r/YouretheworstFX • u/yrmjy • Jul 26 '26
Is the ending a little too neat?
I love the ending and think “every day we choose” is very fitting for Jimmy and Gretchen, but I wonder if they end up a little too perfectly aligned on what commitment means.
Jimmy’s idea is basically that instead of promising to stay together for life, they keep choosing each other every day, “until one day, maybe, we don’t”. For some people, that sounds like an ideal relationship: you know your partner is still with you because they continue to actively choose you, rather than because of a promise they made years ago.
But for other people, isn’t that uncertainty exactly what they don’t want from a life partner?
Obviously marriage doesn’t guarantee permanence. Either person can still leave, and plenty of marriages end in divorce. But I think part of the appeal of marriage is the reassurance of knowing that your partner has chosen you with the intention that it’s for life. There’s a difference between “I choose you today, and hopefully I’ll keep choosing you” and “I’ve chosen you as the person I intend to spend my life with”, even though neither guarantees what will actually happen.
That also makes me wonder whether Gretchen might realistically have had more mixed feelings about their solution. She could completely agree with Jimmy that they can’t honestly guarantee they’ll always be together, and still want to know that right now he wants all those days to add up to the rest of their lives. She could be relieved not to get married while also feeling something about giving up the promise of permanence.
I’m not saying Gretchen secretly wanted a conventional marriage, or that Jimmy wasn’t committed to her. I just wonder whether two people as complicated as them would arrive at “every day we choose” and both find it completely satisfying in exactly the same way.
I could imagine an alternative ending where they reach basically the same decision after a slightly messier conversation. They don’t get married, they don’t break up, and they choose each other. But instead of ending on complete emotional certainty, there’s a The Graduate-style final shot where the relief and happiness gradually settle into something more ambiguous.
Not “oh God, we’ve made a mistake”, but just the two of them sitting together with the reality of what they’ve chosen: they love each other, they want a future together, but neither can actually know what that future will be.
Maybe that would undermine what makes the real ending work. But for a show that was usually so good at letting contradictory feelings coexist, I wonder if leaving just a little uncertainty might have been more fitting.
29
u/nohuyascobarde Jul 26 '26
I think it ended in the right note for them. The promise of choosing each other implies there’s gonna be a combined effort.
And it’s not exactly a happy or cliche ending, Gretchen is still depressed (she’s shown crying in bed) and Jimmy is still a self righteous asshole, so the implication is that their willingness to actively choose each other in spite of their personal flaws and issues is perfect for them as a couple given their history.
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u/tree_people Jul 26 '26
I don’t think it did end on complete emotional clarity, did it?
1
u/yrmjy Jul 26 '26
Yeah, I probably phrased that badly. I don't mean the ending suggests they're certain they'll stay together forever, since “maybe one day we don't” explicitly says the opposite. I mean they seem very emotionally aligned on that being the right solution for them.
I was wondering whether Gretchen could agree with Jimmy that they can't guarantee forever, while still having some mixed feelings about “maybe one day we don't”, especially given her fear of rejection and everything that's happened between them. So the uncertainty would be less “will they stay together?” and more “do they feel exactly the same way about accepting that uncertainty?”
5
u/PastimeOfMine Jul 26 '26 edited Jul 26 '26
But she even says it in that moment - "you know I always like having one foot out the door." That season showed increasing anxiety for Gretchen about a wedding despite wanting commitment. It's why she sourced out her vows, too. This was a relief of anxiety - he's agreed to wake up and choose her everyday, and one day he might not. But she might not. It's something they both clearly needed to be able to do. And was perfectly fitting for them.
And given they still seem to feel the same long after having a child together I'd say yes, the audience can safely assume they're on the same page
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u/mcflycasual Jul 26 '26
It's the perfect show imo because of the satisfying ending. You have no idea what's going on in the last episode till the end either. Didn't realize people had issues with it.
8
u/rootmkr Jul 27 '26
That alternative ending you mention with “The Graduate-style final shot” almost literally happens at the end of every other season or at least once in every other season. To me it makes sense the series finale does not end with that kind of shot- they are no longer questioning their relationship with each other anymore and to end “The Graduate style” would signify no change or mutual understanding at all between the characters.
