LIVING WITH YOURSELF Review

Article first published as TV Review: LIVING WITH YOURSELF on Seat42F.

Looking at the poster of Netflix’s new series LIVING WITH YOURSELF, you might think you know what the show is. After all, Paul Rudd (Ant-Man) has made plenty of comedies, and many of us know what those are. They’re familiar and amusing, but not usually ground-breaking or particularly memorable. I’m not picking on Rudd here, and I enjoy the genre he works in, but there’s a certain predictability to a lot of that resume. Toss in the clone aspect, and it seems like it’ll contain even fewer surprises, with the duplicate jokes having been done on numerous occasions in the past.

If that first paragraph describes your initial thought, as it did mine, you could not be more wrong. LIVING WITH YOURSELF is a very complex and rich tapestry of a world and story, with characters who go through complicated issues and question their identities. It’s funny, sometimes, but that’s beside the point, as it is so much more than that. Like The Good Place, it makes you think about what it means to be a good person, and this one also gets into motivation, the paths not taken, how experience shapes us, the idea of a soul, being one’s best self, and a lot more.

Rudd is excellent as Miles Elliot, maybe the best role in his career thus far. Or rather, roles, as he plays two versions of Elliot. One has been worn out by some tough things in life, frustrated with his job, and fighting with his wife. The other has the exact same memories, but a fresh body unencumbered by aches, pain, and stress, giving him a totally different viewpoint. He’s the idyllic Miles, the person Miles could be if he started over with a clean slate. It’s interesting just how much an attitude makes a different, but it requires a huge thing like being cloned in order to gain that new attitude. It’s a testament to Rudd just how different these two parts seem despite being essentially the same individual.

The cloning process itself opens up all sorts of questions. The operation is secret and shady, and at least some clients don’t realize the operation involves killing the original human after the copy is made. In Miles’ case, an error causes the death not to stick, and thus the problems are born. These two Miles share one car, one job, one social security number, which isn’t a practical way to live. And they both want that one life. Not to mention, the guys that run the cloning experiment (James Seol and Successions’s Rob Yang) have their own stuff going on.

In early episodes, Miles’ wife, Kate (Aisling Bea, The Fall), seems like the one glaring problem with the show. Not because of anything Bea is doing (or not doing), but because she isn’t developed at all, playing a pretty straight-forward, one-note spouse, the type present in so many shows and films. But by the fifth half hour, which centers on Kate, LIVING WITH YOURSELF proves the final piece of its worthiness by giving Bea a showcase to shine. As soon as her part of the story is filled in, the plot gets even better, really fleshing out the world in a needed way. We quickly care as much about her life as we do Miles, and that makes things so much more satisfying.

Other characters, including Miles’ co-worker Dan (Desmin Borges, You’re the Worst) and sister Maia (Alia Shawkat, Arrested Development) add little bits that will surely pay off, and there is a fair amount of mystery baked in, too. It’s a delightful, engaging mess of a world, one that feels very lived in.

I cannot recommend LIVING WITH YOURSELF enough. This show is excellent, stand-out in a landscape filled with great programming, and has something new to say. Season one is streaming on Netflix now, so go check it out.

YOU'RE THE WORST Has the Best "People"

Article originally published as TV Review: 'You're the Worst' - Season Two Premiere on Blogcritics.

Last summer’s new FX comedy, You’re the Worst, is one of the bright spots of 2015. Although not original on its face (after all, there are plenty of examples of flirty singles sitcoms on television), the show feels fresh and different, perhaps because of the edgy material and the specific personalities of the characters. Its creators don’t seem afraid to change things up, wasting no time in doing so as the second season begins with “The Sweater People.”


When last we’d last seen Jimmy (Chris Geere) and Gretchen (Aya Cash), they’d been forced to move into together because Gretchen’s apartment burned down. This goes pretty much how viewers expect it will. After all, the two people in this couple are afraid of settling down, both because of the commitment factor, and because they don’t want to turn into “sweater people”; they worry about losing themselves. Both of them are the type to put up a front, and because they now must do this every day, the new living arrangement soon wears thin.

I can’t say I was surprised by the Jimmy-Gretchen plot of the first two episodes, but a show doesn’t have to be surprising to be good. You’re the Worst retains is trademark humor, finding ways to delight, bolstered by the terrific performances of both Cash and Geere. I have no complaints about them whatsoever.

