Rick and Jerry

Not just as a father, but as a person, Rick has made some bad decisions. Like him, Jerry isn’t the dad of the year and even without Rick setting him up to fail, Jerry kinda sucks. However, Rick is scared of Jerry because Jerry represents the average man and father. Jerry is also easily satiated, he’s at least physically there for his family, and he may not have a job but his wife supports their family. The problem Rick has with that is, he could have been a Jerry, he could become like Jerry at any time.

Rick was young, from what we can tell he had a partner, perhaps a wife, and a daughter. Similarly, Jerry got Beth pregnant and could have left her knocked up with a child she had no idea how to deal with, but he didn’t, unlike Rick who at some point left Beth. Rick didn’t want to settle, he didn’t want to lead a “boring” life, instead, he has to go out and risk his life to remember that he’s alive. Meanwhile, Jerry can simply play games on his phone and appreciate what he’s got. Something scares Rick about living an average life, about being complacent, which isn’t always a bad thing to be.

Our society for some reason idolizes a cold and cynical mindset, believing it can be smarter or wiser than being happy and hopeful. Not that Rick hasn’t saved the family, but he tends to put them in more danger than anything. Of course, it makes for a great show, but it’s all out of the fear of being like Jerry. Rick doesn’t want to be happy and he doesn’t want Jerry to be either, which was why he tried to blow up their nuclear family.

This especially becomes a problem when the audience of Rick and Morty think it’s cool to be a mess like Rick, and try to see the bad guy in Jerry, when really Jerry’s not a bad guy, he’s just an idiot sometimes. That, and both he and Beth could be more active in their kids lives.

When people think they’re not living to their full potential and want to be careless and cynical like Rick, not caring who else they hurt, it can do more damage in the long run.

For instance, Beth loves her job as a horse surgeon, of course, it’s not what she originally wanted, but there’s an alternative life where she becomes the doctor she dreamed of being and it didn’t make her happy. We should fight for what makes us happy, but there is no shame in realizing other things make you happy too, like settling for being a horse surgeon and having a family. Follow your dreams, but remember that it’s okay if your dreams change. It’s okay if you’re happy with your life as it is and don’t need to risk death every day to enjoy it more.

In the therapy episode, it’s pointed out to Rick that he’s doesn’t like putting the work into life. He doesn’t like the “repairing, maintaining, and cleaning” because it’s not cool, fun, or maybe he thinks it's beneath him. The problem with that is, he’s risking his family’s health and safety, not just his own, and if he actually cared he’d work to make some changes instead of just using and abusing them.

Jerry doesn’t necessarily have to work, he could do other things like clean and care for his children while his wife works, but even when he did work, he’s always been able to deal with the daily life functions Rick can’t stand.

Of course, Jerry can be pathetic and it hits a deeper chord because we’re all scared of being pathetic in the ways like Jerry is, or worse than that, we’re scared of other people looking at us like we look at Jerry. But the truth in the matter is, Jerry is an adult living his life and dealing with it to the best of his ability in a way much better than Rick does. We can’t space travel and save the day like Rick can, but we can find a life that makes us happy, and try not to let the Ricks in our life mess it up.