How the ABCS of Beth Became the Peak of Rick and Morty
Facing your mistakes in a made-up fantasy world.
Full disclosure: I’ve checked out of Rick and Morty. With the real-life allegations against Justin Roiland, the ones that Dan Harmon faced, and the lack of focus currently, what we see at the moment doesn’t interest me. So I’m going back to thoughts on earlier episodes, to then put the franchise out of mind forever. Namely, on the episode that changed our view on Beth Smith.
Most early Rick and Morty episodes didn’t give much focus on Beth. Sure, we know about her ambitions to become a real surgeon, and how she married Jerry after the latter knocked her up on prom night and the two have been fighting since. That’s it, though; we see an episode where she and Summer try to bond over a breakup, which also goes wrong.
“The ABCs of Beth” was probably the point where the show reached its peak. That the peak happened in season three speaks of how the show could not measure up to its earlier ambitions of toeing the line between raunchy comedy and depressing introspection. Maybe that is because the show probably shouldn’t have been approved with the personalities at the helm. Or perhaps it is because we should not trust dark comedies that fail to address their issues.
