You’re The Worst Recap: S3E3 “Bad News: Dude’s Dead”

This episode of You’re the Worst asks, when does telling your partner bad news become a moral imperative?  And what does that mean when you have no moral compass?

So, Jimmy’s dad is dead. And this episode is all about Gretchen trying to figure out how to tell him. While a lot of the episode is exaggerated and, to be totally honest, just trying too hard to be edgy, there are some real moments. Mostly, they involve Jimmy and Gretchen’s separate journeys with self-worth. What worth does Gretchen have for Jimmy? What worth does Jimmy have for his family, and ultimately everyone? It’s a lot to ask, and there aren’t really any answers this time.

[Note:  Since most of the episode occurs with all the characters’ story lines intertwined, I’m foregoing the subdivisions this time.]

First, Gretchen ambushes her therapist Justina in a cafe (having discovered her whereabouts via Foursquare) to ask her how to tell Jimmy about his dad’s death. Gretchen worries that the bad news will interrupt her fun life with Jimmy and that she’ll see the “sad, little boy inside him.” And honestly, I’m basically never on Jimmy’s side, but seriously, Gretch? He spent a long time learning to be a supportive partner in the face of your clinical depression. It’s kind of your turn.

You’re The Worst, Screenshot, Credit: FXX

After Justina effectively convinces her that she can’t just not tell him his father died, Gretchen discusses it with Lindsay over craft services from the film set they crash. They first discuss Lindsay’s plan to “incept” herself into loving Paul by repeating it over and over as a mantra. After, all, if she can convince herself she didn’t actually stab him, she can convince herself to love him, right? When Gretchen mentions her plan to tell Jimmy about his dad, though, Lindsay convinces her that it can’t be Gretchen who tells him. She’ll stop being his “fun sex-hole” (more on that later) and become an albatross. So they have to get someone else to tell him.

Cut to Edgar, very obviously feeling the effects of his PTSD; remember, he flushed his medication at the beginning of the season. He’s visibly anxious and visibly depressed, and when Gretchen and Lindsay ask him to tell Jimmy about his dad, he refuses. He can’t go back to that dark place.

Gretchen ultimately decides to take Lindsay’s suggestion to tell him in public, in order to avoid a scene.  She throws a party that serves to bring all the characters together, including Becca, Vernon, and Killian, the sad child we haven’t seen in, like, five episodes. For the second time in the episode, Gretchen tries to tell Jimmy and is ultimately distracted and thwarted by Jimmy’s promise to take her on a “Famous Pets of Instagram Cruise.” They proceed to have a real party, which everyone enjoys except Edgar. He can’t believe they can just get drunk and screw around knowing that someone died.

Desmin Borges (Photo by Greg Doherty/Getty Images)

After receiving compliments from Becca, Jimmy begins to suspect that the party was arranged to keep him from writing his book, so that he would fail. He retreats to his bedroom to pull out his “heckle file,” so he can creatively insult them before they leave. One outdated heckle he pulls from the stack: “Edgar, I liked you better when you were writing and starring in the hit musical In The Heights.” I mean, Desmin Borges does look a bit like Lin-Manuel Miranda.

Vernon ultimately convinces Edgar to break the news, delivering the nutshell wisdom of the episode:  “Delivering tragic news is like a kind of service. Sacrificing your own comfort so they can have the gift of truth:  that is true nobility.” But when Edgar brings up Jimmy’s father, the conversation gets derailed and Jimmy comes to realize that his insistence on his book’s success is about his father. Maybe it’s the fact that his entire family calls him “Shitty Jimmy,” but Jimmy finally admits that he’s trying to prove to his dad that he’s not worthless.

Jimmy goes to call his dad, intending to insult him and lord the book’s sale over him, and Edgar panics because, well, he knows Jimmy’s dad is dead. He runs back up to Gretchen and the others, but before they can figure out what to do, they catch Jimmy leaving a voicemail, addressing his father. Instead of cutting him down like Jimmy planned, he simply ends with, “I sold a book, daddy.”

And this is a shining moment in an otherwise relatively weak episode. Full disclosure – I pretty much never defend Jimmy. I think his characterization is funny, but for some reason I can’t forgive his actions the way I can forgive Gretchen’s. Maybe it’s because I have a deeper connection with Gretchen, or maybe I’ve just encountered pretentious jerks like Jimmy before and can’t stand them. But in this episode, we get to see him for what he really is. We see the over-the-top, arrogant veneer protecting the vulnerable man-child inside.

“If this is about anything, it’s about my need to disprove the notion that at the core I’m just shit.”
– Jimmy

It’s not an excuse; he’s still the worst, obviously. But being treated like “Shitty Jimmy” your whole life doesn’t come without consequences to your psyche. It’s easier to sabotage your relationships, punt on your book proposal for years, and never grow up than it is to face potentially failing at becoming a functioning human.

So, how does it all end? Well, Lindsay declares that her “inception” worked; she loves Paul, apparently. I wouldn’t count on that, though. Vernon advises Edgar to seek help for his issues. And Gretchen finally tells Jimmy about his dad’s death, alone, tearfully, apologizing. And when Jimmy is too shocked to react, she kneels out of frame, the implication being that she’s about to give him a blowjob, despite his stunned silence and grief-stricken expression.

You’re The Worst, Screenshot, Credit: FXX

This last interaction might just be an attempt at comedic juxtaposition, but I don’t think so. Gretchen is at a complete loss for how to truly comfort Jimmy. She can only do the one thing that she knows makes him happy. In fact, much of her interactions with Jimmy indicate that Gretchen sees herself as only contributing to their relationship sexually. She’s concerned about losing her status as “fun sex-hole” as though that’s the highest level she can achieve here. She consistently side-steps real emotional connection in favor of the surface-level satisfaction of sex. And maybe that’s because she feels like she has nothing else to offer. If Gretchen can’t see what else she brings to the table, then these two have a long way to go. But then again, they always did.

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You’re the Worst airs Wednesdays on FXX.