However, Jimmy and Gretchen are no longer the most interesting people in the cast (for now, anyway), a shift that started last year and has only magnified itself in the second season. The second fiddles, best friends to the central couple, step up in their own right for both solo stories and a shifting dynamic with the leads. Only a pair of episodes into this run, I think it’s safe to say that You’re the Worst is no longer The Jimmy & Gretchen Show, with sidekicks, but now a program about four people, all equally important.

Lindsay (Kether Donohue) is reeling from her divorce. She still loves Paul (Allan McLeod), but is that because she is fond of the man himself, or because she doesn’t like to let things go? She’s one who doesn’t like to be tossed out of her comfort zone, and while she flirts with going back to her old life, pre-marriage, she isn’t ready to chuck away her new existence, either. When Paul leaves her no choice in the matter, she’s cast adrift. It may result in hilarity, but Donohue reminds us there’s pain to be felt, too, her sad eyes as moving as they are laugh-inducing.

Lindsay does have another option in Edgar (Desmin Borges), but it is far too soon for her to consider that right now. He’s her friend helping her through it, and even when she thinks she’s ready to move on, she’s mostly looking for a hook up, not a husband, and thankfully she’s not self-destructive enough to screw him. While the show doesn’t explicitly reveal why she isn’t interested, it’s probably mostly because she’s blind to things not flashy, which Edgar is not. She’s on a drama trip and he’s too stable, her life raft, not the hunky lifeguard. They both want different things out of the relationship they are building, which threatens to remove even the tenuous hold on stability Lindsay has right now.

In the meantime, Edgar is really coming into his own. He has a job, he’s ready for love, and he’s starting to stand up for himself. He may still leave Jimmy and Gretchen the fixings for their Bloody Mary bar, but he no longer wants to wait around and fix it. That’s completely fair, but because his role has been that of a supporting player, it strands his nearly-helpless friends when he rejects his former role. It’s interesting, and makes the show dynamic.

For these, and a variety of other reasons, I highly recommend You’re the Worst. It’s quality entertainment with complex characters, and it never fails to elicit a chuckle or two in just about every scene. “The Sweater People” and the second episode, “Crevasses,” are both very enjoyable. You’re the Worst begins its second season Wednesday, September 9th at 10:30 p.m. ET on FXX (not FX).

YOU'RE THE WORST Is About "Fists and Feet and Stuff"

Article first published as 'You're the Worst' Season Finale Review on Blogcritics.


FX’s You’re the Worst stars the best four-man comedy team since Seinfeld went off the air. This week’s first season finale, “Fists and Feet and Stuff,” picks up not long after the group had imploded two weeks earlier (last week was mostly flashback), all four of them separate and alone and miserable. It is inevitable that they must come back together, as they all belong together, but the question is how it will happen and what their quartet will ultimately look like.

Becca (Janet Varney) and Vernon (Todd Robert Anderson) throw a party, the vehicle for the reunion. It’s funny that they are the two doing so because they sure want to be included in something, but aren’t a part of the main ensemble in You’re the Worst, nor does it look like they have a core gang of pals. Their wedding is also the setting of the pilot, the place our romantic leads, Jimmy (Chris Geere) and Gretchen (Aya Cash), first meet, so there’s a beautiful symmetry in bringing us back to the kooky, recurring players now.

As viewers may remember, Gretchen breaks up with Jimmy because she finds an engagement ring in his drawer. She is terrified of commitment, and they haven’t been dating that long. She doesn’t feel like she knows Jimmy very well, and she probably doesn’t, though the audience won’t expect Jimmy to make such a gesture, and as one might surmise, it’s actually left over from when Jimmy dated Becca. But while the catalyst for the split may not be anything new, their relationship is a fresh take on the romantic comedy, so they must reunite.

The other two leads, Edgar (Desmin Borges) and Lindsay (Kether Donohue), are also in a bad place. Lindsay has found her sex addiction again, causing her to cheat on her boring husband, Paul (Allan McLeod), and Edgar, despite getting a job, is living in his car. Neither Edgar nor Lindsay are happy with Jimmy and Gretchen, respectively, so it’s all quite a big mess, that of course comes to a head with fisticuffs and secrets coming out and chaos.

At the end of the climax, most of the party-goers leave disgusted not only with the hosts, but also with our central foursome. That’s OK. At least three of them are the worst, as the title indicates, Edgar excepted. But while they may not be right for society at large, they are right for each other. That’s not say they treat one another the way they deserve be treated, but there is love there, and at the end of the day, they will each overcome their failings in order to make things right with their friends. This group can never be apart for long.

