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  • At first glance, Summer Smith seems like a stereotypical teen girl.

  • [I'm not giving you my phone.]

  • [Put it in the stocking, Summer, or I'm joining Facebook.]

  • She's obsessed with her phone, her body, and her reputation at school.

  • [This is my chance to gain some footing with the cool kids.]

  • But while some fans hope Morty will

  • turn out to be a genius like Rick, so far it's the elder grandchild who shows an

  • unexpected connection to the person who claims he can't stand girls like her.

  • [I'm ready when you are.]

  • [Bitch, I was ready yesterday.]

  • Summer and Rick both have oft-repeated catchphrases, and the scientist and his granddaughter have

  • a lot more in common than first meets the eye. There's a long-standing joke

  • that Morty is most useful because he's an idiot.

  • [You're a perfect impenetrable suit of human armor Morty because you're as dumb

  • as I am smart.]

  • And this is the perfect foil for Summer's aptitude.

  • [What kind of monster are you?]

  • [A competent one.]

  • Summer is capable, and she's the one who earns

  • the exceedingly rare shows of respect from her grandpa.

  • [You figured it out...Well, Summer did.]

  • Like Rick, Summer is able to assess a situation and slip into the role that

  • best suits the need.

  • [I think I look like this.]

  • [Wanna piss on him?]

  • [Get out of my head.]

  • On her very first

  • interdimensional adventure to the female-led Gazorpazorp, the role needed

  • is mastered, and with only slight hesitation she fits right in.

  • [You speak when you're spoken to ding-a-ling.]

  • By the time she visits the Mad Max inspired

  • hyper-violent dimension in Rickmancing the Stone, Summer immediately understands

  • the rules of this world and takes charge.

  • [Kill me, please.]

  • [Okay but not because you told me too.]

  • It's Summer whom Rick trusts to help him when he needs to escape the purge,

  • and Summer is completely unfazed in Morty's Mind Blowers when she has to

  • save Rick and Morty from killing themselves.

  • Rick's appreciation for his granddaughter's talents might have

  • something to do with the fact that she even outperforms the scientist in some

  • of her storylines. She helps the devil succeed even as Rick tries to take him

  • down; she figures out how to save Rick from the teenage angsty hell of tiny

  • Rick's mind;

  • [You put your mind into this body's young

  • brain it did what young brains do -- it shoved the bad thoughts into the back.

  • But those bad thoughts are the real Rick.]

  • And Summer saves them both with an

  • impromptu last-minute plea before their impending doom

  • [And if you think my top

  • is cute, you cannot execute.]

  • Even though Rick

  • might say he doesn't adventure with girls,

  • [Are you sure it doesn't make you

  • reevaluate your policy about taking girls on adventures?]

  • [No.]

  • There's good reason for

  • Rick to keep taking her along. Even without access to Rick's fancy gadgets

  • and tools, Summer proves that -- just like Rick -- she can get it done.

  • [Are you the ruler of this Earth?]

  • [How did you know?]

  • [The quality of your top.]

  • [Do you love it?]

  • [I love it.]

  • Summer and Rick are both pretty mean.

  • [It's not a conversation

  • you're holding me verbally hostage.]

  • [You're both equally mercurial, overly

  • sensitive, clingy, hysterical, birdbrain homunculi.]

  • And she can match Rick's

  • harsh criticisms when it comes to Morty.

  • When it comes to would-be-friends:

  • [Don't tell me you're friends with her.]

  • [Are you kidding me? I don't even know

  • what she's doing here.]

  • [You've got to look out for number one.]

  • [Number one is me asshole.]

  • And especially when it comes to Jerry:

  • [I don't give a F*** what you think Jerry.]

  • [That's you --

  • you're a baby and an idiot.]

  • But despite her sarcasm and sass, she desperately

  • wants to be loved on a grand scale -- just like Rick. They both seek validation from

  • the greater world around them, and Summer has a deep desire to be able to command

  • a room like Rick can. Summer wants the affection of her peers

  • [I want to be popular at school.]

  • And with all of his catchphrases and fourth-wall breaking

  • calls for our return, Rick seems to want us to love him. So despite pushing people

  • away, both secretly crave deeper connections. Summer can loathe her

  • parents in one moment,

  • [My God, my parents are so loud I want to die.]

  • and then feel great

  • relief to have them nearby in the next. Rick never admits how much he longed to

  • stay with Unity, but we know how badly she hurt him. Rick and Summer both have

  • it in them to tear people down.

  • [You're a fu**ng moron, Morty.]

  • [Morety, you fu**ing idiot.]

  • But this is self-defeating behavior. They deeply want the love from

  • the people that they so often try to keep at arm's length.

  • [My daughter's going through a divorce and I am NOT dealing with it in a

  • healthy way at all.]

  • We've seen both characters hurt.

  • Summer when she

  • discovers that her parents might have preferred a life without her in it.

  • [It's a real treat to be raised by parents that force themselves to be together

  • instead of being happy.]

  • But both Summer and Rick cope by going out of their way

  • to avoid facing the problem.

  • [I'm gonna move to the southwest and...I don't know

  • do something with turquoise.]

