional universe.
Half assing impossible machines and having them work perfectly is the easiest way to write that without having him do literal math equations.
oh, interesting, Rick just has Genre Awareness, one of the most potent tropes a character can have
Quinton: "Yes, this is partially going to be a Doctor Who analysis, which I know is everyone's favourite thing"
Me: "Yes, but unironically."
Seriously pls Quinton make more Doctor Who content I beg, look at the insane expanded universe.
Sapphyre Blayze EXACTLY I love Doctor Who it’d be great to see him make some more content about it but I do understand that not everyone is subscribed for that imo if he wants to do Doctor Who content he should go for it, if he doesn’t that’s fine
Genuinely Quinton's content more than anything else has made me want to watch Doctor Who way more than before. I thought it was an interesting series but not worth it to invest the time watching but now I really want to watch it!
Lovemaxman1234 I’ve been a doctor who fan all my life, so I think you absolutely should watch it! The great thing about doctor who imo is that it’s such a varied series with such different casts and settings and spanning across so many styles and genres that you’re bound to find at least one era of the show that appeals to you.
Just in time before knockoff November ended!
collab with stubagful when
I honestly felt this when watching Rick and Morty when it first aired. This weird tone of "being an asshole=winning" didn't make me laugh or anything, it just came off as mean spirited and unlikable AF. I have similar feelings with South Park when it comes to this. Making fun of both sides and helping nobody.
If you think Rick is winning not sure you've seen the show.
Eric Cartman is a good example of this. The only time he saw consequences for his actions is when characters were willing to go to jail with him for assault .
16:17 it's fascinating coming back to this and hearing Quinton say that "Rick's universe exists to make him seem right". When and episode that aired nearly 2 years after this video was uploaded, confirmed that this is canonically true.
Quinton really hitting us with the hot takes on how media impacts society and the way that we act recently, love it sir more please.
If you love those aspects, then you'll love Renegade Cut's video. Check him out too.
This isn't even a hot-take. It was a hot take like 4 years ago.
How is this a hot take? The 'to be fair you have to have a high IQ to understand rick and morty' shit was 2 years ago.
Quick thought, I just think the ending of season 2 was looking like the beggining of saying more that nihilism. But it kept going unchanged, because sitcom tropes and status quo and all. Anywho, this really was a great take on this show, took a lot of disjointed thoughts I personnaly had into something actually wort it.
To be fair, you have to have a very high IQ to appreciate Quinton Reviews
Or you have to be Jim Carrey levels of #woke
Well to really be extremely fair, you have to be very high to appreciate Quinton's mustache.
But not too high. He sounds like a high schooler who forgot the essay was due and tried his best to sound intellectual while not really being too on point. Rick believes he is smart (and obviously by his actions is incredibly so) and that gives him license to be a dick.... that is not what the show is saying. Like Breaking Bad's Jesse Pinkman, Morty is the moral center of the show. But somehow this essay didn't mention all the Morty monologs about morality... in pretty much every episode.
Quinton seems to me to be the type of person who doesn't do or say anything lightly- he really thinks about the words he chooses, the media he enjoys, the "how"s and "why"s of all of it and I really appreciate that. Not only does he consider the consequences of things, he considers the consequences of actively CHOOSING to consider things, to go over them and ponder meanings, causes, and effects- if that makes any sense. I feel like that's very rare to see. Of course, I could be projecting my own thoughts and feelings onto him after watching many of his recent videos, but that's how I see it. It's a pleasure to watch.
I think renegade and this dude are both pretty great. Constantly making good points and arguments. But always taking constructive criticism at the same time. Sometimes bad faith assholes want to harass them and start fights but you always have those fuckadoodles lol. Thankfully they are smart enough to be fairly logical instead of put up with pricks.
He is reading a script.
What do you expect?
The crossover D&D comic pretty much called out Rick's behavior when Jerry got an Int boost.
You keep saying vindicative. The word youre probably looking for is vindictive. Vindication actually means the complete opposite.
The thing that I disagree with on both this and the Renegade Cut video is this idea that the only important read for the show is the textual one where Rick is smart and cruel and its smart to be cruel. And it completely ignores the subtext of the show where Rick and everyone around him is unhappy due to his behavior, and how Rick doesn't even bother to stay consistent with his own nihilistic values because he doesn't truly believe them, they're just a way for him to dismiss the need to become a better person.
