History Characters / RickAndMortyTheSmithSanchezFamily

* MoralityPet: Although Rick had limited interactions with Summer in earlier seasons, most of the scenes involved Rick being a ''huge'' jerk to Summer ("Big Trouble In Little Sanchez" has Tiny Rick admit that Rick's a "grumpy douche,"). However, Rick did occasionally show that despite his JerkAss behavior, he did care for his granddaughter. It’s due to Rick’s consideration of Summer that she is able to convince him to stay with the newly-reformed Smith family at the end of “The Rickchurian Mortydate” in spite of his plans to abandon them and move to a new world. As of Season 4 onward, Rick's behavior towards Summer has become more natural and affectionate compared to earlier seasons.
** In “Raising Gazorpazorp,” Rick admits that he wishes he could have been a better grandfather to Summer, and finally relents to say that her top is indeed cute. This is what inspires Summer to make a genuinely convincing argument on why she and Rick should be spared from the death penalty the female Gazorpians are trying to impose on them, convincing them that not all men are bad in the process. Rick also gives Summer the interstellar vehicle that the Gazorpian women allowed them to have so they could return to earth after the portal gun was broken, even handing her the keys.
** In “The Ricks Must Be Crazy,” before Rick leaves with Morty to fix the car battery, he takes a moment and reassures Summer that she’ll be okay despite her concerns at being left alone. He then orders the space cruiser’s AI to “keep Summer safe,” which it proceeds to do so in a gruesome fashion. When Rick returns, he immediately notices her shell-shocked expression and asks if she’s okay, despite everything that he and Morty went through with the microverse battery.
** In "Big Trouble In Little Sanchez," Rick realizes he went too far insulting Summer at breakfast and genuinely hurt her feelings. He tries to make up for it by going along with her idea and helping his grandkids hunt down the vampire at their high school as Tiny Rick, which Summer suggested to him earlier.

*** She demonstrates an impressive knowledge of vehicles in [[Recap/RickAndMortyS3E2RickmancingTheStone "Rickmancing The Stone"]], using Rick's flask as an impromptu nitro booster and causing an enemy dune buggy to flip over and explode with one well-placed shot.

*** In “Morty’s Mind Blowers,” one of Morty’s memories has Summer give Morty a sympathetic, anguished look when Beth immediately chooses to spare her over Morty. A later memory has Summer try to help Morty purge an evil worm alien with The Power of Love, and after witnessing how long the worm is, questions if they should help Morty by pulling it the rest of the way out of his body. Rick rejects this and tells her not to touch it and encourages Summer and Beth to “keep loving Morty” at a distance.

** Turns up in the show proper [[JustForPun in a big way]] when said angst ends up driving the B-plot of "The Whirly Dirly Conspiracy".

* ActionGirl: She gradually becomes this after she starts going on adventures with Rick to avoid dealing with the stress caused by her parent's divorce. From then on she becomes incredibly self-sufficient and ready to fight should the need arise.
** In the comic book B-plot (''[[PunnyName Summer Spectacular]]''), she imagines herself as this. Issue 1 has her saving a man from a hostage situation, while Issue 2 portrays her as the commander of an army of anthropomorphic food. Gradually starts to grow into the role as the series goes on. Going so far as to be proactive at times given how morally compromised her grandfather is and how spineless or apathetic Morty tends to be. Culminates in the spin-off comic ''Little Poopy Superstar,'' where she gets to team up with Mr. Poopybutthole.

* AesopAmnesia: Summer has been shown several times that she shouldn't consider Rick her "hero", or blindly seek his approval. Despite this, she can go overboard in her attempts to please him or cater to his whims, making it her top priority.

** She enters into a brief relationship with the Devil.
** Later, she starts a relationship with the leader of a tribe of cannibalistic marauders. [[spoiler: It doesn't last]].

* AloofBigSister: {{Zigzagged|Trope}}. Summer goes back and forth on this. Earlier on, she was much closer to being actually aloof and uncaring about Morty. But as the show went on, she's become closer to Morty and cares about him, even if she doesn't always show it.

* AnimalMotifs: Apparently, Jerry thinks Summer is similar to a lemur and says as much in “Childrick of Mort.” Summer doesn’t appreciate this comparison in the slightest, even though it’s far more complimentary than the Animal Motif he used for Morty.

* AttackOfThe50FootWhatever: Winds up an inside-out giant in ''The Whirly-Dhirly Conspiracy'' as a result of messing around with one of Rick's inventions in an attempt to enlarge her boobs.
* BarbarianLonghair: Evoked in ''The Rickshank Redemption'' and ''Rickmancing the Stone'' when the audience actually sees Summer with her hair down.
* BigSisterBully: {{Zigzagged|Trope}}. Summer doesn't actively pick on Morty, mostly because neither one speaks to each other. At one point she groin kicks him for what at first seems like a ''very'' flippant reason-- but it turns out she thought he went in her room. It still appears to be an overreaction ... until it is revealed a minute later in the episode that Morty masturbates in EVERY room in the house. Even so, they do care for each other.
* BigSisterInstinct: To her brother Morty. Summer and Morty developed very protective instincts towards each other as they faced threats, their parents' complicated relationships and Rick's antics. Morty tries to protect Summer in any way he can, even from her own adoration of Rick. She is just as protective of him and even attempts to get Morty to go free when they face the Council of Ricks together to protect him.

* MoralityPet: While Rick can be a ''huge'' jerk to Summer, it's obvious that he does love her. It’s due to Rick’s consideration of Summer that she is able to convince him to stay with the newly-reformed Smith family at the end of “The Rickchurian Mortydate” in spite of his plans to abandon them and move to a new world.

