This show is just depressing now and none of the characters are remotely likeable. I get that's what they're going for, but it's not really fun to watch three total assholes + Beth and Jerry...be total assholes for 20 minutes.
I'm not sure where you get that impression. Only Rick qualifies as a real asshole, and even then he is now showing some signs of tenderness and internal conflict over having caused the divorce. He is the "rickest rick" and meant to represent true rick on the spectrum of ricks, so they're wanting to show he's not completely irredeemable.
The first episode wiped the slate clean. They wrote the prison ending in S2 in a rush because they couldn't figure out a satisfying finale, so Ep1 is them tidying that up in a brilliant way. S3E2 starts setting up the rest of the season: Beth is wondering if she made the right choice, Summer and Morty will act out while trying to understand the divorce and why it's happening, Jerry will have to learn to be on his own and find his own happiness, Rick will have to evaluate whether he is ultimately bad for the family or not.
The core conflict in R&M is actually a pretty well written story about an average family that is falling apart due to Rick and the personalities of Beth and Jerry. Any adventure they go on is just an excuse to learn more about the characters. Summer taking a lover and rebelling + Morty going on a killing spree doesn't make them assholes, it just makes them kids trying to cope with their parents divorcing. Beth and Jerry have both had moments were they were assholes, but it's never malicious and they represent a deeply flawed relationship - the kind you'd expect to be built around a shotgun wedding. Only Rick crosses into genuinely dark "asshole" territory and even he has shown flashes of caring.
There's more there if you look.
