After seven seasons, Rick and Morty has changed a lot. What started out as an odd sci-fi underdog has developed into one of the biggest shows on TV, but Rick and Morty has been forced to reinvent itself multiple times. The animated comedy has cultivated a devoted fan base over the years. Keeping this fan base happy while the show has been renewed through to season 10 is no easy task.

As with all long-running TV comedies, Rick and Morty has had to find a way to stay fresh. With so few episodes which advance the overarching plot, the emphasis is on the show’s standalone episodes to somehow stick to what fans love without becoming too predictable or repetitive. The show has reached a turning point, and Rick and Morty season 8 will have a lot of decisions to make about the future.

7

Rick & Morty Have New Voice Actors

Justin Roiland Recently Left The Show

The biggest and most obvious change to Rick and Morty has been that Justin Roiland left the show after season 6. Roiland co-created the show with Dan Harmon, so his firing was more important than simply recasting the two main characters. Rick and Morty are now voiced by Ian Cardoni and Harry Belden, respectively. Rick and Morty‘s new voice actors had to overcome a lot of skepticism, but they have both done a good job so far. The challenge is for them to replicate Roiland’s character voices while still working out their own comedic rhythms.

While Cardoni and Belden’s performances have been successful, Roiland voiced several other characters in Rick and Morty. The most divisive new voice in Rick and Morty season 7 wasn’t Rick or Morty. It was Mr. Poopybutthole. Jon Allen voices Rick’s weird yellow friend in season 7, and he’s the star of the season premiere. It’s hard to nail Mr. Poopybutthole’s grating, whiny voice, and he isn’t the type of character who works well as an episode’s focus. “How Poopy Got His Poop Back” was a weak start to season 7, and it worsened fears that the voice recasting would be a disaster. Fortunately, the show soon recovered.

6

The Show’s Humor Has Evolved

Roiland Influenced More Than Just The Main Characters

Justin Roiland may have left after season 6, but reports indicate that he had taken less of an active role in the show’s writing for years. He and Dan Harmon’s styles complemented each other quite well when they did work in tandem. Harmon’s obsession with story structure and payoff was just what was needed to corral Roiland’s absurdist, wacky comedy. One needs only to look at the interdimensional cable episodes to see Roiland being let off the leash. The show has gradually shifted away from his esoteric, surreal humor.

Rick and Morty has developed a more varied comedic style. It still has its own inimitable voice, but it has slowly dropped a lot of the divisive gross-out humor. There are some jokes and some plots that seem geared toward shocking the audience, rather than making them laugh. The “incest baby” plot in season 5’s “Rickdependence Spray” was a step too far for many fans, but the show hasn’t produced anything as needlessly edgy since then. Rick and Morty is still evolving, and each step it takes further away from its original comedic style is a step into the unknown.

5

Rick & Morty Is Becoming More Of An Ensemble Show

Some Episodes Barely Feature A Title Character

Season 1 establishes Rick and Morty as the show’s two heroes, and every other character is relegated to the periphery. Summer is a disinterested teenage girl, Jerry is a lame milquetoast father, and Beth is a perennially annoyed mother. The characters don’t need much more depth than this, because their minor roles in the show never called for it. This has started to shift in recent years. Jerry and Beth’s separation, and the return of Space Beth, made the show focus more on the Smith family. Summer could be Rick and Morty‘s third main character if the show continues in the same vein.

Rick and Morty now has entire episodes that focus on just one of the main characters. For example, Morty is only in the first few minutes of the season 7 opener “How Poopy Got His Poop Back”. This episode also highlights how Rick and Morty is trying to flesh out its supporting cast. The point of Mr. Poopybuttole’s character in earlier seasons was the mystery that surrounded him, but this has been smashed to pieces. Birdperson also could have been forgotten about after his storyline with Tammy was resolved, but Rick and Morty has kept characters like him, the President and even Squanchy in the mix.

