‘Trying’s “Arseholes Anonymous” Storyline is Hilariously Spot-On

Trying‘s resident asshole is on one hell of a redemption tour in Season 3.

Yes, we’re talking about Freddy (Oliver Chris), the guy who blew up his life in Season 1 of the Apple TV+ comedy by cheating on his wife, Erica (Ophelia Lovibond). Freddy is a handsome, privileged, selfish dude who lacks even the most basic level of self-awareness. And while he’s clearly actually a softie who means well, he’ll continue to disappoint as a father, partner, and friend until he puts in the work necessary to grow.

In the third episode of Season 3, Freddy takes the first step towards self-improvement when he sees a flyer for group therapy that reads, “Feeling Lonely? We Can Help.” In an unexpected twist, rather than attend the professionally-led session, he puts his own sorely misguided spin on group therapy.

In a storyline so ludicrous it’s genuinely comical, Freddy summons an amalgamation of jerks to join his fellowship, “Arseholes Anonymous,” or as he calls it, “the other AA.”

In attempting to attend the therapy session from the flyer, Freddy accidentally crashes an Alcoholics Anonymous meeting. When the director welcomes him as a new AA member he introduces himself: “Hi my name is Freddy and I am not an alcoholic. No really, I’m not. I’m just an asshole… Is it really that different?”

Freddy says assholes have no safe space to go and talk, and when he admits he had an affair and lost his family, the kind circle of strangers assures him one bad action doesn’t mean he isn’t a good person. Freddy hears them, but takes their words as an invitation to unload his many many character flaws, including but not limited to: lacking sympathy for people in plane crashes, faking charity donations, not crying when his grandma died, being sexist, and visiting a website that houses all Game of Thrones nude scenes.

It’s clear Trying‘s writers clearly had fun flexing their creativity to craft the perfect insufferable yet approachable asshole. And Chris’ emotional, straight-faced delivery of Freddy’s ridiculous confessions dials up the humor while reminding viewers of all the assholes they’ve known in life.

As Freddy’s confession grows increasingly cringeworthy, the meeting becomes less forgiving. But the end of the episode shows him texting a children’s charity donation. He types £100, then deletes a zero and hits send. But hey, it’s still something, right?

Freddy’s Alcoholics Anonymous experience is so transcendent (for him and him alone) that it inspires the creation of “Arseholes Anonymous,” a program with a single step: “Don’t be an arsehole.”

In the season’s fifth episode, Freddy tells Jason (Rafe Spall) he knows he’s a bad person, but it’s only because nothing bad has ever happened to him. “[It] can be ruinous to a person. I went to this AA group, everybody there had reasons for their mistakes, but I haven’t got any. I’m just an asshole,” he explains. “So I’ve created a safe space for assholes to come together and change, cause I’ve got a lot of good things in my life that I don’t deserve, and I’m gonna start deserving them.”

So what does an Arseholes Anonymous meeting look like? Thankfully Trying shows us. Freddy welcomes adults into a room one by one, but no one says anything back, because they’re assholes. He addresses the fact that no one else brought biscuits. He was fine doing it the first few sessions, “but we are entering freeloader territory, so let’s not forget why we’re here.” He asks a new member to introduce himself, and the man stands up and says, “I’m Lawrence and I’m an asshole.” Lawrence reveals that he physically assaulted an employee at an Admirals Club, but don’t worry, he’s thinking of volunteering in a soup kitchen because “they don’t really expect much.” The dialogue, the physical comedy, and the thick tension of nearly a dozen assholes in one room is glorious.

You’ll find yourself disgusted and desperate to look away from this tone-deaf group, but spot-on writing keeps you glued to the screen. The storyline doesn’t exist to trivialize the real AA or encourage bad behavior, it’s a smart parody that’s both absolutely absurd and really not that farfetched in today’s society. The scenes beautifully bottle the energy of the popular r/AmItheAsshole, while nailing all too familiar pretentious, egotistical, downright harmful thought processes.

At one point, a member named Olivia asks why they’re all trying to become better people. “We’re already the best ones. We’re not soup kitchen volunteers,” she says. “Assholes run things, because running things is hard, and we’re the only ones with the stomach for it.” Freddie challenges her, saying they can’t behave badly towards others because they live in a society. And she stresses that human progress only happens when assholes act like assholes. She turns in her two-week Arseholes Anonymous chip —  yes, Freddy made chips — and all the assholes follow her out. Lawrence returns, but only to steal the meeting snacks. So Freddy is left alone to reflect.

Rather than return to his role as resident asshole, Freddy brings some snacks to a food pantry, proving that though this storyline was the most hilariously unconventional vehicle for introspection, it worked. Starting “the other AA” was an asshole move, but Freddy’s finally trying, and that’s this show’s only requirement.