‘Rick and Morty’ Fans Say the Show Is Becoming Less of A Comedy

Eight seasons into Adult Swim series is keeping up its prodigious pace for punchlines from the earlier seasons — but that’s not necessarily a negative.

Ever since Season One, the secret behind Rick and Morty’s runaway success has been its ability to navigate massive tonal shifts and balance dark comedy with real heart. After the first few episodes were fast-paced and riotously funny from start to finish, the first-ever Rick and Morty dramatic gut-punch came at the end of “Rick Potion No. 9” when our Morty learned the hard way what happens when you give Rick a big ask, leaving his universe and his original family behind in absolute ruin.

So far in Season Eight, Rick and Morty hasn’t delivered one of its famous sobering blows to the fans’ feelings, but the tone of the current season has been much more dramatic and character-focused than previous Rick and Morty eras when the series could squeeze an entire episode out of repeating the line “Doing a Die Hard” over and over. Rick and Morty fans have noticed that the show has is focusing much harder on characters and relationships rather than searching for the gag in every single exchange, and, while some viewers miss the chaotic, constant humor, others prefer it this way.

Character-driven storylines and full dramatic arcs leave less time for incest jokes.

In The Rick, The Mort & The Ugly,” on the Rick and Morty subreddit, one fan pointed out the change of comedic pacing compared to previous seasons, writing, “It’s been really cool scifi stories but there’s not a lot of funny to be had, is there?”

While there were certainly plenty of humorous moments in “The Rick, The Mort & The Ugly” — such as when Southern Railroad Baron grumbles, “Filthy degenerate, no accent at all!” — the episode is really a story about one jaded, haunted Rick’s journey to redemption as he reluctantly saved his town from a dark fate. While Rick and Morty may excel at balancing dark humor and darker drama, this one didn’t leave much space for the kind of constant catchphrases and in-your-face humor that some fans crave.

In a separate viral thread, titled, “Season 8 Feels..... Different,” one fan wrote, of their problems with the new episodes, “It’s more about plot progression and character development. Rick seems very different.” 

“It’s lacking wit and sharp one liners. They definately lost a writter (sic) responsible for social commentary one-liners,” one commenter agreed, “other than that the team is producing good content.”

Another added, "Honestly I feel like the new season is missing some of its humor, the concepts themselves seem entertaining, but the execution is just ehh."

However, other Rick and Morty fans pushed back on the suggestion that fleshed-out, character-focused plots are less engaging than constant gags, with some viewers arguing that, in Season Eight, the show doesn’t need to be a non-stop roller coaster of witty comebacks and aggressive punchlines. For a series that’s devoted so many meta episodes to both the art and science of storytelling, this experiment in purely character-driven plot lines is a risk worth taking.

Or, as one appropriately hilarious fan put it, “You all still wouldn’t be happy if each new episode came with a blow job.”