* HiddenDepths:

** Summer seems to communicate with Rick better than Morty does, at least as long as neither party is being belligerent. Near the end of "Ricksy Business", Summer understands Rick's vague descriptions of a device much faster than Morty does even though the latter had spent much more time with Rick by that point.
** In [[Recap/RickAndMortyS3E1TheRickshankRedemption "The Rickshank Redemption"]], she suggests that the dead flies on Rick's desk will reveal a secret lab if rearranged in a certain way. At the end of the episode it's proven she was right, even though Morty thought she was growing unhinged.
** She demonstrates an impressive knowledge of vehicles in [[Recap/RickAndMortyS3E2RickmancingTheStone "Rickmancing The Stone"]], using Rick's flask as an impromptu nitro booster and causing an enemy dune buggy to flip over and explode with one well-placed shot.
** In [[Recap/RickAndMortyS5E2Mortyplicity "Mortyplicity"]] the decoy Summer clones are shown to always be the first ones to realize that they're decoys, ''before even Rick considers the idea''. The Summer decoys are also one of best at surviving the clone war, as a large group of SoleSurvivor Summers is only matched in size by a group of Ricks.

* HotBlooded: Despite her age, Summer’s quite the fighter and has proven herself on numerous occasions to be pretty willing to help with combat-related tasks. She also shares Rick's love of adventure and initially expresses envy that Rick excludes her in favor of Morty.

* DeliberateUnderPerformance: Summer says in "Lawnmower Dog" that she chooses to get C's in school out of the belief that smarter people are always meaner.

* WhatYouAreInTheDark: In "Ricksy Business" Summer gets a choice similar to Morty's own when Morty begins panicking about the situation and is unable to locate a device that will help a hungover Rick fix the mess they created: she could help Rick and Morty by finding the device that Rick's asking for, meaning the pair can continue adventuring while she's left out; or she could choose to ignore Rick's general description and leave the job of finding the device to a panicking Morty, meaning the pair won't have any more adventures. Summer chooses to help by locating the device that Rick's asking for and even giving it to him herself, ensuring that Rick and Morty can continue adventuring whenever they want.

'''The Smith-Sanchez Family''' ([[Characters/RickAndMortyRickSanchez Rick Sanchez]] | [[Characters/RickAndMortyMortySmith Morty Smith]] | [[Characters/RickAndMortyBethSmith Beth Smith]]) | [[Characters/RickAndMortySchool School]] | [[Characters/RickAndMortyTheCitadel The Citadel]] ([[Characters/RickAndMortyEvilMorty The President]]) | [[Characters/RickAndMortyOthers Others]] | [[Characters/RickAndMortyOneOffCharacters One Off Characters]] | [[Characters/RickAndMortyOni Oni ComicBook]]-]]]]]

[[folder:Jerry Smith]]
!!Jerry Smith
!!!'''Voiced by:''' Creator/ChrisParnell
[[quoteright:300:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/jerry_smith.png]]
[[caption-width-right:300:''"Okay, I guess I'm just this entire family's toilet paper."'']]

->''"[[ClassicalAntiHero I'm not an evil person. I'm lazy... I'm cowardly and... I do not know what I'm doing.]] Look, I got someone pregnant when I was 17; we're getting a divorce. None of this is on purpose. I was excited to date someone cool because it would make my ex notice me."''
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The father of Morty and Summer, and the husband of Rick's daughter Beth. Jerry means well, but he’s meek, indecisive and extremely insecure. He has trouble balancing his job, family, and marriage, none of which are helped by the influence of Rick's escapades, which he sometimes finds himself unwittingly weaselled into. He is effectively the ButtMonkey of the family, with Beth both having a more stable employment situation than him and harboring some low-key resentment towards him, even on the best of days, and Rick not bothering to make any secret of the fact that he has absolutely no respect for him, and while Summer and Morty both clearly love him, they are also acutely aware of his numerous character flaws. While he is occasionally shown to have the aptitude to be quite capable and brave when push comes to shove, it never really sticks and he always reverts to his old wimpy self when the danger is over.

