cryptidcheese

[cryptidcheese]

More! More I say!

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Cockatoo mania!

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For me, "Morty Daddy" was a frustrating watch. Morty reuniting with Morty Jr. had a lot of potential, and I was looking forward to Rick and Summer's adventure, but the pieces just didn't quite fall into place.

The episode started off strong with a scene that demonstrated how the Smiths are both changing and staying the same. When Morty tells the family that Morty Jr. called him from the hospital, Jerry tears into Morty Jr. for criticizing his son, then admits that he's mostly angry because the book made him and Beth look like bad parents.

Beth tells Morty that it's OK to hate your kids, which is apparently her fucked-up way of trying to help, and even Rick gives Morty his condolences before advising him to let his son die alone. Ultimately, they care about Morty, but they still put themselves first.

After this, Rick announces that he and Summer are off to dinner. Rick acts like he doesn't want to go, but he eagerly joins Summer in shoving their plates off the dinner table. This seems like the perfect set-up for some Rick and Summer bonding time.

And yet, the episode just didn't quite make it. The third act in particular felt like a draft that needed a few more rewrites.

Rick's cranky as ever when they get to the restaurant, but when he enjoys his meal and starts warming up to the place, I thought we might be getting somewhere. I also enjoyed learning more about his dietary preferences (this is the second lava cake mention after "Valkyrick"), especially since food is a big part of the show.

Of course, we need conflict to keep the plot moving, so Summer demands to speak to the chefs when she gets a disappointing meal. I loved getting another acknowledgment that Rick respects Summer more than her brother ("You're not Morty! I can't just grab you!") Unfortunately, the character development ended there.

I did think it was funny that the cogs easily manipulated Rick by promising him food and a good time. I was a little worried Rick would end up having sex with them despite the dubious consent (yes, Rick's an asshole who does shitty things, but the show doesn't need to go in THAT direction), but he's happy to just hang out in the pool and enjoy a giant eclair.

When Summer admits that she just wanted to hang out with Rick, and Rick coldly dismisses her, I was expecting some kind of resolution at the end. Something like Rick realizing that his granddaughter just wants his affection and he doesn't appreciate her enough.

The whole mess turns into a rapid-fire car chase, we get a reveal that the cogs orchestrated the whole thing just to open their own food truck, and...that's it. No resolution. The entire message of the Rick and Summer plot turns out to be "Summer's a complex person who stands up for herself and Rick's a petty asshole who responds well to shallow ego-stroking." Didn't we already know that?

Just ONE line acknowledging the way Rick treated Summer would've made this episode a lot more satisfying. Instead, he turns to the cogs for closure, then gets mad and throws them in Garbtopia. I guess they must've seen that coming, so maybe that was the real plan all along.

Morty's adventure with Morty Jr. had more depth, but it really needed a stronger backdrop. The "garbage planet/dimension" setting has been done a million times, and Charlie Day gave it his all, but his villain wasn't that funny or interesting.

The writers managed to explore different facets of Morty and Morty Jr.'s relationship--pride, resentment, affection, distance--but overall, this episode just...didn't have much of a reason to exist?

"Air Force Wong" is another episode that brought back an old character, but Rick's interactions with Unity gave us a lot of insight into how much therapy has changed him. "Morty Daddy" doesn't reveal much about Morty or his son. Their relationship is complicated yet distant, and Morty ends up bailing on him--which, admittedly, leads to a pretty funny conclusion.

Morty Jr. wanting to pay his respects to his mother surprised me, but other than that, I think we could've inferred everything this episode reveals without seeing it on screen. We don't see how much Morty has changed since season two (admittedly, his character development tends to be inconsistent) or how it influences the way he treats Morty Jr. In the end, he's still a 14-year-old kid who has no business raising a child.

When Morty Jr. brought up his mother, I thought we were headed for another trip to his home planet. I'm not sure if that would've made this episode better or worse. The setting would've been more intriguing than a generic wasteland, but it's also infamously misogynist. I think the writers could've successfully updated Gazorpazorp with one or two jokes about how the planet "used to be." Still, maybe it's better to leave that disastrous plot line in the past.

