You're The Worst episode 6 recap: Side Bitch

Tonight we get answers. After showing Gretchen sneaking around in the middle of the night for two episodes, You’re The Worst gives us a reason, and no, she’s not cheating. Gretchen drives away, to an off-the-road cliff overlooking Los Angeles and just… cries.

She doesn’t want company. She likes to play Snake on her burner flip-phone. She just wants to cry. Period. And that’s okay.

The whole crying for seemingly no reason thing is not something we usually see on TV, but it’s something people do in real life all the time, whether we want to or not. On the screens, reactions usually have causes. Tears are plot points, not just a realistic portrayal of depression, loneliness, or just a rough day. Maybe we haven’t found out Gretchen’s root of sadness just yet, but in the meantime, You’re The Worst reminds us that it’s totally fine to bawl your eyes out, and you don’t have to explain yourself to anyone. Especially not your live-in boyfriend who doesn’t trust you.

And now, the Worstie rankings.

4. Nope, not the worst. Far from it! In fact… least worst: Edgar

Edgar! Edgar finds requited romance with Dorothy, his improv teacher after he encourages her to stand up to her own improv team. (Yes, dipping your testicles in paint and tea-bagging a piece of pottery counts as sexual harassment.) After Hey, Put That Down Brian breaks up, Dorothy and Edgar go all heart-eyed emoji at one another and prance off into the distance and the end of this episode. Literally, nothing goes wrong for Edgar. His life is swell.

3. Eh, not great, but could be worse: Gretchen

There’s a little bit of Gretchen in all of us and that became abundantly clear in tonight’s episode. She doesn’t want to mediate her rap clients’ counseling due to fake-turned-real rap beef. She doesn’t want Jimmy to go through her top drawer and find her burner phone. She doesn’t want to go to a bar that serves only water. She doesn’t want her boyfriend to follow her into the night. And she certainly doesn’t want him to stick around while she cries.

The final scene of the ep shows Jimmy confronting Gretchen in the car. It goes like this:

Jimmy: What are you doing?

Gretchen: Nothing, just crying in my car.

Jimmy: Is it something I did? So you’re not sleeping with someone else?

Gretchen: No, Jimmy. We’re fine.

Jimmy: Should I leave you alone then?

Gretchen: Yeah, probably.

Jimmy: Okay, see ya. So why’d you bring the phone?

Gretchen: I like to play Snake while I cry.

Jimmy: That’s a classic game.

You’re The Worst has constructed Gretchen as a strong, independent, DGAF woman, who’s complicated and weird. We always knew she was tough, but the last scene in tonight’s episode exposes another layer of depth. We haven’t quite “figured out” who she is, because YTW gets that real life doesn’t let you “figure out” someone just once. No person is just one thing.

Realistic little messages like these are what makes FXX’s bizarre show about classically bad people so excellent and surprising. Gretchen: not this week’s worst.

2. Oof. It gets worse: Lindsay

And now to Lindsay, who doesn’t really know how to be a person. She can’t pay bills. She can’t find her way home. She can’t even cash a check. But she can break her way into her brother-in-law’s safe and steal a bunch of his prescription drugs. Good for you, Lindsay! Cast off those societal norms that pressure us to take care of ourselves and brush our hair and be part of society!

1. Absolute, hands-down, no-questions-asked worst: Jimmy

Ah, Jimmy. We deem him the worst this week for a few reasons. He snoops through Gretchen’s things, assumes she’s having an affair with Ty, the director (wassup, Stephen Schneider?), pretends to be Gretchen texting a dude who turns out to be Sam on her burner phone, and follows her to her secret place.

Sure, Gretchen should have maybe told Jimmy why she was leaving in the middle of the night, but their interaction hammers home the point that neither of these people know how to be in the classic definition of a relationship. And that, YTW devotees, is why they’re so exciting to watch.