In the aftermath of the season 4 finale, Rick appears to be on a downward spiral. With the rest of the family seemingly growing past him, Rick is now left to deal with his limitations by himself. His season 5 journey is kind of similar to another perpetually weak Rick and Morty character who was slowly abandoned by the family and left to writhe in their own mistakes, that other character being Jerry.
It has been such a ride to see Jerry's character grow from punching bag and spineless coward to slightly more likable punching bag. It's shown his strengths despite the seething patriarch of Rick constantly trying to belittle him. As much flack as Jerry has gotten, he does have his fair share of character advantages over Rick. But, then again, Rick Sanchez is Rick Sanchez.
Jerry Isn't A Drunk
Rick's drunkenness and general drug abuse problems were quirky character traits during the early story, but they have consistently returned since then to plague the family. Even in the early story, Rick almost drunkenly bombed all of society. While Rick has constantly made his substance dependence other people's problems, Jerry, as disinteresting as it seems, has been as clean as a whistle.
Discounting his cocaine-addled, alternate reality-self, Jerry is far from a drunken nuisance on his family. Instead, he allows himself to revel in the smaller, quirkier pleasures of life, such as beekeeping or calling Taddy Mason for human connection.
Rick Has Some Backbone
If there's anything to really hate about Jerry, it's how cowardly he can be. While it's understandable to be terrified in the face of intergalactic threats, Jerry has disappointed his family and the fans on multiple occasions with how weak and complacent he can be.
Jerry has, on multiple occasions, been a genuine bad guy on Rick and Morty. He left Beth to deal with a vicious mugger, he tried to hide away when Beth's and his Mythologs ran rampant, and he blamed his kids for breaking up with a huntress alien. Rick, on the other hand, as destructive as living with him can be, has always stood up for himself and his family. This is a guy who literally helped stage a revolution against galactic totalitarians. He's not gonna be pushed around.
Jerry Has Humility
As tough as Rick can be, a lot of his power comes at the price of dressing up his own inner demons in a masculine façade. Rick will always be the first person to fire his shots and the last person to admit his mistakes. Jerry, however, has grown to accept and challenge his own limitations.
While a lot of hate against him has just been pure antagonization, Jerry has learned that his cowardice and dependence are selfish, toxic traits that he's imposed on his family. Dating back to "The Whirly Dirly Conspiracy," Jerry has confronted and apologized for the fact that he's made his limitations other people's problems.
Rick Is Scientific Genius
Rick is obviously smarter than Jerry, but that's not really saying much. Jerry fell for an immensely glitchy simulation, forcefully defended Pluto's legitimacy as a planet despite Google existing, and developed an app for an alien who had the words "Do Not Develop My App" stamped on his head.
Part of this is ignorance, but the rest is gross incompetence. Rick, on the other hand, is supposedly the smartest man in the universe who has developed technology far beyond the comprehension of futuristic societies. Unless you're Mr. Nimbus—there's no beating that.
Jerry Has Grown Across The Story
Admitting one's weaknesses and mistakes is one thing, as even Rick has had his fair share of surprisingly stupid moments—just watch "Morty's Mind Blowers." However, it's an entirely different character arc to actually grow from one's experiences and shortcomings. While Rick has certainly survived his endeavors, he hasn't exactly shown that he will stop enslaving miniature worlds for power, defending Pirates of the Pancreas, or pushing a fake vat of acid as a good idea.
In addition to admitting his mistakes, Jerry has grown and found more agency across the story. He's trying to experiment more with his marriage, something that he was incredibly aversive to in "Meeseeks and Destroy" and "Anatomy Park," and he ended up saving his family from Phoenixperson in "Star Mort Rickturn of the Jerri."
Rick Is Independent
Even if Rick wasn't the smartest man in the universe, he still wouldn't be as dependent as Jerry has been on his family. Ever ambitious and enterprising, Rick has always tried to look after himself and worked above and beyond to deliver his own interests and, occasionally, those of his family.
When trapped or cornered, Rick is always quick to fight for his solutions, such as how he made Pickle Rick into a deadly assassin or helped himself and Jerry escape from Risotto Groupon. As lonely as it can be, Rick doesn't often have to ask for help.
Jerry Stayed With His Family
While a lot of Jerry's anger towards Rick can be relegated to jealousy or the pure fact that Rick is always putting him down, there's no denying that he's also just trying to look out for his family. Rick hurt Beth long ago when he abandoned her and his wife, and he's deprived Morty of a normal education to assist with his adventures.
Many of those adventures have come back to endanger the family, if not the whole world. Despite their humble beginnings being out of wedlock, Jerry has shown genuine love and admiration for Beth and stayed with the family through thick and thin. Even when he's trying to sell Rick out to the authorities, he's just looking out for everyone else.
Rick Is Adventurous
While Jerry is beginning to try out new things with Beth, marital fun or even beekeeping just don't compare to the adventures that Rick has had. Jerry is just the type of person to always be comfortable in a safe, familiar environment. That's part of what makes him so dependent on his family and why he's always quick to look for a hiding spot.
Rick, however, is always eager to explore the greater world and accept its risks. Despite his white coat, Rick has technically been less of a scientist in the story, as he's been a pure adventurer just trying to find fun for himself or show his grandkids a good time.
Jerry Is Always Looking Out For The Little Guy
Rick has proven time and again that he has no sympathy for anything that can't keep up with him. Even though Rick does often partner with his grandkids Morty and Summer, they have come to keep up with his pace. Whether it's his supposed, half-planet children, the miniature people he has fueling his car, or bureaucrats, Rick has little sympathy for anyone that he believes is inferior or inconvenient to him. Jerry, though, is constantly looking out for the little guy.
Being just a Regular Joe himself, Jerry has looked out for teased characters such as Doofus Rick, connected with disenfranchised characters such as Risotto Groupon or Glootie, and defended the socially abandoned such as Rick's half-planet children.
Rick Knows How To Party
As nice as Jerry has been relative to Rick, it's hard to like the guy just because of how much of a dad/square he is. As evident by the Jerry daycare, Jerryboree, the driest of life's pleasures, such as choosing the settings for a movie or emailing memes, is enough to entertain Jerry. He is the type of guy to be people's designated driver—not that there's anything wrong with that.
Rick, at the other end of the bar, is the guy doing shots 'til dawn. A huge part of what makes Rick such a quotable and fun character is how loose and fun-loving he is. He had an interdimensional party at the house. He fought planetary threats with pop music. He capped off his homage to Saw with a Logic concert. Meanwhile, Jerry pops balloons on his phone.