Its kind of the same kind of surface-level take that a lot of people had about Bo Burnham's Inside recently. "He's wealthy and successful, him being sad is just a performance!" Which, yeah, is true, but thats only because the whole special is about how performativeness is a pervasive issue of being online and how that can wreck your mental health. Engaging with the text at the expense of clearly intended subtext is bad criticism.
To be fair though, I think at this point even the creators of Rick and Morty are sick of having subtext. S5 is really just going for jokes and funny ideas, and I think its way better for it.
Am I the only one who loves the show and has never interacted with the toxic fandom? Not by choice, it just actually never crosses my timeline. So I just see an episode, talk about it with co-workers and move on.
I feel like it''s also dependent on how you interact with internet culture and discourse in general too. Like if you're not actively engaging in online discourse and/or taking in content that displays that discourse, you're basically safe from all the shittier parts of the internet, haha.
It's just the usual case of people who spend way too much time on the internet being unable to seperate their memes from real life.
No, cause the truth is that there both is and isn't a toxic fanbase. This has happend in so many fandoms at this point it surprises me people still fall for it. The reason this guy thinks less of people for liking Rick and Morty enough to have a simple T-Shirt is because he's taking the two or three well known stupid actions and not only assuming that they were real and un-ironic, but also assuming that they apply to the entire fandom as a whole.
So what are the well know stupid actions? The first is the copy pasta of "you have to have a high IQ to watch Rick and Morty" It's a paragraphs long copy paste to make the poster sound like an elitist prick who thinks he's better than everyone for watching Rick and Morty. It's also a troll, people only post it to make fun of the "idea" of elitist fans of the show who barely existed on unknown and never cited web forums. The second was the McDonalds schezwan sauce incident. Which was proven to be a youtuber troll who did it for views and makes a habit of acting like a retard as if it's funny. He went on to make videos of him licking the sauce off the ground. His newest video is literally titled "poop review- a show where i review poop coming soon" and it has him playing with literal shit like it's the funniest thing in the world.
What happend to Rick and Morty essentially boils down to the fact that it got really popular really fast. Every single piece of media that manages that level of success and respect will instantly start it's own counter culture with either a defined hatred for the media (people saying it's shit cause it's so popular i.e. hipsters) or a secret hatred for it (people acting like they are fans of the show just to obnoxiously troll those who don't like it). Back with MLP it was the "mods are asleep, post ponies" phase of the fandom. Later on it was the horrific cosplay deliberately designed to look as fucked up as possible to troll. There is a lot of shit I have never seen or heard of actual fans of MLP, Undertale, FNAF, or Rick and Morty doing, yet it's public perception that all these things are true and not only committed by the fans but endorsed by them.
There is always an aspect of any and every fandom that can be considered toxic or cringey but the ONLY time I've ever seen those aspects prevalent enough to be considered an honest representation of the majority of a fanbase was in League of Legends. Even then that was only about a quarter of the fanbase, it's just that you're highly likely to always be interacting with at least one toxic fan in any given ten player game.
@@kakroom3407 what this guy said! ^
@@BigKnecht exactly.
Couldn't summarise it better
I remember watching the first season before it blew up and just thought. This is wacky and peculiar. Great voice acting and off the wall comedy. It's funny to see how people have ruined that for other people lol. Don't let dudes ruin your enjoyment and see madnesses that ain't there to be seen.
I don’t see why people feel the need to dump on a show that people enjoy, rick and Morty is great, unlike that crap show dr who!
@@dasboom7133 lol I see what you did there. Or at least I think I did. Maybe I'm reading too much into it.
@Jay Ar final space season 1 was great. Haven't seen season 2 yet. You might enjoy that one.
You don't like good shows and that's okay. Somebody's gotta be the lowest common denominator.
@@vfxninja5503 Do you get some sort of kick out of telling people who like something you don’t that they’re “the lowest common denominator” aka stupid? You’re the ones who is pathetic
Quinton be out here looking like John Lennon in the Sgt. Peppers era.
Sgt pepper era=best era
In defense of certain bad Rick and Morty fans, McDonalds marketing straight up lied to customers during that szechuan sauce promotion.
In Utah, 3 total restaurants got 8 packets each of sauce, at 2 packets per order that's 12 total portions of heavily marketed sauce allotted to a state of 4 million people, all of which was taken by staff before opening.
