You're the Worse 1.7: "Equally Dead Inside"

Chris: Jimmy puts up a front that nothing affects him but, as you can see, he’s desperately wanting to discuss his feelings about his father while still avoiding any notion of actually dealing with those feelings. Jimmy unloads all his feelings and once he realizes Gretchen isn’t listening, he focuses on something else like heckling at a book signing (this is also the birth of Jimmy’s disguise that pops up every once in a while). Gretchen also shows off her inability to properly deal with anyone’s emotions but still desires to make Jimmy feel better. Of course, Gretchen only wants to make Jimmy feel better so she won’t have to deal with his emotions anymore but intent is irrelevant as long as you get the desired end-result, right? The selflessness ends there as both Jimmy and Gretchen flake on Edgar and Lindsay but it’s to our benefit as their chemistry takes off even further with their realization that they’re sidekicks. The irony of that realization is that this marks the moment where the two become main characters and the show becomes an ensemble.

Alexa: “Equally Dead Inside” is an appropriate title for this episode, which reinforces just how inept Jimmy and Gretchen are at dealing with emotions. For Jimmy it’s more about his inability to deal with his own feelings, as he shuts down when confronted with his issues with his father. For Gretchen, it’s painfully apparent that she isn’t comfortable when others express their issues. She doesn’t know how to step into the emotional support role for Jimmy that Edgar once filled, nor is she interested in helping Lindsay navigate her marital problems. Whether it’s because she’s self-absorbed or insecure or, more likely, a combination of both, Gretchen is about as skilled at being there for others as Jimmy is at heckling. And yet, this makes them kind of perfect for each other, but unfortunately not the greatest friends. They ditch poor Edgar and Lindsay so much, but it does give way to the best part of the episode - Edgar and Lindsay’s super meta discussion about being sidekicks.

Joel: When making Seinfeld, the writers had a mantra for the show: “No Hugging, No Learning” basically meaning that they wanted to avoid the sitcom trope of ending the show with the characters talking about what they learned (and often have a big group hug as well.) Much in the same way, It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia has been on the air for over a decade now and the characters on that show aren’t any better people than when the show started (If anything, they’re worse).

So far on this show, we’ve already gotten to see a lot of instances where the good hearts of our two main characters has shined through. We’ve seen them learning to trust, to accept and a tiny bit at a time be better people. Don’t get me wrong, all of that is good, and I want to see a character arc where these two eventually grow as people, but the show is called You’re the Worst for a reason. In this episode we see that character growth happen a bit too much, too quickly. Jimmy suddenly feels like he can open up emotionally to Gretchen, and while Gretchen might feel uncomfortable about that and not like this new aspect of Jimmy, she does know what the “right” way to act is and genuinely seems to want to do the right thing, even if it makes her feel uncomfortable.

Eventually though, the worse nature of both characters gets the better of them. Declaring themselves both “Emotionally Dead Inside” they take what feels like a deliberate step backwards in their relationship. Only this time, it’s a step backwards that makes sense. It’s an overcorrection to something that made them both feel uncomfortable moving forward. The very concept of the show is that these are both people who will make terrible, selfish, easy decisions, and it’s natural to see them both make one here.