For all of the absurdity, running gags based off of obscure references, and crude humor, Rick and Morty often dives deeper than we might expect it to. We’ve seen Rick and Morty bury deceased versions of themselves, watched characters question their own existence, and, as the titular Rick wonders, asked if anything even matters.
In a recent featurette, Rick and Morty co-creator Dan Harmon looks at some of the existential crises his characters faced.
“Do I agree with Rick that nothing means anything? No, I do not because the knowledge that nothing matters—while accurate—gets you nowhere,” Harmon explained. “The planet is dying, the sun is exploding, the universe is cooling, nothing’s gonna matter, the further back you pull the more that truth will endure. But when you zoom in on Earth, when you zoom into a family, when you zoom into a human brain and a childhood and an experience, you see all these things that matter.”
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Having that thought may make it easier for some characters to weather bigger moments, but as Harmon demonstrates with Rick, it might not make him happy. In comparison to Morty’s father Jerry, Rick might be more knowledge and be more successful, but Jerry—despite his failures—might have it better.
H/T Slashfilm