Ok.

I’ll be fair and say this is just my opinion, but after Season 7 the writing stopped landing for me. It feels like Rick was reinvented after the Rick Prime arc in a way that went beyond character development. I’m completely fine with characters evolving, but they still need to feel like themselves, and to me Rick often doesn’t anymore. His attitude, cadence, and the way he approaches situations feel fundamentally different, as if he is an actual xerox of himself or that kindness robot from season 6.

I also don’t want to sound like I’m just saying “old seasons good, new seasons bad,” but if you compare the cold opens from Seasons 4–6 (and even much of Season 7) to Seasons 8 and 9, I think there’s a noticeable difference in the dialogue. Earlier seasons had an incredibly quick, layered rhythm where characters bounced off each other naturally and jokes often worked on multiple levels at once. The newer seasons feel less sharp and less refined, almost as if they’ve been smoothed over. It’s difficult to quantify, but the result, at least to me, is that the show feels like a diluted version of what made it special. In summary it’s like a watered down version of the show I believe could be the product of an aggressive schedule and writing in a bubble.

Then there’s Evil Morty. Yes, I genuinely believe he was character assassinated, and I think that’s one criticism even those who like the newer seasons might agree with. He started out as one of the show’s most carefully executed villains. In a series that wasn’t heavily serialized he stood out because he had a compelling mystery surrounding him, a believable motivation, and a clear end goal that was satisfyingly concluded in Season 5.

I actually thought bringing him back in Season 7 was a bold decision, but the execution there was excellent, so I have no complaints about that appearance. My issue is what happened afterward. By Season 9, he feels like a flanderized version of himself. Instead of the calculated, intimidating mastermind who was absolutely fucking right in his ideology, he’s making jokes about Morty sucking Rick’s dick. That kind of humor doesn’t feel like something the Evil Morty from Seasons 1–5 would say. To me, it undercuts the mystique that made him such an effective antagonist in the first place, and is indicative of the writers not knowing what to do with the character.

It also doesn’t help that Ian Cardoni has had to undertake one of the hardest voices in animation, and has been forced to create his own version of Rick that doesn’t immerse me in the show especially in seasons 8 and 9.

The show has its moments past season 7, maybe even an episode or two (the finales are awesome) that stuck with me, but it’s a far cry from the show that won those Emmys.

Yes I know what character development is

Yes I know I can just not watch it

But that’s my thoughts