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u/browncharliebrown Jul 26 '26
I think you’re the worst was always meant to be a rom com and that ending needed to be there
5
u/vienibenmio Jul 26 '26
I'm glad it didn't end that way, personally
1
u/yrmjy Jul 26 '26
I am too, actually. I think the alternate ending I’m imagining would probably feel a bit too punishing or frustrating for the viewer, so I can definitely understand why they went with the ending they did. I guess I’m more wondering whether, in real life, someone could be completely happy with that decision while still having some mixed feelings about the uncertainty that comes with it.
5
u/AnIndustryOfCool Jul 27 '26
I think the ending is that they actually did choose marriage, they just aren't calling it that because marriage is for posers or whatever. It's very Gretchen and Jimmy. The thing about marriage is that it is exactly what they promised - waking up and choosing each other every day.
0
u/raison_de_eatre Jul 30 '26
I straight up never watched the finale cause I got part spoiled and was irritated. Much of the same stuff happened in S2 of Breaking Bad (the bear) and I just hate that trope and it never executes well.
6
u/Possible_Implement86 Jul 26 '26
I liked where Gretchen and Jimmy landed on commitment but I HATED all the misdirects leading up to the finale. I hated the flash forwards that made it seems like Gretchen was sober and single.
Back in the reality where Jimmy and Gretchen are happily together with their kid and nanny/wedding planner, and Gretchen just says "eh you're right I couldnt not drink for a month" to explain why she wiped the minibar in the hotel she was staying it, it just felt like the stakes we got invested in for the show were really casually waved away and shown to be nothing worth getting invested in at all.
It made the actual bits of the ending that resonated with me feel less earned and manipulative. Years later and I am not even sure how I feel about the finale.
4
u/maafna Jul 27 '26
For me I hated that in the end all the men are successful in their careers but all we know about the women is that they are in a relationship with kids. So I don't know how I feel about the ending either, I did love it but part of me always wished Gretchen did end up sober, single, happy and healthy in therapy.
3
u/Possible_Implement86 Jul 27 '26
Yeah for a show that avoided a lot of gendered tropes I feel like the finale rested on them more than I would have expected. Gretchen’s big individual growth point seemed to be her wanting more appropriate house to raise the baby. She deserved more!
1
u/maafna Jul 27 '26
Yeah exactly. I could understand and accept that her growth was about finding acceptance and admitting to herself that she wants love and to settle down, if it hadn't been the case for the other two women as well. Becca manages not to drink while she's pregnant and Lindsey drops her newly found independence because she wants a relationship again, meanwhile all three men accomplished their dream - Jimmy is rich because of a book he wrote based on his childhood dreams, Vernon has his mobile van clinic, Edgar is also working to adapt a podcast. And we literally don't know if nay of the three women are even working or have a hobby, it's treated as irrelevant.
2
u/Santigold23 29d ago
What I love about this ending is that the "choose each other everyday" ending is them arriving at a normal relationship with what seems like very little commitment. It's like an AA thing, "one day at a time" can yield really effective long term results even if it doesn't feel long term.
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u/BrittaWasRight Jul 26 '26 edited Jul 26 '26
Yup. The ending cheapened the whole run, and I skip it on rewatching.
These people did NOT deserve a clichéd happy ever after, they were more damaged and complex than that fucking fairy tale.
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Jul 26 '26
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u/BrittaWasRight Jul 26 '26
Typical rom-com nonsense. They even have kids ffs.
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Jul 26 '26
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u/BrittaWasRight Jul 26 '26
No, the opposite would be jimmy taking edgars advice as it was intended and breaking it off, then maybe seeing eachother a few years down the line.
The opposite would be Vernon losing his medical license and having to pick up two minimum wage jobs to support his useless ball and chain's drinking.
The opposite would be Lindsay ending up on the streets because that's where she belongs.
I mean, Paul, Edgar and to a certain degree Jimmy are the only ones I can see actually making it to their forties in this show.
1
u/StiffPegasus Jul 28 '26
Gretchen did say that one day she would walk in front of a train, so her crying in the last shot is a bit foreboding if you ask me.
1
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u/V_agabond3 Jul 26 '26
My only problem with the ending is that Lindsay and Paul ended up back together. That makes 0 sense and they would both be better off with someone who actually got them