On ‘The Other Two Season 3,’ Cary Has Finally Become the Villain

__Spoilers for __The Other Two season 3 follow.**

The Hollywood satire from Max, The Other Two, is not typically the type of show to kill off characters. The sitcom, now in its third season, follows Brooke (Heléne Yorke) and Cary (Drew Tarver) Dubek, two siblings trying to make it in Hollywood amidst the shadow of their barely legal and vastly more successful brother, pop star Chase Dreams. But this season, Cary, a struggling actor, has become so terrible that the thought did pass through the minds of creators Chris Kelly and Sarah Schneider.

As Tarver explained to GQ on a recent call: “Chris and Sarah were joking as we were filming this season: ‘Wait, does this man need to die? Does this character need to just drive off of a cliff?” 

While it would be shocking, it doesn’t seem unreasonable given everything Cary has done recently. The Other Two has always been a comedy about how fame warps people. The initial premise was that Chase, the little brother of Cary and Brooke, becomes a Justin Bieber-type celebrity, irrevocably changing his family’s lives. As the respective stars of Chase and their mother Pat (Molly Shannon) rise, Brooke and Cary flail in their attempts to capitalize on their newfound recognition.

Until this year, Brooke’s M.O. has been delusional self confidence, whereas Cary’s has mostly been sad vibes. A late bloomer with regards to his sexuality who once hooked up with his straight roommate and had a “hole pic” go viral, Cary’s arc has been largely filled with shame and defeatism. While his mother was hosting a successful talk show, he was doing red carpet reporting for “Age- Net Worth- Feet.”

But Cary has always had a darker side to his desperation for fame and success. Sometimes it plays into the larger theme of his fumbling to embrace his sexuality, like the season 2 episode that found him seriously considering being the beard for a straight, A-list actor attempting to queerbait for clout. In other past Cary plotlines, he’s been the villain of his own story—in season 1, he tried to ingratiate himself into a group of “Instagays” just to glom onto their social media following. The twist of that episode? The Instas were wholesome and genuine, where Cary was the craven opportunist thirsty for likes.