You're the Worst 3.4: Men Get Strong

Chris: I wonder if anybody was actually convinced with all the times Jimmy talked about being fine and robot-like with his lack of sadness over his father’s death because this could be a case of him protesting too much. In the previous seasons, we saw how he’s reacting in different scenarios in regards to his dad. The extreme emotion over his dad sending him a soccer jersey, the one-on-one conversation they had when his dad came to town that seemed to really resolve some issues and finally, when Jimmy had every intention of being angry with him over the phone, Jimmy instead to be adorable and tell his dad about his book being sold. Jimmy is more emotionally connected to his father than he cares to admit which is a running theme for Jimmy throughout the show. Jimmy likes to act like he isn’t bogged down by common human emotion but in actuality, he’s just as emotional as anyone else. So I don’t know if he really believes this death doesn’t affect him but much like the drawer that stuck out in the last frame of this episode, this matter isn’t resolved just yet.

Alexa: This episode is ultimately about the main characters’ inability to deal with their problems. I know the focus is largely on Jimmy confronting his dad’s death - and despite his insistence that he’s happy and free now, that battle is clearly far from over - but I found myself particularly unsettled by Edgar’s downward spiral. He’s always had the warmest personality of the bunch, and we see that starting to slip away the longer he’s off his medication. Jimmy’s emotional journey this episode is interspersed with hijinks, but Edgar is quietly falling apart in the background. He’s not getting the help he needs and he’s not even making an effort to confide in his friends (not that they’re ever very helpful when he does confide in them). But the fact that he’s becoming so withdrawn has me worried that his issues are going to explode in dramatic fashion. And I should have known better than to think Lindsay might actually be serious about trying to get her own life in order. Attempting to make out with random dads-to-be at parenting class is not exactly a hallmark of a great mom.

Joel: Of course Jimmy was going to say that he was ok with his dad’s death. Of course he was going to say that it didn’t bother him, that he has an enlightened view of life and death, that he had no strong emotions about the man. I could have told you from episode one that this was the type of show that had the type of character who would act fine about something like this while hiding it all away deep inside. The fact that we had a whole episode dedicated to Gretchen trying to invoke an emotional response out of Jimmy, while he insisted there was nothing there to invoke is not a surprise to me.

What I did find really interesting though is that for the most part, Jimmy seemed to genuinely believe what he was saying. He wasn’t trying to hide his feelings, or convince himself that his father didn’t have any emotional power over him, Jimmy seemed to honestly feel like he was doing fine. At most he seemed mildly interested, and maybe a bit confused that he wasn’t experiencing any stronger feelings, and he acted as though he might be up for the idea of trying to feel something deeper, but the big thing is that Jimmy truly and honestly, seemed to believe that he was having a genuine reaction, or lack of reaction, to his father’s passing.

Of course we all know that isn’t the case, and the drawer opening back up just a crack was a nice bit of visual symbolism for that moment, but it really says something about the relationship that Jimmy had with his father. We’ve seen Jimmy’s desperation for his father’s approval poke out a few times in the show, but for the most part Jimmy has mashed the relationship down so much that he has literally dulled his own emotions where his father is concerned. This show explores a lot of self destructive behavior that destroys the external relationships these characters have, but Jimmy over the years has damaged himself emotionally to the point where he doesn’t feel what he naturally would be feeling in this moment. Like most actions these characters tend to take, it’s a short term solution that will have long lasting negative consequences though, something that I’m sure will come up again before long.