I know it’s been said before, but I feel like it really is worth highlighting that Rick and Morty might be one of the best animated comedies ever made. It simply works on so many levels, blending high-concept satire, philosophical musings, and knocking it out of the park with almost every joke. But what really makes the show so special is how human it can be, really showing how much it cares about its characters… with one exception.
Jerry is the shmuck of the family, that age old archetype of the idiot dad that’s been firmly rooted in sitcoms from the Simpsons, stretching all the way back to Fred Flintstone. And yet, there’s something uncomfortably different about Jerry as a character; he’s not so much “enter the family car in a demolition derby” stupid, as he is “screw up everything he tries” stupid. Whenever Jerry fails at something, it’s not so much a case of comedic bumbling, as it is just succumbing to tremendous insecurities and inabilities.
The unfortunate fact about his character is that he isn’t really dumb, he’s just painfully average, in a family of much more intelligent people. The show keeps reminding the audience that the only reason for his and Beth’s marriage was an accidental pregnancy. He’s always this sad fringe character trying to remain relevant to the family, and he's never really in on the joke. Hell, the show is so conscious of this that actually released a mobile game purely to satirize the dumb mobile apps that he dwindles his time on.
Take an episode like Big Trouble In Little Sanchez, where Beth and Jerry find themselves attacked by physical manifestations of how they view eachother (it makes sense in context). This is one of the only times Jerry does manage to save the day, but when he does it’s entirely by creating a physical manifestation of how he wishes Beth viewed him, as a brave and muscular husband far more capable than he really is. Sure, the episode ends with the couple seemingly resolving their issues, but that’s when the uncomfortable realism of the show comes out. In reality, dysfunctional couples tend to have minor “breakthroughs” like this all the time, but sure enough, by the next episode, they’re back to their sad, passive-aggressive rut.
I think the reason I find Jerry so uncomfortable to watch is that there’s just something too relatable about his failings. In our lifetime, all of us have met good, intelligent people who suffer, and bad, stupid people who find a way to make things work for themselves. But then there are people who just kind of suck, who don’t have any real flaw other than being purely unremarkable. They don’t say anything wrong, but they’re just uninteresting; they don’t do bad things, but they also show any recognizable skill or talent.
To me, that’s why Jerry kind of terrorizes me; he’s one of those people who’s deeply unhappy, but can’t really do anything for himself other than trying to take their shortcomings with a smile.