You shouldn't be shitty at the cashiers over something so stupid, even if that stoner cashier may have been part of the reason zero customers were actually able to buy into a promotion selling the world's most overpriced chicken nuggets... But still, Mcdonalds should have expected some kind of backlash when they decided to promote a product so rare that it basically didn't exist.. with extensive social media advertisements that probably would have been illegal in any country with effective consumer protection laws.
I worked at McDonald's during that time and we didn't see the sauces until weeeeeks after the promotion (so we had a fuck ton of fan pissed off that they didn't have their sauce) and then when they finally got us some we got: 2 boxes. 2 boxes to give to people who have been coming in every single day asking for that damn sauce. McDonald's fucked up big time.
I think that when we talk about Rick and Morty fans, we're more talking about the overwhelming mass of arrogant (typically) men who justify their anti-social personalities and nihilism under the guise of "I'm just smart, like Rick"
I remember being really hyped by the season 2 finale because it seemed like they were taking Rick in a really interesting direction but then they kinda ruined it with the season 3 premiere by revealing that Rick really had the upper hand the whole time and then he immediately solved the problem with very little effort. It's like the show was slapping the audience in the face for wanting the character to grow and develop.
I'm diffrent I guess because I like to see a character like Rick bend a situation like being trapped in the most secure prison in the galaxy to getting rid of his 3 most hated enemies that being Other Ricks the Galactic goverment and Jerry. If Rick developed we wouldn't get to see much of the absolute monster and that would make me sad :I
Also there was a shit ton of character development in this season. It's just that Rick doesn't change because he thinks he is right... or as he would say it KNOWS that he is right. And it's hard arguing with stuborn people like him. Only way to change him isn't by word but by action or consequence to his action but he can get out of any situation scott free so... 70 more episodes baby :D
Honestly? I want Rick and Morty to slap me in the face for thinking it's going to grow and transform. That, in and of itself, is probably the most appropriate thing a show like this can do. It's meta, subversive, and sets the tone pretty well if you ask me.
That's kind of the whole duality of this show. Being both as smart as possible and as stupid as possible simultaneously. The more you read into it, the more you see it's just painting a giant middle finger back at you.
@@MaskedMammal yes, it will be such meta, if Rick's character just keeps stagnate in his nihilism.
@@hyperducktales I guess so, but being subversive is a part of the humor. Rarely does the show do what you expect a show to do, and they still make it fun. For 3 seasons I've watched it purely because I want to see the crazy junk they do, the surreal gags and hyper-unrealistic characters all contribute to what makes the show unique.
IMO, as long as it continues to work for the show, the characters should continue on the way they have. There's some development, some intrigue, but I don't think it necessarily has to have the main problem-causer and driver of plot end up learning his lesson and becoming better.
Quniton: ".........Doctor Who"
Me: "god DAMMIT!"
I thought it was made pretty clear in the first episode that Rick isn't actually smart, he just uses mega seeds to fake it while building stuff.
i really like rick and morty, the fanbase is insufferable
I'm just baffled why people keep trying to pick out Rick and Morty's fans as the worst ones when every single popular series's fanbases are just absolute cancer. I mean, seriously, think of anything with a gigantic fanbase and I can guarantee you'll find a lot of toxic assholes there who taint things for everybody.
I recon you got a point there dracocrusher... But some fan bases get a lil too ridiculous compared to others...
@@dracocrusher yeah thats fair
dracocrusher Didn’t you see the videos of them causing havoc or annoying people in public
@@dracocrusher R&M has its share of weird properties compared to other fandoms. Most fandoms never had people losing their shit at McDonalds establishments over the lack of a licensed product. It also doesnt help when the show ends up being interpreted at face value and already presents a grim, nihilistic message.
Its not the worst fandom, but the type of obnoxiousness it exudes is one of pretentiousness rather than just obsession, which is honestly worse. Like the worst of the bronies had some cringey moments, but it was usually over their obsession, you dont see someone with an MLP shirt on thinking "ugh theres a good chance this guy thinks hes better than those around him", a heuristic one might be more inclined to feel about R&M fans.
(And Ill admit I do still like R&M, still have a meeseeks shirt myself from the first season, I know its just an annoying minority)
Rick is proof on why philosophies like Objectivism don't inherently work
I never liked the show. Its not very good. Its just adventure time surreal= funny. Its incredibly boring and all the characters are depressed all the time its not a very fun show to watch.
