Let’s be real here: good people are boring people. That’s nothing against good people—they’re actually preferable, usually—but as a whole, they lack edges.
These same edges, though, make bad people entertaining, and the worst people can be downright hilarious. “You’re the Worst” (appropriately titled) shines the spotlight on what happens when terrible people with a surplus of sharp edges give relationships a shot.
Gretchen and Jimmy’s love story has a classic beginning: smoking outside the wedding of people they hate, discussing the wedding presents they stole. It’s a real storybook meeting.
The beauty of “You’re the Worst” begins with the bar being set this low. Each episode spends approximately 22 minutes dropping it further and further. The second season continues this downward spiral with the assurance that the gang of Gretchen, Jimmy and their friends Lindsay and Edgar, remains as clueless and depraved as ever.
Progress can be slow for Gretchen and Jimmy, and often comes only when they are backed into a corner with no other option. Case in point: Gretchen moves in with Jimmy because she burned down her apartment.The premiere episode of the second season, “The Sweater People,” acts as a metaphor for the show in the wake of Jimmy and Gretchen moving toward domestic bliss.
“The Sweater People” deals with the issue of transitioning from the phase of new-and-exciting in a relationship to the phase where couples trade their former spontaneous ways in for a cozy home, Netflix and a 10 p.m. bedtime.
Out of fear of becoming these “Sweater People,” Jimmy and Gretchen commit to a marathon of partying that includes late nights, drugs and binge drinking until their brains and livers cannot take anymore. A game of partying chicken, the first person to blink—no, pass out—becomes a Sweater Person.
The marathon literally comes to a crashing end when the drug-addled couple wake up in the middle of a forest inside a stolen Google Maps car. Gretchen and Jimmy decide that maybe Sweater People aren’t total losers and an occasional night spent at home can be relaxing. Following this conclusion, the couple decides to stick to clear liquids at the bar that night.
Season two carves out more screen time to flesh out its secondary characters: Edgar and Lindsay, Jimmy and Gretchen’s respective best friends.
The two often act as competing ideologies. Edgar is the voice of reason that encourages Gretchen and Jimmy to stop fighting their relationship every step of the way, while Lindsay is the devil on the shoulder who continually advises them to never go down the path of the traditional couple. Example A: Gretchen said the definition of love is “putting someone else’s needs above yours.” Lindsay’s response? “Ew.”
Lindsay and Edgar’s lives mirror each other. Edgar slowly builds his life from the ground up as a former veteran, while Lindsay’s life crumbles after the failure of her marriage in season one. The two are shoehorned into an awkward romance subplot, one that will hopefully grow in quality as the season progresses.
If last season is any indication, the show’s second season will take some time to blossom. Each episode builds upon the quality of the last while maintaining laughs. The first three episodes of season two show promise and retain the special ingredient that differentiates it from any other comedy on television.
Nearly all shows center around likable people getting better, while “You’re the Worst” focuses on the world’s worst people kicking and screaming against learning anything at all. Much like “It’s Alway Sunny In Philadelphia,” the show proves the worst people make the best comedy.
The raunchiness and depravity of the characters on “You’re the Worst” may not be everyone’s cup of tea, but if you can stomach terrible people doing terrible things, your laughter will sound louder than your disgust.
Worth the Watch: YES.
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