

As such, a scene that depicted this likable teen being molested stuck out like a sore thumb in an otherwise largely light-hearted episode. Similarly, while Morty has become a sympathetic antihero attempting to escape his genius grandfather’s shadow in season 5, in Rick & Morty season 1 he was a good-natured, dim-witted springboard for zany storylines and goofy gags. While Rick & Morty season 6 hopes to redeem Rick, back in the show’s early episodes, viewers didn’t even know the depths of his amorality and the character was mostly just a goofy, self-interested narcissist. It may be hard for fans to remember now that the Adult Swim hit is determined to take its characters seriously, but back in season 1, Rick & Morty was still mostly a raucous, filthy comedy. The moment could perhaps have worked better in one of the later seasons, where Rick & Morty took its characters more seriously and focused on serialized storytelling, but season 1’s wild and silly stories were a poor match for such a serious and sensitive topic. Especially in season 1, Rick & Morty was largely characterized by its absurdity and irreverence.

While Rick & Morty has some tragic twists and a handful of moving moments, the show’s tone as a whole was not self-serious enough to pull off such a dark scene back in season 1. Related: Why Rick & Morty Needs A Live-Action Episode While he succeeded in this endeavor, there is a larger issue with the outing that helps explain why so few fans liked the scene. Roiland defended the episode, saying the scene was intended to be deeply uncomfortable and he wanted to ensure throughout production that the moment was going to be presented seriously and dramatically, rather than played for laughs. Understandably, a lot of Rick & Morty fans were shocked by the scene and the episode’s unexpected tonal shift, and the fan hate that the sequence received eventually led series co-creator Justin Roiland to address the controversy.