In any case, "Morty Daddy" is entertaining enough, and it has a few bright spots. However, it also highlights an issue that's becoming a growing trend with this show: Rick's characterization isn't dependent on how much therapy he receives. Instead, it's dependent on how much of an asshole the story needs him to be.

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Doodle.

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no but we need to stop calling beth “domestic beth” or “housewife beth” when comparing her to space beth. beth has never been a traditional maternal figure. she is a surgeon and her husband is unemployed. call her “earth beth” or “breadwinner beth” from now on please

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I know that growth isn't 100% linear, but damn, I wish the writers would decide what they're going to do with Rick's character. He keeps going back and forth between being almost TOO nice and acting like a raging asshole.

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Capitalism does not breed innovation.

Tech gatekeepers have escaped so many investigations and consequences from breeches of trust.

The People need to make a change.

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Say what you will about Tumblr as a community, we know how to commit to a fucking bit.

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every so often I think about how crazy it is that cats are only a fraction of our size and yet they're completely okay with us scooping them up and holding them 30 feet in the air and kissing them and petting them. I'm not sure if I would be okay with a creature ten times my size doing that to me recreationally

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They've been stuck in my head

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Morty is a bad father and a good father at the same time: some thoughts about invalidation and gaslighting.

Okay I'm gonna explain what invalidation is and I'll make a little recap of Raising Gazorpazorp before making it to the point, bear with me.

When I watched Raising Gazorpazorp for the first time, it really resonated with me. In that episode Morty was totally unprepared to take the responsibility of a new life. While Rick basically disappears immediately with the "excuse" of understanding the Gazorpazorp lore, leaving Morty to deal with something that Rick himself totally allowed and encouraged in the first place, Morty's parents do even worse: first they try to impose their parenting methods, completely unaware of their toxicity and the mistakes they did as parents...

then they just sit there, waiting for their son to fail bcs their frail ego was hurt by Morty trying to do better then them, something that he tried to do not bcs he wanted to prove some point, but just bcs he wanted to save his son from the pain he experienced as the scapegoat of a toxic family system.

Beth and Jerry do not provide any insight or emotional support to Morty when they totally should (silent gaslighting), instead, they double down. They just act contemptuous and stay cold, because all they care about is to prove how good they are as parents (spoiler, they're not, they're not even decent ppl in general 💀).

So, we know Beth and Jerry are nightmarish parents, but was Morty a bad father to Jr?

The short answer is yes, because Morty Jr. felt confused, betrayed and manipulated by his father, but at the same time is no, bcs Morty truly tried his best to take care about his son, and most importantly he never negates that Jr. childhood was messed up, he truly care abt what Morty Jr feels and wants since the beginning.

Let's find a more fulfilling and far more complicated answer.

A fundamental thing I learned when studying narcissism, is that often is more important to know what isn't toxic, to spot what is toxic. It's easier to get an answer to the original question if we understand that negating or dismissing other people's feelings, is never healthy. Invalidation is never healthy.

Invalidation is a human thing, something that can also happen (in good faith) in healthy relationships, that's why I'll leave you this short video abt it, that is just a treat.

Basically when we tell "I feel this way abt something" and another person minimize the feeling, says to stay positive instead of letting us process it, says that we are too sensitive and criticize us for even having the feeling, that's invalidation in different forms. It's not entirely denying our reality, that is instead what gaslighting is about, denying or distorting something that happened or that we feel.

Invalidation is about dismissing a feeling that should instead have its own space.

