It Gets Worse (2026) s01e04 Episode Script

1
Everyone is an individual.
A collection of experiences.
A network of genes.
Unrepeatable body
and a soul without a duplicate.
No two people are the same.
Each person on Earth
is beautifully different.
Violently different.
Ethan!
What?
Alone.
Can you please come in
and have your breakfast?
I need you in and out of the shower
before Roger gets back.
Why do we have to have a lodger
anyway?
Are you suddenly destitute
or something?
Where's Dad?
He's at an accountancy conference
in Peterborough.
That is the most depressing sequence
of words I've ever heard in my life.
Accountancy conference,
Peterborough.
I hope he's lying. I hope he has
a secret family, for his sake.
Not that it's any of your business
but we're trying to save some extra
money before we sell the house.
Before you fucking what?
Before we fucking sell the house.
Why are you selling the house?
We've seen some very
attractive properties in Kent.
Attractive properties in Kent.
Kent is the Garden of England.
What?!
London is loud and horrible.
Almost everyone we know
has been stabbed.
Now, for goodness' sake, Ethan,
just eat.
I don't see
why everything has to be a fight.
Ran through? Yeah, ran through.
No, Ophelia is not ran through,
Jake.
If anything, Hamlet is ran through.
He's a guy.
A key that opens many locks
is a good key,
but a lock that can be opened
by many keys is a bad lock.
I know you haven't had sex.
You know that, right?
You don't have a key, mate,
you're locked out.
You're confusing the metaphor.
Oh, my God! So now you know
what a metaphor is.
All I'm saying is that Hamlet is
a high-value man.
He's a prince, he's tall,
he's sure of himself.
I mean, he's got women lined up.
I mean, what are we talking about?
Did I get the wrong one?
We can get a different one.
I wasn't sure what was the best cat.
ChatGPT said that this breed
had an independent spirit,
and I thought that resonated.
No, no, I love him.
Just because, you know,
we're back on track.
You know, moving forward
from the whole the sex thing.
Mm-hm. We're at a new stage.
A cat stage.
Practice at looking after
something together. Yeah!
Yay!
Hey.
Hi.
Hey, we should talk about
the other night.
Oh. No, we don't need to do that.
Also I'm literally heading out.
I'm doing a reading at the show
tonight.
I just wanted to say, though,
that for me, it was more of, like,
a casual thing.
I don't want you to get
the wrong idea
that it was more than than that.
Oh, fuck.
I was really hoping you wanted
to move to the coast
and maybe start a small business.
I'm really sorry! Genuinely.
I should have been more clear about,
like, what I wanted.
I'm actually working on it in
therapy with Zara.
What? Yeah. Well, she's practising
on me.
OK, listen, man,
we were really fucking drunk.
You fingered me
for about four seconds.
I have a better sexual experience
with my electric toothbrush.
Can you just keep this between us
and stop talking about it?
Hi.
Please. Express. It's beautiful.
Are those antidepressants again,
Ethan?
Did you not read the article
I sent you?
Imagine if you got autism on top
of everything else.
No, it's PrEP so I don't get HIV
if I decide to fuck a man tonight,
OK?
No, do not get HIV,
Ethan, I will be
Well, I'd be absolutely furious.
What the fuck is that?
I like it. Roger's going to put it
up.
He's trying to find the right place.
You cannot put that up. That is
That's the cringiest fucking shit
I've ever seen in my fucking life.
Sorry, which part do you not like,
Ethan?
I mean, which word exactly
do you disagree with?
Live?
See, none of these people have jobs.
Everyone here is wearing like
clothes
that are so ugly
that they circle back around to hot.
It's all very clever,
but I'm not falling for it.
Oh, hey! Hi, superstar.
Oh, my God, this place is so cool.
So I just met a make-up artist
called Lightning.
Legal name, no last name.
Literally like Cher or Rylan.
Isn't that mad?
I mean, I did tell him, though,
that is really bad for SEO
because if you Google Lightning
it's just going to show you pictures
of the weather.
Guys, this is like a workshop.
Like, not
It's like, I don't need this.
This is too much.
So is Aaron coming?
Because I've decided I'm just gonna
ask him if he's gay.
I'm gonna be like, "Are you gay?"
"Or are you just a straight guy
with, like,"
"a weird voice and a necklace?"
You know?
Yeah. Is Tom coming? No.
Tom is at home looking
after our baby.
