---
title: 'Rick and Morty is Great! (Except for...)'
source: 'https://youtube.com/watch?v=kw35ibG9_Ik'
video_id: 'kw35ibG9_Ik'
date: 2026-07-16
duration_sec: 1068
---

# Rick and Morty is Great! (Except for...)

> Source: [Rick and Morty is Great! (Except for...)](https://youtube.com/watch?v=kw35ibG9_Ik)

## Summary

The video is a deep dive into the animated series Rick and Morty, where the creator shares his evolving perspective after multiple rewatches. He critiques Justin Roiland's early improv as lazy and dated, while celebrating the show's later strengths in canon, emotional depth, and sophisticated humor. The analysis centers on season 8's 'The Curicksous Case of Bethjamin Button' as a perfect episode that encapsulates everything great about the series.

### Key Points

- **Initial Observation: Background Detail** [00:00] — The creator notices a minor background gag in an early episode where a character steals sunglasses, setting up a pattern of observational analysis.
- **Critique of Early Improv** [01:50] — The creator finds Justin Roiland's early improv (e.g., Interdimensional Cable) now feels lazy and off-putting on rewatch, though it was funny initially.
- **Roiland's Improv as 'Poop-prov'** [03:13] — He labels Roiland's improv as 'poop-prov' or 'impoo,' criticizing the low-effort, nonsensical names and jokes that made it into the final cut.
- **The Fine Line of Improv** [04:09] — The creator acknowledges that the chaotic improv was a key appeal in early seasons but now wishes more effort had been put into it.
- **Fan Influence on Canon** [05:26] — He argues that fans' love for canon (e.g., Evil Morty) shifted the show from random improv to a multi-layered narrative with deep themes.
- **Love for Canon** [06:06] — The creator declares canon as the best part of the show, citing the emotional payoff of long-running storylines.
- **Relatable Line: 'My mouth tastes so clean'** [06:22] — A line from season 8 episode 6 resonates with him, capturing the feeling of physical decline with age.
- **Watching with Julia** [07:07] — He decides to show his wife the episode, explaining the show's lore and enjoying her reactions, which included laughs and gasps.
- **Show's Smartness Beyond Pickle Rick** [09:04] — He emphasizes that the show's intelligence lies not in surface-level quotes but in its emotional depth and thematic complexity.
- **Perfect Episode: Season 8 Episode 6** [10:01] — He argues this episode contains all elements that make the show great: humor, sci-fi, emotional stakes, and canon payoff.
- **Beths as Villains to New Viewers** [12:19] — Watching with Julia, he notes that the Beths appear psychopathic without context, but longtime viewers understand their trauma.
- **Canon Enhances Emotional Impact** [13:06] — The episode's ending, where Rick says 'Proud of you,' is more powerful for viewers who know Rick's backstory with his original Beth.
- **Darkness and Gore Surprise** [14:44] — Julia was surprised by the show's gore, but the creator notes this is typical for the series.
- **Clone Beth Conundrum Resolved** [15:13] — The episode puts the clone debate to rest in a fulfilling way, emphasizing family healing.
- **Show's Core: Emotional Range with Laughter** [15:39] — The creator boils down the show's success to its ability to evoke every emotion while keeping the audience laughing.

### Conclusion

The creator concludes that Rick and Morty excels when it balances crude humor with genuine emotional depth and long-running canon, as exemplified by season 8's 'The Curicksous Case of Bethjamin Button.' Despite his nitpicks about early improv, he remains a devoted fan who appreciates the show's evolution.

