Back after a near-perfect Season Two, the show did not disappoint.
Season three of FXX’s hit comedy You’re the Worst started off with quite a bang, literally. The first episode, “Try Real Hard,” opens with an equally graphic and hilarious sex scene between our two lovably cynical leads, Jimmy (Chris Geere) and Gretchen (Aya Cash), that rivals their first hook-up all the way back in the pilot. Except, this time, there is no need for them to hide who they truly are since what was supposed to be just a one night stand has actually evolved into a real relationship between the two. Now that they have established that comfort and ease with each other, they can spend time on other couple milestone moments like admitting their true feelings and getting to know one another, all with a healthy dose of sarcasm, of course. This is still You’re the Worst, after all.
All throughout the previous season, the show explored the highs and lows of the quartet’s lives, which culminated in the reveal that Gretchen is clinically depressed and Jimmy drunkenly saying “I love you” to her. When Gretchen absentmindedly says it to him in this episode, he counters with saying that it didn’t count because he was drunk when he told her. So, Gretchen decides to get him drunk again and trick him into saying it while Jimmy tries to get details about her life out of her. This is such a classic exchange between the two that truly shows their progression as a couple while also maintaining that childlike humor (Gretchen reveals she’s never eaten a blueberry because they look like “doll eyes”). It takes Gretchen telling Jimmy that she always has one foot out the door in regard to their relationship for him to admit, soberly, that he loves her.
Elsewhere in the episode, Edgar (Desmin Borges) and Lindsay (Kether Donoghue) struggle with their own relationship milestones too. Edgar, who is now taking medication for his PTSD, finds that it is creating intimacy issues for him and his new girlfriend, Dorothy (Collette Wolfe). In an attempt to spice things up with some roleplaying, Dorothy pretends to be a Millennial who watches Hulu and moved out to LA to become YouTube famous. Hidden in this ironically funny moment is some sincere emotion from Edgar who is tired of taking pills to cure his problems and eventually flushes them all into a toilet. In his mind, even though Dorothy tells him she is in this relationship completely, sexual limitations and all, he believes she is too good for him and will leave him if he cannot perform in bed.
Lindsay spends much of this episode trying to adjust to having her husband Paul (Allan McLeod) back in her life after she impregnated herself using a turkey baster and his sperm last season. Paul has declared his dedication to their unborn child and to Lindsay by getting rid of all his “nerd stuff” (like his recumbent bike) that distanced them and smothering her with attention. Paul needs to take a page out of Jimmy’s book and actually want to get to know his partner. His blindly selfish attempts at bridging the gap between him and Lindsay are evident when he signs them up for one of those recipe delivery services (cheekily called “Red Napkin”) that he, and only he, is totally 100% about. It does not come as a shock when Lindsay stabs him after listening to his professional birding podcast and him go on and on about how many rows are on the average ear of corn. That was a recipe for disaster if I ever saw one.
A huge part of what makes this show so believable and great is that it never sugarcoats each character’s relationships. It fully and boldly proclaims that relationships are hard work, you might end up getting hurt, and that it may not be all you expected it to be. After coming off of a near perfect Season Two, the bar was set extremely high for this episode and, thankfully it did not disappoint. For better or for worse, Jimmy and Gretchen are taking the relationship world by storm. Welcome back to TV, You’re the Worst. We missed you.
You’re the Worst Season Three airs on FXX on Wednesdays at 10pm. Catch up on the first two seasons now streaming on Hulu.
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