While Jimmy and Gretchen’s relationship seemed fairly secure by the end of last week’s episode, every other romantic pairing on You’re the Worst felt on the precipice of critical changes. All season, we’ve seen Vernon stress out over his impending fatherhood (partly because he became a financial slave to a woman overseas, of course), watched Edgar struggle to try and find his footing in a new, fast moving relationship, and witnessed Paul squirm every time Lindsay came around him and his new lady, all stories headed for their respective climatic points as the finale begins. Appropriately, “The Heart Is A Dumb Dumb” lets everything come together at another classic Becca/Vernon affair, and once the Trash Juice comes out, it’s apparent the proverbial sh*t is hitting the fan.
And yet, “The Heart Is A Dumb Dumb” is a more muted episode than I expected, even though it features all the twists, turns, and last-minute revelations a rom-com season finale always has. Once the Trash Juice came out, it seemed every single relationship was headed somewhere dark, and save for Amy being sent home off-screen, there aren’t any dramatic breakups or speeches to be had here (although there is Level Four Jimmy ranting and raving on the microphone), just Gretchen’s titular quote which encapsulates the complicated nature of love in one poignant moment, which the other 21-plus minutes of You’re the Worst support in the most poetic ways imaginable.
As the title suggests, trying to make sense of ‘love’ is a fool’s game. It causes us to do amazing, short-sighted, meaningful, utterly idiotic things in life, and the more we love someone, the more complicated it gets. As Jimmy notes, he didn’t expect a beautiful girl like Gretchen to come with such dark emotional complexities, just as Becca realizes she’s giving birth with an utter man-child as her husband, and yet both find cathartic resonance in their respective relationships. While Jimmy’s spent the entire season frustrated with his inability to help Gretchen (or her inability to help herself, unable to understand what she’s going through), there’s no denying the joy he feels when she offhandedly comments “I guess it turns out you were able to fix me.” It’s not exactly true, of course, and on some level, Jimmy knows this. However, having that moment of recognition and appreciation stuns Jimmy in such a way that he can only begin to process it by getting hammered drunk.
Like Becca and Paul and Edgar realize throughout this episode (along with their partners, to varying degrees), Jimmy learns what love actually is. It’s not spent in the moments singing Michael Bolton duets, or celebrating what gender their baby is going to be (I’ve been to gender reveal parties; is there anything more self-indulgent?); love comes from challenge, from recognizing the flaws of another person, and accepting them as “part of the package.” You’re the Worst isn’t a modern love story just because it rejects the traditional trajectory of love stories; lest we forget, a love story actually has to believe in love to feel authentic, in ways Hollywood rom-coms never, ever try to achieve. And with “The Heart Is A Dumb Dumb” (and the extraordinary second season as a whole), You’re the Worst offers up the most heartfelt depiction of love and all its complexities I’ve ever watched with the various resolutions to its second season.
Of course, none are more powerful than that last moment. Becca and Vernon opening their cake is a strong one, but it’s countered by Lindsay’s absolute horror at riding in Paul’s side car, pregnant and back in a relationship with a man she doesn’t actually love (even if he can hold a harmony like a boss). However, I couldn’t imagine a more perfect scene to close the season on than the one we got with Jimmy and Gretchen, and while it might be a predictable place for Season 2 to end, how it plays out is touching, inspiring, and, in the spirit of the holiday season, as heartwarming and life-effacing as possible. While sharing a cigarette (a callback to the pilot; remember “these things are expensive?!”) with Jimmy, Gretchen casually mentions that he said something quite “dark” while he was still inebriated, and that she loves him, too. How utterly perfect is that?
Though I’m ecstatic You’re the Worst will be back for a third season in 2016, “The Heart Is a Dumb Dumb” would be a perfect series finale had it turned out to be that way. Edgar realizing love is a war worth fighting, Jimmy and Gretchen admitting they’re in love, Lindsay as unsure as ever, Becca and Vernon coming together in a special moment: there isn’t a beat of “The Heart Is A Dumb Dumb” that feels inauthentic or unsatisfactory, even if there’s nothing that really constitutes a definitive ending. That’s the ultimate beauty of love, after all, isn’t it? Love never ends, or dies: it simply exists – and the longer it does, the more complex its contours become, a beautiful truth “The Heart Is A Dumb Dumb” expresses with hilarious, touching poignancy. What a perfect season finale.
Other thoughts/observations:
- Trash Juice returns!!!
- “No, the baby in my p***y.” Never change, Lindsay.
- One of Lindsay’s “pet names” for Paul: Paul Nye the Science Homo. #burn
- Gretchen trying to kiss Nina is hilarious, though it’s not the most fitting ending for Nina’s character, who played a pretty pivotal role in this second season.
- “Did you wear your booby shirt?” “Of course I did!” Jimmy and Gretchen just get each other, you guys.
- Wait – why does Becca have two microphones?
- Dorothy and Edgar are just adorable, aren’t they?
- Thanks for reading – see you next year for Season 3!
[Photo credit: Byron Cohen/FX]
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