## Transcript

Did you notice that when Morty meets Kate Micucci,  the blue jelly alien future ex-girlfriend,   that this guy steals sunglasses in the background  while she's distracted? So, every few years I've   ended up doing a full rewatch of Rick and Morty.  Well, every few years might not be exactly true,  
but I've done it like 3 or maybe 4 times.  Been on the air since 2013, which is 13 years,   maybe 5/6 times now. Granted, the first time was  just the first three seasons, but that's only the   point for now cuz I'm going to move on to a  point that's an actual point, but ironically,  
it won't even be the main point yet. But it was my  lunchtime show for a few months this spring. You   know how sometimes when you sit down for 7-13  minutes to eat, you just don't want to start   something new. And since I've seen every episode  already, it's familiar and light and fluffy.
feel weird. Summer. Hey there, stranger. minor genitalia or 9/11 jokes. So you did a  9/11. Almost did a 911. 9/11 was an inside  
job. 9/11 never happened. 11 9/11s. 9/11.  9/11. What's wrong with that? That doesn't   sound like a problem to me. Not even several r*pe  jokes. The pirates are really r*pey. You know,   it'll be really easy to r*pe us after that. Never  a moment that will make you question everything  
or send you into an existential spiral. Right.  There is no God, Summer. You got to rip that   band-aid off now. You'll thank me later. You  ever noticed Rick tacitly loves the idiom no   atheist in a foxhole? Oh, sweet Jesus, please  let me live. Please God in heaven. Please God,  
oh Lord, hear my prayers. Yes, I did it. There is  no God in your face. Anyway, during this current   rewatch, I decided around season 5ish that even  though I didn't start this rewatch for content,   I probably have enough thoughts rattling around  in my dome that I should get them out into a video  
for my sanity and so that you can all scream at  your phone, "Yes, I've been saying this." And then   type that in the comments as well. And also like  subscribe or something. I don't know. I like when   number goes up. But it was actually back in my  season 1 rewatch that my original premise started.  
the pre-point pre-premise which was I don't really  like Justin Roiland's improv anymore. It's like   I'm trying to eat a flame flam. I mean, I don't  like the 13-year-old improv he made back then for  
stuff like Interdimensional Cable. I laughed  in 2013 for sure, but now on an nth re-watch,   it just feels off. Lazy, even? ...quicker with  the arm of fake doors in your arm. Okay, okay,   you can change it. Like, it was funny then. I  remember thinking it was funny. Or was it more  
just, Huh? That's clever. Don't get me wrong, the  Pilot has some scripted and improvised moments   that are still groundbreaking. Got to get out.  Got to get out of here. You're tuggin' me too   hard. Rick's rant at the end works because it's  clear that he's drunk and just coming up with  
stuff off the top of his head. Rick and Morty  forever and forever 100 years. Rick and Morty   things 100 days. Rick and Morty forever 100  times. And the jokes are solid. You know what   I named these? My little Morties. You know what I  want you to do with them? Rename them? threads of  
what make the show awesome are in that pilot and  probably why the comedy works for a lot of us as   neurospicy people. Subversion being a big factor  which Roiland really excelled at in those early   episodes just stunning us with stupid nonsense.  From now on it's going to be 100% honesty. Frank  
Palicky was frozen to death today. No idea what  you're talking about. Now look, Justin Roiland is   no longer involved in everything I've read or seen  tweets of headlines about is that his creative   influence may have been somewhat overstated. I'm  not out here to defame anyone, so let's just say  
allegedly overstated. But the one thing I can all  but guarantee was 100% Roiland is the improv. Or   should we call it poop-prov. Impoo? And yes,  I will call that because that's the level it's   at. The glurp zone is for flurping and unflurping  only. So I told him, give me the blemfarks. That's  
the amount of effort that went into the names  of things he improvised on the spot. And look,   I suck at improv. I'll be the first to admit my  entire channel is one big lie with me coming up   with funny stuff on the spot. lol. I'm bad live.  I can think quickly in writing. Just ask my Slack  
friends. But with the words coming out my mouth,  nah, bro. I'll freeze up. It's why I keep putting   off that podcast I obviously have to do at some  point. I'm a white guy with a microphone. But I'm   not making entire episodes of TV shows based on my  silly little names for things. And my buddy and I  
have talked about this, and I think he's right,  that much of the appeal of those early seasons,   I'd even go so far as to say one of the main  reasons Rick and Morty took off, was because of   that, probably intentionally crappy improv. It was  chaotic and surprising. and you'd find yourself  
