you're the worst

The Best Show Is Returning!

Gretchen (Aya Cash) in the fifth season of You're The Worst.
Gretchen (Aya Cash) in the fifth season of You’re The Worst. Photo: FXX

This contains spoilers for previous seasons of You’re the Worst. You’ve been warned.

Last November, two of the most flawed characters on TV (in a non-serial killer way, of course) rode off together in a beat-up old red car. The woman, Gretchen (Aya Cash), was leaving behind the stable boyfriend who asked her to move in; the man, Jimmy (Chris Geere), had just won her back after proposing and ditching her on a literal hill. We were left wondering whether the couple would find eternal happiness together, or if they’ll simply find new ways to torture each other. And thankfully, we don’t have to wait much longer, because You’re the Worst is returning to FXX on January 9.

On Monday, FXX dropped a new official trailer for You’re the Worst’s fifth and final season, and I simply could not be more thrilled. The show is probably my favorite non-British baking television program around — it’s equal parts romantic comedy, screwball comedy, and dark comedy that touches on genuine issues in a real way — and I’ve been waiting to see what happened after that fateful car ride.

In case you aren’t as familiar with the show, let me give you a quick rundown. You’re the Worst centers on Jimmy Shive-Overly, a British writer, and Gretchen Cutler, a music publicist. On the surface, they are the worst. He’s brash and egotistical; she’s rude and uncaring. But the first four seasons of the show take you through the characters’ stories in a way that explains why they are the way they are. Jimmy was teased as a kid and desperately tried to please his dad, who couldn’t care less. Gretchen struggles with clinical depression and could never live up to her parents’ standards.

The show also features Gretchen’s best friend Lindsay — a hilariously daffy character who starts out as a privileged housewife, but summons the courage to leave her boring marriage and take care of herself — and Jimmy’s roommate Edgar, a veteran struggling with PTSD.

I cannot stop binging this show. It’s one of the funniest things I’ve ever seen — particularly when Jimmy brings his list of “heckles” (taunts) to places, or when Gretchen bullies her therapist or declares that she doesn’t wash her legs. It’s also always refreshing to see real-life problems depicted on screen, without being tied up in a nice bow at the end of the half hour. A problem doesn’t arise in one episode and then disappear by the next; if something big occurs, it follows the characters for a normal length of time that it would for a real person. In fact, Gretchen’s depression is actually a major plotline throughout season two (and constantly pops up throughout the next two seasons as well), and when Jimmy’s dad dies, his grief straddles several episodes and informs his (bad) actions.

But at the same time, the show doesn’t get all PSA on us — we see Lindsay terminate the pregnancy she conceived by microwaving her estranged husband’s frozen sperm and impregnating herself with a turkey baster in a matter-of-fact way. The “abobo” (as she calls the abortion) is important for her character’s personal growth; after she nonchalantly finishes her pie, she simply gets it done. It’s simultaneously not a big deal, but also the moment Lindsay becomes independent for the first time in her life.

It’s clear from the season five trailer that we’ll see Gretchen and Jimmy, who are back together and engaged again, tackle commitment and adulthood in the coming season — but in a way only You’re the Worst can: with Gretchen practicing self-love in a wedding dress on a toilet and Jimmy being neurotic about probably everything. I’m so excited that the show is coming back, and I can’t wait for another season of adults acting horribly.

The Best Show Is Returning