Also, there's probably mild spoilers and stuff.
You're the Worst is one of the most refreshingly entertaining comedies I've ever picked up and the first three seasons were side-splitting, heartfelt, and totally great. However, much like other memorable comedies before it (The Office, Archer), Season Four is when the cracks start to show. Comedies don't typically build out deep ensembles and once a story with huge plot moments plays itself out (think about the big Jim/Pam moments from Seasons Two and Three of The Office, Archer's breast cancer arc in Season Two, and space-marooning of Barry in Season Three), it's hard for the show to ascend to greater heights or even equal those that were already achieved.
Still, You're the Worst was able to fight regression better than either of the two aforementioned shows, and though there were problems with Season Four, it still delivered a reasonably entertaining string of episodes. With Jimmy having run away from Gretchen after proposing to her, the series' big moment has essentially passed and we're left to deal with the falling action. Unfortunately, the falling action involved the four main characters (Jimmy, Gretchen, Edgar, and Lindsay) largely going their separate ways and rarely winding up in the same place together. You're the Worst works the best when these four (along with Vernon) are in the same place and can play off of each other. The tangent storylines had, at best, mixed results.
Lindsay embarks on a career as a fashion consultant and actually seems to have her shit together for the first time in the series. At times, it can be hard to reconcile Lindsay's occasional perceptiveness in Season Four with how unrealistically stupid she's been in previous seasons, but I guess I can't blame the show for wanting to push her growth. She comes to realize that none of her new co-workers particularly like her (which makes sense) and, unrelatedly, that her mother is the reason that her and Becca (who's been a very weak character this season) are so screwed up. By the end of the season, she commits herself to helping other people and actually sort of succeeds at it. Even if she's always going to be "the stupid one", at least it seems Lindsay is moving away from being the actual worst on a show called You're the Worst.
In complete contrast to Season Three, the Edgar plotlines were boring and terrible. It was evident from the very start that his comedy buddy Max was a piece of garbage, and it was totally unappealing to have jerkish tendencies develop in the man who was previously the show's most likable person. His relationship with Lindsay made sense and was enjoyable, but that aside, nothing made me want to check out more this season than an Edgar story. At the very least, they ended Edgar's season-long arc on a good note. The scenes between him and Jimmy in the finale were great, and the moments of mutual respect between the two seemed earned after all they've been through, both with each other and elsewhere.
Gretchen got a ton of focus this season and much like for the character, the viewing experience was a set of major peaks and valleys. We've already seen Gretchen depressed before, and while her Season Four spiral makes complete sense given what Jimmy did to her, it doesn't feel fresh or interesting. Her relationship with Boone was largely "meh" because Boone wasn't a very interesting character. However, it did lead to the pretty great episode in which she meets Boone's ex-wife. Gretchen's trip to her hometown and re-connection with her old friend Heidi was also stellar, as it became further fleshed out what a trainwreck she is and always has been (and man, those poor high school kids are scarred for life). The best version of Gretchen is when she's with Jimmy. As was shown by the excellent movie theater scene, Jimmy needs her as another voice when chewing out random strangers (honestly, I will never get sick of watching Jimmy and Gretchen simultaneously tell off the people who are unfortunate enough to cross their path). They were apart far too much this season.
Finally we come to Jimmy. I honestly couldn't care less about Jimmy's writing career and I feel like too much of the last two seasons has focused on that. The season premiere, however, in which Jimmy was living in the trailer park community and hanging out with Bert (who might as well have been labeled "The Ghost of Jimmy Future") was truly great. He spent much of the rest of the season working on moving on from Gretchen and his isolation from the rest of the cast didn't serve the show well. Chris Geere is both hysterical and somehow amazing at getting us to feel for such an asshole of a character, but he's at his best when put in situations where he can play off of the other leads. We didn't get enough of that.
Bullet Points
- Poor Killian. Guy can't catch a break in life.
- Vernon was in the background too much this season. Season Three's "The Seventh Layer" is still one of my favorite episodes of the series. I get that his act could wear thin if over-exposed, but in semi-regular doses, he's close to the best character on the show
- Ummm...why is Honey Nutz gone?
- Lindsay popping out of a garbage can a-la-Oscar-the-Grouch was one of the best gags of the season
Season Grade: B+
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