Rick is a mentally-unbalanced but scientifically-gifted old man who has recently reconnected with his family. He spends most of his time involving his young grandson Morty in dangerous, outlandish adventures throughout space and alternate universes. Compounded with Morty's already unstable family life, these events cause Morty much distress at home and school.
This tv show contains 147 potentially triggering events.
Beth is an alcoholic who can be neglectful. She also accidentally hit Summer in the face while drunk. Some versions of Rick are good parents, but many versions are abusive or abandon their family. Morty tries to be a good parent to Morty Jr but ends up lying to him about why he can never go outside, and Morty Jr writes a book about his dad being terrible.
Not only that but Bird Person encourages Morty to forgive and keep indulging Rick's abuse because he suffers from depression and self-hatred which Bird Person alleges Rick's abuse stems from rather than true evil or apathy. This both implies that mentally ill people are violent and infantilizes abuse.
Jerry (the dad) is constantly belittled and put in danger. There is a flashback of Beth (mum) being drunk during the day and accidentally hitting Summer with a wine bottle
Snowball and his intelligent dog army. Snowball had his face rubbed in pee before he became smart. Once he became a genius and raised an army, he became the thing he sought to destroy. He and his army abused humankind, locking them in tiny cages and threatening to neuter them with scissors.
Rick also has the capability to erase memories which he often uses to either remove some sort of trauma or just selfishly remove something he doesn’t want someone to remember.
There are animals getting hurt consistently but never intentional. In s1e1, Jerry rubs the family dogs face in piss very briefly after it pissed on the carpet. I wouldn't class that as abuse, but still harming the dog.
Throughout the show. The darkest is 3x03 where rick as a pickle kills a group of rats. Its very gory. Organs are ripped out and rat are exploded, though jokes are made through it.
In S04E04 "Claw and Hoarder: Special Ricktim's Morty" several Enemy dragons are destroyed by a magically created dragon entity. Balthromaw the dragon gets mildly injured in comical fashion including being hung (which would take years to kill a dragon) and an arrow is accidentally shot into his eye (he lives).
Season 2 Episode 4: I don't remember if there are snakes but there are so many weird characters that I think there is at least 1 but hardly ever see him I think. Episode 5 Season 2: Rick Can Turn People Into Snakes: Once At The Beginning And Once At The End: Season 2 Episode 6: A Seprent Sticks Out Of The Ankle Of Rick's Armor. Episode 7 Season 2: Beth's portrayal of Jerry looks like a snake. Season 3 Episode 8 Morty seems to be vomiting a snake. Season 4 Episode 3: At the very beginning of the snake falls on Rick and Morty. later a robber with snake arms. Season 4 Episode 5 The entire episode consists of Snake. the only scene where there is none is when we saw Jerry
S2 E3 - side story with Beth and Jerry: an alien is restrained in the basement but sets himself free by the end of the episode
S5 E4 Morty is strapped to a table and a machine is used to wank him off. He escapes and doesn't seem to suffer any psychological trauma from it
S6 E4 Rick is woken by the Night People and has been strapped to his bed. He is then force fed
In season 2 episode 3, rick's ex (who is an amorphous hive mind being named unity) possesses an entire planet of people. She and Rick use the possessed women for sex.
In Season 1 episode 5, Morty is almost molested by a serial pedophile.
Jerry references a hypothetical scenario in a way that heavily implies he was raped at some point, which is played off as a joke and not referenced again.
Rick describes extensively what it feels like to be choking because he is soul-bonded to a dragon that's hanging. Goes on about the feeling in his throat while coughing.
I don’t believe this is the only time, but in the Ants in My Eyes commercial in the universal TV episode, a man is lit completely on fire on accident but does not die or suffer at all.
Episode S01E09 (Close Rick-counters of the Rick Kind) contains a background image of a person dead by hanging.
Episode S04E02 (The Old Man and the Seat) contains a short scene where a character almost strangulate themselves.
Episode S04E04 (Claw and Hoarder: Special Ricktim's Morty) contains a scene where a character is condemned to hang.
S1 E2 (Lawnmower Dog): You see a vast number of removed testicles being poured into a dumpster truck. Jerry is threatened with a pair of scissors and a snipping gesture.
Several episodes feature over the top violence and gore. Pickle Rick has animal dismemberment and then a John Wick style assault with people getting cut apart with lasers. There is heavy violence including literally dancing in blood in the Purge episode. Plenty of other episodes have scenes where people are dismembered and blood shoots everywhere.
Semi-frequent source of comedy, though never in a way that the audience is supposed to enjoy and usually in a way that provokes disgusted reactions from other characters.
Rick means to sacrifice himself by giving Morty his time-stabilizing collars in season 2, episode 1. Rick is able to save himself, however.
In another episode a Morty sacrifices himself by throwing himself into a "wishing portal" to try to make life better for Morty-kind.
S1E9 Rick says he would’ve become “r*tarded” if Satan’s plan succeeded, Morty chastises him for this but Rick alleges that he would’ve “literally become mentally r*tarded.” Morty than alleges that neurotypical people have tabooed the slur to “feel better about themselves” so make of that what you will.
Morty and his family are frequently brought places against their will by Rick. An alien is captured and locked up in Rick’s basement for experimentation.
