So That Happened

By Emily Cutler | TV | February 28, 2019 |

By Emily Cutler | TV | February 28, 2019 |

Spoilers

So … huh. That was an episode. And things happened. To people we’ve come to know. In ways that most people probably didn’t expect.

Huh.

It actually wasn’t an entirely unwelcome change of pace. After last week’s panic attack of an episode it was kind of nice to see how things will play out for people I’m not particularly invested in. But I still wasn’t prepared for a full-on, rape-less, Handmaid’s Tale-esq threesome (I would very much like to highlight the lack of rape in this situation. It clearly makes the scene wildly different from the rape scenes in The Handmaid’s Tale, but I’m not entirely sure what that means. That might be another think piece. I’ll let you know). Also, I don’t want to spend too long talking about if the sex was “weird.” I don’t yuck yums. And if all parties involved are consenting adults, I won’t pass judgment on the kind of sex they engage in.

What I do want to explore though is, like, why? And, like, should we? More importantly, are Becca and Vernon screwing Paul over? Most importantly, is it better if they are or if they aren’t?

Let’s go reverse order on this. It’s clearly better if Becca and Vernon mean it, right? Because outside of Paul’s MRA phase, and the fact that he was willing to ignore all of Lindsay’s shortcomings/unhappiness because he was goddamn determined to stay married to a hot, cool lady, Paul’s not that bad, right? And he deserves to have a family if that makes him happy, right? Also, he already got stabbed in the kidney so I feel like he needs a win.

I also genuinely don’t think Becca and Vernon are screwing him over on this. Not because I’d put it past them to trick their sister’s ex-husband into joining them in a thruple, but because I literally don’t think they had time to plan to make this happen. Paul tells them that he’s going to use another surrogate; Becca confesses because never call a woman’s womb geriatric; Becca then tries to seduce Paul; and Vernon runs in to ruin it by demanding another chance. So clearly not on the same page plan-wise, let alone fully versed in what the other was thinking well enough that they coordinated schedules as to time a suicide attempt precisely when Paul was tricked into showing Becca Venus. Man, there’s a lot going on in that sentence.

So if it seems like Becca and Vernon didn’t plan to have Paul want to become their third, they must actually want it. Which, again, why? And this dissection isn’t because people in non-traditional relationships need to explain themselves, but because almost everyone on this show is a hot dumpster fire at being a human being, which makes their motivations and needs obsessively intriguing to me because I’m broken in that specific way. Becca’s getting the attention she craves from not one, but two men (also the Jilian women cannot be satisfied by only one man), and gets the bonus of feeling more attracted to Vernon because of how secure he is. Vernon gets to be more attractive to Becca (and maybe discovered a cuck fetish), and he gets to assert his manhood by being so confident. And Paul gets to be part of a family, and most likely his own child.

I’ve got to admit, after the third rewatch, I’m kind of into it. You’re the Worst is about the fucked up ways that love can change fucked up people. If a thruple make Vernon, Becca and Paul into a family and happy, my answer to “why?” is sure. At least as long as Lindsay signs off. Team Lindsay forever.