You got a cat?
You fucking hate cats.
You always say
cats are up themselves.
Well, they have a Tory vibe.
You have a Tory vibe.
You have a mortar and pestle.
You have a Tory vibe
because you have rich parents
and went to private school.
Oh! No, that is fair. That's fair.
Although not that rich,
it turns out.
They're selling the house.
They're selling my house.
They're downsizing.
What? That's not the sob story
you think it is.
OK, I have to go. I have to go.
Um, take that. I love you guys.
I'll see you soon, OK?
Good luck! Good luck!
It's, like, very chill.
It's not a big deal.
Weird. This place is so weird.
I'm creeped out.
Are you all right?
You're allergic to cats, aren't you?
What's going on?
I'm absolutely fine.
Me and Tom are
in a really great place.
We're having sex.
I licked his bum hole.
What? You what?
You licked his bum hole?
Yeah.
Oh.
All right, I thought you were
gonna be excited about it!
You like that stuff.
No, I love it, I love it!
That is exciting.
You rimmed your boyfriend!
Not too loud. We should celebrate!
Did you like it?
No, of course not!
But it's not the point of sex,
is it?
Dunno, can't remember.
Hi, everyone.
Hi. Hi. Hi. Thank you.
Thank you so much for coming.
Thank you for taking a break
from doomscrolling or whatever.
You know the drill.
Some bold, experimental
fucked-up
For the first few weeks of uni,
Sam didn't like Ethan.
His constant self-deprecation
made his flaws more annoying,
not less.
Abi found Sam smug
and passive-aggressive.
She acted like she was
better than everyone.
It made Abi feel small.
Ethan thought Abi was basic
and ridiculous.
When she looked at him,
her admiration felt
loaded with pity,
like he was a circus animal.
They were all right about each
other.
But what we're doing here tonight,
sharing our ideas in person -
this is a radical act, right?
This is what resistance looks like.
This is what revolution looks like.
Whoo!
We've got musicians,
writers, performance artists,
people that I am
so privileged to call my friends.
I've literally Some of these
people, I know them from school.
Bet you fucking do.
The feeling! Oh, Jesus.
The feeling, the feeling,
the feeling!
Yeah!
I snort a bump of coke
and look at my phone.
15 dead in mass shooting.
I feel nothing.
I finish on her stomach
and tell her to leave.
Yeah, dating in London
is kind of crazy.
Um, like, I've been ghosted
so many times
I feel like I'm
in Paranormal Activity.
ABI LAUGHS
What about Hinge?
Any of you guys on Hinge?
Whoa, oh
Oh, hoh
Oh, hoh
Ah-ah-ah! ♪
DANCE MUSIC
What is this event?
Why don't these people just sort of
post this online like normal people?
Get TikTok. Leave me alone.
Why do I have to come? Excuse me.
Sorry, I forgot my ID.
Could you get me a beer?
How old are you?
God, sorry, I'm not the police.
That's so crazy.
I'm chill. I'm normal.
I'm a normal guy. Have my beer.
Get drunk. You're young!
Oh, you came!
Any excuse to paint the town red.
Oh, God. Can I say that, friends?
Yeah. You look like a fairy.
Whoo! Whoo!
CHEERING AND APPLAUSE
MICROPHONE CRASHES I'm sorry.
So, um
Yeah. After I finished uni,
I started tutoring,
um, kids, like,
mainly around GCSE level.
And for the past two years,
I've been tutoring
a 16-year-old boy.
I won't say his name,
but after I found out the theme
tonight was bodies,
I immediately thought of Jake.
The things he says,
particularly about women,
treating them like objects.
Like, just bodies, you know?
I began to wonder if he had
been radicalised into someone
who just didn't care
about other people.
Um, and then I found myself in
the position of, like, role model.
Could I stop him from, you know,
growing up into a hateful
misogynist with a flesh light
and a porn addiction?
Special mention.
This is a story about empathy.
The first thing I noticed
was the smell.
Well, that was weird.
I loved it.
Honestly, rip that innocent child
to shreds.
I don't care,
he seems like a freak.
She was great.
Is that, like, really allowed, though?
Ted Bundy? He's only 16.
Fuck him. He's a teenage boy.
I bet he bullies all the gay kids
and he beats them up the whole time.
Did you get bullied?
Oh, my God. I'm so sorry.
That makes so much sense.
No! Oh, my God,
no, I didn't get bullied.