%%Has a CharacterSpecificPages draft here: Sandbox.RickAndMortyJerrySmith

* AcquiredSituationalNarcissism: As shown in episodes like "Something Ricked This Way Comes" and "Childrick of Mort"; any time Jerry is shown genuine respect and admiration by a big enough group, he quickly lets it go to his head, becoming insufferably arrogant, selfish and doing whatever he can to hang on to his newfound popularity for as long as possible.
* ALighterShadeOfBlack: When compared with the other adults in the Smith-Sanchez family. Jerry may not be as toxic as someone like Rick or Beth; but he can still be a selfish, immature jackass in his own right.
* AllergicToRoutine: [[InvertedTrope Inverted.]] Jerry craves structure and routine in his life, which adds further differences between him and Rick. In Season 3, when Earth was briefly taken over by an alien dictatorship, Jerry is happier and more fulfilled than he has ever been in his life. In TheStinger for one episode, when Jerry accidentally samples a substance that would allow him to experience his own idea of perfect existence, Jerry's ideal life is a water delivery man, who does nothing but drive around all day delivering and installing large jugs into water coolers.
* AlternateUniverseReedRichardsIsAwesome: This version of him is the worlds biggest ButtMonkey. In other universes he's a very famous actor, an apocalypse survivor, or the ruler of the Earth.
* AmazonChaser: He has a fetish for strong women that borders on the obscene.
** Despite their dysfunctional marriage, Jerry ''was'' attracted to Beth's toughness, bordering on sociopathic attitude.
** When he's being chased by alien huntress, Kiara, whom he briefly dates to get Beth to notice him, he's simultaneously fearful for his children's lives and aroused at how hard she's trying to kill them all.
* AmbiguouslyBi: There are occasional hints that he's bisexual; for example, when the family is infested with alien parasites that create [[BackstoryInvader false memories of themselves]] he "remembers" having an affair with a male one. The "ambiguous" part is dropped in "Mort Dinner Rick Andre", when he and Beth equally-eagerly engage in a threesome with Mr. Nimbus after he [[BiggerIsBetterInBed shows them just how well-endowed he is]].
** Jerry also experiments with [[spoiler:another Jerry]] in "Bethic Twinstinct".
* TheAntiNihilist: Despite being the ButtMonkey of the family, Jerry refuses to cave into nihilism, as he states:
-->'''Jerry:''' Life is effort and I'll stop when I die!
** This becomes much more important throughout the seasons, especially when compared to Rick. While it's assumed in-universe (and a large portion of the fanbase) that Jerry is merely too stupid to understand the meaninglessness of existence, Jerry has never really spouted anything about the universe having meaning. In fact, being the CosmicPlaything means that Jerry would have a good understanding of the multiverse being terrible, yet he continues to strive on. This is one of the biggest things that make him a fascinating {{Foil}} to Rick, who espouses hedonistic nihilism. [[spoiler: It's this clash of ideals that could be partly why Rick works to usurp Jerry as ThePatriarch of the family back in the beginning of Season 3, but as seen at the others' pages, they end up taking Jerry's view rather than Rick's, inevitably leading to Jerry remarrying Beth.]]
** Heck, on some level, Rick seems to ''admire'' this about Jerry (which could partially explain Rick's disgust with Jerry; both he and Jerry know that the latter could be so much better.) Best seen in a segment in the comics showing Jerry go through the banality of his life. The next day, he is about to continue the routine before seeing Rick at the table, with Rick '''''complimenting''''' Jerry on being able to go through despite being the ButtMonkey.
* TheBabyTrap: Jerry and Beth's marriage was built around Summer's conception and the marriage is clearly dysfunctional. They had a one-night stand and Jerry took advantage of the pregnancy to marry Beth; also, they had a flat tire on the way to the clinic. The only reason they've stayed together this long is that both are too stubborn to admit their problems and because Beth pities Jerry. While they do show affection for each other sometimes, it's largely overshadowed by their disagreements. On the other hand, multiple instances show that they do ''need'' the other to an extent and in Season 3 when they divorce, both of them sink ''even worse'' into their faults until they undergo enough CharacterDevelopment to work better together.
* BerserkButton: Rick's actions, in general, annoy him but when Beth defends these actions, that drives him over the edge. In the episode "Auto Erotic Assimilation" he and Beth have a nasty argument when Beth tries to defend Rick having an alien locked up in a secret lab he built. Another example is in "The Wedding Squanchers" when Beth and the kids were willing to be galactic fugitives and do whatever Rick wants so that they could have him in their lives.
* BookDumb: In defending his right to continue to call Pluto a planet, he quips that if he can't do so, we might as well burn Galileo at the stake for claiming the sun is round.
* BumblingDad: He's not necessarily a bad dad, but he blurts out a pretty big bombshell in the pilot by telling Rick that Morty has some sort of disability right in front of his own son's eyes (in all fairness, he then gently told Morty that he'd always love him, but he felt the responsible thing was to be honest with Morty so he could take steps to address it instead of just ignoring the problem). In other instances, he's shown to be a pretty effective dad, and the "bumbling" aspect of the trope is better applied to his role as a husband and his ButtMonkey status.
* ButtMonkey: Most likely the biggest example in the show, possibly more so than his son. No matter where he goes or what he does, he never seems to catch a break. Just to give some examples:
** The best day of his life was an alien simulation of life running at minimum capacity, which he never caught on to until Rick broke the illusion.
** Dozens of problem-serving assistants from another dimension couldn't take two strokes off his golf swing after two days of effort, driving them to homicidal misanthropy.
** While trying to reconnect with Summer, complementing her on all that she's achieved, the conversation suddenly veers off the moment he mentions she's got a job and he doesn't, leading to him pleading with her for some money to borrow. In fact, ''that'' was the whole point he was trying to do with her since the beginning of the episode; get her to loan him money.
** Christmas with the family? His parents reveal they're in a three-way relationship.
** In "Mortynight Run", it's revealed one version of Rick made a Jerry daycare if Ricks happen to find themselves with a Jerry they can't just send back home. According to our Rick, Jerrys tend to die quickly if allowed off Earth. The daycare is shown to work based on the fact that Jerrys are all unilaterally easily-controlled simpletons. When prime Jerry gets fed up and leaves (upon realizing that that was always allowed), he comes back in under five minutes because he can't deal with the weirdness around him.
*** Though, in his defense, he is in a city on an unfamiliar planet with no resources, money, knowledge of the language, or any marketable skills. Even the best survivalist would be hard up in that situation.
** "Look Who's Purging Now" sums it up:
--->'''Jerry:''' I'm this entire family's toilet paper.
