There are very few things stronger than the bond between a grandfather and his grandchild; but usually that relationship isn’t based around the pair traveling through multiple dimensions, killing aliens, and the elder generally not giving squanch. Over the course of two seasons and now a third so much life-changing information has been bestowed upon the world for those really hoping to become better (or maybe worst) people. Wubba lubba dub dub, it’s time to learn some “Rick & Morty” life lessons!
Everyone Handles Divorce Differently
Coming off the season premiere where Beth decided to finally divorce her husband Jerry (the wind whispers, “Loser.”), Beth’s children Morty & Summer fully embrace the opportunity to travel across dimensions for, up to this point, unseen adventures with their grandpa Rick. The dimension actually shown to the viewer is a post-apocalyptic existence created by the “boom boom” that left some adapting to the new truths of raiding & no gods (The Death Stalkers) and others letting the radiation turn their brains into mush while being attracted to fallen billboard advertisements. With a powerful isotope being the sole reason for Rick coming to this dimension, the unexpected happens as Summer embraces her inner raider; murdering without a second thought and eating fried human biceps alongside a bucket hat-wearing muscleman who loves to walk through the wasteland with his butt uncovered at all times named “Hemorrhage”. The reason for Summer’s ability to go forth & kill without the hindrance of her fellow inter-dimensional travelers is due to the fact The Death Stalkers have a giant piece of the powerful isotope Rick needs, and the only way to get it is by letting his grandchildren find comfort in such troubling personal times the only way this world knows how: by killing!
While Summer raids, pillages & plunders the remainder of civilization, Morty’s left arm gets all kinds of buff & homicidal thanks to a device created by his grandfather that extracts & redistributes muscle memory . The arm chosen by Rick to assist his grandson in the “Blood Dome” (The Death Stalkers’ answer to the “Thunder Dome” from “Mad Max”) turns out to not only have bloodlust for any adversary who steps into the Blood Dome, but also is on the search for a revenge it & Morty find when the arm recognizes one of the Blood Dome’s hearty audience members is a person who ruined the life of “Armathy” by burning down its village & family. During Armathy’s rampage, Morty too lets out his feelings on the divorce; blaming his father’s ineptitude & lack of gumption to save his family.
Beth, unlike her children, doesn’t take up the act of obsessive murder and soliloquies, but simply laments over the probability of making a giant mistake leaving Jerry – wondering how her kids are being affected by everything without actually asking them if they are some semblance of “alright”. Surprisingly, Jerry is probably the most emotionally stable coming off this change of life thanks to his oblivious nature – excited about the possibility of his lawyer suing Beth to get full custody, living in a hotel surrounded by prostitutes (unbeknownst to Jerry, of course), and having his unemployment check stolen & eaten by a wolf. Even Rick admits that he isn’t dealing with his daughter’s divorce in a healthy manner (including watching Summer fall into the same martial entrapment as his daughter just to prove a point and steal that giant isotope).
Always remember that everyone handles the painful, somewhat confusing process of divorce differently; and if you’re not careful those ways can easily turn you into the same people that you resent, sympathize with, and feel settled for so much less as you do the same.
Mini Lessons: Always turn your ringer off if you’re hiding from sure impending death; losers look stuff up while the rest of us are carping all them diems; to live is to risk it all unless you simply want to be an inert chunk of randomly assembled molecules drifting wherever the universe blows you; save it for the “Semantics Dome”, E.B. White; there’s no deeper bond than the one between a Death Stalker and his car; your feelings & emotions are the meaning of life; everything’s bulls***, am I right?
