Crazy Ex-Girlfriend Review: Where Is Josh’s Friend? (Season 2 Episode 1)

Rebecca’s not crazy. She’s just a girl in love. Who among us can’t identify with that?

Crazy Ex-Girlfriend is back! Since the Season 1 finale, when Rebecca finally confessed to Josh that he’s the real reason for her translocation, the audience has been waiting with bated breath to see exactly what Josh’s reaction would be.

Would he run for the hills, his arms waving maniacally as he screams? Or would he just shrug and think of it as a quirky and lovable story to tell their 2.5 kids over Thanksgiving turkey?

The first reaction is what you’d expect. The second reaction is what Rebecca wants.

Of course, the show will be over the minute Rebecca finds happiness, and subverting our expectations is something Crazy Ex-Girlfriend does best.

Instead, Rebecca performs one of her infamous backpedals and somehow gets Josh to believe that he’s the one trying to force them into a relationship. What!? That’s crazy, right?

But as she does that, I thought to myself, “I’ve actually done that before.”

That’s the point.

We know that 99% of Rebecca’s problems would be solved if she’d only realize she’s standing in her own way, holding on to this romanticized view of, well, romance.

That’s true for all of us.

Crazy Ex-Girlfriend is an amalgamation of all of our dumbest actions, poking fun at the things we’ve said or done in a moment of bad judgement.

Trying to NOT be crazy, we’ve all done crazy things.

Also, because the crazy is not restricted to Rebecca (check out this list of the characters’ possible personality disorders), Josh discovers that he’s not exactly ready to try something new, even if he won’t admit it.

Josh bounces from sofa to bubble wrap bed (which sounds more comfortable than it probably is) back to Mama Chan’s house, making excuses all along the way. In reality, Josh is only physically attracted to Rebecca and prefers the neurotically manipulative, gentle guiding hand of Valencia.

Rebecca bought the man(child) his own drawer. She is never going to boss Josh around the way Valencia (and, presumably, his mother) did, and that terrifies him, so he takes off.

Alex: I’m like a year younger than you. I’ve got a house and two kids and you’re sleeping on packing material.

I know what you’re thinking. “No, he ran because he was worried about falcon Greg.” Lies! As far as he knew, Rebecca and Greg were still together the night of the wedding, but he slept with Rebecca anyway. Three weeks later, the dream is totally an excuse.

We see right through you, Josh Chan.

Fortunately, while Josh refuses to change, Paula realizes that maybe she’s not as much of a Rebecca & Josh fan as she originally thought and begins her own journey forward, made binding by an expertly crafted legal brief.

Yes, but “Where is Josh’s Friend?”

The big mystery is the location of Greg Serrano, whose appearance in this episode I was afraid would not happen. The last time we saw him, he was lying on a couch having an epiphany about Rebecca.

Now, three weeks later, after Paula uses phone records that are admittedly too easy to get into, we find Greg at an AA meeting confessing that he’s his own worst enemy.

In this way, our four main characters are foils of each others’ emotional and psychological issues.

On the one side, there is Greg, who hit rock bottom and is seeking help, and Paula who wants to change before she gets anywhere near that rock bottom. On the other side, there’s Josh literally running away from addressing deeper emotional issues and Rebecca, lost in a particularly expressive denial.

Around Season 5, I hope they all learn a thing or two from each other.

Crazy Ex-Girlfriend continues to be one delusional trip after another and I remain cautiously excited to follow Rebecca’s journey toward mental health.

Musical Numbers

“I’m Just a Girl in Love” (new theme song)

“Love Kernels”

“We Should Definitely Not Have Sex Right Now”

 

Love Droplets

• “Darryl will be played by a broom on a stand.”
• “Ethics and morals and Jesus and birds of prey.”
• “That’s only because they don’t sell crustless bread at the supermarket, bitch.”
• “Here’s this crazy bitch.” “That was barely under your breath.”
• “If I have a nightmare, I don’t have to tough it out anymore.” (Where have we been keeping Hector?)

What did you think of this episode of Crazy Ex-Girlfriend? Share your thoughts in the comments below!

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Crazy Ex-Girlfriend airs Fridays at 9/8c on The CW.

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