Rick and Morty is well underway with its sixth season with an uncountable number of future seasons to come in later years. The series exploded onto the scene when it premiered back in 2013, but the modern series feels like it's grown up a great deal from the early episodes.

The ongoing adventures of Rick Sanchez and his grandson Morty became nothing less than a global phenomenon shortly after its initial release. The current season was hotly anticipated, and the show almost instantly overtook Adult Swim to become the network's flagship program. If someone started watching season 6, then went back to the start, they'd be shocked by how far it's come.

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There are a few ongoing storylines in the world of Rick and Morty, but the battle between the rebellion and the Galactic Federation or between "Evil Morty" and the Citadel aren't the main struggle. The real battle that decides the fate of the multiverse in Rick and Morty is the battle between episodic and serialized storytelling. In the early days, the series lived and died on contained adventures that sent the two eponymous leads and other family members off to some faraway plane for a fun jaunt. Every story ended with the Smiths back in the same house, the status quo was still god. This is how Rick wants to live his life, but the serialized nature of the show's narrative has finally become inescapable.

Evil Morty In Rick And Morty

Rick bristles at any attempt to establish canon within the show's universe. He despises sharing his backstory, not because it's too painful to recount, but because any connection to his past is a liability that damages his ability to live in the moment. Beyond that, he critiques the narrative direction of the show's storyline. His backstory was first established in the season 3 premiere, but it was rendered canon near the end of season 5. The truth of Rick c-137, the protagonist that the audience has been following since day one, is actually a cohesive narrative and fans now know most of it. Perhaps the most substantial moment in the entirety of the franchise comes in the season 5 finale, when "Evil Morty" unveils and destroys the central finite curve. Once a throwaway line with no in-universe definition, this decision radically turns the tide of the battle between chaotic contained episodes and serialized ongoing narrative.

The central finite curve essentially functions as a walled garden around the in-universe multiverse and the structure of the show's story. It allows instant travel between universes via the use of Rick's portal gun, but it also guarantees that Rick will always be the smartest being in the universe he winds up in. The curve contains only universes in which a Rick would feel at home by being the intellectual powerhouse above all others. As a result, it was essentially a hidden narrative device, revealed as an in-universe explanation for Rick's episodic narrative structure. From the first episode after the death of the curve, the fundamental structure of Rick and Morty has changed, and its shift has a huge impact on the first couple of episodes.

The first episode of season 6 might be the most serialized single episode of Rick and Morty yet released. It picks up only moments after the season 5 finale left off, establishes plenty of new lore, makes constant callbacks to previous episodes, and sets in motion a new main villain plot to hang over the rest of the season. It feels like the exact thing Rick spent all his time complaining about. It's still chaotic and far from cliché, but it's a far cry from the unconnected contained stories that made up the early episodes. Fans are divided, but this trend doesn't seem to be going away. The season premiere is one big reveal after another. It even retroactively renders some aspects of the show more centralized. This season revealed the fact that Rick c-137 only chose the dimension he ruined with Cronenberg monsters because it was the home of the Rick that killed his family. "Evil" Morty's plan seems to have hit the mark and succeeded outright, and the show may never be the same as a result.

Space Beth and Clone Beth lesbian kiss in Rick and Morty

Whether fans love this new direction for the series, or they agree with Rick that it's better without the overarching narrative, it's impossible to miss how the show has evolved over its 9 years on the air. As the structure of the show shifts, it's a real stroke of genius to come up with a narrative reason to justify the changes. There are plenty of interviews with Dan Harmon in which he points out that doing episodic adventures can't work forever, so the solution they came up with was a clever one. Rick and Morty has a lot of years to come, but it's shown that it can adapt to survive, and fans should be thrilled to see how it continues to change.

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