@@icecreamhero2375 it basically tries to have the animation of SuperJail!, the humor of Aqua Teen Hunger Force, and the Writing and emotional moments of a show like Moral Orel, while simultaneously failing at all three. Rick and Morty is essentialy Adult Swim Lite.
@@icecreamhero2375 to each their own
@@cameronkoontz6393 I hate Aqua Teen Hunger Force so that explains alot. I also can't stand the way it is written. It has a bit of what I like to call the South Park problem. Instead of writing a story and filling it with jokes like you are supposed to instead the whole story is one long drawn out joke that gets old fast. Rick and Morty has a little bit of this problem but its less blunt than South Park. I also dislike the constant gross humor.
@@cameronkoontz6393 Adult Swim is all crap I only watch it for the fox shows .
two quinton uploads in a row? im so excited i even decided to sit through the ads for you, dude!!
'The choice of the show to have Rick's cruelness be caused by how smart he is is an unfortunate side effect of just how the show is written'.
No, that *is* how the show is written. It's the literal text of the show.
yeah some people forget that the artistic direction is not theirs to decide.
Its not caused by how smart he is. Thats just his rationalization.
@@devernepersonal3636 But it is theirs to critique..
@@devernepersonal3636ever heard of Death of the Author?
The tricky thing about Rick and Morty is that the show is too well-written for its own good. Your characterizations of Rick are useful to your point, but not entirely accurate. We’ve seen Rick care deeply about Morty, even to the point of genuine tears. We know that Rick secretly cares, and his nihilism is a front for his crippling depression and suicidal ideation. Rick and Morty, as a show, is so good at crafting its characters that it actually takes all of the ways you attempt to justify its morals and refutes them. The show isn’t saying necessarily that Rick is the worst person imaginable you’re not supposed to like-it’s saying he’s psychologically traumatized and abusive and a person capable of genuine love simultaneously. The show isn’t saying necessarily that being smart makes you cruel-it’s saying Rick believes that because it’s how he can excuse his own apathy. You can try and claim that the show is just a parody of real sci-fi and that’s why it works-but the secret is that the reason it really works, the reason it’s actually good, is because it’s not two-dimensional. The people who idolize Rick don’t realize he’s a tragic character you’re not meant to think is a hero. They may relate to his depression and understand him as tragic. But they also don’t realize that the parts of him that care about others are the only good parts about him. The show does. That disconnect is the real root of the problem.
I dunno what show are you watching, but it wasn't R&M. Yeah, Rick isn't a Hero, but the show and the show's universe only exists to reaffirm him and his behavior.
And all the "Oh no he actually cares" alwaya sounds like people trying to justify abuse.
@@MiloKuroshiro No it doesn't.
Two in a row? Plz don't burn out.
top comment showing people who didn't watch to the end
@@Roowinz I commented as soon as he posted lol. I'm glad he has a harem of editors to lighten the load.
don't worry, its not like he needs to put much effort into these
@@fuckakakaka wtf do you mean he puts so much work into this
@@BigSaba how? doing at most a weekend's worth of "research" and editing isn't effort
thanks for being one of the only reviewers who genuinely make me look at something in a different light
I’m so happy QR is still around. I’ve been a sub since 2015 and whenever I lose faith in humanity it get restored when I see his sub count climbing.
Sponsor Skip™: 2:46
Just down here representin December birthdays, this year I'm 33 on the 24! I sincerely appreciate your content, it has been wicked rad watching you grow cannot wait to see what you can push out this December and beyond.
I don't think you're giving Rick and Morty enough credit. Beginning in season 3, the show really begins to deconstruct Rick's nihilism and expose it for the vacuous excuse that it is. There's a brilliant monologue by a therapist in which the therapist basically calls out Rick, telling him "the only link between your unquestionable intelligence and the sickness destroying your family is that everyone in your family, you included, use intelligence to justify sickness." And of course there's an episode in season 4 that basically calls Rick the most pathetic sad sack in the galaxy.
Are there R&M fans that completely missed this point and still treat Rick as a heroic alpha male when in reality he's a pathetic excuse for a human being? Absolutely. But I think it's disingenuous to suggest that the showrunners aren't aware of Rick's problems.
How do you binge every episode as they come out?
"Renegade cut is a personal friend of mine"
Mean flex but ok
He banned me on his Channel despite being a big fan for very little reason aside maybe giving him too much positive comments, he partly made me a commie, but also a jerk that may threw Contrapoints under the bus just for a friggen cameo and a bad retweet.
Also he told he's not part of the revolution.
