My fingers hurt.
My dad died.
At least you know where he is.
Men Get Strong
The morning after the party Gretchen is trying to figure out how Jimmy feels but when he wakes up he says he doesn't remember a thing about the party because he was drunk.
Gretchen: Okay, seriously, dude. I think you might have a drinking problem. Like, you need to go to church basements and sh*t.
So she tells him again, this time finally sweet and caring but it ends up being a joke, he says he says he remembers everything and he feels perfectly fine, that he feels nothing. Gretchen's relieved and they have breakfast with Lindsay and Edgar who says he has an appointment with the chief of staff at the VA (U.S. Department of Veteran Affairs).
Jimmy: It turns out in World War I, the official term for PTSD was "cowardice", and you were shot for it.
Edgar doesn't look very pleased with the comment and he shouldn't be, because it's not even funny how they treat that particular subject among the characters. This is almost all we'll see of Edgar in this episode since he's only in the background in most scenes but they seem to be building something up, I'm guessing things are going to explode in one way or another but I'm kinda looking forward to the moment when he puts Jimmy in his place. Everyone is trying to make Jimmy feel better but he says he's fine, he feels nothing because Ronny was just a non entity in his life and everything was just the same.
Listening to this Lindsay starts to process a thought as everyone observes mesmerized, which makes for a very funny scene, as she realizes she wants her kid to feel something when she dies so maybe she wants to be a good parent. And so she appoint herself to one of Becca's parenting clases and she brings Paul along.
Lindsay: We have to learn how to be good parents, so that when we're old, they'll take good care of us. Plus, you're so accident-prone. You turned into my knife and it's taken, like, forever for your skin to grow back together.
Paul: You mean heal?
Lindsay: Dogs heal, Paul. Men get strong.
So, in the class they meet with Vernon and Becca and, while the girls start bickering, Vernon asks for Paul's help to steal beers, though I don't know what kind of parenting class would have beer serve to the parents, especially since the mothers can't drink.
Vernon: Yo, dingus, help me gaffle some of this brews. Becca's been a cooze and doesn't want me to drink so I actually pay attention. Anyway, pretend like you got to drop a dook, grab, like, four of them dummies, leave them in the toilet tank for me, Godfather-style. Nothing helps pimp through a dumb baby class like toilet beer.
At first, Lindsay is a bit freaked out by the whole thing but she picks up everything very fast and, while Vernon gets hilariously hammered, she nails every exercise and Becca even tells her maybe she was born to be a mother. And that, of course, is when Lindsay really freaks out. Paul leaves to drive Vernon and Becca home and she stays behind helping Casey (Gabriel Olds), a new dad with a shopping list and no idea what he's doing. He's very thankful and after recently-expert Lindsay gives him a hand they have some beers and a deep conversation, which for Lindsay's storyline is a fresh change, and even the whole show since they tend to do more subtle moments than full-on deep conversations.
She's worried that now all she's ever be is a mother for the rest of her life and is scared that maybe there are other things she's meant to be and she'll never find out. Which is a thought I'm pretty sure many people can relate to. And Casey talks about how, when he split with his ex, he thought he'd never be a dad and suddenly some Asian chick had gotten pregnant and he had a second chance at patenting at 42. Wrapped up in the second-chances talk Lindsay tries to kiss him and he freaks out saying she's crazy, that he like Paul and they'd even agreed to go kayaking sometime, so she runs away.
Somehow they always manage to get Samira Wiley a scene, which is great, as Gretchen goes to see her to tell her she was wrong and finds her talking in the phone mad, with sunglasses and smoking (looking pretty bad-ass), and tells her Jimmy's just fine. Justina tells her that no matter what he says, eventual, he'll have to process his father's death and when he does she's gonna have to be there for him. Suddenly Gretchen has the idea that it might happen on the cruise so she sets up to rush the process by planning a "sadness tour".
When she gets home she finds Jimmy creatively blocked as Killian types his words in the computer, his purpose seems unclear to me yet but it still makes for some funny scenes.
Killian: My fingers hurt.
Jimmy: My dad died.
Killian: At least you know where he is.
So Gretchen asks him to give her the afternoon to help him get it all out and he agrees only because his writing day has been ruined anyways. Edgar plays the chófer to their tour before going to his appointment. They start at the cemetery so Jimmy can pretend one of the graves is Ronny's, but they end up finding a real life funeral, which Gretchen apparently finds "hella sexy". When Jimmy realizes Gretchen is right they end up having sex in one of the vaults. After that they try a paint-your-own-pottery place with parents and kids spending the day together, one of the fathers seems to have trouble with his kid and Jimmy goes to talk to him to see if he can relate but it turns out the kid is just an awful bully, which makes for a very funny scene.
When they leave Jimmy says he actually felt something there and Gretchen's excited about it but she says they have one more stop in the Sadness Tour. They call Edgar for a ride but he says his car broke down, though we only see him sitting somewhere drinking. So, the go on their own to a British pub where Gretchen impersonates Ronny to see if she can get something out, she even looked up some slang words that make the whole thing very funny. Aya Cash's acting was amazing in this scene.
Gretchen: Look at 'at pasty skin, them soft girl hands. The poofy scrote never worked an honest day in his whole miserable, sodding life.
Jimmy: Now, you listen to me, you fat, grey void. Writing is hard! It's actual work. It's a noble, nay, spiritual endeavor that taxes both the brain... Oh, my God. This wretched idea of yours might actually be working.
Gretchen: The feeling? it's back?
Jimmy: yeah, it's coming. Oh, my God. Here it comes...
And then he takes any emotional depth out of it by farting.
When they get home he goes to his bedroom and finds his Ronny's jacket in his closet and he smells it. When Gretchen goes to the bedroom she finds him looking at all his dad's stuff and prepares herself for a long night but Jimmy's actually smiling. He says the feeling they'd been looking all day wasn't sadness, it was happiness, happiness to be free of a burden, and that now he's no longer blocked to write. So Gretchen, relieved, asks him if he wants to go watch TV, he agrees but before they go he puts his father's stuff in a drawer, never to be seen again. But, as soon as they're out the door, the drawer cracks open, a clear sign of things to come.
So, what did you guys think of this episode? Where do you think all this is going? I look forward to reading your thoughts.
Note: English is not my first language so I apologize for any mistakes.
