S04.E08: A Bunch of Hornballs

[ElectricBoogaloo]

Quote

Jimmy goes out of town for a Romance/Erotica fiction convention while Gretchen throws a divorce party for Lindsay, leading to an unintended deepening of Gretchen's relationship with Boone. Meanwhile, Edgar's friend Max encourages him to overspend on party planning.

[arc]

Becca is the worst! But also Max. And Lindsay might well resent her co-workers for hating her but she really is pretty awful and not everyone's gonna be like Gretch and love her in spite of (or because of) that.

Even from the first few moments of Edgar thanking Max for the party planner, I was internally screaming that of course Max wasn't gonna pay for it. He didn't even really phrase it like he would and Edgar was stupid to think that. (But on the other hand, even with a rush job, it seems unprofessional for a party planner to not sit down with Edgar to go over a budget...)

Becca is super duper the worst though.

Boone had a good point about not wanting to get Olivia hurt by letting her get attached to one of his girlfriends who might not be around that long, but that's not what he said to Gretchen about it. He said "you have to admit you're not exactly the kid type." Gaslighting is never cool, kids.

[ElectricBoogaloo]

Oh, Edgar, never get peer pressured into buying Kanye West shoes! I could already see where things were headed with his new friend being loaded and getting Edgar to spend way too much money. Hopefully he has a decent amount of money saved up from all the time he has spent living at Jimmy's for free while getting paid to work for Jimmy. To be fair, $6000 to plan a last minute party with booze, food, and decorations is not a lot. I mean, I wouldn't pay that much out of my own pocket for someone else's divorce party, but just from a budget point of view, I've seen events with a lot less booze, food, and decorations that cost the same or more. Getting all that taken care of the day of the party? He definitely got the friend of Max discount.

Becca sucks. I never thought I'd feel sorry for Vernon of all people, but Becca managed to make that happen.

[Duke2801]

I am not sure I want those two to get back together, but I thought Jimmy and Gretchen's conversation at the end was pretty cute.  Agreeing that Paul looked like a "hot Nazi" like "Rolph from the Sound of Music" gave me a LOL.  

Her calling Jimmy after having "the talk" with Boon also rang very true to me.  Sometimes, there is something about forging a new road that makes us want to head back to the old, familiar one. 

[Irlandesa]

6 hours ago, arc said:

Boone had a good point about not wanting to get Olivia hurt by letting her get attached to one of his girlfriends who might not be around that long, but that's not what he said to Gretchen about it. He said "you have to admit you're not exactly the kid type." Gaslighting is never cool, kids.

I don't know that I see that as gaslighting.  I don't think he was wrong.  And I don't think Gretchen would disagree.  The only reason she tried to meet Olivia was because he said he didn't want her to. Maybe she is the kid type but that isn't the vibe she gives off and it's pretty intentional on her part. 

12 minutes ago, Duke2801 said:

I am not sure I want those two to get back together, but I thought Jimmy and Gretchen's conversation at the end was pretty cute.  Agreeing that Paul looked like a "hot Nazi" like "Rolph from the Sound of Music" gave me a LOL.  

It made me really miss them.  There has been too little Jimmy & Gretchen this season unless they're fighting.

[Duke2801]

15 minutes ago, Irlandesa said:

 

It made me really miss them.  There has been too little Jimmy & Gretchen this season unless they're fighting.

 

Yeah they may be toxic (sometimes) but they've also got great chemistry together! 

[tennisgurl]

I miss Jimmy and Gretchen too. They were obviously super dysfunctional, but they had such great chemistry, and they’re weird unconventional romance was weirdly sweet. The show just seems off without them at the center. 

[luna1122]

Jimmy and Gretchen are clearly end-game, if this show has such a thing, which they probably don't...but they WILL get back togther at some point, I'm sure. They are the only two people in the world who even semi get each other--well, aside from Lindsay and Edgar--and being together spares two other people. They do have great chemistry. I loved the 'wait, Paul is a hot Nazi now' jokes.

Lindsay's the worst, but Becca is the MEGA worst.

That poor actress that had to puke, while bare ass naked. I hope that paid well.

[iMonrey]

Who is Max, and have we met him before? I spent the whole episode trying to figure out where he came from.

The throwing up scene had to be one of the most graphic and disturbing I've seen in a long time. I guess it's because they don't typically pair nudity and barfing even on cable TV. 

I felt so bad for the guy from Lindsay's work who kept getting dissed. I wondered why he even stuck around.

[arc]

Max is another writer at Doug Loves Sketches. Just a few weeks ago he had a different BFF but I guess that was the guy who left to launch Snuber.

[whiporee]

I felt bad for the fangirl who got usurped by the other writer. There was a moment where I thought Jimmy had found someone else, too. It wouldn't hurt him to have another writer in his life. But, grownups playing spin the bottle? Nice device to get things going, but I wonder if they were making a statement about fan-things in general and that everyone was reliving junior high in one way or the other. 

Aya Cash is a good actress. I'm surprised Sam and Shitstain weren't there, though. I can see them missing it in real life, but in terms of the show, they'd show up for this. Especially since Lindsey was the backup vocals on "new phone, who dis." 

[possibilities]

Snuber

Casual (on Hulu) has a character who lived off his app, which was called "Snuger" (or maybe they spelled it "snooger"-- I don't know), so for a minute I thought that's what they said here, and that maybe they were about to do a cross-over scene, but I guess not.

I honestly don't think it's credible that Jimmy's hook up had never had an orgasm. It's not like she comes from some repressed community where she wouldn't have access to information or permission to figure it out. Her asking Jimmy questions like that just struck me as total BS, even if she was puking drunk. Do some research. Get a vibrator. Go to sex therapy. I hated that whole scene. She acted like she had to be totally passive and hope it just happened because some guy magically did it for her. C'mon! This isn't 1950.