I tried to give him Patreon money, just for an explanation but like M Bison he doesn't remember and give the money back... Than I vow to him to be a better Breadtuber than him.... Maybe not ending a conversation with him on best terms, though he better not take my concept of analyzing Steven Universe just parental White Savior Neoliberalism
eae adoro seu tt :)
@@Tacom4ster weird copypasta but okay
@@Fedro_ iti ♥️
Do Quinton and Renegade cut have a feud or something? I just know both channels, that's all. Nothing about any drama or anything.
I always worry when a series works on subverting expectations. You do too much and it becomes expected thus becoming its own internal logic. Or you keep trying to outsmart/mislead the audience to the point it stops making any sense.
Your point at 16:58 was exactly why I was starting to get nervous with the future of the show. I completely agreed with you.
In my opinion, after seeing the first couple episodes of season 5 it appears thankfully the writers also thought the same thing. I enjoy the direction that they’re taking the characters
16:19 OMG Quinton! You nailed it, watch the last two episodes of season 5.
That's **exactly** what his multiverse was. His own perfect multiverse split off from the other multiverses.
I thought that the implication of people being horrible and destructive when Unity's hold on them is broken is that their socialization and sense of morality had become horribly atrophied by the loss of their free will.
I like to use it as an illustration of how utterly cartoonish (and frankly fashy) some Christian interpretations of their theology results in the notion that humans are absurdly depraved & incapable of virtue, rather than merely imperfect & vulnerable to the full spectrum of bad choices.
There’s a “you deserve hell” rationalization for hell’s existence as a perpetual torture dimension that claims that everyone is perpetually full of hate or whatever from birth, and Yahweh supposedly holds back the infinite tide of evil in humanity a slight amount.
Just enough to sustain civilization, but not enough to render us independently capable of constructing morality... or something similarly unable to stand to scrutiny.
This is a good video but one thing, which applies to renegade cuts especially. Morty isn't shown to be "wrong" for having empathy, he's shown to have a moral compass but also be naive which makes him incompetent. Rick isn't shown to be "right" or "correct", he's shown to be successful while also being an asshole, while then saying a dumb catch-phrase and expecting us still to like him. That's a fundamental part of the shows humour, its not a philosophical commentary its just funny because his character is cocky and silly enough to make it work
The Rick and Morty fanbase is toxic but sometimes a shirt is just a shirt. Don't generalise.
Luke, you make a good point there. A thrift store shirt is there to keep hobos clothed instead of making a statement .
Rick, Bojack, Walter White, The Joker, Filthy Frank, The Gang from Always Sunny, etc are all supposed to be what people aspire NOT to be. Yet people still latch on to treating these characters as a guide for life to be the “cool edgy badass nihilist” that everyone thinks is so cool until they become it. Alcoholism and addiction aren’t quirky and cool. Depression isn’t cool. Being an asshole isn’t cool and people refuse to realize the whole point of these shows are that these people are miserable
Who says this is a problem and that "people refuse to realize" it? It's very obvious from watching the show. Walter White? Are you serious? Btw, they ruined Bojack with the same paranoia and now we're on a similar track with R&M.
I love R&M but the beggining in this video completely sums up my feelings. I'm especially irritated when people claim how smart it is when none of its themes, characterization, or science is new or novel.
Rick is every main character who thinks they're allowed to be a self centered asshole because they're smarter than everyone else (e.g House, Hank Moody, Sherlock, Sheldon, Dan Fielding, Dr Cox, etc). And it doesn't get any deeper about that than the baseline themes, especially compared to something like Bojack Horseman.
And the science of the show is basically magic. As opposed to something like Futurama that literally created a irl mathematical theorem to solve an episode's dilema, Rick just magically knows all science all the time and can basically create any deus ex machina to fix a problem.
And the humor is basically South Park without the levels of satirical brilliance it can reach at times. I got into R&M mid season 2 and it was fun being a fan then, but now I don't talk about it much bc it's just a show.
I agree 100% with this. I've tuned out from the show since episode 3-4 of season 3 when it first aired. I used to really enjoy the show during the first 2 seasons and was actually one of those people who thought that Rick's thinking and behavior was correct (I was a dumb 19 year old). But watching his character not progress and him continuing to be mean and right, started to annoy me, to the point where I just stopped caring about the show and did some introspection on my part. When I hear anything about Rick & Morty, I just don't really think much of it these days. Plus, I think there's better shows out there with smarter scripts, characterization and themes.
watch Always Sunny. You will like it
The veil only really came off of the fandom with regards to The Pickle Rick episode.
