Rick and Morty is currently in its sixth season. With a wildly self-aware Die Hard parody and a horror-themed episode about sleepwalking, season 6 has been the show’s strongest run of episodes in years. Justin Roiland and Dan Harmon’s sci-fi cartoon has come a long way since it debuted way back in 2013.
From Mr. Meeseeks to the Council of Ricks to Beth’s veterinarian career to the bonkers broadcasts of interdimensional cable, many concepts from Rick and Morty’s first season have since been left behind by the writers.
Standard A-Plot And B-Plot Storytelling
In the early episodes, Rick and Morty established a formula of each episode having a standard A-plot and B-plot, usually with one grounded Simpsons-esque family storyline and one outlandish Futurama-esque sci-fi storyline.
But the series quickly left behind this constricting formula and the storytelling got a lot more experimental in subsequent seasons.
Rick’s Friends
Rick had an active social circle back in season 1, but he’s spent less and less time with his friends in subsequent seasons. His best friend Birdperson was eventually killed and resurrected as Phoenixperson, who Rick is trying to rehabilitate.
Back in season 1, Rick invited such acquaintances as Gearhead, Squanchy, and Abradolf Lincler to the rager he threw with Morty and Summer while Jerry and Beth were on vacation.
Beth’s Veterinarian Career
In the first season of Rick and Morty, Beth had a lucrative career as a veterinarian. She dedicated her life to saving animals and entire storylines took place at the horse hospital where she worked. But she hasn’t gone back to that horse hospital in a very long time.
These days, Beth’s storylines revolve around her strained relationship with Jerry or her complicated on-and-off affair with her space warrior self.
The Family Dog
The season 1 episode “Lawnmower Dog” revolved around the Smiths’ dog, Snuffles, who is treated poorly by everyone in the family except Morty. In the episode, Rick implants a device that allows Snuffles to express himself, so Jerry can understand what the dog needs.
With the help of this device, Snuffles eventually builds himself a mechanical suit, amasses a dog army, and takes over Earth. At the end of the episode, he takes this army to another planet and they’ve never been heard from again.
Mr. Meeseeks
In the season 1 episode “Meeseeks and Destroy,” Rick gives the family a “Meeseeks Box,” which generates blue humanoid creatures called Mr. Meeseeks, dedicated to solving whatever problem its user has. Summer, Beth, and Jerry each give their Mr. Meeseeks a specific goal.
Summer and Beth are successful in achieving their abstract, seemingly impossible goals – to be more popular and to find true happiness and fulfillment, respectively – whereas Jerry roundly fails to achieve his seemingly simple goal (to take two strokes off his golf game), driving his Mr. Meeseeks to madness.
Evil Morty
Way back in season 1, the so-called “Evil Morty” was teased as the big bad of the series who would break away from the Morty tradition and take down Rick. In season 6, Evil Morty’s whereabouts are unknown and Rick doesn’t take his threat seriously.
In the season 6 premiere, after Evil Morty tried to take away Rick’s ability to travel between dimensions, Rick joked that Evil Morty acts like someone who makes a big deal out of quitting social media.
Jerry’s Advertising Career
Jerry Smith is traditionally depicted as a jobless loser, but back in season 1, he had a thriving career as an advertising executive. His most successful pitch (“Hungry for Apples?”) was in an alien simulation and he was eventually fired from his job.
After that, he was characterized as unemployed and the show has doubled down on Jerry losing his status as one of the family’s main breadwinners.
Summer Doesn’t Go On Any Adventures
In recent seasons of Rick and Morty, Summer – and Beth and Jerry, for that matter – have gone on just as many interdimensional adventures with Rick as Morty has. But back in season 1, Summer was rarely included in the show’s high-concept sci-fi exploits.
Summer only goes on one adventure in season 1 and not because she’s Rick’s first choice. They go to a distant planet to find more suitable parents for the half-alien lovechild that Morty fathered with a Gazorpazorpian sex robot.
The Council Of Ricks
The first season of Rick and Morty introduced fans to the Trans-Dimensional Council of Ricks, a parody of Marvel Comics’ Interdimensional Council of Reeds. Instead of alternate versions of Mr. Fantastic, this council is made up of alternate versions of Rick Sanchez.
Rick eventually brought down the council and killed most of its members in “The Rickshank Rickdemption.” But there are still some alternate Ricks out there, like the villainous “Rick Prime.”
Interdimensional Cable
In the season 1 episode “Rixty Minutes,” incensed by Earth’s banal reality television, Rick installs a cable box that picks up TV broadcasts from all over the multiverse. This anthology-style episode got a sequel in season 2 in which the writers revisited the fan-favorite concept, but interdimensional cable has only shown up for the occasional Easter egg since then.
At the beginning of season 3’s “Morty’s Mind Blowers,” as Rick exposes Morty to all his forgotten mistakes, he breaks the fourth wall and tells the audience, “We’ll be doing this instead of interdimensional cable.”