[Irlandesa]

1 hour ago, possibilities said:

I honestly don't think it's credible that Jimmy's hook up had never had an orgasm. It's not like she comes from some repressed community where she wouldn't have access to information or permission to figure it out. Her asking Jimmy questions like that just struck me as total BS, even if she was puking drunk. Do some research. Get a vibrator. Go to sex therapy. I hated that whole scene. She acted like she had to be totally passive and hope it just happened because some guy magically did it for her. C'mon! This isn't 1950.

I didn't see a reason why not to believe her.  We don't know her history or what goes on her head.  Writing isn't the same as living it.

Edited October 20, 2017 by Irlandesa

[Duke2801]

11 hours ago, possibilities said:

 

I honestly don't think it's credible that Jimmy's hook up had never had an orgasm. It's not like she comes from some repressed community where she wouldn't have access to information or permission to figure it out. Her asking Jimmy questions like that just struck me as total BS, even if she was puking drunk. Do some research. Get a vibrator. Go to sex therapy. I hated that whole scene. She acted like she had to be totally passive and hope it just happened because some guy magically did it for her. C'mon! This isn't 1950.

 You're entitled to your opinion of course, but trust and believe that there are plenty of fully grown adult women out there who've never had an orgasm. In 2017. 

[kieyra]

On 10/19/2017 at 10:58 AM, tennisgurl said:

I miss Jimmy and Gretchen too. They were obviously super dysfunctional, but they had such great chemistry, and they’re weird unconventional romance was weirdly sweet. The show just seems off without them at the center. 

The writing is off, the directing is off, the editing is off, and I know I'm supposed to be supportive of bushier eyebrows right now, but Gretchen's eyebrows are off and it's all I can see when I look at her. Aya Cash's eyes are so expressive and the brows are so distracting now.

Also, the predominance of werewolf sex books on Amazon makes me sad. That said, the way they set up the romance writer (or whoever she was) as secretly a self-hating, anorgasmic woman felt like sour grapes on someone's part. Yeah, lots of people would rather read shitty porn than real books and it sucks, but it still felt vaguely misogynistic.

Does anyone know what happened here? Did the writing or show running team change?

[possibilities]

14 hours ago, Duke2801 said:

You're entitled to your opinion of course, but trust and believe that there are plenty of fully grown adult women out there who've never had an orgasm. In 2017. 

Yes, I understand this. But this particular woman was steeped in a situation giving her both permission and access to options. It just struck me as ridiculous that she wouldn't have priorized figuring it out.

[Duke2801]

15 hours ago, kieyra said:

The writing is off, the directing is off, the editing is off, and I know I'm supposed to be supportive of bushier eyebrows right now, but Gretchen's eyebrows are off and it's all I can see when I look at her. Aya Cash's eyes are so expressive and the brows are so distracting now.

Also, the predominance of werewolf sex books on Amazon makes me sad. That said, the way they set up the romance writer (or whoever she was) as secretly a self-hating, anorgasmic woman felt like sour grapes on someone's part. Yeah, lots of people would rather read shitty porn than real books and it sucks, but it still felt vaguely misogynistic.

Does anyone know what happened here? Did the writing or show running team change?

Doesn't seem all that different to me in terms of writing, etc. I think what's different is the "core four" not being together like they used to be. They all had great chemistry together so it makes for a different vibe for the show. I personally miss those scenes this season, but I'm still enjoying the show. 

Eta: From this article, it sounds like change in how the characters were interacting this season threw the cast off as well. Maybe that's part of what seems off this season? Chris's comments towards the end speak to this especially. 

http://m.eonline.com/news/877895/why-you-re-the-worst-s-ghosting-fallout-will-keep-aya-cash-chris-geere-apart-for-much-of-season-4

 

It it looks like Aya may have had microblading done to her brow. It's a cool procedure for women who don't have much in the way of hair above the eyes and want a fuller brow. But, to me, her brows look much better before. I'm used to the new look now but I agree it was distracting in the first few episodes.

Edited October 21, 2017 by Duke2801

[arc]

AFAIK the writing staff is all back. It's always been a small staff, but I think the longtime writers assistant Philippe Iujvidin was promoted to full writer. What might have taken some of their brain time is that all of the original writers get some kind of show deal with FX, all under Stephen Falk.

As for the directing, Falk has directed some great episodes before (like the one where Gretchen almost stole that cool couple's dog) and this season he's directed some episodes that people here have said felt off. Which may well be, but it wasn't because of crew changes there either.

[wendyg]

Catching up...the Gretchen/Boone story bothered me. For one thing, although it's perfectly reasonable to leave your kid in the car reading while you go in and drop off some soup for your sick girlfriend, it's not really reasonable to extend that to joining the party. For another, particularly these days, if the parents are around I would never give a child cake (or, really, any food or drink) without checking with the parents first. People have all sorts of rules for their kids, particularly surrounding sugary stuff. Plus, Gretchen's overriding what he said and bringing his kid inside would be a pretty good indicator that he's right not to trust her. (Which he is.)

But that may be the point: Gretchen and Boone might be reasonably well-suited to each other (though I don't think they match as well as Gretchen and Jimmy), but there is no way Gretchen is well-suited to being a step-mom, or even the serious girlfriend of someone with a child because she simply will not accept other people's rules. That may be your prerogative, however damaging it is, when it's your child, but it's indefensible when it's someone else's child.

I thought she very much called Jimmy because the prospect of being on a road with Boone made her miss him.

Edited October 26, 2017 by wendyg