Plumbing the Heart of Darkness that is Rick’s Dark Heart

This season of Rick and Morty is diving into extremely squanchy territory. The writing is as good as ever. My question, though, is this: Is Rick and Morty still a comedy or has it morphed into something else. Rick has transformed into something quite a bit more than a perpetually grumpy and drunk smartest creature in the multiverse.  He’s more akin to Kali, a force of universal destruction and creation. This season seems to be focused on intensely (how else?) this aspect of Rick.

Is it a now a dramedy?

Is it a Swiftian satire?

Perhaps it’s just me and my current state of mind. I don’t find myself laughing nearly as much as before. I do, however, still find the series incredibly watchable. I still think it is brilliant. Maybe even better than before. I liken it to M.A.S.H.’s transition during its run, where the sense of the awfulness of war was cranked up season by season and it morphed from comedy to dramedy to drama to tragedy.

As Morty gets smarter, more confident, more competent and less willing to put up with Rick’s rickness, the tension between these two characters is being stretched to the breaking point. Is that what the season finale will be about? How could Morty, any Morty do anything but complain about Rick’s bull-crap. Oh wait… Eye-patch Morty is still out there in the multiverse. Lurking.

Just how dark will this series get? I guess that depends how brave the writers are about examining the existential horror that is Rick’s existence. Since we’ve already seen Rick attempt suicide, I’d say that they’re pretty fearless and therefore we’re in for some extremely dark times indeed. We’ll find out if the writers are brilliant enough to make multiversal nihilism consistently watchable, even enjoyable, if not actually comedic.