So, around this time every Sunday I’m usually winding down. Maybe get a nice workout in (it’s actually not very nice), get a shower, and prepare a good dinner (mostly cold cereal). Guess you can say my evenings can get a bit crazy right? Afterwards, I settle in and prepare to watch one of my favorite shows on television in Rick and Morty before the nights end… except last week that didn’t happen. Last week Rick and Morty saw a break at the halfway mark through its second season on Cartoon Network’s Adult Swim. Needless to say, my night was underwhelming after that. Now some of you are thinking “What’s so great about Rick and Morty?” or something similar. Well, for those who have been living under a rock or are still on the fence about it, let’s dive right in shall we?

Rick and Morty is an Adult Swim original created by Dan Harmon (Community) and Justin Roiland (Fish Hooks, Adventure Time). The show’s most titular characters are of course Rick; the brilliant, but sociopathologic scientist and Morty; the unassuming and anxiety riddled teenage grandson (both voiced by Justin Roiland). After being absent for 20 years, Rick has returned to move in with his daughter Beth son-in-law Jerry and has turned their garage into his own crazy lab for his experiments and adventures. Now that He’s back, Rick takes Morty (and recently Morty’s sister Summer) on adventures through time and space.

Rick himself is one of the funniest character the show has from week to week. His crass humor and stark delivery makes his interactions with any character a treat. Every situation that he finds himself in is never too much to handle and Morty, while apprehensive and easily shaken at the beginning, has started to slowly take on his grandfathers demeanor (although it never stops them from butting heads). Summer seemed like your run-of-the-mill 17-year-old with annoying drama and constant angst, but after her experiences with Rick and Morty, she is changing in her own right as she is experiencing more of what her younger brother has already become desensitized to. Their adventures intertwine a lot later in the first season and have become common throughout the second season. Beth and Jerry seem to have their own dealings away from the rest of the family and deal with more menial issues comparatively. Despite the fact that their adventures look much less interesting on the surface, more times than not they can be just as funny and entertaining.

Now this is not your normal late-night animation. The jokes are frequent, but are often clever and done with a purpose other than humor. Nothing is one note as there are always multiple stories going on from episode to episode. While other shows use multiple stories, they often fall flat and only serve to fill time with no substance. Characters often don’t change or do so only when the plot requires them to be reminded of it. Things go back to the same every week. With Rick and Morty, that isn’t the case. Things happen to people. And they change, for better or worse. Emotions get the best of the characters. Situations don’t work out and you see how that affects the characters and the decisions they make in future episodes. The audience can still see some of the humor coming from a mile away. What they don’t see is that sometimes the jokes can be accompanied by some true and heavy introspective moments that can turn a hearty laugh from viewers into a somber silence.

Rick and Morty is always good for a solid laugh. It is also good for a deep look into the vices that plague many in real life. It serves as a reminder that even a show that goes so far out of the norm in art and story and one that is set in an outrageously different universe, can make relevant and invoke seminal emotions in scenarios that show characters (and as an extension, real life people) as complex beings. Rick and Morty is back this Sunday and I couldn’t be happier. For those of you haven’t seen it or don’t get it, just check it out once or twice. You may laugh. You may even cry. Or you may just hate it. Either way, it won’t kill you to give it a look.

Rick and Morty returns tonight and catch new episodes every Sunday at 11:30 pm EST / 10:30 pm CT on Cartoon Network

Stephon W. is a contributing Editor for Teh Lunchbox Publications and sorry, he doesn’t do social media. But you can follow the team on facebook (Teh Lunchbox Publications), and on twitter @tehlunchboxpub