** Subverted in the comics with the Jerry of Doofus Rick's universe, who is successful in everything he does and can defeat Rick to the point that [[spoiler:he single-handedly conquered the Council of Ricks and enslaved them to conquer other dimensions]].
** Rick doesn't like the man so much that [[spoiler:he apparently plotted a long complicated plan that involved causing a lot of galactic political chaos just so his daughter could be convinced to leave the man from the family]].
** [[spoiler:After the divorce, his ButtMonkey status seems to have grown. The wind keeps calling him a loser and a coyote ate his welfare check over a bag of chips just to make him suffer.]]
** Season 4 actually lessens this to an extent, but it's still present. "Rattlestar Ricklactica" is a very noteworthy example. After floating around aimlessly and hanging onto a flying plane, he finally makes it back to the ground, except he did so by kicking [[MakesAsMuchSenseInContext a flying snake]] wanting to help him with no strings attached into the plane's turbine[[note]]he thought Rick had sent that snake to help him, something Jerry was trying to avoid[[/note]], forcing it to descend low enough for him to land on a tree... while everyone in the plane almost certainly were killed by his actions. He did all this just to prove he could do things by himself.
** Still gets chewed on by Morty when he falls into the SchmuckBait by agreeing to develop an app by Glootie, and later is on a receiving end of a very ''harsh'' and undeserved TheReasonYouSuckSpeech by Summer... but Jerry manages to bounce back from it.
* CharacterDevelopment: His solo adventure with Rick in Season 3 helps Jerry realize that he can't keep using his character flaws as a shield as that actively prevents him from trying to overcome them. [[{{Subverted}} That being said]], when he has to break up with an alien warrior girlfriend, he blames it on his kids rather than manning up and telling her his real feelings. Time will tell where this goes.
** The reason he was able to win back Beth's affections in "Rickchurian Mortydate" was due to having character development. The creators of the show pointed out that instead of taking advantage of Beth when she was vulnerable, he instead reminded her of why they got together in the first place by recreating their first date. Which he wouldn't have done if he was the same as before. Ironically it was due to Rick's influence and actions that forced Jerry to really do some soul searching in the first place.
** Demonstrated perfectly in "The Old Man and the Seat", where he doesn't play up [[DirtyCoward cowardly tendencies]] and tries his best to actually be useful instead of making people feel sorry for him.
** Briefly explored in "Solaricks"; Jerry is [[spoiler:sent back to his original dimension, where his original family are shown to have stagnated and given in to their worst qualities. This makes Jerry realize that his and Beth's temporary divorce was actually a good thing, as it helped him grow and avoid becoming a worse person]].
%%* ClassicalAntihero
* LesCollaborateurs: The Galactic Federation gives him a job at the end of Season Two. The first episode of Season Three has him working in a government office, wearing a government uniform with three metals and a federation armband. He has no idea what his job actually is, though. In an alternative dimension from the comics in which Morty is a universal dictator, Jerry is TheMole in Summer's resistance group.
* CommutingOnABus: This happens to Jerry in Season 3 after [[spoiler:he and Beth get divorced]].
* CoolLoser: Jerry is shown to be this when he gets his act together. This is especially exemplified in WesternAnimation/RickAndMorty vs. Franchise/DungeonsAndDragons where his high charisma points made him more articulate and charming.
* CowardlyLion: He bounces between this and DirtyCoward depending on the circumstances. There are times when his family's safety is in danger that he puts aside his cowardice to save them, like in [[Recap/RickAndMortyS2E7BigTroubleInLittleSanchez "Big Trouble in Little Sanchez]] where he cowers for most of the episode only to take up arms and rescue Beth being held captive by her monstrous counterpart.
* CrazyJealousGuy: Way back in Season 1, his reaction to Beth potentially cheating on him was to go on an unstoppable rampage with the sole purpose of enacting a MurderSuicide with her co-worker. At least this is what he said out loud.
* CrouchingMoronHiddenBadass: It is frequently made clear that Jerry could actually accomplish quite a lot in his life if only he could overcome his many insecurities and apply himself more. This is best demonstrated in "Rick Potion #9" where he takes on the mutant apocalypse -- and wins. Jerry seems to do best when lives are on the line, and miserably the rest of the time. In "Big Trouble in Little Sanchez", despite starting simply trying to cower in a hole, he eventually guns his way to rescue his wife while also thinking up how to deal with the monster version of Beth. During "The Wedding Squanchers" when the Galactic Federation attacks the wedding, he picks up a gun to defend his family. That it was a harmless confetti gun should not count for lack of trying.
** When push comes to shove, Jerry is pretty capable and respectable when need be. This is one of Rick's problems with him. Rather than step up to the plate and take charge (as Rick mentioned in "Pickle Rick", he likes doers), he sees Jerry's attempts at being a wimp not as a sign of vulnerability or weakness; but rather one of manipulation to get others to carry his load. If Jerry could just stop acting like a wimp and step up like they both know he could, Rick wouldn't be such a hardass to him.
* DarkAndTroubledPast: It's implied that Jerry was in a rape situation in the past.
* DeadpanSnarker: He can be as sharp-tongued and passive-aggressive as the rest of his family.
%%* DesperatelyCravesAffection
* DeterminedDefeatist: Despite his cowardice and insecurity, Jerry can be surprisingly driven under the right circumstances.
* DirtyCoward: He tends to be somewhat cowardly in most dangerous situations, having once locked Beth out of the car when they were chased down by a crazed hobo. However, he can be [[FearlessFool doggedly determined]] when he has a goal in mind. On the other hand, when he wants to break up with an alien warrior woman, he tells her his kids are to blame, even though the real reason is that they're moving too fast and he is both slightly racist and sexist. The result is that the woman doesn't just go after Jerry, but she tries to kill the kids too.
* TheDitz: Dimwitted and [[{{Manchild}} childish]].
* DontYouDarePityMe: {{Inverted|Trope}}. He deliberately tries to make other pity him so they can help him in some way. According to Rick anyway, who isn't exactly the most trustworthy judge of character.
