Channel Surfing: You're the Worst - "Pilot"

Left to right: Aya Cash and Chris Geere

Welcome to a new column called Channel Surfing, in which I sporadically look at current TV shows and talk about them. These are not ones that I care to write weekly recaps for and are instead reflections either on the episode, the series, or particular moments. This will hopefully help to share personal opinions as well as discover entertainment on the outer pantheon that I feel is well worth checking out, or in some cases, shows that are weird enough to talk about, but should never be seen.

This past Thursday, FX premiered its anti-marriage block with Married and this series that focuses around deplorable people in You're the Worst. Of the two, it seemed like the less successful series based on promos. With continual conversation about sex and insulting each other, there was a desperate sense of familiarity that was very detracting. What fresh material could possibly be achieved from something so banal? Compared to Married, the cast also wasn't that exciting or promising. However, of the two, You're the Worst not only trumped Married, it seems like it will now be among the channel's better series.

For starters, You're the Worst makes no pretensions of what it wants to be. It knows exactly. From the opening frame, it is a spite-filled comedy about terrible people being terrible together. There is plenty of romance and humor based largely from their irresponsible natures. However, the biggest appeal stems from the fact that it is an anti-romantic comedy with anti-heroes that are self-destructive and likely to snort cocaine while sitting in a bathtub. If nothing else, the show excels in being defiantly unique in its stubborn way. It is a little slow and off-putting by nature, but the results have a lingering impact that feel sort of familiar.

FX already has an iconic comedy series that deals with terrible people. While it isn't immediately apparent, It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia is an exact influence on this show's format. Maybe You're the Worst is nowhere near as ribald, but the potential is on par. What racist, offensive, sexist, destructive things will this Freshman series do? Of course, no one so far is nearly as interesting as Charlie Day or Glenn Howerton was in "The Gang Gets Racist," but that show was a lightning bottle of demented glee. You're the Worst has to compete with a network that already has an established brand and needs to do its best to standout. Of course, between the two new series, it does. However, is that really enough?

There's a small portion of the series that feels painfully dated with its offensive technique. There's a reference to British people being gay. There's insults to soldiers. There's a lot of aspects that feel like disarming comments that substitute for character development. While the rudeness wears thin, it eventually paves the way for the second half, which is far more fascinating. It is once these two begin their intermingling romance that You're the Worst actually begins to resemble a show with promise not only to shock, but to entertain.

I feel that more than Married and its safe tone, You're the Worst is going to be divisive immediately. These characters are supposed to be terrible, but it depends on how you can handle a series based around terrible actions. However, there's something refreshing about its approach simply because it is unapologetic in ways that feel raw and could be meshed into a delirious love story that is far more interesting than the unlikable bunch from the ABC series Mixology. There's a sensitivity to the insensitive nature that shines through in the closing scene in which Jimmy (Chris Geere) and Gretchen (Aya Cash) are having the cliche phone call done in some of the more inventive split-screen uses that I have seen on TV this year. It gave me hope that creator Stephen Falk knows what he is doing and creating a perfect, unassuming dissection of romantic comedies in painfully grating ways.
Most of all, the striking note of You're the Worst is its softcore sex scene, which is likely to be the series' reputation for the near future. The scene shows the side of naked breasts and a man near a woman's pelvis while she says "Don't spit on my vagina." For a network with censorship, it is a bold move that breaks itself away from almost every other show to premiere on FX or any other basic cable channel. It is graphic within the confines of the channel and while not entirely that gratuitous, feels like the vulgar flag that will direct audiences to either follow or leave. Even then, there's vulnerable eroticism to it that cuts to the core of these mean spirited characters and allows everything afterwards to have a sense of awe. For those accepting a challenge, try and see how You're the Worst and its vulgarity will take the place of implicit love tropes.
While it was an initially off-putting series, You're the Worst left me with some sort of charm that was possibly dampened by the ineffective Married. Yes, the first episode left a lot to be desired, but there hasn't been a show this confidently defiant in quite some time. Even the great series, like True Detective have a sense of familiarity in their network's context. It isn't as ribald as Broad City, but few shows are. This is worth giving a shot, if just to see what the show's limits are and to see if it does anything inventive with the anti-romantic comedy trappings that it is currently placed in. I didn't love this episode, but it now has me intrigued.