You're the Worst Season 2 Episode 1 Review: The Sweater People
Caralynn Lippo
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Wow, I missed You're the Worst.
The first season of this show was very good. I would argue the show took some time to find its footing and figure out where the strengths of the principal cast were in the first few installments. But once the show settled in, the comedy was consistently and fantastically on point.
I'd also argue that You're the Worst Season 2 Episode 1 is one of the best, if not the best, of the show so far. It was an incredibly strong season opener that highlighted all of the great parts of the show.
The series is best when it plays up how off-kilter and uncomfortable Jimmy and Gretchen are being in normal, adult relationships. It's even better when each half of the couple repeatedly misunderstands what the other wants at a given moment, or refuses to be the one to give in and/or back down in a particular situation.
To harken back to season one for a specific example, I immediately think of the episode where Jimmy and Gretchen struggle to find other people to sleep with so that they'll be "even" (on a points system) after Jimmy sleeps with the "Hollywood It-Girl" actress.
"The Sweater People" really took these strengths and ran with them. Some of the funniest moments were when Jimmy and Gretchen were both trying to one-up each other with the ever-intensifying partying.
If I don't get a night off soon, I think my liver is gonna slide out of my body, you know?
Gretchen
It was like an absurd poker game: Gretchen throws down a sexy outfit and promises of "butt stuff." Jimmy sees her "butt stuff" and raises her an entire plate of cocaine.
The cut scenes were also fantastically done. Cut scenes are old hat in most sitcoms or half-hour comedies, but every cut from Jimmy and Gretchen getting trashed to the next morning's aftermath had me laughing out loud.
My favorite part of this show is its refusal to settle things up in a neat little sitcom-y bow for us at the end. It resists learning the lesson that each installment would seem to set out to teach its characters.
The example featured in "The Sweater People" is this: rather than comfortably settling into bed, as they begin to do (into comfortable, apparently boring domesticity) Jimmy and Gretchen immediately back off and flee to their safe haven, the bar.
I'm having a blast. Yeah, I'm peeing blood. And I briefly forgot the word for telephone.
Jimmy
In a more typical sitcom format, this would have ended with Jimmy and Gretchen sharing the begrudging realization that domesticity is maybe sorta okay sometimes. Instead, they stay true to form and resist all suggestions of supposed sweater personhood.
Instead, we end with a hilarious flashback to how Jimmy and Gretchen stole the Zoiddle car while high/stoned/whatever on Belgian, the horse-sterilizing drug.
Meanwhile, on the Lindsay front, we had Gretchen's best friend acting out to maintain some semblance of power over her relationship with Paul. This also led to one of my favorite Paul lines so far.
You're right. She's gonna hate me. I look like a young Roger Ebert.
Paul
Lindsay is, hands down, the worst person on the show. And I love it. She's so delightfully dense, so brash and such a ditz. She seduced Paul, not because she loved him or even wanted to get him back, but just to prove that she could and that he wanted her sexually.
She doesn't deserve kind, troubled Edgar's romantic affections (much in the same way that Gretchen and Jimmy don't deserve Edgar or his made-from-the-heart breakfasts). But it's hard for me to root against them.
Edgar is by far the "best" person on the show, so I just want him to get whatever he wants – though it is almost certainly not the best thing for him.
Paul: Do you even know what love means?
Lindsay: Yeah. I mean, it's like, "Hey, I love you. Smooch smooch. Now go get me some bagel bites."
Lindsay also, horrifyingly, found an old, used (surprisingly large) condom among Paul's things as she and Edgar cleared out his stuff – and she stashed it in the freezer.
I can only imagine what plans she has for that condom later on in You're the Worst Season 2. I really hope she doesn't go through with somehow artificially inseminating herself to rope Paul back in with a baby, but I wouldn't put it past her.
Stray Observations:
- Did anyone else get a Mad Men vibe from the phone salesman's little speech? It seemed to be poking a bit of fun at Don Draper's famous Carousel pitch to Kodak.
- Loved the repeated bit with bagel bites. Gretchen made bagel bites at 5 a.m. when she and Jimmy were drunk, Lindsay refers to bagel bites when she's explaining what she thinks love is to Paul, Lindsay offers Edgar bagel bites. This show is great at themes and symbols that don't seem heavy-handed in the slightest.
- On that note: Lindsay offering Edgar bagel bites is actually kind of a big deal and a good omen for their relationship, no? At least in Lindser-land.
- Can we talk about how excellent the term "Sweater People" is? Another point for Lindsay.
- Gretchen and Jimmy repeatedly forgetting that Edgar has a real job now: hilarious, but also – poor Edgar.
- More Sam, Honey Nutz and Shitstain please! Brandon Mychal Smith's delivery of Sam's completely absurd lines of dialogue is always amazing and perfect. A definite highlight of any episode.
What did you all think of the season premiere? How do you feel about Jimmy and Gretchen's cohabitation? How about Edgar's attempts to form a connection with delightfully terrible Lindsay?
Remember that you can watch You're the Worst online right here on TV Fanatic to catch up on anything you've missed!
Caralynn Lippo is a staff writer for TV Fanatic. Follow her on Twitter.
