Crazy Ex-Girlfriend Review: When Do I Get To Spend Time With Josh? (Season 2 Episode 9)

When a network airs back-to-back brand new (or “burns through”) episodes of a series, more times than not, it’s an unofficial death knell for the show, which is a shame for Crazy Ex-Girlfriend, as it represents the very best in wicked, subversive humor that challenges the perception of musicals as bright and shiny wonderlands and takes a plain look at what makes human intra/interpersonal relationships work.

It got renewed for Season 3.

Crazy Ex-Girlfriend Season 2 Episode 9, “When Do I Get To Spend Time With Josh?” provides a great example of why this show is so brilliant. The episode’s only (full-length) musical number, “Who’s The New Guy,” dances along the fourth wall like a group of boys at the middle school prom, poking fun at Crazy Ex-Girlfriend‘s less than stellar ratings this season and a show’s tendency to switch things up mid-season to bring in more viewers.

But before we get to that, let’s celebrate: Josh and Rebecca are finally together! Josh realizes that he loves Rebecca, and Rebecca is finally free of any romantic or professional entanglements. They get their own “West Covina (Reprise IV)” intro, lots of cuddling, and even a dinner date with the stylish Chans! Nothing could possibly go wrong ever.

Just kidding. Rebecca and Josh are the worst couple ever, and their implosion is only a matter of time (they literally couldn’t make it through one episode). But with Greg having departed to continue his career on Broadway for Emory, we’re left without external obstacles to impede and ultimately dissolve BunChan. (I literally just made that up; don’t quote me.)

Enter Cappie!!! Nathaniel Plimpton, a cold-hearted, unhappy Stanford wunderkind trying desperately to impress his parents. Sound familiar?

Any television connoisseur knows that introducing an attractive opposite-sex character this late into a show’s season is a ratings plot that inevitably leads to sparks for the main character, especially a character that gnaws on the lead’s nerves hungry beaver-style mostly because of how alike they are.

More than likely, Rebecca will blame her attraction to ol’ Cappie on his evil marble-chiseled features and completely gloss over the fact that she and Josh just don’t work.

As this episode shows, Rebecca and Josh are from disparate socioeconomic backgrounds: the perpetually chill Josh is physically incapable of wearing anything but flip-flops and can’t make it past the storage room of the local Best Buy while Rebecca—Harvard and Yale graduate lawyer—is out here blackmailing cemeteries and exhuming dead bodies just to save her friends’ jobs.

I know they say “opposites attract,” but that only works for magnets without wants, goals, and pet peeves.

In my last review, we discussed that the person Rebecca needs is independent and willing to let Rebecca explore her own independence while still being partners. We have yet to see if Nathaniel will be that guy (so far, seems like a “no”), but at the very least, the two of them can hold something of a mirror up to each other and start unraveling a few of those high-strung flaws in ways that would make Dr. Akopian nod in tentative agreement.

Musical Numbers

“West Covina (Reprise IV)”

“Who’s The New Guy?”

“George’s Turn”

Sh*t Crazy Ex-Girlfriend Characters Say

• Nathaniel: “…lunches limited to 30 minutes. (Rebecca gasps.)”
• Karen: “Is this some sort of desperate move to help our ratings?” Everyone: “You mean our terrible ratings on Legalscores.com?”
• George: “Will he be here forever?” Paula: “Or just for two or three episodes? I mean Karen’s manic episodes.” Karen: “I’m a ticking time bomb.” (I honestly have loved Stephanie Weir since I was ten.)
• Rebecca: “I just have to hit the ladies…! room. I’m not a football player.”
• Darryl: “I heard someone yell, ‘penis.’ What’s wrong, Karen?”
• Paula: “It’s like he’s chiseled out of evil marble.”

What did you think of this episode of Crazy Ex-Girlfriend? Does seeing Cappie make you happy? Would you like Patton Oswalt to join the cast indefinitely? Share your thoughts in the comments below!

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

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