dropping your jaw because something so stupid  made it into the final cut. Real turbulent juice   is coming and you got to take care of it. But  my hot take now... it's pretty it's pretty cold  
take is that he could have put just a skosh more  effort into it. There's a fine line between that   Gilmore Girls style fast talking dialogue that no  humans are actually capable of and whatever the   two brothers bit is in a van from an asteroid and  all sorts of things the movie. But hey, whatever.  
If the raw improv still works for you, I'm  jealous because it's funny. It's just become my   least favorite part at this point. Especially when  Roiland breaks right at the end because he knows   how stupid it is. Two brothers. Two Brothers. It's  just called Two Brothers. To be fair, that made it  
even funnier the first time through. So, this is  a very specific niche nitpicky complaint, and I   stuff at all, you already know that Roiland and  Harmon hate canon. Rick pokes fun at it multiple  
times as their surrogate. Let's have dinner with  the Morty president. Morty, the idea was to get   back to simple adventures. The Citadel runs on  canon. In fact, there was never a plan to bring   Evil-Morty back, but then we all went and ate it  up. You could argue that we, the fans, changed  
the trajectory of the show from a dude riffing  on the mic while the animators tried to keep up   to a multi-layered DnD campaign with our favorite  recurring characters changing the course of the   show multiple times and opening up the questions  about life and death and the meaning of existence.  
Nobody exists on purpose. Nobody belongs anywhere.  Everybody's going to die. And also fart jokes. So, if there's any explanation for bad improv,  it's that it was the plan. And I know that  
I'm being a brat about it because at some point  everything is improvised in a writer's room when   like pure gold. An actual army and an air force  and marines. Slow down, Morty. Walk us through  
every military service. Does somebody have a pen?  That stuff is brilliant. Honestly, there are a few   jokes from season 4 and onward that are some of  the best in the series because the show is smart,   just not for the reasons that copypasta has  popularized. Which brings me to what I see  
as the best part of the show overall and what I'm  always going to be a total sucker for in basically   everything I consume. Canon. I got to season 8  nearing the end of my rewatch and I hit episode 6,   The Curicksous Case of Bethjamin Button, and it  has this line. My mouth tastes so clean. Woah,  
my knuckles work. No pain. It's been a thing  I've referenced to my wife Julia multiple times,   even though she doesn't watch the show. It  just stuck with me because it's so true. And   not in a I don't take care of myself so  everything is falling apart kind of way.  
Although there there is that. You look like But  Space Beth at least is in shape. She has to work   out and they both eat healthy enough to stay  spelt. But being damn it, she's only 34. Well,   still 34 versus 10 is a world of difference. Even  if you don't have any major ailments in your 30s,  
stuff is it's not what it used to be. But at 10,  you're effectively floating on air. And I just   really connected with this idea. You're in so much  pain and you don't even know it. Hilarious ads,   Back in season 5, middle-aged Morty drops  a truth bomb. Even pooping hurts now. So,  
I was going to finally show her that  scene and maybe this also relatable scene. And realized this episode absolutely rocks.  So, I decided to make her watch the entire  
thing. And wait, I I should explain. A few  years ago, Julia and I decided that it would   watch separately. I love Pantheon, but Julia just  isn't the biggest animated show fan in general,  
but I love it so much I want to be able to talk to  her about it. In turn, I've also started reading   some of her favorite books. And really, it's just  been great because even in a medium you may not   think you technically love, if the person you love  most in the world has a favorite, you're probably  
going to like it mostly. I mean, we watched Past  Lives as one of hers, and that movie rocks. It's   beautiful and smart. And it left me thinking about  it for days, which is definitely a sign of a good   piece of art. But I also hated the way it made me  feel with the fire of a thousand sons and became  
about our relationship. Or Julia. It's just hard  when the protagonist isn't THE dude. Does that   count? Is that hard to say? Actually, it's not  that hard cuz I deliberately subject myself to  
Rick Sanchez because I enjoy it. Interesting.  So anyway, I decided to make this episode one   of those, but with the extra caveat that I  was going to explain stuff as we went. Yeah,   I'm that guy. Apparently, I had no idea, but in  my head, this would give me joy. And by golly,  
it did. And look, did Julia love it? I don't know,  but she laughed at least six times, gasped twice,   and I think there was one. Oh god. Beth, I want  you to have fun, but I need to know where you're   having it. Oh, I found a possum. Oh my god. But  she was mostly engaged, and she listened to me  
