Not only has Rick and Morty season 6 started forcing Rick to be better support for the Smith family, but episode 5 has even mocked this new phenomenon within the show itself. Rick and Morty is no stranger to self-aware humor. Even a subplot as silly as Rick and Morty season 6’s Die Hard parody couldn’t resist a convoluted reference to the show’s origins as a Channel 101 short.
As such, it should come as no surprise that Rick and Morty’s “Final DeSmithation” (season 6, episode 5) features a line that pokes fun at the show’s own formula. However, it is not the traditional Rick and Morty story setup that this episode mocks. Rick and Morty season 6 has changed the show’s blueprint in recent episodes, and this one-liner serves to underline this fact.
When a distraught Jerry questions whether Rick really has “God-like” powers, his unflappable father-in-law replies with a dismissive “who do you think I am in this story, the father-in-law?” Usually, this would sound like a typically arrogant one-liner from Rick and Morty’s resident super-genius. However, in Rick and Morty season 6, C-137 Rick has been forced to spend more time in an active role as grandfather, father, and father-in-law than any kind of god-like anti-hero who is only out for himself - with his clear reluctance to take on these roles the source of much of the comedy and funniest moments of the season. Rick has not proven himself to be particularly adept at any of these roles despite his abilities as an almost unstoppable antihero, but the line slyly indicates that Rick Sanchez's role is still changing in Rick and Morty season 6 - whether he likes it or not.
How Rick & Morty Season 6 Changes The Usual Show Formula
In Rick and Morty season 6, Rick has been paired off with Morty only once, whereas most earlier seasons based the bulk of each outing’s stories on the titular duo’s misadventures. There have always been some standalone episodes where Jerry and Rick or Summer and Rick were paired off for a story, but Rick and Morty season 6 plots like Beth’s affair with Space Beth are the closest that the series has come to rendering Rick irrelevant. Where Rick's hyper-competent nature was once the fulcrum that Rick and Morty’s storylines centered on, in season 6, Rick has been the victim of Night Summer’s plot, stuck in Morty’s mind via a video game, and left on the sidelines as his daughter navigated messy marital problems.
In Rick and Morty season 6, Rick is less the God-like hero and more often relegated to actively participating in roles like a grandfather, father, and father-in-law, and his anger toward Jerry implies that he might be aware of this shift. While other Rick and Morty characters have grown in season 6, it is seemingly taking Rick a long time to accept that he is no longer the center of the universe in his family. However, his bitter aside to Jerry could imply that Rick is all too aware he is no longer a lone unchallenged hero by the time of Rick and Morty season 6.