* DumbassHasAPoint: Jerry may be a ditz, but he's not wrong in saying that Rick's activities are dangerous and are going to get the family in trouble or that Beth's selfishness and fear over her father leaving ''again'' is the reason she turns a blind eye to his craziness even though said craziness puts the family at risk.
%%* ExtremeDoormat
* FaceDeathWithDignity: For all the whining he does when danger strikes, he can be very calm when death seems inevitable even if the death itself would be terribly undignified and potentially painful.
* FanBoy: Of the movie [[Film/Titanic1997 Titanic]], to the point of dragging his wife to a lame reenactment cruise.
* FatalFlaw: He is insanely insecure. He is desperate for approval and affection, has no spine and at times he rivals Rick in the selfishness department. It's not always played for laughs and it causes problems for other people, including his family.
* {{Foil}}: To Rick. Rick is a sociopathic, brave, and brilliant scientist who the family will go along with despite being aware of his craziness, but despite all that, Rick will give up on things quite often when he personally decides it's too much work (i.e., abandoning Beth when she was a child when he couldn't handle parenthood). Jerry is comparatively noble, a DirtyCoward, a bit of a ditz who serves as the family's resident ButtMonkey despite making good points about Rick's toxic influence, but despite his bad luck is a {{Determinator}}.
* ForWantOfANail
** If Summer and Morty weren't born, he would have a successful (albeit questionably earned) Hollywood career.
** In any timeline where Beth is in danger, he steps up to the plate to save her. "Rick Potion #9" is the only timeline where it has clearly stuck.
* GenerationXerox: He inherits his father's fetish of watching his wife make out with other people. [[spoiler:The fact it's another Beth probably helps]].
* GracefulInTheirElement: Jerry is a total loser in society, partially because he's so spineless that if there's someone to mooch off of he takes no initiative for himself, however when put into a situation where no one else can step up, removed from the modern trappings of society with little or no technology, like post-apocalyptic life or camping, he's a surprisingly competent provider where everyone else flounders.
* GreenEyedMonster: Combined with TallPoppySyndrome. His insecurity leads him to being this. In ''Childrick of Mort'' Jerry teaches a group of people about camping, but the minute one of them builds a house, Jerry becomes angry because he develops something better than a tent. Then when those people ask why another tribe is building a city, Jerry says it's 'because they're bad'. Cue Jerry leading an army to destroy that city. He'd rather destroy somebody else's achievement than making himself into something better.
* GrewASpine: Finally stands up to Rick in the season 3 premiere, putting a Him or Me scenario on the table. [[spoiler:Which is exactly what Rick wanted, cause he knew Beth would choose him over Jerry.]] With that said, [[spoiler:it's played straighter when he firmly tells Beth that whether or not she is a clone, he loves her for the woman she is and not to let Rick determine that]].
* TheHeart: Actually manages to be this on occasion, due to his conflict-averse and overly agreeable nature. In ''Night Family'', it's him cooperating with his night counterpart who turns everything around and establishes an understanding between the two sides.
* HenpeckedHusband: Has a fairly belligerent relationship with his wife. In "Big Trouble in Little Sanchez", Beth's mental image of Jerry is a pathetic worm-like creature that is subservient to Monster!Beth, which even the actual Jerry finds utterly pathetic.
* HiddenDepths:
** In timelines where Summer wasn't born, Jerry made it big in Hollywood as an actor or a writer/director.
** It turns out that he's actually a very skilled camper, his skill being enough to sustain a small population and himself for a week. The lack of any injuries or signs of sickness implies that he was even living relatively ''well''.
** He sometimes demonstrates a level of social savviness that even Rick can't always muster to get people to act how he wishes, bordering on being TheSocialExpert. He's usually too roadblocked by his generally timid demeanor to make effective use of it but even in less than ideal circumstances he can easily gauge people's motives and insecurities to use to his advantage.
* HonorBeforeReason: He insists that Pluto is a planet, despite it being labelled a planetoid by science. Granted, [[spoiler: Pluto actually ''used'' to be bigger, but has been shrinking due to intense resource extraction and the Plutonians are being fed lies to assure them nothing is happening. So, technically speaking, Jerry is still right, but insisting on maintaining it's a planet risks the Plutonians well-being since they don't realize their planet is being used so much it's shrinking.]]
* IncrediblyLameFun: Jerry is easily amused by a lot of extremely mundane things.
** He sincerely enjoys playing basic children's boardgames.
** He likes adjusting the picture settings and inputs on tvs.
** He finds the [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ulz7r_uA6xc "human music"]] in ''M. Night Shaym-Aliens!'' entertaining.
** Even his more conventional interests like golfing and beekeeping are quite dull compared to the sci-fi shenanigans going on around him.
** During ''Night family'', where all others take advantage of their severed nighttime counterparts to aquire useful perks (like building muscle, learning a language or playing an instrument), Jerry... becomes pen pals with his other half.
* InkSuitActor: He looks a lot like his voice actor Chris Parnell.
* InnocentlyInsensitive: He can periodically be condescending towards his family without realizing it, especially saying that [[BerserkButton Beth isn't a real doctor.]] They've been in several fights over this.
* InsecureLoveInterest: Jerry constantly fears that Beth may not truly love him.
* ItsAllAboutMe: Jerry can be very, almost absurdly, selfish at times. For example, in "Look Who's Purging Now", despite Rick and Morty being in clear danger he still fixates on getting attention from Summer continually distracting her, ignoring their peril, and almost getting them killed. Made much worse when it's revealed he wasn't really even trying to reconnect with his grown-up daughter... he just wanted to mooch cash from her. His selfishness can also be seen in "Interdimensional Cable 2: Tempting Fate" when he tries to weasel his way out of donating his penis to a civil rights leader who needed it for a new heart by exposing the leader's heroin dependency to the public instead of suggesting to hold a fundraising event for a synthetic heart and then changing his mind on donating just to improve his reputation with the alien public. When the Galactic Federation [[VichyEarth occupies Earth]] he's too pleased to be employed to care that the planet has become a PoliceState with rights being subverted [[ArsonMurderAndJaywalking and human food being replaced with pills]], all to the displeasure of every other native of plot relevance.
