You're the Worst Season 2 Episode 8 Review: Spooky Sunday Funday
Caralynn Lippo
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"Spooky Sunday Funday" was all about confronting fears. It even brought out a very real fear in me – the fear that Gretchen and Jimmy might very well break up. OH, THE HORROR!!
You're the Worst Season 2 Episode 8 was marvelous. Season One's Sunday Funday installment was one of the highlights of that season. It featured the beginning stages of Edgar and Lindsay's bond (which, as we know, became a big thing in the show) and was also one of the earliest examples of the fantastic group dynamic that developed among the core four.
This year's Sunday Funday was equally important, if not more so.
Jimmy, being Jimmy, had the idea to plan an epic Halloween-themed Sunday Funday to cheer up Gretchen's foul mood that exposed itself during You're the Worst Season 2 Episode 7. Except oops, Gretchen's foul mood is CLINICAL DEPRESSION and, sorry Jimmy, you can't really fun your way out of that one.
To his credit, if it was possible to "snap" someone out of their mental illness with a really epic day of activities, his Sunday Funday might actually have done it. It was pretty damn awesome!
I've tailored the activities for Gretchen's perverted and morbid tastes.
Jimmy
The day started off with brunch, which featured a "spooky" rendition of the Sunday Funday theme song. You know, in case you had forgotten that Lindsay and Edgar are the most adorable people ever, we got their ridiculous, over the top singing. Digging it.
En route into the costume shop, Lindsay ran into Paul, who proceeded to serve up some harsh truths from the perch of his very faithful Stephen Hawking wheelchair. While Paul's presence wasn't strictly necessary here – literally anyone could have pointed out to Lindser that she gives up too easily, even a passing random stranger child – but his costume was the bee's knees, so his presence was a win in my book.
Lindsay: Why are you in a wheelchair? Did Amy do this to you?
Paul: I'm Stephen Hawking! The famous cosmologist.
Lindsay: A crippled guy does makeup?
Also at the costume shop, Edgar revealed to Jimmy that he'd been abstinent (ostensibly against his well) for a whopping three years, which to Jimmy appeared to be an actual eternity. Chris Geere's giggly horrified facial expression reaction to that news was perfect.
Edgar was concerned about getting too close to Dorothy and having to expose his "ugly" side – the side of him that still struggles with his PTSD. Edgar's relationship with Dorothy is incredibly sweet (as I've mentioned before... frequently) and Dorothy herself is a great addition to the cast. She doesn't feel intrusive at all.
Quick sidebar: SPEAKING OF DOROTHY... Best costume of the night has to go to Edgar's lady. Those Spielberg movie puns were spot on. She is adorable.
[dressed as Steven Spielberg] Excuse me, sir. I don't mean to be too forward but you have caught me with your 'Hook.' You're at the top of my 'Schindler's List.' My loins are 'Terminal'-y always 'The Color Purple' for you. So please, open your 'Jaws' and make out with me. 'Munich.'
Dorothy
Runner up for best costume has to go to Jimmy's Heathstead from Buckle Your Shoes. What a perfectly British made-up character. The recurring joke that no one knew about Jimmy's favorite character and his exuberance about the fictional show took a decidedly significant turn at the end of the episode, but more on that later.
The next stop was a murder tour. The most notable part of the tour was the stop at the site of Biggie's murder. Apparently you can commune with the dead via Ouija board iPad app now. Not even sure why I'm surprised about that.
Lindsay had several great conversations with various side characters this episode that were all hilarious. She vented to both the Biggie impersonator and the haunted house employee playing a Silence of the Lambs Buffalo Bill character.
Faux-Biggie lent an ear, but Faux-Buffalo Bill (who the credits wonderfully refer to as "Buffalo Bob") actually provided her with real advice and effectively snapped her out of her funk. She ended the episode managing to get herself back home by car, get into her house, and get her power turned on. A great day for Lindsay, that's for sure!
After the murder tour, the group stopped in at a Spice Girls drag cover band show. That stop was the least eventful. Thanks a lot, emergency prostate surgery!
The best bit to come out of the Spice Girls stop, aside from Dorothy's Spielbergy-ness, was Edgar's meaningful statement on matters of the head and the heart:
Yeah, but it's not about the jizz in my balls, it's about the jizz in my brain and in my heart. The jizz in my heart, Jimmy.
