My Favourite Characters - Rick Sanchez

Whaddup ma Glip Glops! In honour of the second season finale of Rick & Morty, let's talk about the man himself, Rick Sanchez. I love smart characters, the ones that are so smart and so sure of themselves they're a dick to everyone else. The Doctor, Sherlock, Iron Man, etc and now Rick can join that esteemed line up. Except the big difference with Rick is how little redeeming qualities he has. He doesn't care in the slightest about other people's feelings, has zero patience for people stupider than him (So everyone), is very selfish and will put other people in danger with no sense of empathy to be found. Also he's an alcoholic, so there's that. But thing is, he's kinda right in his beliefs, he does often say hard truths that we don't want to hear or believe are true but more often than not he's right.
"Morty, I'm not disparaging the differently abled. I'm stating the fact that if I had used this microscope it would have made me mentally retarded."
"Ok but yeah, I don't think it's about logic, Rick. I-I think the word has just become a symbolic issue for powerful groups that feel like they're doing the right thing."
"Well that's retarded."
Probably the only argument you could make for someone like Rick is that he is always right, yeah he's a dick about everything but he's earned it, he's a genius and has saved the day dozens of times, if not hundreds, the man's entitled to a bit of an ego. I think the episode that proved this to me is the first episode of season two "A Rickle In Time" where the characters are stuck in a Schrodinger's Cat-verse where it shows all the possible answers all at once, and in every universe Rick is always doing the exact same thing, that's how sure in himself he is that he's able to beat the Schrodinger at his own game. You've got to respect a man who is that smart he can literally defy logic.

But even with all of this he's not an irredeemable asshole, he does care for his family but rarely chooses to show it, in particular are his grandson Morty and his daughter Beth, even someone as selfish and talented as he is, he is willing to sacrifice himself for the good of his family, even going as so far in the season two finale where he lets himself get arrested so his family can go home. "What are you in for?" "Everything". It doesn't happen very often, but whenever we do see moments like this it certainly humanises him and let's us actually care about what he does rather than just laugh at how much of an asshole he is.

He follows character archetypes that I'm a fan of, but it's how aggressive he is that separates him from the rest and makes him not only hilarious but also interesting and surprisingly likeable. That's what makes him one of my all time favourite characters.

-Danny