That's not my trauma.
Oh.
I wonder what is my trauma?
I definitely have some, but I've
never been able to place it.
Um
OK. Hi. Um
So I'm super excited and
a little bit nervous to say that
now it's time to screen my film,
so thank you.
Thank you so fucking much.
This film is called Bodies,
Bodies, Bodies, Bodies.
Um, the working title was Bodies,
Bodies, Bodies
but apparently there's
already something called that.
So this is Bodies, Bodies, Bodies,
Bodies.
I really hope you take something
from it. Thank you so much.
Whoo!
Jesus Christ.
Is she a bit, like, off to you?
She's just stressed.
You know what? Fair enough.
These people are fucking stressful.
I can't stand Zara. Horrible cow.
This party looks so fun.
It's so weird cos I was there
and it really wasn't fun,
but it looks so fun.
Why am I not in it at all?
I think they only filmed the people
who actually had sex.
Well, that was no-one.
140 foot on the gas
I'm slipping in the club
Gotta take a quick nap
Get a little fresh air
and room out the back
Now I'm feeling really silly
cos I want my ID
And my buddy's still sick
And I'm tired of the club ♪
At the end of their first term,
Sam texted Ethan every day of
the Christmas break.
Funny things her parents said,
TikToks about which
famous actors might be gay.
Endless screenshots of
her first text conversations
with Zara.
For the first time in her life,
she felt she had met someone
who would never judge her.
Ethan Don't make a big deal
out of it.
It's fine. It's completely fine.
Ethan, let's just go over
and talk to her.
She can explain.
I don't need to talk about anything, ever.
I'm a grown man, all right?
Abi told her family
that she had made friends with
the coolest girl in the world.
Smart and funny and confident.
Not smug - just self-possessed.
Not passive-aggressive -
just courageous.
In Ethan's Christmas card to Abi
he told her that she was the
kindest,
most supportive friend he'd ever
had.
They were all right about each
other.
Hey. Oh, hey. How's it going?
Yeah. Nice to see you.
Yeah, you, too. Did I miss it?
Um, yeah, kind of.
Uh
I'm just going. I feel a bit dizzy,
so
Overwhelmed by the art, was it?
Yes.
Yeah. No, it was very confronting.
Real gut punch.
You didn't want
to debut any new music?
No, no, no, no.
I make music for myself.
I don't want to be one of those
East London wankers
who makes music on his laptop.
Yes, totally. Get what I'm saying?
Yeah, yeah.
You do make music on your laptop,
though, don't you?
Yeah, yeah, I do.
You do live in East London.
I'm joking. Right! I'm sorry.
Do you want to get a drink with me?
Yes. Let's go in.
No, I mean, do you want to?
Do you want to go for a drink
with me?
Just me, now?
Just because before you said
we should go get a drink,
and then we never went for a drink,
and I'd like a drink.
And if you want a drink,
then maybe we should get a
We could I
Go in. You should see the
Yeah, fuck it.
Yeah, let's do it. All right.
Yeah?
Yeah, let's do it.
Great! Gonna lead the way?
Yes. Shall we go?
Yes! Let's go.
Let's get fucked up.
All right. One, one beer.
Maximum 15.
Yeah, like, I don't care, obviously.
It's not that deep.
The fuck is your problem, Sam?
Um
That was his crush.
Please, Ab. His crush?
Mm-hm.
You watch too much Love Island.
They literally haven't even kissed.
He doesn't care.
He never cares about anything.
I don't recognise you any more.
You don't recognise me?
You're raising a fucking
cat with your boyfriend,
who you abandoned us to live with.
OK, well, have
a lovely night then, Sam.
And enjoy all your new mates.
She's so interesting.
She's, like, out of one of those
reality shows
where they sell really ugly houses.
Yeah, yeah. She is. Yeah.
I loved your piece, by the way.
I was worried
when I read your Substack
that it was going to be more of
that,
like, identity politics stuff.
I thought, "What more is there
really to say about that," you know?
Like, "I'm a minority in the city."
I think Michaela Coel closed
that conversation, right?
Give us a swig.
Hey. Show me
Show me some of your music.
Oh, I don't know. Go on.
All right.
All right. Go easy, though.
I'm very kind.
I'm a very kind person.
ELECTRONIC MUSIC PLAYS
Cool. Yeah. Love it.
You do? Yeah, I love it.
It, um
It's kind of like an alarm.