Edgar
Well said, Edgar.
The last, and most amazing, stop of the day was at the world's most horrifying haunted house. Here was where, as the gang would say, "shit got real." Most intense haunted house ever.
First off, the production value alone during these scenes was incredible. The set that they used, the costumes, the make-up, the special effects – it was all amazing. And legitimately scary!
The major storylines each came to a crux during these high-tension scenes.
Lindsay had her breakthrough thanks to some life-coaching from Buffalo Bill. Dorothy was confronted with the reality of Edgar's PTSD when he beat the snot out of that haunted house actor.
Luckily, those two appear to have a very healthy relationship, so Edgar immediately came clean to Dorothy about his issues and she rewarded him with some haunted house sex! Sex that probably traumatized those two meta-talking haunted house visitors – I mean, nobody wants to see The Situation and Steven Spielberg having sex. Nobody.
Unfortunately our protagonists didn't end the night as successfully as Edgar, Dorothy, and Lindsay did. Talk about heartbreaking.
Jimmy, being Jimmy, was unable to resist giving himself a verbal pat on the back: he told Gretchen about his plan to cheer her up, gleefully admitting to having done the one thing she asked him not to do when it came to her condition. Neither of them handled the situation well. Jimmy ignored Gretchen's specific request because he thought he knew better (also because he loves her) while Gretchen was a little bit too harsh in admonishing Jimmy.
Enter Nina. That gal is going to spell trouble, for sure. Did you see that guilty look that Jimmy had on his face when Gretchen showed up, interrupting his plan of drinking with Nina?
Nina and Jimmy immediately bonded over their shared love of Heathstead, and she was clearly flirting with him (which is weird because if she's seen him at the bar for months, wouldn't she have seen him with Gretchen?!)
It's unsurprising that Jimmy would be attracted to her. She's pretty, she has access to a lot of alcohol, and they have stuff in common. I'm not sure whether they'll really go there with an infidelity storyline, but I'm already steeling my heart against it.
The show, being what it is, can survive the end of Jimmy and Gretchen's relationship. The rest of the cast, and the non-Jimmy/Gretchen interactions between them, are strong enough to sustain the series. Now I obviously hope it doesn't happen, but I was very pleasantly surprised to see this bit of drama crop up that doesn't feel contrived.
Very often shows can't deal with a stable, monogamous central couple because happy and stable typically means there is less drama and therefore less to write about. So they manufacture some drama and throw it in there. But so often, you can tell the drama is just that: contrived. This isn't that.
This Nina wrench makes sense, in the scheme of what's happened between Jimmy and Gretchen so far. It makes sense that he would be drawn to the simpler option when his relationship with Gretchen is becoming frustrating and difficult.
It was shocking to see Gretchen's decision to hide her condition from Jimmy in order to get him to stop trying to fix her, but it was clearly a selfless move and a sign of her love for him. Which kind of makes the whole Nina thing even more painful, doesn't it?
Stray Observations:
- Might've replayed that slo-mo exit from the costume shop several times because it was just that awesome. Maybe. (Yeah... Yeah, I totally did.)
- Tupal killed Biggie, apparently. Yep, that dang Tupal.
- Dorothy's rapid-fire jokey-insulting guesses shtick is funny. She did that during "There Is Not Currently A Problem" when she guessed why traffic was bad, and she did it again here when she faux-guessed Jimmy's costume.
- Jimmy frantically screaming and Gretchen gleefully clapping while Jimmy was being tortured with that mouse was amazing.
- I feel like I need to go back and re-watch the rest of the season to see if Nina appears in the background anywhere. Ugh, Nina.
- And finally, some words of wisdom from meta-talking haunted house dude:
Forget about movies, this is the golden age of television. TV owns.
Haunted House Visitor
Thoughts on "Spooky Sunday Funday"? Was this Sunday as enjoyable as last year's for you? What will become of Jimmy and Gretchen's relationship? Share your thoughts and watch You're the Worst online to catch up on anything you've missed!
Caralynn Lippo is a staff writer for TV Fanatic. Follow her on Twitter.
