CW: Rape

spoiler

Just watched Meeseeks and Destroy. I now genuinely hate this show. All of the voices are grating. Everyone is an asshole, and not in a funny way. The show isn't funny, it's just depressing and annoying to watch. Any glimmer of hope is constantly shat on. Worst of all is the ATTEMPTED CHILD RAPE. WHAT THE FUCK. Who the hell thought that was a good thing to put in the show? It left a terrible taste in my mouth and I don't think I'll ever watch this show again.

    • hazefoley [he/him]
      ·
      4 years ago

      I disagree that the show validates him. Sure he wins but there are multiple instances where we see that on the inside he is sad broken and lonely. Not to mention that he is corrosive force on his family.

    • _else [she/her,they/them]
      ·
      4 years ago

      the thing about rick isn't that he's good or bad, it's that he's broken.

      he's seen everything, been there, and done that, and just deals with it in the literal absolute worst possible ways, with the literal worst possible coping mechanisms. he's an iron-man of the concept of 'arrogant jerk who wanks to neitzsche', because he is that smart, and has seen everything. and he's so much of a broken piece of shit that it's worth absolutely nothing; less than nothing, because he takes refuge from the horrors of the world in his arrogance, to the point he can't actually see beauty or goodness or... any of it. there's an episode where he makes a friend, and he literally can't handle the concept and tries to break the guy. the closest thing he has to an arch nemesis (other than literally an organized multiverse spanning army of himself) is a perfectly mundane family therapist. hell, at the end of the first season episode where the aliens kidnap him and put him in VR? he shows he's not that certain, and he's just a scared stupid broken man, and being that smart has done him exactly no good, just overcomplicated solutions to the overcomplicated problems he creates for himself.

      which is about as much moral judgement as you can expect from something so thoroughly nihilistic.

  • disco [any]
    ·
    4 years ago

    Because it is funny. To be fair though, you have to have a very high IQ to understand the humor.

  • OPisalib [none/use name]
    ·
    4 years ago

    It's funny and well written with satisfying narrative arcs and interesting scifi concepts. Rick knows how much of a shit head he is and is semi-regularly shown to be on the verge of suicide.

  • Owl [he/him]
    ·
    4 years ago

    It's nice having high concept sci fi ideas as the backdrop to something you don't need to think very hard about.

    You can tell that the writers understand that Rick is a bad person, even though they frame him as the protagonist so people idolize him anyway. But I've seen this same thing play out before with Tyler Durden and Yagami Light and Gregory House and Thanos. Weird edgelords are gonna idolize villain-protagonists. Maybe that means it's socially irresponsible to have make media with villain protagonists.

    I'm sure the writers' intention with the scene you're talking about was deliberately to make you uncomfortable. Because true art is whatever elicits an emotional reaction I guess. Is that a worthwhile reaction to aim for in your adventure-a-day nihilistic space romp? It is in the judgement of the same people who didn't notice that it might be socially irresponsible to make a show with a villain protagonist.

  • p_sharikov [he/him]
    ·
    4 years ago

    It allows self-hating nerds to empathize with themselves a little bit, but doesn't force them to confront anything about their self image too directly. Rick is basically the embodiment of how some people deal with rejection. They lean into their 'intelligence' and come to believe that their nihilism, loneliness, and antisocial behavior are just a product of everyone else being stupid. Most people are self aware enough to reject this self-image, but still partially accept it at a subconscious level. This causes some self-hatred because they know it's bad to be like that, but also they kind of want to be. The show does the same thing by criticizing Rick explicitly but validating him at the level of subtext. The show is a portrayal of an angry loser's self image, but it's more humane and empathetic about it than, say, South Park, which just tells people that it's good to be an asshole who doesn't care about anything.

    Also, probably a lot of people just think it's funny.