* InsufferableImbecile: His ignorance coupled with his obnoxious and selfish behavior means he'll usually rub someone the wrong way, especially his family. "Something Ricked This Way Comes" exemplifies how his need to be perceived as right makes him ignore his son's reasoning and indulge himself in the praise of a misguided alien species, which turns out to be the alien leader's attempt to continue exploiting his people and resources.
* JerkassHasAPoint: Is the only one to suspect the wedding between Tammy and Birdperson being more than what it looks.
** Is one of the few people to actually see Rick's craziness for what it is earlier, which the rest of the family catches up to slowly.
* JerkWithAHeartOfGold: He is incredibly insecure and even self-serving at times but he does think of his family's best interests, is a well-intentioned KindheartedSimpleton, and has shown to occasionally adapt to his inner strength to save those he loves.
* JustTheWayYouAre: He won back Beth at the end of season 3 because he says he loves her no matter who or what she is. Rick couldn't do the simple gesture, so he did.
* KindheartedSimpleton: He's not exactly a smart guy, but he's rarely rude or unkind to anyone who doesn't antagonize him first. This is the main reason why Beth decides to remarry him by the season 3 finale; [[LoveEpiphany she realizes how incredibly lucky she is to have Jerry, a simple and honest man who still loves her even after all the crap he's been given by her (and the family as a whole).]]
* KnowNothingKnowItAll: {{Subverted|Trope}}. Jerry is very sensitive about how smart he is (which isn't much) and doesn't take people pointing this out very well. Likely the result of having an ObnoxiousInLaws like Rick.
* LargeHam: Occasionally, he can be quite dramatic.
--> '''Jerry:''' If I survive, it'll be without you, and if I die, it'll be on your ass. Merry Christmas, bitch. I AM THE JESUS CHRIST OF CHRISTMAS!
* LikeFatherLikeSon: Comparing them, it's clear Jerry's insecurities, ineptitude, mediocre intellect, and [[BreadMilkEggsSquick hidden reserves of murderous rage]] are shared by Morty. However, Morty is eventually shown to have surpassed Jerry in terms of ineptitude and intellect, likely largely thanks to his time spent with Rick. Though Morty's tendency towards [[AxCrazy rage]] very likely came from Beth's side.
* ManChild: Jerry behaves in a very childish way a lot. This is shown through his wimpy behavior, his laziness in getting a new job after getting fired, and he whines very frequently.
%%* MirrorCharacter
* MisterSeahorse: One of the clips from the first season's opening sequence shows him giving birth. The scene never shows up in the show proper, so we can only speculate how such an event came to pass.
* MundaneUtility: Of all the family members who wield the invisibility belt in the Season 4 finale, Jerry is the only one who doesn't misuse it and instead utilizes its powers to pee unseen when there wasn't a bathroom around and to briefly fight crime with a garbage truck.
%%* NonActionGuy
* NoRespectGuy: Nobody has any respect for Jerry. Least of all himself. Jerry arguably manages the daunting task of making Parnell's other role [[WesternAnimation/{{Archer}} Cyril Figgis]] look manly by comparison.
* OfCorpseHesAlive: To save his family from Phoenix Person in the Season 4 finale, Jerry uses his puppetry skills with [[spoiler:Tammy's]] freshly slain corpse to distract him. While well-intentioned and effective, it can also come across as rather creepy.
* TheOneThatGotAway: In a timeline where he doesn't keep Summer and becomes immensely successful, Jerry still considers Beth to be his true love and has a breakdown over what could have been.
* OnlySaneMan: Where Rick is involved at least. While his wife and children welcome Rick's presence in their lives, Jerry is the only one to recognize and bring up the concerns that having a MadScientist living in the house creates.
* OppositesAttract: Beth is a qualfied veterinarian with a fiery disposition and a thirst for adventure. Jerry meanwhile is a failed copywriter and an ExtremeDoormat whose interests tend to be of the mundane variety.
* OutOfFocus: He has a much smaller role in Season 3 [[spoiler: thanks to his and Beth's divorce]].
* PowerIncontinence: He learns basic telekinesis from an alien warrior near the end of Season 3, but he flubs any act more complex than picking up small objects with his mind.
* {{Pride}}: [[NotMakingThisUpDisclaimer Yes, really]]. When Jerry believes he is in the right, or simply wants to save face, he stubbornly refuses to back down.
** In "A Rickle in Time", when Beth noticed his shirt was on backwards (due to it being removed, cleaned and put back on while they were frozen in time), Jerry hastily claims that he ''intentionally'' wore it that way.
** In "Rattlestar Ricklactica", he insists on hanging the Christmas lights himself without any assistance or supervision, accepting only indirect help from Rick (making him "[[NoGravityForYou floaty]]"). When he ends up floating up into the sky, he adamantly refuses to let anyone save him, believing that he can "prove himself" by surviving all on his own. [[ItMakesSenseInContext He more or less ended up murdering people in a plane crash while doing so.]]
* PutOnABus: ''Multiple times''. [[spoiler: The show's original Jerry was left behind in [[Recap/RickAndMortyS1E6RickPotionNumber9 the Cronenberg Dimension after Rick and Morty 'Cronenburged' it]], and it's eventually confirmed in Season 6 that [[spoiler:our Rick and Morty's second Jerry [[Recap/RickAndMortyS2E2MortynightRun also got lost in a mixup at the Jerryboree]], meaning that as of "Mortynight Run," we are now on our third Jerry.]]
* ReplacementGoldfish: This version of Jerry, who has ostensibly become the “main” Jerry over the course of the series, is actually an entirely different person from the Jerry of the first six episodes of Season 1, who was abandoned in the Cronenberged universe by C-137 Rick. That Jerry actually went on take several [[TookALevelInBadass levels in badass]] as he became a post-apocalyptic scavenger while this Jerry has continued to be… not quite as impressive.
* SensitiveGuyAndManlyMan: Like Morty, he's the Sensitive Guy to Rick's Manly Man. Jerry's response to danger is to run and hide, whimpering all the while. He's also idealistic and openly expresses sensations like fear and pain, albeit mostly when it comes to his own concern. Rick on the other hand leaps into every situation with zero concern for himself or others because he's all out of fucks to give.
* SitcomArchnemesis: His relationship with [[ObnoxiousInLaws Rick]] throughout the show, as they constantly argue and get on each other's nerves, with Beth often caught in the middle. In the earlier seasons, Rick outright hates Jerry and Jerry sincerely dislikes Rick as well, but by later seasons, they start to morph into VitriolicBestBuds, with most of the vitriol coming from Rick.
%%* SmarterThanYouLook
* StraightMan: Which is odd because he's also the dimmest of the main characters. But despite his awkwardness, he rivals Beth as the most normal of the family.
* StrawLoser: He rarely catches any breaks, no one in his family takes him seriously, and his marriage is constantly hanging on by a thread because Summer was an accident. [[spoiler: Later on his wife actually divorces him and he has to move into an apartment in a seedy neighborhood. A wolf even chews up and spits out his unemployment check [[ForTheEvulz just to see him suffer]], and an unseen voice whispers "loser" to him at least twice]]. By season 3, Rick accuses him of actually {{invok|edTrope}}ing this so people would pity him and help him.