One wonders if Lindsay and Paul might reunite. She dumps on him for so long that he’s fully justified in calling things off. But Lindsay has never been good at letting go of things, even those she doesn’t really want in the first place. I could see You’re the Worst trying to get them back together, and I sort of hope this happens. “Fists and Feet and Stuff” dangles the possibility of a Lindsay / Edgar hook up instead, but I don’t think either character is anywhere near ready for that, a possibility best preserved until Jimmy and Gretchen work their stuff out first.

As the episode winds down, Gretchen turns down Jimmy’s offer to live together, only to be forced to take him up on it after burning her apartment down. This isn’t exactly the way things are supposed to happen, but it seems right for the two, an unconventional pair if ever there was one. Would it have taken something on the level of a fire to get them to ever move forward? Might one argue that Gretchen subconsciously started the flame in order to push herself along? One may never know, but it doesn’t matter. The last shot, their faces full of dread as the fantastic theme song starts up again, is ripe with promise. What matters is we get to see them take this messed up relationship to a whole new level, assuming the series is renewed, which I sure hope happens.

You’re the Worst is excellent from start to finish, without a single bad episode in the ten-week run. It is funny and smart and fresh, each half hour providing rich characters and new twists on classic situations. It’s hard to do the rom-com in any way that doesn’t seem tired these days, unless it just oozes charm and cheese, but You’re the Worst manages it. It may be called You’re the Worst, but it’s kind of the best.

YOU'RE THE WORST Is Actually the Best

Article originally written for Seat42F.

FX has a new sitcom called YOU’RE THE WORST. As the phrase suggests, the show follows two people who many would consider ‘the worst’ for their self-involvement and lack of consideration for others. Neither has had much luck in the romance department, but a no-strings hook up at a wedding quickly leads to the possibility of something more when both are forced to admit a growing attraction to one another and the possibility that they want a significant other in their lives.

The cast is headed by Chris Geere (Waterloo Road) as Jimmy and Aya Cash (Traffic Light) as Gretchen, two wonderfully funny actors in the roles mentioned above. Both have a charm about them that transcends their poor behavior, letting viewers in on why someone might be drawn to them, despite their many readily apparent flaws. They aren’t bad people; they just haven’t had a reason to grow up yet until they find each other. Thus, they are both on a journey of self-improvement in conjunction with the beginnings of a real relationship, and their similarities mean they can chart their own path in this, not forced to unnecessarily change for somebody that wouldn’t appreciate the way they are.

YOU’RE THE WORST is obviously not a traditional love story. It starts with obnoxious behavior and never quite escapes that pattern. Whether it involves telling off a bride on her wedding day or ‘borrowing’ a car from someone you barely know without permission, neither Jimmy nor Gretchen would fit into the mold of what audiences have come to expect from a romantic comedy. So because the story, by necessity, must veer off into a course other than the time-worn one, it allows the writers the freedom to explore different things than you would find in your basic ninety-minute rom-com.

What this means, most obviously, is that the show is filthy. From foot fetishes to spitting, the pilot immediately establishes a tone that is most definitely for mature audiences. This works fine for FX, as many of their shows fit into that category, and those viewers that are already watching that network likely won’t find anything too much more offense than they’re accustomed to in YOU’RE THE WORST. What’s more, the material is genuinely funny, earnest and sincere, rather than gross just for the sake of being gross. A lot can be forgiven if the characters are likeable and they’re exhibiting an honest part of their personality, which is where the humor comes from here, rather than ridiculous situations or awful mishaps.

I think it does help that both Jimmy and Gretchen have a best friend, rounding out the main cast, who see the positive qualities in these two and reflect those for the audience to see, too. Desmin Borges (Tower Heist) and Kether Donohue (Pitch Perfect) play Edgar and Lindsay, respectively. Edgar is a war veteran who Jimmy allows to crash with him, while Lindsay is a reformed version of Gretchen, meaning that these two players aren’t exactly serving the same purpose, even as they nicely redeem our protagonists. It’s a pleasing dynamic, though I would like to see Lindsay and Edgar developed further in their own right, more so than they are in the pilot, as the show goes on.

I really, really like YOU’RE THE WORST. There are some clever parallels and jokes in the writing, the narrative not always taking the predictable path. It has a similar sensibility as The League, but may appeal more balanced to the genders. It feels fresh and modern, showing us familiar types but making them their own. Plus, there’s nothing wrong with scenes that are just plain sexy, dancing the line of risqué that is permitted on non-premium cable television, and this has plenty of those.

YOU’RE THE WORST premieres Thursday, July 17^th at 10:30 p.m. ET.