Pickle Rick: Speaking the unspeakable
When the first teaser for Rick And Morty season 3 aired on Adult Swim, Pickle Rick took the world by surprise.
The first time I saw Rick And Morty was during my 5th semester at medical school, and it has been one of the hardest times of my whole life, but I’ll get into that later. One episode became two, then three, and before I knew, I had watched the first two seasons in less than a week.
Ever since I saw the official trailer for season 3 during my trip to Orlando this July, I had been craving for some Pickle Rick. Although at the time I just wanted to see it for the sake of its ridiculousness, I would grow to love Pickle Rick more and more after the actual episode aired.
To make some sense out of this post, there are some things that you need to know about me. I have been dealing with depression since I was six years old, and today, at 21, it still is an ongoing battle that thousands of people around the world and myself fight everyday. Some days are better than others, some are just plain terrible.
Growing up as the kid with ADHD and depression, I never really got around to make many friends at school. In fact, it got so bad that I ultimately switched schools during my third year of high school, and that has probably been the best decision I’ve made in my entire life. As the new kid, I could be anyone I wanted to be. So I decided I was going to be the fun guy, the guy with the thousand jokes and ability to give people nicknames faster than you could blink. And, as a defense mechanism, I wouldn’t let anyone make fun or make me feel bad again, so if anyone tried, I would reverse it on them.
Now that we got that out of the way, you guys may understand where my opinion is coming from.
By now we are all pretty familiar with Mr. Rick Sanchez; some hate him, others like myself love him. Rick isn’t what you would call a model grandparent, parent or even friend, right? He always comes out as rude, rough around the edge, irresponsible, disrespectful towards others and life itself. Since episode one we have learned that he has a consent death wish, something that has been addressed more directly ever since; just remember his suicide attempt after Unity broke up with him.
Rick is depressed, he has said so himself many times throughout the show, and he addresses these subjects briefly in a direct manner during Rest and Ricklaxation along with his loneliness and narcissism. That is why, when I was going through my worst depression crisis to date and saw Rick And Morty, I felt related to Rick in that way.
For me, Pickle Rick is the culmination of how far Rick is willing to go to avoid being hurt. Let me explain:
The whole plot of the episode is that Rick turns himself into a pickle to avoid going to family therapy. I don’t want to spoil the episode, so I’ll just continue by saying that he ends up in the sewers and puts himself in a series of life threatening situations. Rick is willing to turn himself into a pickle and risk his life before having to talk about his feelings or even recognizing their existence.
Rick believes that forming bonds with others just leads to more hurt and sadness, that’s why he seems so indifferent towards his family and friends; he doesn't want to be hurt. And isn’t that what depressed people do sometimes?
In my own experience, I have never been able to speak about this matters openly, maybe because of fear of being rejected or seen as weak or someone to pity, not even to my friends or family. I guess I would open up to a complete stranger before than to someone I actually care about; maybe to protect them? Maybe to protect myself so that they won’t leave or change how they see me?
In a way, people going through these kind of situations can end up becoming pickles themselves. I know I have, and I’m trying to change that for my own sake.
Rick And Morty brought a smile to my face when nothing and nobody else could, and this episode in particular, shows that it doesn’t matter how much of a pickle you are, you can always rise up and overcome adversities just like Pickle Rick did by creating a mech suit in the sewers (YEAAAH PICKLE RIIIIICK!).
Sometimes you’re a pickle. It’s up to you to decide if you're a just a pickle or a strong, badass pickle.
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