Crazy Ex-Girlfriend Review: When Will Josh and His Friend Leave Me Alone? (Season 2 Episode 4)
Rebecca gets a post-breakup makey-makeover, and Paula makes a big decision about law school on Crazy Ex-Girlfriend Season 2 Episode 4 “When Will Josh and His Friend Leave Me Alone?”
What defines Rebecca Bunch? She’s just a girl in love with two amazing guys. What more do you need?
It turns out, a little bit more.
Interestingly, I’ve never regarded Rebecca as being defined by either Josh OR Greg, but by her relentless pursuit for the absolute perfect Disney movie romance. That in and of itself is a personality replete with its own idiosyncrasies.
From an extensive collection of subversive, tongue-in-cheek songs to her utterly eye-widening attempts at breaking into Josh’s life, Rachel Bloom has brought Rebecca Bunch to life as her own, three-dimensional character.
Even if Josh and Greg both disappeared completely, I would never think, “well, what’s Rebecca going to do now?” because, well, she’s still going to be on that journey of self-discovery, and we’ll still be facepalming every time she does something ridiculous.
Unfortunately, this is not how Rebecca views herself, and so she goes on a quest to make herself over from the outside in.
The saddest part about this realization is that it does not leave room for Paula.
The term “best friend” is thrown around quite a bit, but it’s more in theory than in practice for these two. Paula is in her own corner struggling with a monumental decision, while Rebecca sits in hers fighting her demons, and not once does Paula think “we can fight together.”
Not to blame Paula, of course.
“I don’t want to be a burden,” she says. And God, how many of us have been there? We’ve had a bad day, but our best friend just got fired this past week. Better not bother them. A close relative died, but we don’t want to dampen our friend’s happiness with that news.
News flash, yo: no one’s ever happy 100% of the time, so spill those beans! One-sided conversations aren’t healthy for anyone’s relationship.
Neither is enabling.
On this episode, we meet Heather’s parents, Mr. and Mrs. Heather, for the “first” time and discover that they are absolutely the complete opposite of Rebecca’s mother. They allowed Heather to take on, and summarily quit, whatever she wanted and as a result, she’s sort of deadbeat. An educated deadbeat, but a deadbeat nonetheless.
The experience serves as a lesson that neither parenting style works particularly well, especially for someone as neurotic as Rebecca. She can’t have someone guilt her into doing something as that leaves her unhappy. But she also can’t have someone that lets her do whatever she wants because: she cray.
What she needs is someone who, like Heather, simply repeats her own words back to her (if in a mildly more sarcastic tone) and allows her to see her thought process from the outside. Rebecca has some self-awareness, as evinced by her moment of realization at the Miss Douche pageant, but she needs someone to make her aware of her decisions before she acts on them.
And that person is now her roommate.
On another note, it’s been officially announced that Santino Fontana is gone for good (well, not for good, but he’s no longer in the main cast) and “When Will Josh and His Friend Leave Me Alone” is a nice send-off for Greg.
I’m not happy, don’t get me wrong. Next to Donna Lynne Champlin’s, Fontana’s voice is my favorite. But seeing Greg’s journey reach its [television] end, as he discovers that alcohol has always been his problem and makes moves to rectify that, is a development I can get behind.
So now what? The zany antics of Rebecca and Heather and… maybe Valencia? This oughta be good.
Musical Numbers
“It Was A Sh*t Show”
(I had to look up “lingua franca” and, guys, that is some interesting stuff.)
“We Tapped That Ass”
(This musical number changed my life.)
“Makey-Makeover”
Sh*t Crazy Ex-Girlfriend Characters Say:
- Brendan: “Not my fault. I was laying with my lighter, and some kid got his book in my fire.”
- Greg: “But where should we finish?” Rebecca: “Please not on my chest.” (It’s inspiringly amazing what they get past censors.)
- Heather: “I was gonna run out and see [the fire] but I was tired.”
- Karen: “Mine would be Eva Longoria.” Darryl: ‘That’s already someone.” Karen: “Is it? (winks)”
- Paula: “Are you cooking or doing inventory?” (I may have said this to my roommate once.)
- Heather: “They all look like gorgeous mermaids who grew feet and went to Coachella.”
What did you think of this episode of Crazy Ex-Girlfriend? Am I the only one who thinks that Yael Grobglas sounded like Anezka? Share your thoughts in the comments below!
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Crazy Ex-Girlfriend airs Fridays at 9/8c on The CW.
James A. Windley
James A. Windley, Writer, Virgo, Loaded couch potato. James' love of television began at the intersection when Saturday morning cartoons met to Xena: Warrior Princess syndications, and his head has been a mess ever since. He loves superheroes, drama (in life, not television), and misses when very special episodes were a thing.