Here we have the therapist character explain as clear as possible that rick is the only person responsible for his actions and problems. That he can’t claim he is in god-like control of the universe yet a slave to his own “intellectual nihilism” at the same time. That the reason his family is so toxic is because all of them, especially him, “use intelligence to justify sickness.”
The writers told the newer fans loud and clear what they were missing and their response was to only take away the shitty meme value of the pickle plot and start whining online about how the addition of a female writer ruined the show or bitching over watching their icon get taken down a peg. Morty, who knows Rick better than anyone, even laid it out flatly that Rick is NOT supposed to be your hero.
I always realised the parody of back to the future, but me being idiot I never realised Morty=Marty with an o
Yo, Quinton being a friend of Renegade Cut is the crossover I never thought I needed.
It's pronounced Vin-dic-tive Not vin-dic-a-tive
'Where are my testicles Summer?'
When Snowball said that, standing over Summer's bed, in the dark, in his giant Robo-Suit, I lost it. When it all clicked, and my mind filled in the blanks, I went into full on hysterical laughter, like rolling around, 'oh god I can't breathe', tears streaming, sort of laughing. It was just so beautiful.
Hmm. Also, judging from what you've said. I get the impression that perhaps your position on the show is driven more by your desire to separate yourself from 'the popular thing,' than the deeply complicated, sophisticated reason you've presented in the video. As you seem to dwell on it's popularity, your disgust of people who openly show a liking for it, and your desire to keep your fondness of the show hidden from others. Obviously only you can know if there's any truth to that.
every video: “i have... a weird relationship with [subject of video]” lol
Thank you! As someone getting a minor in Animation, I've been mocked to high hell by some peers for never getting into Rick and Morty. People told me I didn't understand it. I always retorted that they were watching it out of context and it was never meant to be taken seriously. I mean, what's not to understand about it? There's a character named Mr. Poopybutthole, for God's sake. And another frustration of mine is people idolizing Rick. That's the opposite of the point, people.
I think you just don't like a show people like. It's okay to do. The obsession over the "fan base" is really sad.
@@lProN00bl No, I was a big fan of Dan Harmon from Community so I was very excited to see him get involved in an animated show. When R&M came out, I found it to be very unfunny and grotesque compared to what I loved about Community. People constantly accuse me of hating the show because it has a hype train, just like you did here... I don't see why people can't accept that I just genuinely dislike it.
Quinton: *refers to the doctor as he, she, and they*
Me: 😀🥰🤩😍💝💖🌟⭐🌈
Nice
I've known a couple of people that were 'so smart' they used it as justification to tell how dumb you are and, for want of a better term, to be cruel to you. Instead of at least educating or enlightening you, they would rather just say you're stupid. And that attitude tends to turn people away, in which the 'smart' person will say 'well you're too stupid for me anyway' and they wind up alone. They wind up cycling through many friends until one invariably gets sick of the other. I don't watch this show thinking that Rick is the best character ever, in fact if he didn't have funny moments and witty zingers, he would be extremely unlikable. He's not even in the category of 'love to hate', he's just funny.
I think the better arc is Morty and the rest of his family becoming increasingly aware of how shitty Rick is and slowly turning against him. It seems Jerry is the only one that's cognizant of how toxic Rick is from the beginning but he's painted as the 'pathetic loser' so we shouldn't empathize with him. Even when Rick facilitates him being removed from the family for the petty reason of 'he crossed me.' Rick and Jerry are both the stoic characters of the show, they don't really change based on the events of the series, it's mostly Morty and the rest of the family, and the direction is see Morty going towards is him standing up to Rick, calling him out and finally acting on his newfound realization that Rick sucks. That's pretty much it. Haven't been terribly impressed with the new season. Maybe I'm getting jaded too. But what's telling is that in the season premier, the wasp version of the family has clearly set boundaries between what Rick can and can't do with Morty and while Rick's abrasive and self aware personality is still there, he does seem to be happier, as does the rest of the family. So I know the show writers are aware of the faults too.
And then season 4 did exactly thatl
Cancel Rick and Morty, and greenlight the superior version, Bushland Adventures.
They've been already in Bendigo. What else is there to come?
When we gonna see that cuuuuuuuuuube?
Lion’s Blaze!!
