You’re the Worst Review: Men Get Strong (Season 3 Episode 4)
You’re the Worst continues its strong third season with a brilliant and extremely smart episode.
While Season 3 Episode 3 was all about Gretchen’s mission to get rid of the responsibility of telling Jimmy that his father has died, on You’re the Worst Season 3 Episode 4, “Men Get Strong,” Gretchen is on a mission to get Jimmy to come to terms with the reality of the news so he can cry about it and then get over it.
Once again, Gretchen is on the lookout for a miracle cure.
Gretchen’s storyline for the first four episodes of this season has involved finding quick and painless solutions to fairly big problems, and it makes one wonder how long she’ll be able to keep up with such decision-making process.
It has also become clear that while she might be open to the idea of taking advice from others (mainly her therapist), she isn’t acting according to the advice she gets, at least not yet. Rather, it feels like she is doing the exact opposite of what she is being advised to do.
Nervous that her perfect Instagram pets cruise will be ruined by Jimmy’s sudden surge of feelings, Gretchen and Jimmy visit sites that could help him to cry. Jimmy, who feels creatively blocked, agrees to join Gretchen on her mission in hopes of getting his creative juices flowing.
Of course, things don’t go quite as they have planned.
A visit to the cemetery and spontaneously attending a “hella sexy” funeral leads up to sex in a mausoleum, and time spent in a coffee shop where fathers do crafts with their children just ends up reminding Jimmy that he is creatively blocked.
It is clear Jimmy’s sudden lack of creativity is connected to his sudden loss, and while by the end of the episode he declares that he has gotten his creativity back, time will only tell if the case really is so. It sure feels like this episode won’t be the last we see of Jimmy coming to terms with the death of his father.
Jimmy: Death doesn’t bother me. I’m not upset by the inevitable. It’s like being upset by the weather. Or by an Irishman proving untrustworthy.
Finally, Gretchen attempts to channel Jimmy’s father to bring out the tears. Hilarious attempts to use British slang and British accent ensue. And while it for a moment seems like Gretchen is able to get Jimmy to feel something, the “feelings” end up erupting as a fart.
Yes, you read that right, a fart.
At that moment, You’re the Worst proves that sometimes fart humor really works.
Jimmy’s lack of feelings toward the death of his father brings up an uncharacteristic surge of emotions in Lindsay, who realizes that she wants her unborn child to feel sad when she dies. Thus begins Lindsay’s mission to find a way to prepare herself for what is to come.
Season 3 has so far focused on Lindsay in extremely interesting ways and “Men Get Strong” definitely continues that trend.
Lindsay: You can’t just have two people in a family, Paul. Name one family that’s two people.
Paul: Gilmore Girls.
Lindsay and Paul attend a parenting course and as a surprise to probably everyone, Lindsay succeeds. Her accomplishments at the course are set to an awesome montage that is kind of reminiscent of cliché makeover montages found from teen movies. Rather than transforming from an “ugly duckling” into a swan, Lindsay transforms from a hot mess into a super mom.
What makes this montage so powerful is the fact that no one really expected this from her, especially not Lindsay herself.
Becca and Todd are also on the course, but rightfully so their presence is overshadowed by Lindsay’s brief success. Hopefully, as Becca and Lindsay proceed with their pregnancies we get to see more scenes of the two. One can only imagine the hilarious mommy and me activities Lindsay and Becca could participate in with their babies.
Lindsay’s success doesn’t last long, but at least the episode manages to prove that Lindsay is not completely hopeless.
Edgar is also attempting to find solutions to his problems and quite proudly tells Lindsay, Gretchen and Jimmy that he has a meeting at the local Veterans Affairs.
Rather than supporting Edgar in his process to recovery, Jimmy jokes about PTSD being called “cowardice” in the first World War. One thing leads to another, and Edgar ends up driving Gretchen and Jimmy around. Later on, he is seen drinking alone rather than attending his meeting.
It seems very likely that Edgar is getting closer and closer towards breaking down.
In addition to farting his feelings away, Jimmy sees items that remind him of his father as his “final test”and ends up coming to the solution that instead of being sad, he should be happy. He is finally free and creatively unstuck. But as the end of the episode suggests, Jimmy’s process of coming to terms with his father’s death is not over.
Stray observations:
- The Instagram pets cruise is mentioned again, which hopefully means that an episode will actually focus on it.
- Vernon drinking beer from a baby bottle is a sight to see.
- The scene at the cafe (and right outside of it) reminds how strange and hilarious representations of children are in this show.
What did you think of this episode of You’re the Worst? Share your thoughts in the comments below!
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You’re the Worst airs Wednesdays at 10/9c on FXX.
Milka Väinämö
Milka is a Master of Arts with degrees in Film, Theatre, and Media Studies. She is obsessed with American sitcoms, ice hockey, pizza, coffee, and all things true crime. Her favorite shows include Parks and Recreation, The Office, Community, Arrested Development, Seinfeld, and The Gilmore Girls.