Jerry, Beth, and Summer are not a family. They are competing parasites on a finite resource: Rick’s attention. Jerry’s hatred of Rick is rational (Rick is a dangerous sociopath), but the show frames Jerry as the villain. Why? Because Jerry represents normalcy , and normalcy, in Rick’s cosmology, is death.

Deep story: The pilot argues that and that family is just a transactional arrangement. Beth chooses Rick over Jerry instantly. Summer is ignored entirely. The "M4P" mission was successful, but the family dinner at the end is a cold war. No one is happy. They are just surviving the multiverse.

A standard hero’s journey has a wise mentor (Obi-Wan, Gandalf) sacrificing for the young hero. Here, Rick (the mentor) forces Morty (the hero) to sacrifice his bodily autonomy and sanity. The climax isn't Morty saving the day—it's Morty being shot, breaking his legs, and then being forced to jump through a portal while screaming in agony.

Finally, consider the seeds. They make you smart, but they have to be inserted rectally (the most vulnerable, humiliating act). The show is telling you: To understand the truth of the universe, you must endure humiliation, pain, and degradation. The audience, like Morty, must sit through gross-out gore (the bodyguard dissolving, the screaming leg breaks) to get the philosophical payoff.