"its fan base has generated it such an unappealing fan base" the hottest take of the century
Literally everybody said that before
I say it’s just a tv show written by an experienced writer, and created by a shock value flash animator/voice actor. It’s derivative by nature to back to the future, but it plays with dimensions instead of just time travel. Rick is Justin’s/dan’s ego, and morty represents the audience’s Stockholm syndrome following the discouraging and misleading messages of each episode. Toss in clever animated scenes and poop jokes , you have yourself a hit tv show. The fans mean well enough, it’s not that rick and morty causes douches but that douches already exist in the population.
You have easily influenced people who let the new popular thing be their new favorite thing, fads come and go as they leech off of good content making total toxic waste in the form of memes. These memes infect non-funny people who just adopt what’s popular for views as they dress up to look like a cartoon. People complain about how cring-tastic the fan base as a whole is, not realizing it doesn’t fucking matter. The creators get their money, the fans get their product, and the people who want something better can go write their own content. Pitch it to adult swim and put their work out there to be judged.
Supreme Irony:
-Quinton finishes with moral point I agree with.
-One second later: Insert Nihilistic Clothing ad for profit
-Nothing matters. Go watch TV.
Not sure how that ad is even remotely nihilistic but anything for the "not so ironic irony meme".
I think ever since season 2, there has been more of an effort to make episodes where it is clear that Rick isn't really as smart as he thinks.
He obviously still has the ability to make any gadget or whatever he wants to a superhero degree, but he's also kind of miserable and doesn't know how to deal with it. It's also clear that his whole nihilistic outlook is really just a facade. Rick does care about things too, he's just way too proud to ever express that directly and has to act like he's above everything, even though anyone watching can clearly see that he isn't.
He Actually IS The smartest being in the universe, But The Result Of that causes Severe Depression And Loneliness, No One can deal with that with a gadget! Rick 'Acts' above everything else to avoid emotional attachment, Because traveling from a reality To reality life-style would give you a keen eye on what to care-And-What not to care for, So Rick would feel like there are no consequences In, or outside of life, Being A Super-Genius is the result of his isolation
recently i watched rick and morty from the start and i noticed a sudden shift in how rick reacted to things and how he talked to morty. i honestly started to believe that morty is the true protagonist of the show not rick and we are just being dragged along bc we follow how morty reacts to stuff. how morty started out as a child being impressed by everything and how he wanted to save lifes to always end up realising that the people he tried to save where horrible people. how he slowlely loses fate in everything is directely connected to how we start to feel about the rick and morty universe we start to see rick and morty as the only people we want to survive. at least that's how i see it. i also like how the show didn't go full serious with the evil morty plot and its only being refered to a few times in the show in such a way you don't know its evil morty while watching the episode
Unfortunately, RnM went through this Justin Bieber phenomenon, when it was loved by a lot of people, but all of the sudden it got too famous and people who didn't even care about the show started hating on it for no reason.
I think a lot of people miss the fact that rick is often the cause of his own conflicts, yes he solves them in the end but it's only ever to re-achive that level of normality for the next episode, he is always the cause of his own conflict, however, because of his selfishness.
Like rick fucking DIES in episode 2 of this new season, and spends the whole episode being killed over and over again until eventually he manages to find a nice rick who helps out.
summary: rick sanchez does not care about FEELINGS, he just wants to gosh darn GRILL!
Or get that Schezwan sauce.
I don't know. I kind of disagree, I always thought that Rick was portrayed as an arrogant asshole who is smart, but he uses his intelligence as an excuse to be a piece of shit. Then, he pushes everyone he cares about away and nobody wants to be around him. He's an alcoholic who also abuses other drugs, and has tried to commit suicide throughout the series several times.
...Y'know, I'm starting to get used to his handlebar 'stache. It's starting to suit him a lot, and I love it.
Great video and also congrats on the editor. A lot of times when youtubers get new editors they try too hard and end up with he obnoxious overediting a la Game Theories where they have images distractly pop in or even jump in rather than just cutting to them, or they caption every single word (like showing a butt when you say "but" or showing a well when you say "well") rather than accurately showing what you're talking about.
I say this to friends all the time: "I love Rick and Morty. And honestly I think that's my worst trait."
There's no laugh react here so consider this my laugh react
What's bad about loving this show? Seriously, I get the objection to the show being that some idiots are going to use it to justify their awful behavior to themselves, but you're not that idiot. Purely for the fact you're thinking about the show and its messages, you're pretty much immune to taking that surface-level idea at face value and applying it as a truth in your life.
