Like its two main characters Gretchen and Jimmy, FXX's standout comedy You're the Worst doesn't want to play into your expectations.
Originally pitched as an "anti-romcom" which saw two generally terrible people falling in love when they realize, unwittingly or otherwise, they're perfect for each other, You're the Worst has pushed itself season after season to deliver more than is expected. From its critically-acclaimed Season 2, which saw Gretchen (Aya Cash) coming to terms with her clinical depression, to Season 3, which saw Jimmy (Chris Geere) grappling with the loss of estranged, despised father, You're the Worst is constantly using its lens of seeing the world through the eyes of two characters who represent all of our worst instincts to tell a well-rounded yet consistently surprising story. It's one of many reasons You're the Worst made IGN's list of the best shows of 2016.
That's why Season 3's finale cliffhanger -- which saw Jimmy proposing to Gretchen before abandoning her immediately on the same romantic hilltop because she unwittingly said his trigger, "family" -- was the perfect way to catapult You're the Worst into a new season of subverting genre norms. The one-hour Season 4 premiere picks up in exactly the last place you'd imagine, and splits its two halves into catching up with what Gretchen and Jimmy have been up to over the past few months. (Highlights include senior citizens, crack, destruction of lawn ornaments, more crack and a whole lot of '90s pop songs.)
Plenty of shows have followed their core romantic couple after a breakup, though showrunner Stephen Falk is the first to admit that more shows have botched this romcom trope than done it justice. You're the Worst is attempting to do right by its characters by playing into their truths, and allowing them to spiral in the absence of their significant other in a way that feels real within the exaggerated world the show has created.
"We have created a very specific world, and while our characters are very specific and unique and f**ked up, obviously, and selfish, so what would happen if those characters went through this common occurrence?" Falk told IGN. "We've created them in this way that it's going to feel honest, it's going to probably feel shocking, it's going to probably be shocking or weird or unexpected. We went into all of that going what are very believable ways somebody would react to what a sh***y betrayal that was at the end of Season 3. It felt like they would both run and hide like scared little children."
Taking inspiration from the way everything from Cheers and Mad About You to Friends dealt with breakups, the core lesson Falk and his writing staff took was to let these characters sit in the mess they've created. Though Jimmy and Gretchen might not stay apart for long, their reunion isn't going to be easy. And it also won't be resolved with a neat bow, as the impact on the characters who surround them -- particularly best friends/"sidekicks" Lindsay (Kether Donohue) and Edgar (Desmin Borges), whose lives take a surprising upswing while their main character counterparts are struck low.
"It's a dangerous thing to split up an ensemble. At the same time, sometimes it's necessary," said Falk. "We had the opportunity to sit in our mess. We filled our diaper last season. We're making the characters sit in it. They did this. Let's not sweep it under the rug, let's see what happens, let's explore that. Let's see what narrative juice there is, and like real human beings, let's have it reverberate and keep reveberating and stop and come back. Let's watch them have to get out of this and find their way back to each other."
But though You're the Worst might push back against its genre constraints, it also works best when it's confined by them. Gretchen and Jimmy might see other people while they're split up and this breakout might bring out the worst of their Worst, but if this season is setting out to accomplish anything, it's to prove, as Geere puts it, that Jimmy's "never going to be good unless he's with Gretchen." You're the Worst might go the unexpected route to bring its characters together on a more traditional romcom narrative, but this is still at its core a love story about two flawed, relatable and undeniably hilarious characters.
"The purpose is to show an inevitability," Falk said of the function of the Season 4 breakup. "No matter how hard they try to stay away from each other, they have affected each other. They have changed each other's very DNA. Life leaves its marks on you, and people and experiences affect you and literally change who you are and what you're made up of. To ignore that is a fool's errand."
You're the Worst: Season 4 premieres on Wednesday, September 6th at 10 p.m. ET/PT on FXX. Seasons 1 through 3 are currently available to stream on Hulu.
Terri Schwartz is Editorial Manager of Entertainment at IGN and wishes more people were as in love with You're the Worst as she is. Talk to her on Twitter at @Terri_Schwartz.
Aucun commentaire:
Enregistrer un commentaire