'You're the Worst' Season 3 Absolutely Must Do These 3 Things

Season 3 of FXX’s You’re the Worst premieres on August 31. The show had a stellar first season, an even better second season, and does some of TV’s best work in giving us a singular and deeply funny look at the dark corners of the human condition. As we prepare for the show to return, here’s what we want to see next season.

Character Evolution

In its first two seasons (and the second season, in particular), You’re the Worst proved that there’s room for complex character work in a 30-minute comedy. Fleshing out a group of characters and making them feel considered and three-dimensional is one thing, but pushing those characters forward and developing them organically (and believably) is another entirely .

The Gretchen (Aya Cash) we saw in Season 2 isn’t the same Gretchen we saw in Season 1 who’s just been placed in new situations and circumstances. Season 2 Jimmy is a recognizable form of the Jimmy (Chris Geere) we observed in Season 1, but there are parts of him that are changing, for better or worse. The characters in You’re the Worst work so well because they’re not just well-rendered, they keep evolving. Or, uh, devolving, as the case may be.

Ch-Ch-Ch-Changes

It would’ve been easy for Youre the Worst to just keep doing what worked in Season 1 – with a new set of problems applied to the same general formula. But that’s not what happened. Season 2 made big, bold changes to everyone’s arc. The DNA of the show remained fundamentally the same, but shaking up marriages, living situations, and jobs in big, permanent ways kept everything fresh. It wasn’t the same schtick with a new-season makeover, but the next chapter in a progressing story.

It would be ideal to see Season 3 sustain that progression. Things should keep changing. I honestly have no idea what You’re the Worst can or should do to continue getting better and more compelling, but the writing team proved in Season 2 that we can trust them to take a hammer to the status quo and put the pieces back together in really, really weird ways.

Impact and Humor

The most discussed and boldest element of Season 2 was the way in which You’re the Worst approached Gretchen’s depression. At its core, You’re the Worst is a deeply funny show, but it never made Gretchen’s depression the punchline. Instead, it gave us an affecting storyline that took us on an important journey and let us laugh along the way, but never suggested that Gretchen’s struggle was something farcical. The depiction of clinical depression was so nuanced and so delicately handled that it was allowed its own moments of weighty importance without feeling out of place in a show that often makes us chuckle out loud.

The way in which You’re the Worst gives us a (sometimes uncomfortably) close look at the dark parts of us parts like our selfishness, loneliness, emptiness, and self-loathing — with its unique form of bizarre, raunchy humor is what sets it apart, and we’re looking forward to seeing more in Season 3.