In my view there's no need to over read into this show and dig deep under what this show would offer, but to summarize its spirit, it followed a dark theme of nihilism which is very popular after the 08 economy crash, which is a quite significant event in modern history, after which people find it harder and harder to achieve financial success, at same time feels more and more insignificant compared to the numerous institutions that control their lives, or they just start to realize it. Similar show include F is for family, BoJack Horseman etc.
What make this show outstanding is the free spirit of creation and imagination, and the devotion to make something new and bold. As a adult animated series, it had tons of toilet humor, but darker, sicker and usually on a cosmic scale, combined with the twisted theme, it create something hasn't been seen on TV before.
A show with similar tone would be futurama, which like the rick and morty complete took advantage of their futuristic/sifi setting to justify the ridiculousness and randomness of the plot which is just the symptom of the creator's imagination running wild. But the difference between the show is obvious, while the futurama follows the way of Simpson in portraying the society in a very subtle way, rick and morty address the flaw and idiocy head on. South park is also known for doing the same thing, but the theme of the episode is usually very specific and timely, rick and morty 's topic is more fundamental and metaphysical. Other major topic of the show is the rick's philosophy which is deeply rooted in nihilism, rick is actually quite similar to a nearly indefeasible "one punch man" which is a very natural setting for nihilism, but unlike "one punch man" whose power is unmatched by his enemies, the rick's power is unmatched by reality itself, he completely exploit the fact there are infinite reality, combined with lacking of basic morality, which let him walk out any difficult situations with an even more sinister and pessimistic attitude.
Update: the show has took a seriously downfall in season 3, which is not something that could be expected, since this usually happens when the show has reached its late seasons, like season 7 or 8. This makes the viewers wonder what's going on, apart from the obvious reason that different writers have been hired, the main reason is that there is just too little characters in the show, compared to Simpsons or futurama, the total number of characters of Rick and morty are laughable, this definitely contribute to the lack of directions for the show to move forward. Unlike the shows that have tons of supporting characters, rick and morty is about rick and morty literally, other characters that could be used in the show are some family members and a bird man. The other reason would be the world in rick and morty is so vaguely defined, this evidently is also why the show is great in many ways, viewers will always be surprised to see what the show take them next, but since the world is so vague, the show can't just do some "routine" episode where the characters just do something they usually do. this further limited the content of the show, the writers just have less to write about. Season 3 just demonstrate the shortcomings of show so well, unless the writer come up some serious changes, this might be the end of rick and morty.
What make this show outstanding is the free spirit of creation and imagination, and the devotion to make something new and bold. As a adult animated series, it had tons of toilet humor, but darker, sicker and usually on a cosmic scale, combined with the twisted theme, it create something hasn't been seen on TV before.
A show with similar tone would be futurama, which like the rick and morty complete took advantage of their futuristic/sifi setting to justify the ridiculousness and randomness of the plot which is just the symptom of the creator's imagination running wild. But the difference between the show is obvious, while the futurama follows the way of Simpson in portraying the society in a very subtle way, rick and morty address the flaw and idiocy head on. South park is also known for doing the same thing, but the theme of the episode is usually very specific and timely, rick and morty 's topic is more fundamental and metaphysical. Other major topic of the show is the rick's philosophy which is deeply rooted in nihilism, rick is actually quite similar to a nearly indefeasible "one punch man" which is a very natural setting for nihilism, but unlike "one punch man" whose power is unmatched by his enemies, the rick's power is unmatched by reality itself, he completely exploit the fact there are infinite reality, combined with lacking of basic morality, which let him walk out any difficult situations with an even more sinister and pessimistic attitude.
Update: the show has took a seriously downfall in season 3, which is not something that could be expected, since this usually happens when the show has reached its late seasons, like season 7 or 8. This makes the viewers wonder what's going on, apart from the obvious reason that different writers have been hired, the main reason is that there is just too little characters in the show, compared to Simpsons or futurama, the total number of characters of Rick and morty are laughable, this definitely contribute to the lack of directions for the show to move forward. Unlike the shows that have tons of supporting characters, rick and morty is about rick and morty literally, other characters that could be used in the show are some family members and a bird man. The other reason would be the world in rick and morty is so vaguely defined, this evidently is also why the show is great in many ways, viewers will always be surprised to see what the show take them next, but since the world is so vague, the show can't just do some "routine" episode where the characters just do something they usually do. this further limited the content of the show, the writers just have less to write about. Season 3 just demonstrate the shortcomings of show so well, unless the writer come up some serious changes, this might be the end of rick and morty.