"Life is tough, but it will be over eventually."
As most of you must know, You're the Worst has been renewed for a fifth and final season, and to be honest, I love this show, but I am somewhat relieved, not only because we'll get closure (though for some reason I was sure we would), but because it showed just how much the writers needed a plan and an endgame, since this season seemed one big filler between Jimmy and Gretchen getting back together. Every time there seemed to be some progress, it was swiftly forgotten, I'm still bitter that "Not a Great Bet" was completely ignored in Gretchen's timeline, that episode where she went back home and the writers took the rug from under me as a viewer, suddenly all I thought I knew about her character, a character I've loved for years now, shifted, and that is pure brilliance. So, how come, after that, they choose to forgo any development and let almost every single character in a rut for the entirety of the season? That is simply beyond me.
I have been hopeful throughout, because these writers have given us so much, but the fact that they stretched the Jimmy and Gretchen reunion so much, and the way it was handled... it felt like a wasted season in some moments, like it would have been more meaningful to make it six episodes long and really polish it out, than do this. This is not a procedural, this show doesn't have the luxury of having purely filler episodes that leave you completely empty (and not in a profound way). If there's something that describes this season is "one step forward, two steps back" and the finale, though it tricked us for a second, kept that spirit untouched. I do agree with most people that the show is at its best when Jimmy and Gretchen are together, but that doesn't mean I'm good with it if it means never dealing with their problems like they should.
To tell you the truth, after the finale my last thought was: "Couldn't the episode have ended when Gretchen finally chose herself?" And yes I mean finally, not because she's not selfish in general, but because, even though she does everything in her own interest, she has never considered herself to be worthy of anything good, not really, and her realizing that by the end, looked like actual growth. But, of course, they had to fuck that up. Now, don't get me wrong, she wasn't lying, I think some people thought it was all a lie, but it wasn't, she said to Jimmy that seeing him so sad when she left is what made her change her mind, which means that, even if the breakthrough seemed to be rendered meaningless, her thoughts did take her there and I can only hope that she explores that in the future, and if she's able to do it with Jimmy by her side, even better.
This season seemed to be constantly pointing at the fact that going back to Jimmy would be moving backwards for Gretchen, and I don't like it because no matter how much I can enjoy Boone (or anyone else for that matter), there's just no comparison. So, yeah, endgame was always going to be Jimmy, but I don't want the endgame being her choice to remain the worst and never evolving, in a perfect world I'd like to see a whole season of Gretchen improving herself and then going back to Jimmy, same applies to him, but improving together would be good enough.
Anyway, as you can see, this will be a long review, which is one of the reasons why it took so long, so please bear with me.
From The Beginning, I Was Screwed
The title seemed a lot more fit for Jimmy and Gretchen's relationship, but in this episode, it referred to Edgar and his entire life, which is actually sadder. His story, though relegated to the backstage a bit, once again, was one of the highlights of the episode. The desition to really open up to Max was a hard one, and his relief once he got it all out (and I mean ALL of it), was all the more heartbreaking when Max left suddenly and asked for a different writing partner, Edgar needs better friends, and if anyone deserves to get a happy ending by the time the show is done, it's him.
The evolution of Gretchen's relationship with Boone and Olivia was very fast, in this episode alone she went from almost doing a striptease in front of her to almost being best friends. Now, Boone there was a terrible father but the perfect boyfriend, when she told him making a relationship with him work was hard enough for her and that she didn't know how to behave with a kid, he told her that he had made worse mistakes and to just be herself (now, who would that be? that is the question she really needs to solve first), but I have to say, if the way Gretchen's relationship with Olivia went, is any indication of how Gretchen would be as a mother, I'd love to see that.
Now, Jimmy's story in this episode was utterly useless, he was invited to be at a live taping of National Public Radio's "Tip of My Tongue". And everything goes awry when Lindsay in her "helping spirit" tells the host that Jimmy thinks he has a "tragic look", which makes him humiliate Jimmy in public. Also in her helping spirit, Lindsay, since she's been looking for a sign of who to help, sees herself forced to go bail out Paul who's been arrested for biking under the influence. When she takes him home he confesses he was very excited about the baby and shows her a video diary he'd started to show their child later. So she finally apologizes but he's already asleep.
If we're talking about useless filler, Sam and Shitstain's story takes the cake, it seems Gretchen wants them to collaborate with Ben Folds to diversify their audience, but Ben is (as you must remember) very special, he seems to be an alcoholic and shows up bleeding from a head wound and what seems to be a concussion. And by the end of the episode, Gretchen blows them off to go meet Jimmy at a bar, and when they both go off on a random dude who asks for a stool, sparks fly and they kiss.
Like People & It's Always Been This Way
Gretchen wakes up to an empty bed, and figuring Jimmy left her once more, cries desperately and steals everything from the mini fridge of the hotel. But when she's leaving, she bumps into him, he'd gone to find breakfast for them, he says he just wanted them to spend the whole day together, and there's something so endearing about how excited he is, but he still doens't seem to understand the gravity of what he did, since he thinks apologizing and waiting for her is enough, but he should also be aware of her feeling (things like leavig a note just in case would be simple), so they fight, she says she's clearly too screwd up becasue of what happened, and he says he's sick of feeling bad about what he did, so they go their own ways.