If you put in any amount of thought, you're immunized to the potential harm this show can do. Boom, no longer a problem. If all this show is is edgy, subversive fun, and you enjoy that, there's no need to apologize.
I only ever see people complain about the fanbase, never the things they are said to do... Outside of musical.ly/TikTok. Those people are cancer manifested in meatbags.
@@MaskedMammal I love the show! I wear my merch proudly. Don't call me cringe it's my likings.
A show doesn’t need meaning to continue. Look at simpsons which rarely had any actual points to make
I can't get over the Smithers in the background in his original colours.
You seem to think the show is trying to say that Rick is the good guy of the show, or that his philosophy should be adhered to, even though the show makes a point to depict people suffering because of Rick and even Rick suffering himself, as well as Rick contradicting his own narrative several times by caring about Morty and his family and having certain small motivations. I also find it ironic that you showed a clip from the Pickle Rick episode where they are in the therapist's room because in that scene the therapist bluntly tells Rick that he uses his intellegence as an excuse to be self-destructive when it has nothing to do with the fact. Rick has been written by the creators as a protagonist with a flawed mindset, he was never some bizarro Doctor Who parody.
People, listen carefully to what I'm about to say:
It's not a handlebar mustache.
what is it then?
A fashion disaster
@@minichou a horseshoe, handle bars turn upwards
@@minichou a fu manchu
Honestly if anything it should be called the Motorhead. Because I'll forever see Lemmy anytime i see that Mustache
It seems unfair to me that you seem to disregard absurdism in favour of some sort of virtue philosophy. The show doesn't frame the "Stop caring, come watch TV" as a positive solution to the absurd, but rather as a defeatist attitude. The way I see it, the show is mainly about the failure of a character who has become conscious of the absurd, fails to come to terms with it, i.e. Rick.
Rick as a character is in this regard a reflection of the subgroup of society, that the show is marketed to, live in. One characterised by a general desensitisation from previous ideology and the concept of purpose. However, the show also rejects Rick, by having him be chronically depressed and showing him to be conflicted at times, thus failiing to achieve status as an übermensch. This can be read as a rejection of nihillism, and as encouragement for the audience to attempt to find a deeper meaning in life, not characterised solely by their comprehension of the absurd.
tl;dr
The show is about how having your entire character be defined by edgy nihilist beliefs leads to depression.
Your point about the show needing to evolve from the punchline of "nothing matters" is already being disproven in the show on multiple occasions, where rick is shown as being a hollow, empty person. Finding nothing of value in his outlook on life. The new season dives even deeper into Rick's psyche, showing the audience his own doubts in that philosophy, humanizing him more.
Watch Renegade Cut's video on this, he addresses that.
I saw an interview with Dan Harmon where he says Rick's philosophy that nothing matters, even if it's true, gets you nowhere, and even says that Jerry, of all people, is better off than Rick. You can create meaning even in supposed meaninglessness. I don't think the creators of this show are oblivious to what you're talking about, and the developments you want are probably going to come. Episode 4x2 is good evidence of this, I think.
Eu nunca pensei q um cara com 30 anos falando sobre td fosse tão relaxante. To ouvindo ele pra pegar no sono. MELHOR E MAIS RELAXANTE SONO DR TODOS
Art is art. Some people will interpret it in the worst ways, some in the best. What the creator intends and the viewer believes rarely coincide, so its not worth addressing or debating.
I think this show is very interesting to observe in a meta context because you can trace when the writers and creators became aware of the effect they were having on their audience. Season 4 and 5 basically went out of the way to dethrone Rick and humble him. Rick actually develops into a more caring person and the show starts to buck the whole edgy nihilism thing. Rick was never meant to be admirable and it can be argued the show is effectively trying to deprogram asshole nihilists in at least some capacity. I’m hoping season 6 continues this pattern.
handlebar mustache quinton is a total badass
David Tennant on the last few episodes were also a great reason why he needs a companion.
Holy crap I actually didn’t click off of this 2+ year-old video during the Patreon crawl and you said it was YOUR BIRTHDAY IN DECEMBER 7TH??? IT’S DECEMBER 7TH TODAY! *HAPPY BIRTHDAY, TALENTED INTERNET STRANGER!*
Seriously though, what a bizarre coincidence that I randomly decided to watch this video today.