  • Rick is used to getting what he thinks he wants, like

  • separating Beth and Jerry, or throwing a successful house party. But then he gets

  • out of dealing with the ramifications of his actions by resorting to outrageous

  • solutions, like transforming himself into a PICKLE RICK, or freezing time for a few

  • months. And we can see that Summer is learning

  • to follow and Rick's footsteps by taking extreme over-the-top measures to avoid

  • the real issues that are bothering her. When her boyfriend starts dating someone

  • new, she augments her body. She claims that she wants her parents to get

  • divorced

  • [Whose idea was this stupid custody weekend thing? I want to be abandoned.]

  • But then when this actually comes to pass, she'd rather stay in a

  • different dimension married to a warlord then deal with the fact that her parents

  • split up.

  • [Losers look stuff up, while the rest of us are Carpen all them diems.]

  • [Listen to your sister Morty.]

  • In some ways, Summer also thinks like Rick, and sees

  • the world as he does. Just like her grandpa, Summer understands how to win an

  • argument by throwing out traditional ethics and assumptions.

  • [You work for the devil!]

  • [So what?]

  • [So what?1?]

  • [At least the devil has a job. At least

  • he's active in the community. What do you do?]

  • Like Rick, she understands relativity, and knows that people parse the world

  • through their own frames of reference.

  • [If the machine was made by spider people,

  • normal would mean eight legs.]

  • So while Jerry, of course, needs a lesson in fancy

  • alien truckstops

  • [You have no frame of reference. You're in a universe beyond

  • your imagining.]

  • Summer calls Christmas a human holiday

  • [Happy human holiday, Dad.]

  • Yet for all their similarities, Summer is also different from Rick in a couple of

  • key ways.

  • [Isn't it interesting Summer, that after all that stuff we just did

  • nothing really mattered and there was no point to it? Kind of makes you wonder huh?]

  • Summer represents a more optimistic side of the

  • Smith family. She's as yet unconvinced by Rick's worldview that nothing matters.

  • Whether it's because she's a young, potentially naive teenage girl, or

  • because she understands something Rick doesn't, Summer still has high hopes for

  • the good in the world. She holds strong opinions about right

  • and wrong, and takes a stand for what she believes in.

  • [Morty, open your eyes. There is no they. These poor people's bodies are being

  • used. They're a planet of puppets.]

  • [Yeah I can hear you.]

  • [Uhhh.]

  • She also shows empathy. Despite traveling inter-dimensionally a bit more

  • frequently now, and knowing that she's one of an infinite number of possible

  • Summers, Rick's granddaughter maintains appreciation and respect for life.

  • [No. no! Don't hurt anybody!]

  • She shows genuine concern for her neighbor across the street

  • [God I feel terrible.]

  • [Yep, it really makes you appreciate how fickle the universe can be.]

  • First Snuffles the dog,

  • [You can't, like, endow a creature with sentience and then rip it away.]

  • and especially for her grandpa

  • [Because I love you and I'm trying to save your life.]

  • Summer freely expresses her love and

  • admiration for Rick, always calling him grandpa Rick unlike Morty.

  • [Grandpa Rick.]

  • [A city of grandpas?]

  • [My grandpa was my hero.]

  • [Grandpa Rick must have gotten shitfaced.]

  • [Shut up Summer.]

  • It's obvious how much she admires his brain

  • [Oldest Rick trick in the book.]

  • [Fake gun. Shoot me in stand off. Brilliant!]

  • Summer also attends family therapy and appreciates the benefits of self

  • awareness and self-analysis. Rick can sometimes show signs of caring, but it's

  • Summer who proves capable of harnessing emotions that Rick would dismiss.

  • [Listen to it Tiny Rick. Listen to Elliott Smith. Feel what he's feeling.]

  • Her efforts in

  • Big Trouble in Little Sanchez prove just how much she cares.

  • While Morty would have preferred to stay with Tiny Rick, it's Summer who employs

  • empathy to realize Rick's pain. And then sacrifices her new popularity at school

  • to save the old man. As we see more and more how much Rick there is in Summer, it

  • becomes clear that she's far more than just a teen girl with boy troubles. The

  • show may use her sparingly, and sometimes as a damsel in distress or an extended

  • metaphor for teen angst, but when we start to view Summer as we

  • view Rick, it's easy to see all the potential that Tiny Rick admits is in her.

  • [Don't short sell yourself Summer. You got everything it takes.]

  • So, it's interesting that the show has yet to explore many other versions of Summer as

  • it's done with Rick and Morty, because it would make sense that there's at least

  • one Summer out there who could prove an even better nemesis than Evil Morty. And

  • there's definitely a dimension with a different title for this show -- Rick and Summer.

  • [Uh-huh. Totally let's do it.]

  • If you can't get enough Rick and Morty content, then

  • be sure to check out our friends at Wisecrack, who have put out some of the

  • very best videos on the show. And they've also got a new Rick and Morty podcast

  • you can click here to go to their channel or find them at youtube.com

  • slash wisecrack. Thanks for watching and be sure to subscribe.

At first glance, Summer Smith seems like a stereotypical teen girl.

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