Although technically considered a romantic comedy, “You’re the Worst” is doing everything it can to dismantle the clichés of the genre it occupies, mainly by exploring the very real flaws of its main characters — Gretchen Cutler (Aya Cash) and Jimmy Shive-Overly (Chris Geere). Now in its third season, “You’re the Worst” successfully continues to explore the uglier sides of love even while Gretchen and Jimmy fall deeper into it.
The third season picks up soon after the second season: Jimmy and Gretchen are still focused on the former’s blackout declaration of love, Lindsay (Kether Donohue) is still painfully trying to make her marriage with über-nerd husband Paul (Allen McLeod) work and Dorothy (Collette Wolfe) and Edgar (Desmin Borges) continue to work on their relationship despite Edgar’s issues with his PTSD.
As is so often the case in romantic comedies, conflicts are mostly carried out through conversation rather than actual action. “You’re the Worst” is lucky, then, to have such great conversations; the season premiere’s high point comes when Gretchen monologues a list of things Jimmy doesn’t know about her: “I’ve never eaten a blueberry. … They’re doll eyes, think about it!” Since the cast, both main and recurring, have such great chemistry with one another, they are better-equipped than most to carry the show with their dialogue.
The cast is at their best when they’re together and the fact that they don’t all congregate during the episode makes this season’s opener somewhat less-than-perfect. Lindsay and Gretchen’s friendship, for example, is one of the better parts of the show. To exacerbate Lindsay’s isolation while being with Paul, the season premiere doesn’t put Lindsay and Gretchen together at all. While this has a nice dramatic effect, the episode is nevertheless thrown off balance.
Despite this, “You’re the Worst” introduces its third season with the same humor, romance, ambition and nuance of its first two seasons. The season premiere deftly works to tie up loose ends from the second season’s finale — especially in some truly adorable interactions between Gretchen and Jimmy — while presenting promising arcs for the season to tackle — in some truly troubling moments with Edgar and Lindsay.
Most of all, “You’re the Worst” holds true to its story and characters as it bravely goes to new, hilarious levels of depravity.
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