Why Rick and Morty Season 7 will both please and anger fans

On October 15, the sequel to “Rick and Morty,” one of the most famous “adults» animated series. In 2018, after the release of the third season, its creators Dan Harmon and Justin Roiland signed a contract with the studio to produce 70 episodes. And now the project consistently returns to the screens once every year and a half.

Unfortunately, there were problems with the production of the seventh season: due to scandals related to domestic violence, fired Justin Roiland, and he not only came up with the plots, but also voiced both main characters - Rick and Morty. Instead, other dubbing actors were hired, which caused dissatisfaction among fans: at the time of writing, on the aggregator site Rotten Tomatoes it has only 42% positive reviews from viewers. This is the minimum rating in the entire history of the project.

Many were outraged not only by the change of voices, but also by the somewhat different atmosphere of the series. Morty appears less often in it, the emphasis is on more life-like topics, and good jokes and

fiction became less. Whether this is considered a logical development of history or a failure is up to everyone to decide.

Rick and Morty Season 7 Deals with Serious Topics

Changes in the series are noticeable literally from the first episode - the simplest and most insignificant of the three released. In it, one of the characters became depressed after being wounded, started drinking, lost his wife, and moved into the Smith house. Then Rick gathers his friends to get him out of this state.

The second episode seems to be a return to classic plots: Rick's mind mixes with Jerry's, they find a common language and become criminals. In the third episode, the scientist is called by the president to find out why the residents of one of the states have become absolutely happy. It turns out that they were captured by a common alien intelligence.

It seems that there are still aliens and Rick's crazy inventions in action. But in fact, the plot is now exclusively about life stories. The first episode is dedicated to depression, alcoholism and relationship problems. The second shows how people who despise each other learn to understand their loved ones.

The third begins with Rick's psychotherapy, and the leitmotif is his obsession with past traumas and fear of intimacy. At the same time, political themes are also exciting here: the president is ready to do any tricks to win votes.

Of course, in “Rick and Morty” such questions were raised regularly - it’s not for nothing that the series is dedicated to a destructive family. But before they were served in doses, diluted with complex fantastic concepts and humor. Now the authors of “Rick and Morty” do not hesitate to produce long scenes devoted exclusively to moral problems.

Even more unexpected is that the main characters seem to change in the series. Rick still remains in first place, but Morty has finally taken second place, giving way to his father Jerry. On the one hand, this is surprising and upsetting. On the other hand, there was a season in which they talked about Summer and Beth. It might be time to reveal the last important member of the family. It's a shame that it still looks as flat as before.

There is less science fiction, but the references are still pleasing

Rick and Morty has always been famous for its craziest concepts. Here they didn’t just show alternative worlds, but turned them into the apotheosis of absurd humor. Suffice it to recall the famous stage, in which a phone sits on a pizza and a person orders a chair for lunch - something like this could only be shown in the film “Everywhere and at once.” Or a world in which intelligent snakes travel in time and try to kill Hitler the snake, and other travelers interfere with them.

Now fantasy is fading into the background. In the first episode, the only unusual things are the ghost robots that Rick develops. Hope appears only in the third episode, when the president talks about the Loch Ness monster, werewolves and the leprechaun. But this will remain only a comedic aside. Yes, we can simply say that all three released episodes take place in the same reality and almost always on Earth.

Fortunately, we didn’t forget about the references. Those who like to look for hints of famous science fiction and horror in Rick and Morty will definitely like these three episodes. There is Hugh Jackman (the hero was voiced by the actor himself, who, by the way, recently looked into “The Simpsons” and “Big Mouth”) and the Predator from the film of the same name, there are plots that refer to “Invasion of the Body Snatchers” and “To the Sopranos».

At the same time, they don’t forget about references to old episodes of “Rick and Morty.” Bird Persona, Squanchie and others return familiar characters. Rick's dead wife is brought up again, which may lead to the development of some kind of through line. So the set of cameos and references is encouraging for now.

The jokes are just as rude, but not always funny.

Another distinctive feature of the first seasons of “Rick and Morty” is humor on the verge of a foul. Complex jokes about the multiverse stood next to gags about physiology. The characters' verbal jokes ran parallel to funny visual inserts. Now the balance has been upset. It’s as if the authors are trying to remind you that this is a series with adult humor, but it doesn’t always work.

In the first episode, the heroes come to a bar, where the waiters insult the customers (by the way, there are such people in reality). It seems that they want to joke here that such phrases upset one of the heroes. But it turns out somehow strained. In the third episode, the characters are constantly vomiting - this is how the general intelligence is conveyed, but this, too, quickly ceases to be entertaining.

Some comedy bits are still successful: the mentioned story about Loch Ness monster, absurd humor in the post-credits scenes. There is even great self-irony over the change in voice acting - the characters don’t know whose voice to read the notes in. But it seems that the percentage of “hits” was higher before. In three episodes, there wasn't a single moment comparable to "adventure for 20 minutes", Rick the Pickle, or at least something that I would like to quote.

Despite the dissatisfaction of some fans, the start of the seventh season cannot be called a failure. Moreover, it is unknown how the series will develop further. After three episodes, it feels like Rick and Morty has simply matured—not in terms of its crudeness, but in its themes. But I would like to see these plots diluted with more witty action.