‘Rick and Morty’ returns with darker, edgier third season

After a long hiatus, “Rick and Morty” is back with a vengeance.

Since the last episode of animated Cartoon Network/Adult Swim series’ second season aired with a cliffhanger in October 2015, fans wondered what direction the show was going to take. Scientist Rick Sanchez, the show’s lead character, had turned himself in to the Galactic Federation government prison in exchange for his family’s freedom, abandoning daughter Beth, son-in-law Jerry, and grandchildren Morty and

Summer in the process.

Fans pondered all of the possibilities that Rick would take in escaping from the prison. Would a character from a past episode make a return? Would he figure his own way out?

Those questions were answered on April 1, during the unannounced airing of the third season premiere. In what can be described only as unpredictable, the surprise episode, “The Rickshank Rickdemption,” resolved many of the season-two arcs within a half hour. Rick escaped the prison, while also destroying the very federation that imprisoned him in the process. What came after that was perhaps the most surprising.

In an episode that featured something as funny as constant references to a discontinued Mulan Szechuan dipping sauce from 1998, the ending of the episode broke the fourth wall and promised the darkest season of the grandfathergrandson duo’s adventures to date.

July 30 brought about the much anticipated second episode of the season, starting the regular schedule of new episodes this season. While most episodes are focused more on comedy, this episode took more of a serious tone.

Daughter Beth and sonin-law Jerry are in the process of getting a divorce, leading to most of the episode,

“Rickmancing the Stone,” addressing the topic in subtle and not-so-subtle ways.

While traveling in a Mad Max-inspired post-apocalyptic world, Rick and his grandchildren approach the topic in different ways. Because of Rick’s dislike of Jerry, he is focused on “taking over the family” and becoming the new patriarch. Grandson Morty is upset about his father’s indifference to the situation and starts to take his aggression out by fighting various

background characters in a “Blood Dome” arena. Meanwhile, granddaughter Summer is indifferent and takes many uncharacteristic risks throughout the episode, including standing in a stationary position and shooting at the driver of a car as it rapidly approaches her and forming an alliance with a postapocalyptic group.

As Rick and his grandchildren venture through the wasteland, creators Dan Harmon and Justin Roiland throw in some

laughs along the way. Rick programs robots to keep an unknowing Beth company while they’re on an adventure, leading to the Morty robot briefly gaining human sentience. At Jerry’s new apartment, a wolf approaches him and eats his unemployment check while the wind whispers “loser” at him.

With tweaks to the comedic formula from past adventures, the second episode of the third season kept Rick’s promise from the first episode

to go with a darker tone. While the show kept up with the crude humor, the seriousness of the episode shows the writers’ ability to change the formula and take risks.

The episode also shows that this season may show more continuity than previous episodes and the primary focus will ultimately revolve around Beth and Jerry’s divorce and the family’s reaction to it.

Of course, given the unpredictably of the show, I could be completely wrong.

TURNER NETWORKS Rick, left, and Morty perform the song “Get Schwifty” to save the world in season two of “Rick and Morty.”