pratt about why the teddy bear has organs and  why there are two Beths, why Rick's Beth is dead.   Technically, she asked about the last one. And  like, yeah, it's trivia probably by definition,   but I'd bet some amount of money that even people  who've only watched the show once could answer all  
the bear guts one has to be something that stuck  out to everyone. Although, that wasn't my favorite   question from Julia. That was, "so she's just a  horse surgeon, not a vet?" Exactly. But for me,  
these are just some of the things that make the  show so dang great. And yeah, elephant in the   room, pickle Rick. It's got its issues. It's got  its fans. I'm not jumping on McDonald's counters,   and if you've made it this far into this video,  probably like you. It's not our whole personality,  
but we also recognize that the show is smart, and  that has absolutely nothing to do with pretty much   anything Rick says, unless you count his comedic  timing. They look exactly like us, so in order to   avoid confusion, I'm going to mark us each with  a red X right now. Hey, you didn't pay your bill.  
Red X! Red X!! It's also emotionally moving  and deals with everything from suicides to the   afterlife to the very heart of the show, why we  matter. And sometimes the answer is we don't. But   the guy who claims to believe that with every  fiber of his being takes actions almost every  
episode that are counter to that viewpoint. Morty,  where's your caller? I'll fix it. I dropped it. I'm okay with this. Be good, Morty. Be better  than me. But I actually want to talk about why  
this episode in particular is perfect. Like, it's  everything I love about Rick and Morty. And while   I originally had planned to further explain why  the improv in early seasons is bad, hey, some of   it still slaps. Nothing wrong with just a little  bit of horseplay every now and then, little fella.  
Eat some, you stupid [ __ ] Just kidding. Last  thing before I dive into the episode, I ended up   watching every episode again to make this video.  So, I'm also in the process of rating every single   one season by season as an exclusive on Nebula and  got to talk even more about some of my favorites  
as well as why I hate the Gazorpazorp episode.  Season one is up there now, but I got stuff to   say about almost every episode, so check it out.  But what I mean when I say that it's a perfect   Rick and Morty episode is that it contains every  component of the show that makes me love it. Rick,  
were you just drunk when you were here? I'm drunk  now. It's first and foremost hilarious with all   different types of jokes like callback comedy. But  nobody wants to see a Beth's adventure, which is   an insane thing to say since we had hot clone on  clone action during the last Beth's adventure. It  
also has well-crafted setup punchline bits. Hey,  you can't go there like that. visual gross out   comedy as well as situational and timing comedy  that all helps immerse us in the universe. Even   some possibly improvised stuff that works. It's  so wet in here. It smells too. It smells wet. Hey,  
Beth, you're driving. I'm low on wanting to drive.  It even has one of those jokes that I talked   about it not having. Oh, he died in that thing,  right? 9/11. Yeah. It's extremely referential,   but not to pop culture in the opening to a show  that ended in 1993. That's the 1900s. It's also  
double meta cuz the cheers theme song is also  sort of a secret melancholy anthem. On its face,   it's about a safe place where you can escape the  troubles of your day and be around people who know   you, but like they're escaping to go drown their  sorrows in alcohol. But the Beths don't hide their  
sadness. They're clearly unhappy. They just drown  their sorrows in youth. It has thoughtprovoking   science fiction, and that science fiction is wacky  and different from most everything we've ever seen   on one side with aliens who are enamored with  humans for the strangest reasons. Keep talking.  
I can smell your rotting breakfast. Oh god.  Say something racist. What? Come on. You're   they lampshade it in a hilarious way. Wait,  will my clothes be super huge or Oh, no, no, no,  
no. Technology this advanced is indistinguishable  from magic. It refuses to define the morality of   our characters. Please help. Oh my god. How could  you? Another thing that stood out to me while  
watching with Julia is that the Beths almost come  off as villains if you know nothing about them.   It's It's worse than any explosion before it. This  is hilarious. They're psychopaths who come close   to killing both their neighbor and their dad.  She's a psycho. You're the psycho. I watched  
you eat a bird after you tore off its wings. But  as an episode in season 8, we know them and we   know their past trauma. We also know that it's  further landing the joke set up in the ABCs of   Beth back in season 3. We finally get to see that  Rick was not exaggerating. You were a scary kid,  
man. I didn't make Froopy land to get rid of  you, Beth. I did it to protect the neighborhood.   And not just about being crazy, she was also a  genius. A surprise. You done been gut. He needed   led to Jean's Achilles being severed and his house  burning down. But by far my favorite part of this  
