cartoon hell.

i can tell that early on the writers just ran with this during the "fake backstory" because they needed something quick at that moment for that one episode. it's just very ill-thought out and also makes no sense for the story because it literally is not possible to "erase" a single person from an infinite multiverse. at what point does an alternate version of diane not count as diane anymore? what if in another universe rick prime *didn't* make the omega device or someshit? makes zero sense

lol i've just always had a silent dislike for anything diane related because she just has noooo interesting qualities at all and i never understood why there was so much fan content of her, she barely counts as a character. if anything i prefer back when that one OC was popular that people said was rick's wife or something. diane was only ever used as a useless background motive for rick's nihilism when it was never needed!! being a super-genius old fart with knowledge of the multiverse would do that to anyone! literally rick could have just done anything else to inconvenience prime to make it seem like he betrayed him and the story would be the absolute same. giving rick an ex wife that simply divorced him due to his shittiness would be infinitely more interesting to me

So I randomly remembered this scene:

Yeaaaah I know. Don't even have to play the audio for you guys, and I've mentioned it before. But I just think it's so INTERESTING. Interesting that this sparked one of the most infamous scenes in Rick and Morty's history. This one moment gets labeled as proof that the show is nihilistic. That the show got too smart. It preached to its choir. It stroked their ego. The show became intellectual slop. Why? Well, Morty just randomly went on about how nobody belongs here on purpose! We're all gonna die. He's just a 14-year-old boy? Pfft, turn the episode off. Put on something funny, like the old Interdimensional Cable stuff. Now, I am aware that I am so late to this conversation, but I have something new to add. This scene was so misunderstood and I think the reason why is people weren't paying attention. The entire point is that it's about Summer. It was never about Morty or the show.

Summer learned that in other dimensions, her parents made a choice. They aborted her to live seemingly happier and more successful lives. Across the multiverse, she's an afterthought, merely a roadblock. That means right now, they're miserable, especially as she learns she's a teen pregnancy that was nearly aborted here too.

She learns that this Morty isn't even her brother. Her brother is dead. She never even noticed. Yet this brother loves her, and wants her to stay. He mentions that it doesn't even matter if she was unwanted. Nobody is ready for life, nobody is REALLY here or wanted to be born. And she should stop focusing on the bigger picture. This is HER dimension. She's alive now. She should go downstairs and forget about it, embrace her current family.

Not to mention that in those other dimensions, her parents are ACTUALLY miserable. Jerry ends up going back to Beth and misses her, which leads to the two realizing their love matters more than their success.

You might all already know this. I'm mentioning it again because it's just so ridiculous how cutting Summer out of the picture contributed to the show being labeled as too preachy and too nihilistic. It was never about saying nothing matters. It was about how family matters. Love matters. It doesn't even matter if you're technically related. As long as you have love, it will all be okay, and you should enjoy your life now. It is insane how people ignored Summer. That previous joke I made by the way? Some people actually think that way, too. This scene is sometimes SO cut out of context that people not only forget it's about Summer, but from a classic episode with Interdimensional Cable that "old-school fans" adore. You can see what ignoring Summer does. This episode is the best example. People just chose to fucking ignore her plotline and her character. They turned a beautiful moment about how you need to stop caring about how you got here and live instead, into saying the show says you need to forget it all because everything is dumb and nothing matters. Nothing out there matters. You're here, not out there.

Fuck the internet for what it did to this scene. Fuck the internet for completely glossing over Summer and making this scene into the face of the show.

@therealricksanchezpleasestandup it really is always a bit of a mixed bag, and I think I forget sometimes just how many writers there are on the show - there’s bound to be good and bad from every season. I think you are right that 7-8 has felt closer to 1-2 than the middle seasons - i think i liked s7 a little better but it is noticeable that they are starting to return to their roots a bit more.