4

Rick Prime Is Dead

Rick Has Achieved His Main Goal

If Rick and Morty ever had a central narrative to provide some focus to the show’s zany adventures, it was Rick’s pursuit of Rick Prime, the man who killed Diane. In one way or another, this shaped most of the important episodes of the show, and they also provided Rick with some impetus during other adventures. Since Rick’s intellect and technology essentially give him the powers of a deity, it’s important to have something to ground his character. His pursuit of Rick Prime revealed his emotional vulnerability, even more so than his heavy drinking and his relationship with Beth.

The season 7 episode “Unmortricken” shook up the entire show, with Rick finally achieving his goal of killing Rick Prime. It’s undoubtedly one of the best episodes of the latest season, but its effects on the show’s future are still unclear. Evil Morty looks like Rick and Morty‘s new villain going forward. This change could shift more focus onto Morty, rather than Rick. The seven seasons of the show so far have done a good job setting up Evil Morty’s character, but he still isn’t Rick’s true nemesis in any way. Rick and Morty will now have to find a way to make this new era feel just as compelling.

3

The Show Has Had To Rebuild Its Own Stakes From Scratch

Rick & Morty Needs Some Dramatic Thrust To Keep It From Going Stale

Rick and Morty took Dan Harmon’s meta humor from Community and kicked it up a few notches. There are moments when Rick seems to know that he’s in a TV show. Even if he doesn’t explicitly understand this, it makes no difference, because he is so impervious to any harm. No matter what happens to Rick or Morty, there is always some sci-fi gadget to pull them back from the brink. In the season 1 episode “Rick Potion #9,” they damage their home world beyond repair, but they simply hop to a new dimension and continue living their lives in peace.

This nihilistic approach is perfectly suited to the show’s humor, but it can hinder the show’s dramatic impact. Previous seasons of Rick and Morty have tried to cook up complex ways to inject stakes into some of the important, plot-heavy episodes, such as the concept of the Central Finite Curve. More recently, however, Rick and Morty has shown signs of toning down its meta, self-referential humor. Of course, it hasn’t gotten rid of it completely. The difference is that Rick and Morty takes itself seriously more often than it used to, raising the emotional stakes for the characters, even if they are just as indestructible.

2

Canon Episodes Are Less Important Than They Once Were

Rick & Morty Rarely Gives Its Audience Any Narrative Development

Rick and Morty‘s lore episodes are always a treat for fans, and they usually receive the best critical response. They don’t come very often. There may be just one or two per season, but they color the rest of the show. As the show has progressed, these episodes have become less and less important. Rick and Morty can usually be relied upon to deliver some nuggets of backstory and plot development in its season finales, but season 7’s finale gives Morty an intense emotional journey without changing anything in the world of the show. This could signal the way forward for Rick and Morty.

Most Rick and Morty episodes which contribute to the overarching canon of the show relate to the Citadel, Rick Prime, the Galactic Federation or Evil Morty. Most of these narrative threads have been rendered obsolete, or they have, at the very least, lost their vitality. Rick and Morty will still have lore episodes in the future, but the show may have to come up with some new ideas. Space Beth has assimilated into the Smith family in a way that kills any potential intrigue in her story, Rick Prime is dead, and the Federation is no more. Rick has no more worlds left to conquer.

1

Rick & Morty Is Experimenting More Beyond Its Formula

The Show Has Traded Consistency For A Shot At A More Interesting Future

Rick and Morty has always been wildly inventive, but the show did settle into something of a pattern. Many of the best episodes of Rick and Morty follow the duo through a portal to a madcap adventure filled with bizarre characters. The show has poked fun at this formula in recent seasons, particularly with Morty’s loyalty cards, which entitle him to an adventure of his choosing after Rick drags him along on so many others. The show has gradually pulled away from doing so many of these episodes, with more and more experimental episodes.

Rick and Morty‘s recent experiments have been a mixed bag. Season 6’s “Night Family” is a thrilling horror-infused episode, but season 7’s “Rise of the Numbericons: The Movie” is a big swing and a miss that delivers none of what fans have come to expect from the show. Overall, Rick and Morty‘s experiments have made the show more inconsistent. It’s probably better to experiment in this way than risk becoming stale by sticking to the same script. However, until Rick and Morty figures out how to push its boundaries while maintaining the vital essence of the show, there may be a few more duds in store.