>>91971339Because he's the guy who knows what's best for you. He's your parents, he's your teachers, he's your boss. He refuses this dimension hopping, wish granting, adventure seeking madman out of the notion that you'll get hurt if you follow him.
And you know what? HE'S RIGHT. Remember when Rick abandoned them in their original universe because he fucked it up with Cronenbergs? Remember when was willing to let his family stay on a minuscule Earth to avoid the Feds? Remember when he put a deadly virus in some Cherry Garcia?
Detractors will say something like "Rick is so smart, he can simply fix all those things, he'll always have a plan, etc." Ignoring the Cronenberg incident, yes, Rick is very smart, and seemingly thinks of everything, like how he took down the Federation in the season 3 premiere.
A lot of people want and expect Rick, and all characters for that matter, to have an eventual defining trait. They're either good guys or bad guys. They're heroes (or anti-heroes) or villains. They might be assholes, but always do the right thing in the end. Or they're just assholes.
But Rick is a very flawed person and his affection for his family, along with it his heroism, seems to comes whenever convenient. He seemingly had every intention of staying with Unity and nearly killed himself when she broke up with him. He took the One Free Morty coupon. Hell, in the very first scene he was going to blow up the planet in a drunken stupor. Yes, he turned himself in at the end of season 2, but one can argue it was all a plot to destroy the Feds from the inside. His rant at the end of season 3's premiere very strongly suggests he really is in it for himself, and bends emotions to fit that, such as making Morty believe in him because he likes having him as a sidekick.
Back to Jerry, he cares about his family's safety and stability. He's flawed too, bit of a coward, lacking skills, boring if nothing else. But he has genuine affection.