episode is the cannon. And I think the episode  still works without knowing any of the cannon,   why they need to youth their sorrows. We can't  just put it all on dad, right? Oh, we're done  
with that guy. I had a bad dad. I somewhat tested  that hypothesis with Julia, but since I clarified   some stuff, it's not a perfect control study. But  is the ending with Rick and his clone daughters   why this version of him wasn't there. Get up  or we'll leave you here just like you left us.  
I, I didn't leave. My Beth died. Yeah, well,  someone left us. It's not even about him. It's   about their pain. And I think anyone can get that.  So, the kids are in pain and Rick crushes them  
and us by telling them the thing pretty much  every adult wants to hear from their parents.   Proud. Proud? Proud of you. So, that's working  regardless, even if we are definitely rewarded  
with the emotional stakes a lot more if you've  been watching for over a decade. Now, throw in the   history of how Rick's Beth died, which explains  some of why Rick is the way he is, and realize   during this scene. Then for him to give them this  affirmation to them as kids, something they didn't  
get because their Rick did leave. And you can  see and feel even more healing for all three of   them. Proud of you are making me old and beating  the [sh*t] out of me. He also probably never got  
to say that to his Beth. Or maybe he did. But  part of why we would question that is the Froopy   Land episode. The same one where he reminded  Beth that she was a scary kid, that she wanted   anatomically correct stuffed animals, and maybe  deliberately locked her friend in there until  
he was r*ping and eating his imaginary friends.  And... children. This is so messed up, huh? Oh,   and also the best use a parent trap. A parent  trap. You've been huffing childhood and have   overdosed on fun. That was actually my biggest  takeaway after watching one episode with Julia.  
It is an often dark adult show. She was surprised  by how gory it was. And while I wanted to be like,   "Yeah, this one is crazy," it's pretty much just  part for the course. But then after all the giant   heads have ripped innocents apart and themselves  been skins suited, we end on this beautiful  
scene about family that unironically puts the  which one is the clone Beth conundrum to bed,   which is way more fulfilling than I ever would  have expected. And obviously, it also has one of  
the funniest bits that had me crying with laughter  the first time I saw it. I'm [sh*ting] I'm not   joking. Stop making me laugh. It's making me  [sh*t] more. And if I had to boil the episode,  
even the show, down to one idea, it's that you're  going to experience every possible emotion while   laughing the entire time. It sounds simple, but  it's not easy to pull off. And somehow this team   of people behind the show do it over and over and  over. They even managed to keep Rick from getting  
a British accent starting in season 7. Like I  said earlier, I'm ranking/rating every single   episode. First, I was like, should I do a tier  list? Should I give them an out of 10 score or   just numerically rank them in order from 91 to  1? And I think I'm going to end up doing most  
of those things. I ended up having a lot more to  say than I expected. It was going to be one video,   but it's looking like somewhere between 6 and  10 now. It's hard for me to watch them with a   reviewer mind and not point out stuff like how  I patch Morty originally had a British accent.  
Rescue all those Morties outside. It would be  pointless. Morties have no chance of defeating a   Rick. Currently, I've rated the first season, but  I expect other seasons to be combined. We'll see.   It's been fun so far. Well, I've probably ruined  Rick and Morty for myself now, but content. We  
all love content. I'm mostly kidding. I enjoyed  really trying to articulate why I do or don't   like a particular episode. So, if you want to see  that, it's exclusively over on Nebula. It's been   a minute since I talked about Nebula. So, if you  don't know, it's that dope streaming service I and  
some other fantastic creators launched dang seven  years ago. And now it's the home of some of the   best exclusive content on the internets. I have  a bunch of Nebula Plus videos that are companions   to my YouTube videos, as well as the uncensored,  adree, sponsor-free versions of my YouTube videos,  
all for 50% off an annual subscription when you  use my link. It's $30/year or $2.50/month at   go.nebula.tv/cinemawins. But there's so much on  there. So much that I could never talk about all   of it in one video, like Maggie Mae Fish's Amy's  Deadend Dreamhouse. Let's rewind where Cinestix  
talks about some of the best actors histories  and best roles, as well as all of Lindsay Ellis's   videos, including her newest about something  near and dear to my heart, romantasy. Boy,   do I hope she isn't mean about it, LINDSAY! And  obviously, all of my Rick and Morty episode review  
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