* StrongFamilyResemblance: When his parents come to visit the family for Christmas dinner, it's shown that Jerry got ''all'' of his facial features from his father.
* TeenyWeenie: Jerry mentions his "weird little dick" when calling out Beth for her unfaithfulness in "Bethic Twinstinct". Possibly {{subverted}} if we consider Home Beth's point of him being the only one to bring up the words "weird" and "little", thereby making it just a case of Jerry being insecure.
* ThrowTheDogABone:
** The Season 2 premiere has the B-plot end with Jerry successfully performing a romantic gesture for Beth, and the final scene is him being consistently funny enough to put her in a laughing fit.
** The Season 2 finale has him getting a Federation-mandated job after him being nagged for being unemployed for the past season.
** While he still has to admit to his own frailties at the end of it, the penultimate episode of Season 3 has his apartment getting cleaned up by a very attractive alien huntress named Kiara (who has had sex with him a few times by that point), him learning a bit of telekinesis, and then managing to get away with dumping her through what Morty lampshades as a DeusExMachina with a free answering machine thrown in for good measure. Rick also leaves him a friendly message on said answering machine, calling him "J-man" and saying he killed Kiara's ex, who'd been coming to kill Jerry, for him. Then [[spoiler: leaves another message apologizing for having sex with Kiara]].
** The Season 3 finale ends surprisingly great for him. He still has his telekinesis from the previous episode; He and Beth remarry after she finds out how much of a [[BrokenPedestal bad father Rick is]] and that she's grateful that such a "simple" man like Jerry still loves her. Both Morty and Summer, for once, take his side over Ricks, likely due to them losing some respect for him. He is finally re-established as the "patriarch" of the family after Rick angrily admits that he does a better job at it than him. But most notably, Beth defends him when Rick insults him by calling him a "dipshit", meaning that Jerry is finally respected by the family.
** The season 6 opener has him show that, for all the [[ButtMonkey abuse he's gone through]], he ''has'' grown as a person and he's with a family that loves him... at least more than they used to love him.
* TooDumbToLive: At his worst. In "Rattlestar Ricklactica", he decides to put up the Christmas lights by himself, without even having someone to keep the ladder steady for him.
* TookALevelInBadass: In "Rick Potion #9", though it apparently doesn't carry over to the reality Rick and Morty settle down in where the situation that turned him into a badass is resolved (or didn't go far enough for his badassery to happen). In "Big Trouble in Little Sanchez" he is fed up with Beth's perception of him as a meek worm and decides to fight back to rescue her from a monster perception of herself.
* ToxicFriendInfluence: A mutual case of toxic lovers between him and Beth. During a therapy where the couples watch their most negative traits perceived by the other personification kill each other, Beth and Jerry's are co-dependent since his submissive laziness and her aggressive ego fit unhealthily well with the other along with both of them being insecure. Both of them due to genuinely love each other, but it's a very unhealthy relationship of them enabling the other's worse aspects yet relying on the other to function. When the [[spoiler: Season 3 divorce happens, they fall to pieces and their faults nearly ruin them. Eventually, Rick and Morty manage to talk some sense into Jerry and Beth respectably to get some CharacterDevelopment.]]
* UglyGuyHotWife: Downplayed. It's implied he married way out of his league, though Jerry is more average-looking than truly ugly. But this isn't helped by the fact that the father of his wife very much thinks this and constantly reminds him of it.
* UnfazedEveryman: He is essentially surrounded by the family of a MadScientist, whose family pet named Snuffles even outsmarts him. While some of his moments do involve a TroubledFetalPosition, he takes Rick's realities comfortably well, but [[YankTheDogsChain not for very long]].
* UnluckyEverydude: Amongst his whole family which includes a MadScientist, Jerry's skills seem very mediocre on paper, and because of this he gets little respect from others. Rick and Beth (mostly the former) constantly belittle his intellect and spinelessness, and he's rarely the one to save the day when the family is in danger. "Total Rickall" for example has him mostly clinging to parasite-disguised-as-a-lover Sleepy Gary, and he gets stuck in a unseen side plot through most of "Solaricks" [[spoiler:because he's been sent back to the universe he was swapped from]].
* WellDoneDadGuy: Besides his [[InsecureLoveInterest insecurity]] with Beth, he also fears that his children may favor Rick over him. Jerry admits that in inverse to Rick who is so hard to please people treat doing so as an accomplishment, he himself is so easy to please that nobody cares if he is.
* WorshippedForGreatDeeds: For a given value of "great". When Rick tries to build a society for his children with Gaia, he dismisses the unproductive ones. Jerry takes these Ricklets and is revered by them after he teaches them camping, leading to them developing a paleolithic society.
* WoundedGazelleGambit: In "The Whirly Dirly Conspiracy", Rick tells Jerry that he relies on this to get whatever he wants, but this is Rick so it's up for air. By the end of the episode, Jerry rejects going into the house bruised up so he can avoid depending on this tactic. Naturally, Rick briefly compliments Jerry [[HypocriticalHumor before going inside and exploiting the very same trope]].
* YankTheDogsChain:
** Gets one in "M. Night Shaym-Aliens!", when he has the best day of his life but is pulled out right at the best moment by Rick, who reveals it was all just a simulation. It actually gets worse near the end when he tries to use the same "award-winning" pitch from the simulation and is promptly fired over how bad it is.
** He gets yet another one (if you think about it from the perspective of the series) in "Rick Potion #9", when he wins the pure affection of his woman by becoming a total badass in a CrapsackWorld, only for Rick and Morty to completely ditch that reality altogether and return to one where he and Beth are apparently back where they started.
** Yet another one in "Close Rick-counters" where he meets "Doofus Rick", the only person who respects him... who is then taken away by the rest of the Council, and Jerry is mocked by the other Ricks for being friends with him.
** In "The Rickshank Redemption", he gets a great job and loves living in the Galactic Federation. Then Rick destroys the Federation's economy, causing chaos and making him unemployed again. He forces Beth to choose between him and Rick. She chooses Rick.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Summer Smith]]

