'You're The Worst': The Only RomCom Where You Don't Ship The Main Characters

By Emily Cutler | TV | October 6, 2017 |

By Emily Cutler | TV | October 6, 2017 |

First off, yes, You’re The Worst isn’t actually a rom-com. It only recently, in fact, became an anti-romcom. But it is currently in a position familiar to many a romcom plot. Boy meets girl, boy loses girl, boy tries to get girl back. The point of this season was, theoretically, to show how much Jimmy and Gretchen belonged together. How they have their issues, but always choose to come back to each other. How even with all of the terrible things they do to one another, there’s some small piece of each of them that knows that the other is the only person who they can truly love, and who will truly love them.

And then they went and fucked it up.

I trust that Stephen Falk and company know what they’re doing, and will be able to write this plot successfully. But I’m also having a really hard time imagining a scenario where I want Gretchen to drop old D Boone, and return to Jimmy. Let’s discuss why via the main players themselves.

Jimmy
This one is easy, right? Jimmy left Gretchen on a hillside after asking her to be his wife, and disappeared for three months. He ignored all contact from her during that time, and then tried to reconnect with a super casual “Hey … ” Also, there’s that little bit where he was visibly pleased to hear that Gretchen had not, in fact, moved on from him, but had been hiding out in Lindsay’s apartment. That’s also commonly referred to as “emotional abuse.”

I’m not saying that Jimmy doesn’t get to be with Gretchen because he needs to be punished for the rest of his life. I’m saying that sometimes people commit acts that while forgivable (theoretically) cannot be forgotten within a relationship. Also he’s done literally nothing to address the underlying reasons he ditched the love of his life and enjoys her misery. The only reason he’s even trying to “win” her back now is because he’s jealous of the guy she brought home to rub in his face. Speaking of …

Boone
Resist your first impulse. I know many of you are currently contemplating your “But Boone is too good for Gretchen” comment. But take a hot minute to consider: is he? Here are some facts we know about Boone:

1) He’s sleeping with Gretchen despite the fact that he’s best friends with Ty.

2) He’s best friends with Ty.

3) This guy has clearly cheated before, right? When his ex-wife walked in to find him in a towel, she knew what was up. And that whole “It better not be one of my friends” line is more than telling. I’m generally more understanding of infidelity than the average citizen, but we need to at least call Boone on his being judgmental of Gretchen for believing she was helping him cheat, and being cool with it. Right? You’re no angel, Boone. Cut it with the games.

4) His name is Boone. At least not a plus.

5) Seriously when did you even give Gretchen your phone number, Boone? Was it when you were chasing her out of the wine cellar at Ty’s house? Or being annoyed that you had to drive her home? Or when you were boning her in the back of your car? Or was it when you were telling her about how you definitely can’t bone her again because of your very close friendship with Ty? Could this be a simple oversight on the writers’ part? Possibly. But also people who swear they’re never going to do that one thing again don’t set up communication channels by which to totally do that thing again. Take some responsibility for yourself.

6) I cannot stress this enough, he’s best friends with Ty.

Despite those things, it’s entirely possibly that Boone still is too good for Gretchen. She is, after all, a bit of a hot mess. But let’s really delve in because …

Gretchen
Is. A. Fucking. Boss.

I get it. She’s got lots to work on. There’s her commitment issue, her mostly untreated bipolar disorder issue, the fact that she mostly doesn’t seem to have the actual skills required to be a functioning adult issue, her very recent near nervous break down issue. She’s been busy. And it’s probably not a great idea to get into a relationship so soon after having your entire world destroyed by one blond-haired, British asshole. But she’s slowly making progress.

Think about it. Well before Jimmy bailed, Gretchen was actively seeing a therapist and taking medication. And she’d managed to make a few substantial breakthroughs. Not a “I now realize I have to refrain from social media stalking my therapist and crashing her brunch” breakthroughs, but girl was making progress. Also during her months long Howard Hughes experiment (where a very small amount of crack might have been ingested), she managed to continue seeing her therapist through Skype. Shit, she held down her job while not leaving the apartment for one hundred full days. I’ve known Secretaries of Health and Human Services who couldn’t keep their jobs even with access to private jets.

Most importantly? She stayed long enough to let Boone fight for her. It seems like a small thing, but the steps involved are actually a little complex. Gretchen had to recognize that she has an emotional need that wasn’t being met, acknowledged the role she might be playing in her own unhappiness, and then made herself vulnerable enough to allow someone else to step in and fill that need. That right there is growth, people. And while I think Boone is far from perfect, I think he’s comparatively stable, and can encourage Gretchen to keep growing and improving. Basically, if she’s tricked someone too good for her into being a part of her improvement, I say Gretchen gets it. Now you might argue that Jimmy made similar overtures, and therefore deserves to have Gretchen help him with his recovery. To that I would respond:

I LOVE GRETCHEN FOREVER AND WILL ALWAYS WANT HER TO GET WHATEVER SHE WANTS. FUCK JIMMY. Amen.