To shine a light on the frightening dark that surrounds us
"We live together, we trust, blindly. But it's based on what? It's actual madness, willingly living with a wild animal, but one with thumbs who can steal your money and hurt you emotionally."
Try Real Hard
The season starts off strong with a sex scene between Jimmy and Gretchen where they're exploring what it's like to have a real partnership in every situation. Later, when she wakes up she says she'll wash her legs, as oposite to washing her legs every time she takes a shower, and Jimmy expresses his shock. She defends herself by saying she doesn't always have the time, and maybe, he would have finished his book proposal if he didn't spend all that time washing his legs. When he's about to leave she says "I love you" and he freaks out, he says that when he said it he was black-out drunk and it shouldn't count.
Jimmy: I told you from the beginning I don't believe in it.
Gretchen: But you said it.
Jimmy: I might also have said I don't have an opinion on your pubic hair, or that I was gonna help Edgar with his résumé. Doesn't make them true.
We move to Edgar going down on Dorothy, she thinks it's because he wants forgiveness for backing out of moving in with her but it's actually because they have switched his PTSD meds and they affect his performance. So later, after making Jimmy breakfast, he tells him his problem and he tries to help, very reluctantly, by suggesting some kinky stuff, of which he has a very long list, or maybe some simple role playing. But nothing seems to work and Dorothy takes it badly at first but then she says she in it with him no matter what, which is sweet but instead of being happy about that he decides to throw away his pills. I do wonder how unmedicated Edgar looks like, but I'm not sure how much fun it will be to watch.
Lindsay and Paul, on the other hand, are giving the whole family thing a try and he throws away all the stuff he used to do without her which he thinks drew a wedge between them. He says now he'll only focus on her and the baby and the things they can do together, but that means no more fun and Lindsay is not completely ok with that.
Gretchen invites Jimmy to secret reunion show of Sam and the boys, at first he doesn't want to come but he agrees when she tells him there will be free booze. So they go over there early and start getting hammered. He starts asking her questions about her job and how everything works and he's shocked to know someone from the label interviewed her and actually hired her. She asks him why he's suddenly asking so many questions and he says that he is realizing if she hadn't said anything abot her not washing her legs, he would've never known.
Gretchen: So?
Jimmy: So? The unknowable is terrifying Gretchen. That's why humanity explores. To shine a light on the frightening dark that surrounds us. Thus, immediately upon learning that you don't wash your legs, itself unimportant, I'm now thrust into wondering: what else don't I know?
Gretchen: About me? I dated two of the Baldwins. I competed in the U.S. Teen Nationals for show jumping.
Jimmy: In horsery?
Gretchen: Yes, horsery. For ten months I did ink work for a professional counterfeiter. I've never eaten a blueberry. They're doll eyes. Think about it. I can't do a cartwheel. An owl tried to kill me at bible camp.
Jimmy: What?
Gretchen: Big sumb*tch sluiced through the night air, silent as sh*t. I think there's still a scar if you want...
Jimmy: No, no, no, no. What kinds of camp did you say?
Gretchen: Bible camp. See, my real problem was using a headband with a cute little mouse on it.
Jimmy: Gretchen! Are you religious?
Gretchen: No! I consider myself more generally spiritual.
Jimmy is appalled and after a second he realizes she's trying to get him to say the words but he says they will never count when he's drunk. So, defeated, Gretchen goes to meet with Lindsay, Sam and the guys. The girls start talking about their different problems and, after listening to all the drama, Sam tells Gretchen that either Jimmy doesn't love her or he will show her with actions, not words. After that, he tells her they need to talk about business and that she shouldn't publicize it, but when no one shows up they yell at her to get people in there. So she crosses the street to the only pen place: a Latin church when no one speaks English. So she asks to take the stand for a second, the priest offers to translate but she starts speaking fluently in Spanish and invites everyone to the show. Jimmy is amazed that he didn't know she could speak Spanish so he stops her in the street to talk.
Jimmy: We are strangers Gretchen.
Gretchen: Bullsh*t. We know each other.
Jimmy: Well, not really. We live together, we trust, blindly. But based on what? It's actual madness, willingly living with a wild animal, but one with thumbs who can steal your money and hurt you emotionally.
Gretchen: So, what changed? Why are you suddenly so freaked out?
And in that moment she realizes what Sam was talking about, that by asking so many questions he hadn't bothered to ask before he was showing her how much he cared. He tells her that, for him, saying "I love you" is like a verbal contract, a promise he's not yet ready to make.
Gretchen: If "I love you" is a promise, it's just a promise to, like, try real hard. Doesn't mean you can't fail.
Jimmy: It doesn't?
Gretchen: Have you met me? The only way I can stomach any of this is knowing that I can just bail at any time.
Jimmy: We can just... bail?
Gretchen: Yeah. I always have one foot out the door. With everything. Specially with us.
Jimmy: So you might just suddenly bounce?
Gretchen: Any minute.
Jimmy: I love you.
And they hug. It's a very sweet moment and it's also very funny watching Jimmy's relief face once he realized it didn't have to be as big of a deal as he thought. After that, they go watch the show, with all te people from the church and their kids running around, which is very out of place in that type of scenery. When Sam presents the new song "New Phone, who dis?", he calls Lindsay to the stage but she doesn't show up.
So we move to see where she's actually at, and we see she's cooking with Paul, bored out of her mind and starting to despair while cutting mushrooms. For a second I thought she was going to cut off her finger, but instead, she turns around and stabs Paul superficially on the side.
I, for one, am very glad to have this show back, it's just so much fun and so often surprising. I really don't know where everything will go, but I'm very excited to find out. So, what did you guys thought of the season premiere? What do you think will happen next? I would love to read your thoughts.
Note: English is not my first language so I apologize for any mistakes.
