“Requiem for a Jerry-m” A “Rick And Morty” Editorial

Hungry for Analysis?

 

After a year and a half wait, and then another nearly four month wait, Rick and Morty has returned to television with new episodes to fuel our nihilistic thoughts about the nature of the universe and how it doesn’t really give a shit about us as individuals. However, since my superior has optioned to cover the first of the new batch about how Mad Max helps you deal with divorce (shakes fist in anger at the air), I’ve decided to use my time a little differently and shine a light on a part of the show that’s not often given much thought, and usually for good reason: Jerry Smith, now ex-husband and ex-son-in-law of Beth and Rick Sanchez.

Like everyone else in the principal cast, Jerry seemed to start as being the one-note “disapproving dad” character, and he’s maintained some of those qualities. Though given the nature of what this show and its characters tend to represent in commenting on or embodying existential questions or states about life, the universe, and everything, Jerry’s usual stance in the stories he gets focus tend to come back to one idea: Ignorance is bliss. And being this sort of philosophical focal point is what usually pulls him to or puts him at odds with many characters, especially Rick.

Just going through his main contributions to certain episodes in, Jerry gets his greatest version of life from a low functioning simulation (M. Night Shaym-Aliens!), uses do-anything servants to take swings of his golf game instead of anything meaningful (“Meeseeks and Destroy”), helps to convince an entire race of aliens that Pluto is a planet just to prove a point in an argument (“Something Ricked This Way Comes”) and even desperately tries to get alien surgeons to take his penis just so he won’t be shamed (“Interdimensional Cable 2”). Essentially, Jerry has very small priorities on existence as a whole and really isn’t driven by much except a desire to lead a very simple life. Seems like a pretty extraneous character who should be written out of the show so we can get back to awesome multiversal adventures about farts that make gold, right?

Well, not exactly, because there have also been moments where Jerry’s small mindedness actually ends up making him look the most human too. In “A Rickle in Time”, he ends up giving Beth the opportunity to save an injured deer and restore her confidence in her surgery work. In “Rick Potion #9”, though motivated initially by just finding Beth cheating, he braves storms of mantis-people to save her and Summer, even when Rick ends up leaving them all behind with Morty. In “Close Rick-counters of the Rick Kind”, he befriends a more simple minded Rick who gets picked on. And yet again in “Something Ricked”, he turns around on his need to be right about Pluto’s planet status in order to do right by Morty. So, what I’m saying is that he’s the unsung hero of the show who is underrated as hell and deserves way more credit, right?

…well, again, it’s not quite that. What it comes down to is that his schlubby, narrow focused, humdrum viewpoint on things doesn’t always solve things, but neither does Rick’s “nothing in the universe matters your existence is a lie” kind of attitude. Rick is there to offhandedly throw out comments that shatter our perception of what we mean to the universe and make us question our very reason for being. Jerry, on the other hand, is a reminder that we don’t always have to drown ourselves in that kind of cosmic terror. Or maybe that some of us are just too dumb to do that and we’ll probably get ourselves killed even trying to understand. Either or.

Though it does actually put in perspective why Beth might have stuck with him for as long as she did, not being someone who was wrapped up in constant cosmic exploration and examination, and who was right there when you needed them…unless there was a homeless person with a broken bottle running towards you, that is, but haven’t we all been there?

To sum it up, much like how Rick is the unwavering apathetic stare into the abyss, Morty is the perpetual double take, and Beth is looking away drowning in wine, Jerry represents gazing headlong into that void and yet finding not finding yourself changed at all, for better or worse. Is it any wonder there’s a day care full of these guys? Though the last scene of the most recent episode may be pointing in a different direction for now, but we’ll see.

Based on what we’ve seen in the trailers for this season, Jerry’s story doesn’t seem to be quite over yet, with one episode seeming to actually focus on Rick and Jerry spending time together (though that might be a flashback for all we know). That being said, I think my point stands that amongst the varying brainwaves and universes of this show, the idea of Jerry Smith and what he brings to the table is a constant. It may not be much, and it may not be worth the effort, but as a…wise-ish man once said, “Life is effort, and I’ll stop when I die.”