One episode features a facehugger alien race that thrives by possessing the bodies of living humans. Another episode has Rick transfer his mind into other’s bodies. There is a whole episode about a hive mind controlling a planet.
Rick farts a lot throughout the series
S2 E2 a character is called fart (Rick makes jokes about this throughout the episode which are accompanied by farts)
There is an entire episode dedicated to Rick getting revenge on an alien named Tony for pooping in Rick's special private toilet. Rick is seen sitting on the toilet, presumably pooping. No actual poop is seen but the action of sitting on the toilet to poop is shown several times.
There are several 9/11 references. On an alien planet, Rick purposely avoids blowing up two buildings that look nearly identical to the Twin Towers. There is also an episode where Rick attempts to hijack a plane and says "Allahu Akbar" while wearing a fake bomb.
There are a few mentions or examples of cops but there is no copaganda. Cops are mocked in the episode "Mort Dinner Rick Andre." They are shown as being easily controlled and humiliated by a character named Mr. Nimbus. Cops being racist is also mentioned several times in different episodes.
Sleepy Gary cheats on his wife with Jerry. There is also an episode with a dating app that makes people fly from relationship to relationship, so several characters are shown cheating and several of the relationships are bisexual. Beth also has sex with her own clone and cheats on her husband in the process.
Rick injects himself or others with numerous sci-fi medicine or drugs with a needle gun to either cure some sort of ailment/sickness or to give some sort of power. Happens very frequently throughout the show.
In Season 5 Episode 9 there is a scene where Morty helps a stranger escape from a mental asylum after being connected with him through a portal in Mortys hand.
In regards to the update (for context this category was previously “is someone autistic?” before it was changed due to a lot of confusion and even backlash), while I wouldn’t call the title characters the best representation by any means I wouldn’t say it’s egregiously misrepresented either since while Rick is often a VERY bad person he’s still presented as a person at the end of the day and his autism doesn’t even come up that often to be used against him TBH
Rick and Morty are both autistic-coded characters and both often have to fight space aliens and get injured, etc. Though specifically relating to disabilities in the final episode of Season 3 (i think it was) Rick says "Is minecraft popular with autistic people? Because I'm starting to love it" and in Season 4 episode (forgot the name of it) Rick says Morty has Aspergers (Which is an outdated term). But the violence and trouble they face is mostly because of their actions (eg: being a jerk, etc) and not because of their neurotype
In S6E6 the President calls Rick a "pompous autistic cadaver"
Throughout the show we see that there are multiple realities, universes and timelines all coexisting. The characters travel between these and sometimes swap with themselves
S1 E11 Rick freezes time
S2 E1 Rick unfreezers time which has consequences and causes realities the split every time Rick, Summer or Morty acting away that shows that uncertain
Summer wishes she has bigger boobs and complains another girl only gets boys because she has "stripper titties." Summer uses an alien machine to grow her boobs.
S2 E4 Mr Poopybutthole says he feels claustrophobic near the start of this episode after blast shields are covering all of the windows and doors. The characters cannot and don't leave the house in this episode
A large amount of swearing in most episodes. The worst might be censored on TV but not streaming. The middle finger is used often, usually by Rick. There is also simulated ass-eating by Rick and Summer where they mime eating it.
A "giant incest baby" is seen in several episodes. His name is Naruto. He has slightly deformed facial features likely due to his parents being brother and sister.
There is a literal man in a dress in the episode "Total Rickall" but he is not used as a joke. When Morty can't find a date to a dance, the butler Mr. Beauregard offers to take him. Mr. Beauregard is wearing a dress at this time. The Smith family is supportive and Beth in particular approves of the idea.
Rick is confirmed in the show bisexual/pansexual and numerous of his alternate dimension selves die, however the main Rick the show follows is still alive. None of the other Rick’s deaths have anything to do with their sexuality. Additionally In one episode, a horde of alien parasites infest the house and disguise themselves as people and implant false memories into the family. One of the parasites disguises itself as a bisexual man named Sleepy Gary. All of the parasites including this one are killed at the end of the episode, although his death has nothing to do with the fact that he is bisexual.
Raising Gazorpazorp: Jokes at the expense of and misrepresenting Muslims and gay people. That one episode with the battery dimension: Misrepresentation of Indigenous/tribal cultures and hate speech towards a fictional alien one.
In season 1, Jerry's parents introduce their new partner at Thanksgiving, and he's several decades younger than both of them. In season 3, it is revealed Rick impregnated a horse person who is in her 20s.
A human character has sex with the Froopyland creatures and creates hybrids, which he then eats. Some of the Froopyland creatures are NOT of human intelligence, like the one Rick fights, so they can't consent. In the origins of the hybrids, the phrase "I will hump this beast" is used, definitely implying the original creatures were animals.
Summer is sexually objectified many times during the series. It's not always dealt with poorly, but usually, especially since the objectification often comes from the camera or script.
S4E4: Grandfather, grandson an grandaughter spiritually bond with dragons and themselves, making pleasure noises and faces. The event is treated similary to sex.
Briefly in "Lawnmower Dog" there is a sex dungeon scene. Rick appears dressed in a leather harness. Several other characters are also there in masks and mostly undressed.
In the weird probably-not-canon episode Bushworld Adventures a character has dementia. "Uncle Barry" forgets who Rick and Morty are and tries to kill them.