It’s your typical “nice guy wears down oblivious girl” story, but “Born Dead” takes it to its logical conclusion as Paul brings his new girlfriend Amy to the party, by actually showing how that goes down in real life.
Sure, Edgar and Lindsay kiss, but instead of her realizing the right guy was in front of her the whole time and running away into the sunset together, it’s presented here as what it is; a nice guy taking advantage of the vulnerability so very apparent in Lindsay, and the kiss resonates in a bad way. Luckily, Desmin Borges’ earnestness as Edgar means it’s not outright creepy, but had you been abandoned by your parents as a baby and been raised solely by wolves and romantic comedies, this exchange would make you go “Huh?” before you went back to hunting rabbits or something. (If wolves and romantic comedies have, in fact, raised you, thank you very much for reading this review. I’m not sure how you get Internet deep in wolf territory, but kudos to you.) This subversion of romantic tropes is where You’re the Worst really comes into its own, and its effect here is more of a blunt clubbing than a rapier-like evisceration.
On the other side, we see Gretchen’s innate reluctance to grow up, and a stronger insight into what makes Jimmy our surly, cynical protagonist. Jimmy is spurred on by a near crippling sense of loneliness and rejection (that hit ever so slightly close to home) – it’s elaborated on here as he recounts the story of “Shitty Jimmy” to an inexplicably emotional Vernon, and it explains a great deal why it took Becca’s initial rejection to get his creative juices really flowing. What has become apparent, though, is that Sullen-Writer Jimmy is completely at odds with Likeable-Human-Being Jimmy. In the end, it takes the aforementioned quote from Vernon to put him right, but for Gretchen, it takes a reminder of her past to spur her to look toward a future. Her friends show up, all right, but at past 30 years old, they’ve grown up and moved on from her. Except for one, who offers an insight into staying the same all your life. She ends up stealing Gretchen’s stereo, and it should provide the kick Gretchen needs to grow up a little.
There’s no rush, however – You’re The Worst makes no excuses for any of its four central characters, and their open flaws are part of what makes the show and its comedy work. Part of that is down to Stephen Falk’s fantastic writing, too. What we’re seeing here is hopefully the beginning of the end pertaining to this Edgar and Lindsay storyline (though the kiss at the end makes me doubt it slightly), and the beginning of a development that allows Jimmy and Gretchen to move that much closer to being in an adult relationship with one another.