What? No! Like a lovely alarm.
Like a, like You think it's shit.
No, no, no. You do.
It'll wake you up in the morning
and you're going,
"This is going to be a great day."
How do you even know about this?
You posted it on your Story
like a thousand times.
OK, this was supposed
to be really private.
You read it aloud
in front of a crowd of people!
OK, well And I don't game
that much, all right?
I only play Final Fantasy
when I'm high,
with my best friend Danni,
who's a girl, by the way. All right?
And I'm not friends with her because
I want to fuck her or whatever.
All right? She's fat and gay,
I think, which is good.
You know, I support that.
And how would you know that
I watch porn like an addict?
I don't. Don't you? No!
Why are you even thinking
about me wanking?
What, are you obsessed with me?
Is that it? No.
Do you fancy me? No.
Do you want to kiss me?
No. No, no, I do not!
Because I do.
No, no. It's OK.
No, no, no! You clearly like me.
No! You just said I was both
terrifying and erotic.
No, that was about masculinity.
As like an abstract concept.
You really do have to leave.
Please, can you leave?
This is, like, really inappropriate.
But you told me to be vulnerable.
This is, like, way too vulnerable.
This is the type of shit you're
supposed to fucking suppress.
You're not as nice
as you think you are.
Did you get a chance to speak to
Sam? About at the party,
me and her, we kind of
Oh, yeah, yeah. Yeah.
Of course. Yeah.
Um, she tells me everything.
She told me immediately.
She's my best friend.
I didn't realise she was your type.
Well, I don't really have a type.
I'm more into The person.
The vibe, yeah.
And their personality
and like their spirit and their soul
and stuff like that.
Shut up. You taking the piss?
No, I'm not taking the piss.
That's just what a conventionally
hot person says
immediately before fucking another
conventionally hot person.
Me, I'm the I'm the hot person, right?
Mm-hm.
Yeah. And I'm the other one.
So you're not upset or anything?
Upset?
Why would I be upset?
I just thought maybe you might
Yeah.
I just wasn't
I guess I didn't know who you are.
What? Did I say something stupid?
Did I say something fucked?
Should I jump in the Thames?
Should I put big rocks
in my pocket and jump in the Thames?
I didn't think that
I should go. Huh? Why?
What? Yeah. I mean, you can go.
What are you talking about?
It's been nice.
Yeah, it's been so nice.
It's really, really nice.
It was nice.
See you later, yeah?
Yes. See you later.
That's, um Yeah.
I was I was thinking tomorrow
Mm we could go to
the farmers' market
and pick up some bits.
And maybe have a picnic.
Yeah. Go on. Um
And then after, there's this pop-up
street food place
that does these fucking lush
pastel de nata bao buns,
like the Portuguese custard tart,
but bao buns
Nuts for dessert. Mm-hm.
And there's a place
that you can rent kayaks.
Now, I know you don't love
the open water
because of what
BOTH: Lurks in the deep.
Yeah. But it's the canal,
so we can see the bottom.
And then we'll get
a two-seater, and I will do
I will do all the paddling.
Yeah?
Sound good? Yes, please. OK.
Good.
I'm gonna hit the hay. OK. OK.
Love you. Love you.
You can get another flesh light
if you want,
if that's important to you.
What? No.
No, that was gross.
Oh, I wouldn't do that.
I know that
So bad.
You're back early.
How'd it go? Um
I thought you'd be there.
Sorry, I
How come you weren't there?
We thought we'd make use of
the empty flat.
Yeah, I wanted a date night.
I made carbonara, actually,
with my secret ingredient.
What, love? No.
Cashews and nutritional yeast.
I mean, there's loads left.
You should have some.
Shit. Sorry, I finished it.
You're such a greedy guts.
But we have
We have loads of wine.
I honestly am
I'm so tired, you know.
So I'm probably gonna go to sleep.
Oh, my God. Actually,
it's my night to do the dishes.
Sam, we've got it.
It's actually fine.
I want to, I want to.
No, Sam No. It's OK.
ALL TALK AT ONCE
I can't have people think I'm
a shirker.
No two people are the same.
A collection of experiences.
A network of genes.
An unrepeatable body.
SNEEZES
And a soul without a duplicate.
Violently
beautifully alone.
I've waited many years
Every print I left upon the track
Has led me here
And next year it'll be clear
This was only leading me to that
And by that time I hope that
you ♪