As a viewer, it is important to me that a good sitcom incorporate poignant and even sad moments to balance out the comedy. That is the true beauty of You’re the Worst – it balances out its silly and sometimes over-the-top comedic moments with some very serious ones. At the heart of this show are some very terrible people with some very real issues – cynicism, commitment-phobia, PTSD. This episode really drove that concept home, as it showcased some very real angst at the bottom of the episode.

This week we found Gretchen and Jimmy at their most domestic yet, as the two debated the merits of “checking in” with each other throughout the day. While the couple seems to be fighting domesticity tooth-and-nail, the trappings of their relationship status seem to be sneaking up on them, and while they ridicule the concept of “checking in”, we find them doing so throughout the episode.

Jimmy spends his day with writer Jonathan Strasburg who sets up a meeting with Jimmy then inexplicably spends the day taking him on insane field trips: lunch at a strip club, a convalescent home. When Jimmy questions this, Strasburg explains that “writing isn’t sitting behind a computer, writing is experiencing things, living.” Later, Strasburg explains that he loved Jimmy’s book and wants to mentor Jimmy in return for Jimmy’s research assistance. Jimmy, however, turns him down. His experience with Strasburg has inspired him to write instead, he explains to his agent.

Elsewhere, Gretchen must resolve a rap beef between Sam, Honey Nutz and Shitstain. After Sam was a no-show at the studio, Honey Nutz and Shitstain used the studio time to record their own tracks, which they’ve leaked onto the internet that morning. They explain that they need Gretchen to tell Sam, who has barricaded himself in a self-built “panic fort” at his home and plans to leak his own diss track. Gretchen does succeed in getting the three together at a local diner, but just as they reconcile, Gretchen receives a notification that Pitchfork has reported on the beef and it’s going viral. She convinces them to stage a ridiculous confrontation at the diner as their fellow patrons record them.

While Jimmy and Gretchen are spending their day NOT checking in with one another, Lindsay is served with divorce papers.  Devastated, she confronts Paul, telling  him that she will win him back. Their confrontation leaves her distraught and we later find her drinking wine out of a coffee mug and watching old videos of Paul on her phone. Apparently grasping for a way to get him back, Lindsay digs in the freezer for the used condom from their tryst earlier in the season.

Edgar, meanwhile,  inspired by the success he has in an improv class sponsored by his PTSD support group, decides that he will use the rules of improv to assist him in professing his feelings to Lindsay. He arrives at her door just as she is attempting to inseminate herself with Paul’s sperm, however. It is irreverent and silly but also extremely sad. As we were reminded earlier in the episode, Edgar is suffering from PTSD. While at the same time, Lindsay is trying desperately to hold on to her old life by scheming. (As a sidenote, I don’t believe for a second that Lindsay will be successful impregnating herself with a used condom, turkey baster and spatula. I hope the writers prove me right.) I’m torn once again between wanting Edgar and Lindsay to find each other and recognizing that they are both in a dark place.

Shockingly, the final scene of the episode finds Gretchen leaving Jimmy in the middle of the night with nothing but her coat and a burner phone. This was a surprise that I wasn’t anticipating, and I still don’t quite know what to make out of it. Series creator Stephen Falk has hinted that this season will take a very dark turn, and I can only speculate that we are seeing the beginning of that.

Favorite one-liners:

Some of the best writers in the world have never written a word. – Strasburg

Turns out Honey Nutz rhymes with honey butts. – Sam

… I’m taking my chicken tendies to go. – Sam

You’re the Worst returns Wednesday. Be sure to follow @TheGameof Nerds on Twitter and join us for our livetweet at 7:30pm PST/10:30pm EST!