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Mr. Meeseeks (Rick and Morty)

kevinburtonsmith

Created by Justin Roiland, Dan Harmon and Ryan Ridley

“I’m Mr. Meeseeks, look at me!”
— typical first words of a Mr. Meeseeks

Just in case the universe-chewing lunacy of the Cartoon Network’s Rick and Morty animated television series wasn’t enough, the Meeseeks were tossed into the mix in the show’s first season and soon became a recurring, uh, species.

The show, part of the network’s Adult Swim, revolves around Rick Sanchez, a crazed, alcoholic mad scientist and Morty Smith, his mild-mannered grandson who’s constantly being drawn into his grandfather’s reality-bending, inter-dimensional disasters, often journeying to other planets and dimensions through assorted portals and other contraptions of the diabolical and not-quite-right Rick.

Also caught up in the never-ending drama is Beth (Rick’s daughter and Morty’s mother) and Jerry Sanchez (Rick’s son-in-law and Morty’s dad), and Summer (their other child, and Rick’s sister).

And then there’s the Meeseeks, a sort of disposable genie, who were first introduced in the show’s premiere season, in the January 20, 2014 episode entitled “Meeseeks and Destroy,” and have appeared sporadically throughout the show’s run, sometimes as a pivotal character and sometimes in cameo. They have also appeared in comics sporadically.

Meeseeks are tall, skinny, blue-skinned humanoids (all named “MR. MEESEEKS”) with bulbous heads who all look like they could use a good meal. Their only purpose in their short lives is to grant a wish (no three wishes for them!) that they will go to any extremes to complete. Summoned by pushing a button on a “Meeseeks Box” (no oily lamps for them, either!), they usually don’t live for more than a few hours, and exist in a constant and increasing state of pain that can only be alleviated by completing their assigned task, whereupon they explode.

So of course the longer they remain alive, the more frantic and unhinged they become. Of course.

Sort of like a zillion obsessed private eyes who can’t let go of a case. Which means it was only a matter of time before someone thought of dressing one of these critters up in full private eye regalia, as a kind of wish-fulfillment gumshoe, spouting would-be tough guy talk.

And that’s what we get in RICK AND MORTY: MEESEEKS, P.I., a four-part mini-series that popped up at the end of 2023 that still has me scratching my head (in all honesty, I’m more of a Simpsons man, myself). Still, I loved the light if predictable ribbing of the entire Shamus Game.

It all kicks off with a suitably noirish shot of a battered and bruised Mr. Meeseeks waking up face down in a puddle, offering a prime slice of over-boiled patter:

“It’s wet. That’s the first thing I notice before I spit the ash and blood from my mouth.”

And the affectionate spoofing and lunacy just continues, as Mr. Meeseeks relates, in a suitably noirish flashback, how he was summoned (hired?) by a panicked Jerry to act help him find the missing remote to one of Rick’s interdimensional cable television box before Rick finds out. Mr. Meeseeks, upon being informed that Jerry wants him to act like a detective, immediately dons a fedora and trenchcoat–presumably all the better to do some detecting. But Jerry and Mr. Meeseeks soon stumble upon a massive intergalactic interdimensional cable conspiracy.

As one does…

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COMICS

Respectfully submitted by Kevin Burton Smith.

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