Gretchen once again waits for a signal from the universe and considers the matter settled when Olivia texts her it's taco night. But Linsay is now worried that the little girl will get too attached to Gretchen like she did with "La Bamba dad". So she drops in unannounced to the family dinner to surveil Gretchen, and seeing how much Olivia likes her she decides to warn Boone that her friend is not a solid person, he says he knows that and he likes her anyway, but then Lindsay says she's still not over Jimmy, this does touch on his insecurities, but instead of creating a rift between them, he asks her to move in, and she says yes. She's clearly terrified because this "letting the universe take charge" is leading her down a path she clearly doesn't want to go.
Jimmy spends all day on his own doing all the things he'd planned, but he realizes they're no fun without Gretchen, he feels the entire town is ruined for him and, since he's been offered a multi-book deal, he decides to leave L.A. and go write somewhere else. When he's on his way home, he finds Killian in the street dressed as a mascot, a very funny appearance that surely lightened the episode up (not), he tells him he found his dad who's a drunk and now he works to pay off his debts, his blasé attitude only makes it sadder and brings some awesome dialogue to the episode when Jimmy decides to impart his knowledge about life.
"It's all downhill from here"
Edgar finally gets some closure about what happened with Max and he decides to be his own "main dude" which is healthy but it's not okay that that is his only choice, only because no of the people around him are willing to listen and bear his trauma. Later Jimmy even offers to listen to him more, but they both decide that ship has sailed, which I don't agree with. But in that moment, when Jimmy is thinking about leaving he makes it clear that Edgar would never be a reason for him to stay, and that is heartbreaking, but the way Edgar reacts to that is even more painful to watch.
"Everyone goes away eventually"
Jimmy finally goes home and starts packing, but when he's about to leave, he finds his car on fire, and he sees this as a sign that Gretchen doesn't want him to leave, which is later proven true. So, he decides to go get Gretchen the next day and go for a little road trip (in his burnt car). The nostalgia hits us all where we live and there's a clear air of heartbreak, they get interrupted when she gets a call from Lindsay saying Vernon showed up covered in blood, she wants to cash in on a bet they'd made about when Vernon would kill Becca, but they're disappointed to learn she's alive and they have to kidnap her from a bar to go help her husband.
It seems Vernon, still running on no sleep, which has been made clear throughout the season (the fact that this is the only way he's been used is a shame), dozed off during surgery and killed a patient. He showed up at Jimmy's so the cops wouldn't get him and passed out on the couch. Then, Paul shows up to ask for Lindsay's help, we learn he didn't really believe in the men's rights movement (or so he says) and that he wants to adopt a baby but he needs a letter of recommendation from her. Becca, Vernon, and Paul all start talking about how unhappy they are, so Lindsay figures out a way to "solve" everybody's problems, Becca will surrogate for Paul's baby and he'll pay them, which will be good for the lawsuit, since Vernon had let his insurance expire.
After driving everyone to where they needed to go, Jimmy and Gretchen head to the beach, the talk was actually a very nice one, though they don't really say all they want to say. Later, when he leaves her at Boone's we can see her linger, she turns around waiting for Jimmy to finally fight for her but the car has disappeared, so she goes in to find Whitney and Neil talking to Boone. The encounter with Witney is super awkward and turns even weirder when Jimmy drops in hitting Neil (thinking it was Boone), and, as if that wasn't enough, he blurts out that Gretchen fingered Whitney, which brings Neil to explode and it all turns into a mess. When they leave, Jimmy finally directs his attention to Gretchen and says everything she's been waiting so long to hear, and suddenly Boone just disappears to them, she tells him just how hurt and disappointed she was and it's heartbreaking once again.
"I bought in! After a lifetime of being too goddam scared! And you punished me for it!"
She says they're fools for falling for her since she's unloveable, but they disagree, and she finally realizes that just because her parents always told her she wasn't enough, that doesn't mean she needs to go through life waiting for someone to pick her. She says she's not choosing any of them, she chooses herself, and she leaves with an expression of utter peace. And I wished it had cut to black there, but then, when Jimmy's leaving she jumps in front of his car and hops on. He's clearly happy but also confused, and the fact that she seems to think this automatically means the engagement is still on clearly freaks him out. All I can think is "No, please, not again."
"You looked so sad when I left I realized I now have the power to destroy you, and, why would I give that up?"
That last scene almost makes me dread next season, I love them together but I don't like that, instead of learning to be more open with each other, she plans on manipulating him in some way, or that she seems to think the engagement is back on the table just like that, and I like it even less that he seems terrified of commitment again. None of those things are good to me, I can only hope they did it before they knew season five would be the last, so maybe now that they know, they can fix this mess. All I ask is that actual growth is really on the table for once, I know that if past seasons are any indication, we shouldn't be worried, but this season really got me annoyed by the end, I just hope they take the opportunity to take the show back to its former glory for one last crazy, amazingly written and acted, ride.
"The only person you can truly rely on is yourself"
What did you think of the finale? I look forward to your comments.
