Uh-oh, the Rick & Morty Box Set Is On Its Way

The problem is that a Rick & Morty DVD box set will be released by Warner Bros. Home Entertainment in March, and it includes the entirety of the show’s first four seasons and a tasty plethora of behind-the-scenes extras.

That’s not a problem in general, of course – it’s rather a goddamn blessing, isn’t it? – but it’s a problem for me. Because, even though I’m the one tasked with sounding a huzzah about this release, I … *sob* … I’ve never watched a single episode of this particular Emmy Award-winning cartoon series from Adult Swim.

All I know – because Tumblr, tbh – is that there’s this geezerly mad-scientist type named Rick, who gets into all kinds of wild intergalactic misadventures with his grandson and tends to have, for some reason, a constant trickle of green drool dripping from his lower lip.

But thereby hangs, along with the Rickian effluvia, an opportunity.

Yes, an opportunity – an opportunity spurred by chromatic resonance! Because the color of that drool is precisely one of the colors that compose the hot peppers in the newest food painting by Austin’s Kaci Beeler.

And that Beeler, in addition to being a fine visual artist, is also an actor and a comedy improviser with the Hideout Theatre’s acclaimed Parallelogramophonograph troupe. And surely all comedy improvisers know about Rick & Morty, right? And so can speak to what’s the big deal about the show, and thus also why this new Warner Bros. release is reason to celebrate?

So I should maybe, ah, consult with that raven-tressed, K-Pop-loving, creative powerhouse?

“OK!” says Beeler. “You’re in luck, because I’ve watched a lot of Rick & Morty, but I had never seen any before a year ago.”

[Tell you what, people: Connections are what make a journo’s life less difficult.]

“You have to get through some machismo/misogynist vibes right at the start of Season One, while they’re finding their comedy feet,” warns Beeler at first. “It’s almost enough to turn you away, if you’re like me and exhausted by an overabundance of clever white men who feel like they know best.”

[Grrl, SAME.]

“But quickly,” adds Beeler, “you’ll see there’s something else there. There’s this amazingly fresh wit alongside the sharpest comedic timing I’ve ever seen, and it will blow your damn mind. The show becomes more self-aware as it goes and begins to fix some of its patriarchy probs rather seamlessly. And, fuck, it’s endlessly quotable. The creative minds behind it are clearly unfettered, inspired, and making-each-other-laugh, so it feels like you’re right there with them as they blend sci-fi, dysfunctional family drama, buddy cop vibes, and the mad scientist trope into a show with serious legs for days (or many seasons).”

So, ah, the existence of this new Rick & Morty box set is a True Good Thing in the world?

Beeler nods, smiling that smile that casting directors love to hire. “I’m not a binge-watcher type,” she tells me, “but this show is the kind where I want to watch one-or-two-every-night-until-we’ve-seen-it-all. And even a few episodes on repeat.”

Well, then, people. Reckon that’s a yes.