Commentary: ‘Rick & Morty’ Season Nine Exemplifies Its Longevity
by Frank Martin
Surviving nine seasons is an accomplishment for any show. It’s very difficult sustain a creative endeavor for that length of time while staying fresh and engaging. There are plenty of television shows that have a very long legacy with double-digit seasons. However, it’s certainly possible they become stale and are just renewed out of habit rather than quality. This is not the case with Rick & Morty. Even in its ninth season, the show continues to fire on all cylinders, and there are several episodes that give insight into why the show is able to maintain such quality alongside its longevity.
As with previous Rick & Morty seasons, the episodes are more-or-less standalone. There are a couple that deal with running story arcs, but for the most part, each focuses on a very particular genre theme or science fiction motif and builds the entire plot around that. For example: there’s an entire episode centered on evolution while another tackles empathy. There is also one in which Rick (Ian Cardoni) faces off against a kung-fu master, thus spending the entire time as an exercise in sci-fi vs kung-fu as a battle of genres.
The episodes focused on longer running arcs help push the series forward as the characters grow and evolve. This keeps the entire show from feeling stagnant. At the same time, they aren’t the key to the program’s longevity. Instead, the standalone episodes are Rick & Morty at its best. Although these can become extremely complicated using sci-fi tropes, they are quite simple. When rooted down to their core, they focus on a single idea or concept and build the entire plot and character journey around it. Focusing as much on evolution as possible allowed that particular episode to move quickly as both Rick and Morty (Harry Belden) evolve along different paths. Then the episode about empathy demonstrated what happens when the characters are infested with an empathy eating parasite. Rick & Morty has survived as long as it has by sticking to this formula, and as long as they continue to build episodes around singular ideas, it can run for as long as it wants.
Rick & Morty is now streaming on HBO Max.