You’re the Worst Review: Not a Great Bet (Season 4 Episode 7)
On You’re the Worst Season 1 Episode 7, “Not a Great Bet,” the plot turns Gretchen-centric as she returns home and reconnects with an old friend.
There’s an element to the entirety of You’re the Worst that has been exploring the fractured, tortured psyche of Gretchen, an exploration that has never ceased to find new levels within the character. To that point, a concept that “Not a Great Bet” presents is that not only are we not aware of some of those depths yet, but, also, neither is Gretchen.
Over the past four seasons, Gretchen has always been a character that is well aware of her faults and mistakes as a person and, in one way or another, owns up to them. She is cognizant in the ways that she alienates those around her and does what she can, in her limited way, to lessen that, albeit often unsuccessfully.
To have it be revealed at the end of the episode, by her former best friend Heidi (Zosia Mamet), that there are things about Gretchen that she did wrong unknowingly, almost subconsciously, is an utter gut punch.
The stand-alone episodes on You’re the Worst have always been profoundly sad and this is certainly no different. A main reason this episode and that reveal by Heidi is so effective is it’s the punctuation to Mamet’s muted, disaffected performance throughout the entire episode.
She’s not happy to see Gretchen, nor is she unhappy. Gretchen is simply a presence that Heidi will tolerate as long at it breaks the monotony of owning a skating rink and living in a relatively quiet town. Gretchen isn’t this long-lost best friend for Heidi the way it is for Gretchen.
She simply doesn’t care about Gretchen and hasn’t for a very long time, making their conversation at the end one of the most devastating moments of the entire series.
The most fascinating thing about this episode is that it could conceivably take place in any season of the show. It’s completely cut off from the rest of the show in ways that prior episodes have not been. There’s no talk of Jimmy leaving her or anything happening in Los Angeles, other than bragging that its tacos are amazing.
It’s so wonderfully insular from the plot and doesn’t feel the need to ground itself in a time within the series. It just exists. “Not a Great Bet” gets to examine Gretchen in a new way without it being a direct parallel to Jimmy (although you could certainly tie it back there).
If this episode had existed back in Season 2, this could have been a knock-out shot in Gretchen’s depression arc and feel completely natural. Thankfully, it wasn’t since the audience and Gretchen had been put through the ringer quite enough during that season.
At the same time, this point in the series feels right to have this episode. It’s a chance for Gretchen to look at herself in ways that she never has before and could potentially serve as a significant turning point for her character.
What would be unacceptable, however, going forward is if You’re the Worst attempts to use this as an analogue to Jimmy abandoning her. That’s not what this episode is about and not why Jimmy left her. He ran away because, ultimately, he’s a coward that balked at the idea of commitment.
Gretchen being an unreliable, unknowable person shouldn’t have anything to do that with that and would be a betrayal of what this episode tries to do.
“Not a Great Bet” is one of the series’ best in what was already a terrific season and is showing no signs of slowing down in that regard.
What did you think of this episode of You’re the Worst? Share your thoughts with us in the comments below!
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You’re the Worst airs Wednesdays at 10/9c on FXX.
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Drew Koenig
Drew has an ongoing, borderline unhealthy obsession with pop culture, but with television in particular. When he's not aggressively trying to get out of a perpetual state of catching up, he can be found passionately defending the ending of Lost. More of his online work can be found at The Lost Cause and he also co-hosts The Lost Cause Pod.
One thought on “You’re the Worst Review: Not a Great Bet (Season 4 Episode 7)”
Absolutely fantastic review as always, been reading it ever since I started watching this show. A bit late, but totally worth it. I also noticed how Gretchen, deep down, is a people pleaser. She even kissed an under-age girl just to play along with Heidi’ dare in the series and was even ready to give a BJ to the boy, around the same age.
I think people push Gretchen away, the more she actually tries to fit in and act according to the way they want. And, this coupled up with the epsiode from previous season of her inviting the girls , “Justin, Cory, Heather..” is always a realisation of everyone’s actually growing up and getting their shit slowly but steadily together whereas she isn’t. Gretchen is running away from herself, treating Jimmy like shit because of what he did to her, rejecting her friends help to get better by lying, this episode was a breather to us, or maybe her that she has to stop spiraling downward much more than she already is.
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