Fun
Frisky
Nostalgic
Intense
Adventurous
Choked Up
Curious
Romantic
Weird
Of all the great things about television, the greatest is that it’s on every single day. TV history is being made, day in and day out, in ways big and small. In an effort to better appreciate this history, we’re taking a look back, every day, at one particular TV milestone.
IMPORTANT DATE IN TV HISTORY: August 14, 2014
PROGRAM ORIGINALLY AIRED ON THIS DATE: You’re The Worst, “Sunday Funday” (Season 1, Episode 5). [Stream on Hulu]
WHY IT’S IMPORTANT: One of the great things about You’re the Worst is its ability to have a completely acidic view of human behavior (and, at many times, humans) without feeling like it’s lashing out at its audience. Its characters range from misanthropic to checked out, but because a) the comedy is incredibly sharp, and b) the observations about modern living can be very accurate, it all feels like the audience is being welcomed in on the joke. So it is with “Sunday Funday,” the fifth episode of the series and a signature event that would be revisited in subsequent seasons. You wouldn’t expect misanthropes and non-joiners like Jimmy, Gretchen, Lindsay, and Edgar to be into something quite so hipster-friendly as all-day Sunday brunch, even considering how much these people like to drink. But remember there are many sides to Edgar, and this is one of the show’s best early showcases for him. He’s an army vet with PTSD, and he takes a lot of shit from Jimmy, but Edgar gets to show this really delightful side to his character in this episode, as he plans the ultimate Sunday Funday for him and his friends, full of cool activities like massages in the park and crashing an open house (with free cookies from the realtor), all of course with plenty of chances for boozing along the way.
But then there are those hipsters. We’ve all seen how the concept of brunch has been taken over by a bunch of amateur-hour Instagram scenesters who do more posturing than actual brunching. So too the concept of Sunday Funday has been encroached upon by L.A. hipsters, one particular group — led by Silicon Valley‘s Thomas Middleditch — seems to have stolen Edgar’s itinerary and insists on showing up everywhere they go. The heightened battle of wills between Edgar and Middleditch’s character really makes the episode.
You’re the Worst would end up delving into some pretty heavy emotional and psychological territory as it went on, confronting depression and a kind of emotional helplessness in a way that few TV shows have been brave enough to do. Episodes like “Sunday Funday” are a great reminder, though, that You’re the Worst can also do light comedy with the best of them too.
