Chris: I do love the decision to just go all in on this episode. The acting is way over the top to the point of hysterics (cue Edgar jumping off the balcony) and even the soundtrack is far different from the usual and it’s fitting to the horror movie aesthetic. I’ve praised this show many times for the attention to detail and adding little things to enhance the story or mood. For example, I totally missed the little detail in the scene where Jimmy is talking to the publisher lady about the Gretchen situation while being mic’d up, if you look down, you can see Gretchen poke her head out from the staircase below to listen in on what’s going on. Why include that? Because as stated many times, Gretchen can go anywhere which is the whole reason Gretchen took this to 11. Jimmy started this episode by trying to tell Gretchen that she needed to stay downstairs or leave the house. It doesn’t matter how nice he was trying to be while explaining it, the message remained the same plus Jimmy did ruin things by leaving so from that point on, as much as it looked like Gretchen was out of control, she was completely pulling the strings on Jimmy, Edgar and Lindsay as soon as each showed that they were trying to get her out of the house.
Alexa: I wasn’t sure how much I would enjoy this season with Jimmy and Gretchen broken up, but I’ve been pleasantly surprised with the direction it’s going, and this episode is pure gold. The cast has some great opportunities to showcase physical comedy skills they don’t typically get to explore, like Edgar jumping from the balcony, Gretchen poking her head up from downstairs and Gretchen basically becoming the girl from “The Ring.” It’s like the longer they’re all trapped in the house with the remnants of Jimmy and Gretchen’s chaotic relationship the more they start to lose their minds, and I love it. And throwing Sam and Shitstain into the mix was a nice touch. I love that even though they constantly give Gretchen crap (and even though she usually deserves it) they have each other’s backs when it counts, and Jimmy proposing to Gretchen and then abandoning her certainly counts. A scorned Gretchen is clearly the most diabolical Gretchen of all. Her acting crazy then playing nice and sincere then throwing Boone in Jimmy’s face was evil genius. And I have to give kudos to Chris Geere for his performance in the final scene. Edgar and Lindsay serenade Jimmy with a ukulele and he can’t even muster a half-hearted heckle. His prickly exterior has completely fallen away, and he makes it clear without having to say it that he’s truly heartbroken.
Joel: A few seasons ago, we had an episode where everyone was trapped in the apartment because of a marathon that was making traffic terrible. This episode feels like something of a spiritual successor to that episode. Again, Jimmy is trapped in his apartment, this time by the book interview that he thought would be taking place elsewhere, and again, Gretchen is like a time bomb, waiting to explode the situation. (Gretchen actually uses the bomb metaphor herself in this episode.) The episode is set up as a Gretchen vs. Jimmy situation where both are worried about what the other might do at any given moment. Gretchen clearly wants some level of vengeance, but not too much, so that Jimmy can’t retaliate. The situation erupts into a full farce when Edgar is sent to deal with Gretchen only to come face to face with Gretchen as a literal haunting figure of the downstairs. Of course when two volatile forces are dancing around each other, trying to see who will make the first move, eventually disaster will strike and it does at the end of the episode with Gretchen introducing Boone into the mix.
Up until this moment, Jimmy has really been the bad guy in this situation. Jimmy was the one to leave Gretchen on the hill. Jimmy was the one to vanish for three months. And then, when the two of them come face to face at last, Jimmy was the one who couldn’t help but explain why his unjustifiable actions where, in fact, quite justified. At every turn Jimmy has been the villain and Gretchen has been the victim until the final moments of this episode when Gretchen goes on the offensive. For the first time this season, we get a moment where we can actually feel bad for Jimmy and really see him broken. The final scene does a good job of getting us back on Jimmy’s side while at the same time, having Gretchen’s actions feel like a justified retaliation to everything that Jimmy has put her through. While most of the episode pits Jimmy against Gretchen, at the end of it, were not really taking sides anymore, but instead, we’re mostly just sad that they aren’t together.
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