!!Summer Smith
!!!'''Voiced by:''' Spencer Grammer
[[quoteright:300:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/summer_smith.jpg]]
[[caption-width-right:300:''"Bitch, my generation gets traumatized for breakfast."'']]

->'''Summer:''' It's called "carpe diem" Morty. Look it up.\\
'''Morty:''' ''You'' look it up, you don't-you don't even know what it means.\\
'''Summer:''' That's because losers look stuff up while the rest of us are carp'en all them 'diems.

The daughter of Jerry and Beth, the granddaughter of Rick, and the sister of Morty. Summer behaves the way a typical teenage daughter living in a house with a psychotic grandfather would and is considerably more level-headed than the two combined, but that doesn't mean she lacks her fair share of sass.
----

* BeardOfSorrow: [[spoiler: After outliving both Beth and Summer, Jerry grew out his hair and beard.]]

* BigBadWannabe: [[spoiler:Jerry attempted to team up with Rick Prime and get revenge on Rick. He at first tried to politely decline but Jerry responded by slitting his throat, [[HealingFactor which quickly healed]] and then [[BullyingADragon he shot him twice.]]]]
* CrazyPrepared: Jerry had pre-written a note explaining to Morty that he'd been planning to wait until Morty's back was turned so that he could steal his shit and goes on to say depending on how long Morty reads the note he may think he can still catch up with him. Morty stops reading to chase after him, but then falls into a trap that leaves him hanging upside down, facing another note where Jerry says he thought Morty would've had cooler shit to steal.

* IHaveNoSon: Jerry's last conversation with Morty has shades of this, calling him out for abandoning them [[spoiler:while leaving Beth and Summer to die. When Morty offers to find him a new reality and family, he states that he's at peace with his life as is and that Morty is the sole disturbance.]]

* ManlyFacialHair: Due to the collapse of civilization, Abandoned Jerry let his facial hair grow out, which fits with his more badass nature.

* UnwittingInstigatorOfDoom: In all fairness, [[spoiler:this Jerry is ultimately responsible for his Beth and Summer dying. He stole and destroyed Morty's Portal Gun, which brought the SWAT Ricks, who froze them. All because the gun "stank of Rick" and he wanted to keep Morty with them (and kill the alternate Summer).]]
* WhatTheHellHero: In the Season 6 premiere, Jerry finally calls Morty out on abandoning his family not once, but twice, only coming back the first time to prove a point to Summer and then leaving them frozen. He's especially enraged when Morty says the apocalypse "improved" Jerry.
-->'''Jerry:''' Oh, am I cool enough for you now? ''[chuckles]'' Well, that was easy. It only cost me '''[[PrecisionFStrike fucking]]''' [[spoiler:everything!]]\\
'''Morty:''' Whoa, hey, I-I--\\
'''Jerry:''' You came back and talked about us like we weren't ''people'', Morty! Then you bailed and left us to freeze!\\
'''Morty:''' I was apologizing for that earlier--\\
'''Jerry:''' Your mom and sister '''[[spoiler:died]]''', Morty! And I moved on. From caring. And that is the best deal you will ever get. So ''take it.''

* AbusiveParents: Maybe not abusive but not very good parents. Beth, Jerry and Rick aren't idyllic parents; while they are proven to care for Morty and Summer, this is largely overshadowed by their treatment of them.