Chris: I enjoyed the final moments of the episode because it’s a true sober look at just how toxic Jimmy and Gretchen can be to the people they come in contact with which is a surprising thing for a comedy show to do. For the first time in the show, the episode’s ending doesn’t look at their quirks in a humorous way but depicts how little Jimmy and Gretchen care about how their actions affect others in their trivial game of trying to get even with each other. We’ve got Edgar, who is essentially YTW’s innocent puppy at this point, stressed over what he should do when he thinks Jimmy is secretly cheated on Gretchen behind her back, poor Venti loses his job after ditching his post for Gretchen, the actress’ career is dragged through the mud and finally, both Lindsay and Becca seem to have revelations about their respective marriages because of all this. I won’t include the bouncer in the list because he seemed pretty alright with how everything turned out, he might miss Gretchen at the very least. Ultimately this episode proves one thing: Jimmy and Gretchen are great for each other, horrible for everyone else.
Alexa: I spent most of this episode wanting to shake Jimmy and Gretchen and tell them to just be adults and talk to each other. They both so obviously wanted to be exclusive, but felt they had to go through the motions of pretending they didn’t because it’s so ingrained in their identities that they shouldn’t want to be “normal” in any way. But I completely agree with Chris about the end of the episode. It was an unexpected with effective touch to actually illustrate that Jimmy and Gretchen’s actions have consequences, that as much as we the audience enjoy watching their shenanigans unfold, their behavior often hurts people. That honesty elevates the show. It allows us to love and root for Jimmy and Gretchen while also confronting their flaws. And have I mentioned that Edgar is such a good friend?
Joel: This episode honestly feels like a step backwards from “Sunday Funday” at least in terms of Jimmy and Gretchen’s relationship. I get that this is the perfect tv relationship to have a whole episode based around “to be exclusive or not exclusive.” I also get that if “Sunday Funday” had come after this then the Ty situation would have been a moot point, but It feels a bit backwards that right after we had an episode where Jimmy all but says “pick me, not him” we have both characters bending over backwards to express how non-exclusive they are. At the same time, flipping the episodes wouldn't have worked either. The possibility of Gretchen going away with Ty right after this episode would have felt just as jaring if not more so. Honestly this is a little bit of the show trying to have its cake and eat it too. You have two moments in the relationship that really, inform the same step forward in the relationship, and trying to do both moments in separate, adjacent episodes didn’t work as smoothly as I think they were hoping.
But if they had to pick just one version of this step forward, and they probably should have, this would have been the version to go with. It’s good enough episode in and of itself, but the final montague elevantes it to a genuine work of art. We’ve gotten to see people react to Gretchen and Jimmy’s terribleness in the moment, as it’s happening, but here, for the first time, we see the far reaching consequences of their selfish behavior. In a single episode, basically a single subject of conversation for these two, they've negatively affected the lives of maybe half a dozen people. There’s also no final joke to snap us out of the darker end to the episode. It just closes out on the heavy feeling of seeing these consequences unfold. The show doesn’t take the easy way out here. There’s no “heart of gold, deep down” moment here. The episode opens up with you laughing at Becca and Vernon for calling Jimmy and Gretchen toxic, but finished the episode by more or less concluding that they were right. Jimmy and Gretchen are toxic people.
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