You’re The Worst Recap: S3E10 “Talking to Me, Talking to Me”

This week’s You’re the Worst included some major “adulting” for all of its characters – but then got really weird at the end.

The YTW crew has been a little cray-cray lately.  Jimmy’s total rehashing of his professional life, Gretchen’s militant resistance to therapy, Edgar’s ongoing PTSD issues, and Lindsay’s…well, everything – each of our main characters is going through something huge.  But in an interesting turn, this episode sees all four of them working towards adulthood in their own ways.  Even if it got a little hairy at the end.

Gretchen

The biggest change seems to have been with Gretchen.  Up until recently, her foray into therapy has been about simply proving her therapist wrong in any way she can.  But in “Genetically Inferior Beta Males” two weeks ago, Gretchen’s insistence on doing things her way led to a real understanding of what therapy can do for her.

Thus, this episode begins with Gretchen making an honest and real attempt at practicing mindfulness.  I’ve been pretty hard on YTW about Gretchen’s characterization lately – she’s been making some decisions that just seem counter to her personality.  But this doesn’t feel fake.  Based on her realizations about her mother in the past weeks, I think she’s really trying to make a change.  Though, we won’t really know until the next episode, when we see if she’s still trying.

Regardless, she has a lot of false starts and a bit of self-derision over it, but she really does make an attempt.  And it is implied in the end that she starts to succeed.  That is, of course, before Jimmy walks in.  More on that later.

Lindsay

Lindsay’s path has never been straightforward, and this episode is no exception.  In the years to come, this will come to be known as the “abortion episode” – a phrase that strikes fear into the hearts of many conscientious feminists.  Because we’ve seen so few abortion stories, and even fewer that present it as a viable option that doesn’t necessarily cause trauma in women.

But I was never really worried about how Stephen Falk and co. would handle this.  You’re the Worst has never once stayed tame for the sake of an audience.  And I was right to trust them – You’re the Worst joins the ranks of Scandal and Jane the Virgin in regard to a depiction of abortion that does not cause harm in the woman’s life.  No surprise that it was written by a woman, Alison Bennett.

You’re the Worst, Image via FXX

To be fair, Lindsay does question her decision, but only after a deluge of texts from Paul.  She gets sidetracked by an anti-choice protester, who asks her about her “tough decision.”  Lindsay is in the middle of telling her story to her when Gretchen notices and intervenes.  And sure enough, Lindsay is not having second thoughts about motherhood.  She’s just afraid of being alone.

But as soon as Gretchen assures her that she’s got her back, Lindsay is ready to walk into the clinic – supported, in fact, by the protestor, who believes in circumstantial exceptions, including “whatever this is.”  And in the post-abortion scene, Lindsay is completely unbothered.  In fact, she becomes a mindfulness model for Gretchen.  Lindsay isn’t thinking about the abortion she had twenty minutes before or her impending divorce.  She is present in the moment, just living her life.

Edgar

Edgar’s live prospects evolve in this episode too, and quite by accident, in fact.  While at an audition with Dorothy for moral support, Edgar is approached by a comedian who has seen his Dr. Weed videos.  The comedian offers him a job working on a short show for an app.  Edgar accepts ecstatically, but when he tells Dorothy, she privately breaks.

Honestly, I really like Dorothy.  But I wish they would either do more with her or get rid of her.  She hasn’t been in this show enough for me to care about her very much, but this episode in particular has brought out a very interesting side of her.  Basically, she spends the whole episodes passively accepting various micro-aggressions that you just have to learn to deal with as a female actress.  For example, she’s asked to read for a “tired mom” role, despite clearly being in her early-mid thirties at most.  And she just goes along with it, cheerily, because that’s what you have to do if you want to make money in that business.

You’re the Worst, Image via FXX

But her boyfriend’s silly videos catch the attention of one guy with some degree of clout.  And suddenly he’s a comedy writer.  He started doing improve about a year ago and now he’s writing for a show.  Whereas her extensive work goes unrecognized.  And it might hurt less if he hadn’t just told her that he was annoyed by the attention he was getting.

Ultimately, Dorothy’s arc in this episode is super interesting, but I can’t figure out why it’s there.  It doesn’t have anything to do with the real plot line.  And up until now, Dorothy has only really served as motivation for Edgar’s actions.  So I’m definitely interested in seeing more of Dorothy’s struggles.  But unless YTW decides to make her a bigger part of the show, this story line will just seem awkard and out of place.

Jimmy

Jimmy spends most of the episode stuck in the beginnings of a treehouse he built trying to find his new profession.  The ladder falls.  Another cliché.  But he uses it to look at his life from a new perspective.  And he ends up realizing…that he is a writer, but everything else is wrong?

It’s a really weird way to end the episode, for a few reasons.  First, most of this episode is not about Jimmy.  We see Jimmy using tools to work on the treehouse.  Poorly at first, but ever better.  And then we see him decide to be a writer again, just as flippantly as he decided he wasn’t one.

It’s this kind of thing that has made Jimmy, especially Season-Three Jimmy, so disingenuous.  Two episodes ago, pretentious intellectual Jimmy decided to give up the thing he values most – his literary-genius status – to reinvent himself.  It’s out of character, but I’ll buy it.  Sometimes that happens to people.  But to have him flip back almost immediately negates the purpose of this storyline entirely.

You’re the Worst, Image via FXX

If we had had a few episodes of Jimmy struggling to find his place before realizing he really was a writer after all, I could get behind that.  But why have Jimmy decide to reinvent himself if he’s only going to be back where he was two episodes later, with no character development to show for it?  Why have him struggle with his dad’s death, only for him to resent him in the same way he did before?  This is why these Jimmy stories have been ringing so false.  Because whatever Jimmy goes through doesn’t really change him.

So ending the episode with Jimmy questioning all his life choices is a problem.  First of all, because he came to that conclusion, literally, but just standing in a tree for half a day.  Secondly, because two episodes ago, his whole career path was “wrong,” and now it’s not, suddenly.  And finally, because even if he has made the wrong decisions, what effect will the right ones do?  If nothing Jimmy experiences has a lasting effect on who he is, why do we even care what he does?

It’s pessimistic, I know.  Maybe I’m just mad at his insinuation that Gretchen was one of the things that he might have gotten “wrong.”  Because Gretchen is getting her shit together.  Gretchen is becoming an adult in a way that Jimmy never has been.  Gretchen is really trying to get better and figure herself out.  Jimmy just doesn’t seem interested.  So unless he starts trying to be a grown-up in a real way, this relationship could be in dire straits.  Because Gretchen will outgrow that shit pretty fast.