In Morty Daddy preview, what Jerry is doing is gaslighting:

between the lines, he is denying that he is a bad father, he's denying that something traumatizing like a parent lying to you and locking u in the house has ever happened to Morty Jr., he is denying the abuse, the neglect and the trauma (Jr. is his grandson btw, he should have loved him instead of worrying about his crashed car)

Beth is gaslighting Morty in an even worse way, trying to shape Morty's thoughts and feelings abt Jr., literally by pushing Morty into thinking that he hates his own child (just like she does, that's projection and a justification abt herself), when Morty actually deeply cares about his son, his feelings and well being since the very first day. So he totally doesn't hate Morty Jr. and it shows, he's worried abt him.

It's so heartbreaking how anxious Morty sounds when he says " you think he's dying?" the gasp before the sentence💔

Summer and Rick are those invalidating instead: Summer basically goes "I know you feel sorry and responsible for your difficult child, but you shouldn't, no one should and no one does." and Rick basically follows on the same page. And this is toxic, but not as grave as Beth and Jerry's behavior (to me).

This was a moment where Morty needed support, both emotional and practical, and his needs met once again with invalidation, indifference, gaslighting and contempt.

BUT(t) I really liked this difference between Rick and Summer vs Beth Jerry bcs it doesn't make things cheese: Rick and Summer are maturing and changing consistently since several seasons, while this is the first season we see some actual improvement on Beth and Jerry side, so it's good to see consistency with the fact that they have a lot of stuff to unpack before some actual change can happen.

When a person feels something, you cannot discard that something just bcs you feel unconformable with it. That person feeling, is real, and no one can tell them otherwise. Trying to discard other people feelings, to leave them unprocessed or worse, trying to erase those feelings completely by gaslighting ppl, is what really erodes a person's sanity and sense of trust in themselves. Because we are what we feel, we are not ourselves without our feelings.

And that's our answer: Morty is a good and a bad parent at the same time.

He does bad in the first place, he is unprepared and he lies out of fear, but he's not invalidating and negating his son inner world. He is not negating him as an individual, instead he is encouraging and supporting him in a healthy way, he tries to do his best to understand him, and that's what makes him a better parent than Jerry, Beth or Rick.

Morty ends up hurting his child bcs he is living in a toxic and hostile environment, under too much pressure, with unresolved trauma triggered as hell by handling a difficult newborn. As many parents coming from toxic families or dealing with a toxic partner, Morty looses his shit, bcs that's what a human does when their abuse was never resolved or is still ongoing.

You don't need to be a narcissist to traumatize your kids (that's why I always stress so much on the fact that emotional abuse, is not the same thing as narcissistic abuse and doesn't have the same ramifications). In the end, Morty tried to give tools, love and safety to his child. Saying that he tried his best, is not the old excuse for a shitty parent that handled parenthood like an irresponsible toddler or a cruel n4zi, cutting all the resources, withholding love, care and life tools from their kids, belittling them and clipping their wings: we see Morty really changing and adapting to protect this kid at his best. He admits his mistakes...

...he supports him in his aspirations and he's not mad about his son anger, he understands him, he tries to give him the best tools he has and all the love he can.

Jr. outcome was actually quite good in fact: despite a difficult childhood, he managed to write a best seller, he moved in his own apartment at a very young age, he believed in himself enough to speak out about his trauma, and probably to open up with a therapist, during a very short life. He didn't become an assassin, and if we think about his species, he is the best, most virtuous result you could possibly achieve from a Gazorpazorp.

Of course, personal achievements are not the direct consequence of our parent behavior, but the tools, the advantages and disadvantages our environment gave to us, surely have an impact on our lives, negatively or positively.

Thank u for reading my stuff!

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i just made a bunch of BULLLLLLSHIIIIIIIIT

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After 24 hours , it has at last been completed

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bad guy: *lowering me into a pit of piranhas*

me: just so you know that pool is not big enough for them at all and they also don't have any foliage to hide within in order to feel safe and by the way you obviously haven't been feeding them enough if they're ready to rend the flesh from my bone, the water looks scummy, and your pulley system looks extremely unsafe and none of your goons are wearing PPE despite the jagged spikes and open leaky pipes and-

bad guy: *frantically lowering the crank faster* please just die

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May I offer you a shitpost headcanon in these trying times?