‘Young & Hungry’s Rex Lee and Bryan Safi Talk Lasting Marriages—and if They’re Team Jake or Team Josh

Spoiler alert! Don’t read further if you haven’t watched tonight’s Young & Hungry episodes.

On tonight’s double-episode fall finale of Young & Hungry, here’s what we saw: Elliot (Rex Lee) and Alan (Bryan Safi) tie the knot, Josh (Jonathan Sadowski) give Gabi (Emily Osment) and Jake (Jayson Blair) his blessing by sending the lovebirds off to Coachella with a brand-new food truck and Sofia (Aimee Carrero) reconnect with her most recent flame. Plus, Yolanda (Kym Whitley) got to catch the wedding bouquet and catch the attention of the ceremony’s rabbi (Joel Brooks).

We chatted with the Lee and Safi about the season finale, where the series is going and what’s next for their on-screen couple.

How do you picture Elliot and Alan’s ceremony, since we didn’t actually see it?
Safi: I think it would probably have to be pretty traditional because that’s what Alan ended up pushing Elliot into. They did this whole thing where they had to get permission from the rabbi before they exchanged vows, so I think Alan might have bullied him into having a pretty traditional Jewish ceremony, and Elliot probably made it extra fabulous.
Lee: That’s how I pictured it as well.

Did Elliot convert?
Lee: Well, I think [he] did. We have meetings with the rabbi and in my mind; I made steps to convert.

And they hyphenated their last names! Mr. and Mr. Park-Lowenstein. Why not Lowenstein-Park?
Safi: I feel like it’s because Alan pressured Elliot into becoming Jewish and Elliot wears the yarmulke in the ceremony, so I feel Elliot got the last name first and maybe that was the trade-off.

How do you think they’ll do as a married couple? Will they last?
Safi: I hope they do! For so many reasons! I think they’ll probably fight a lot. They’re the kind of couple that fights and makes up instantly, but I can see it in the long-term, I hope. What’re you thinking, Rex?
Lee: I’ve always thought they have a really healthy fighting life. They’re good at expressing their displeasure but also working through it and getting over it. So, for that reason, I think it’ll last.

What do you think they’ll fight about now that they don’t have a wedding to argue over?
Lee: Oh, everything!
Safi: Probably the wallpaper, the cars they drive, everything. What they watch! I would imagine they have an opinion on everything.

What they watch is a big one. What do you think they watch?
Lee: Elliot would watch Downton Abbey.
Safi: I feel like Alan is maybe very inspired by HGTV, like Trading Spaces or House Hunters.
Lee: I can see why we’re fighting about what we’re watching.

What’s your favorite thing about Alan and Elliot’s relationship?
Safi: I think their honesty with each other. They always know where they stand with each other [like] when Alan can’t keep anything from Elliot, and he really wears his heart on his sleeve. It’s really nice to know where you stand with someone.
Lee: I really liked that answer. When you go back to how they met and the misunderstandings that occurred, I think that they’ve been through it all and they’ve gone through it. I also like that Bryan’s taller than me.
Safi: Rex, I have honestly always thought you and I are the same height. And then when I watch the show, you’re right, that’s clearly not the case, but in real life I feel like Rex and I see eye to eye.
Lee: I claim my space.

Do you have a favorite scene from tonight’s episodes?
Safi: Mine is probably meeting the rabbi, because we went through every emotion with those, like fighting with each other but trying to make a good impression and learning something about each other and why we’re in love in the first place. Those scenes to me were really cool because it was trying to put this big show on for the rabbi and show what a great couple we are, and then at the end, the rabbi sees us fighting and is like, ‘This is a normal couple.’ We got to do a lot there.
Lee: Not that we’re a message-y show at all, but the message of that, pretending your relationship is perfect is bulls–t and the reality of it, the messiness of it, the humanness of it is really what’s real and, perhaps, to be desired because that’s how life is!

I spoke to Emily Osment a few months ago when this season premiered, and she told me that the two of you are really close. You’re always off to the side chatting and joking, and no one really knows what you’re joking about.
Lee: What are we saying?
Safi: I don’t even know what we’re saying! Rex makes me laugh harder than most people. I don’t know, it probably does seem like we’re co-conspiring, but we’re not!

Do you think that Gabi belongs with Josh or with Jake?
Lee: I think it’s set up for you to want her to end up with Josh, so yeah, I’m going to say that I’m Team Josh on that one.

Bryan, are you going to oppose or agree?
Safi: I feel like I should oppose just on principal, because I feel like Alan would oppose. But honestly, in real life, I do love Josh and Gabi together. However, I definitely feel like Jake is the guy you have intense chemistry with and a lot of fun with. I sort of feel like she could have fun with Jake but end up with Josh.

Do you think has Josh has actually reached a peace of mind about Gabi and Jake going off into the sunset of Coachella together, or do you think he was just doing that to make peace with everyone?
Safi: I think the latter. I don’t see how you could be totally at peace with something like that. Even though I think it’s possible to fool yourself for a very long time, I don’t know, I think that if he really thought “the one” had gotten away, he would always be wrestling with that.
Lee: Just to piggyback on that, I think it’s very easy for humans to talk themselves into a state of mind to make themselves feel better. I think that Josh loved Gabi, so in that moment where she’s driving away with his brother of all people, I think deep down it hurts.

Now that Elliot’s found love, do you think it’s time for Yolanda? She did catch that bouquet after all.
Lee: Oh, I’m all for that. I think that would be really funny.

Anything on your wish list for Alan and Elliot next season?
Rex: I just think a deepening of the relationship with Alan. To a certain extent, there’s a responsibility to not mess up what it looks like when two men are together and how regular it is and also how unusual it is in it’s own way. I want to represent, you know? I don’t want to let anybody down.
Safi: I guess the next logical step in any relationship is a baby… but maybe a dog? Maybe they’ll get a labradoodle and there’ll be a lot of drama around that.

I could see Alan pampering a dog a lot.
Safi: I would love it. I would love it in every way.

Young & Hungry returns in 2016.