Crazy Ex-Girlfriend Review: Nathaniel Needs My Help! (Season 3 Episode 8)
Crazy Ex-Girlfriend Season 3 Episode 8 “Nathaniel Needs My Help!” needs Heather and her truth sauce.
Without it, the episode is soured by illogical character development and continued Rebecca Bunch tunnel vision.
The most problematic part of the episode is Josh Chan’s story. He has moved back home, and now his mother insists it is time to “Get Your Ass Out.”
The musical number — performed, via a 1990s karaoke machine, by the talented and underutilized Amy Hill as Lourdes Chan — is delightful. The sentiment “Get Your Ass Out” expresses? Not so much.
Let’s put this in context with an appropriate lens, shall we? Josh Chan has moved back in with his parents. Mr. and Mrs. Chan would like to be able to get it on as loudly as they’d like, so Mrs. Chan is insisting that Josh pack his belongings and move in with Hector and Hector’s mom.
No problem there, as Mrs. Chan is entitled to her frisky phase of life.
Actually, it is really refreshing to see a Filipino couple past child-rearing age associated with sexiness. Rawr. I am glad there are traces of Crazy Ex-Girlfriend‘s gift of pushing against stereotypes on the episode.
The problem is that the reason Josh is now imposing on his parents is because of Rebecca Bunch’s domestic violence. He lost his job and is unable to financially sustain himself because Rebecca Bunch framed him and ruined his reputation with cyber-slander.
Josh feels insecure and without a sense of his true identity. The zit that popped his bartending career is evidence of Josh’s building anxiety and desperation.
This, too, is a result of Rebecca Bunch’s manipulation. Stalking and other abuses often attack a person’s sense of self and safety. That is how abusers gain power and control.
We see Josh Chan cast as an over-aged, sentimental mooch on this episode. This is not how we should see Josh Chan. Instead, we should be seeing a person who is utilizing the resources available to him in order to exit an emotionally and physically abusive relationship.
Through that appropriate lens, Mrs. Chan’s upbeat karaoke ballad seems callous. Her statement that “those are not real problems” is downright offensive. Can you even imagine if someone said that to a woman who was fleeing her stalker?
It could be that the final five episodes of Crazy Ex-Girlfriend Season 3 clear up this line of thinking. Even if they do, which I doubt more and more every episode, this episode will exist on its own. People will tune in for just this episode.
The message that this episode provides is that a person who was stalked, harassed, assaulted, and manipulated by someone is a person worth mocking and who should thank their abuser for making him see the shallowness of his life.
This episode lauds the stalker and makes fun of the victim. That message is unacceptable.
The brightest spot of the episode, by far, is Darryl. #TeamDarryl!
I am not totally on board with the baby-obsession storyline — and it is almost offensive how easy the episode makes the process of IVF look — but I loved Darryl’s sperm pride.
The song “My Sperm Is Healthy” is fun and well-executed. I highly suggest turning on subtitles so you can catch each and every lyrical gem.
George is a close second to Darryl for stand-out performance on the episode. His coffee-making song is a quick and surprisingly intimate glimpse at a character who is a welcome respite from Rebecca.
My disappointment in Nathaniel’s character development continues from my thoughts on Season 3 Episode 7 “Getting Over Jeff.” He still seems to only be a surface character through whom we can see Rebecca reflected in different ways.
Still, Rebecca Bunch isn’t the only thing Scott Michael Foster is nailing. He is also nailing his role — every piece of dialogue he touches sings with something special. But the character development is just not there.
Where is Nathaniel’s nap struggle? Where is his own mental health story? Why is Nathaniel’s quirk being erased by Rebecca’s BPD storyline? Where is Ruth Gator Ginsberg!?
There is one great mini-moment of Nathaniel development on the episode. Rebecca wonders what Nathaniel asked Santa for when he was a little boy. A little brother or sister? Nope. He “mostly asked for treasury bonds.”
Nathaniel is a complex person. The preview of the next episode makes me very hopeful that we will actually learn more about him (and his abs).
I will continue to hold onto my (likely unpopular) opinion that Crazy Ex-Girlfriend should put Nathaniel and Valencia together and begin to transition the show to a more true ensemble.
Valencia is so marginalized on the second half of Crazy Ex-Girlfriend Season 3. I think the writing staff needs to take on the show’s white feminism and seriously consider how they are overly featuring white characters.
Case in point — why, oh why, has Dr. Akopian been replaced by Dr. Shin? Please, Crazy Ex-Girlfriend, bring back our Dream Ghost!
The supporting ensemble had the two laugh-out-loud lines of this episode:
“I like your very normal body. I think it’s brave.” -George
“I got the yank-bank on the horn.” -Mrs. Hernandez
What did you think of this episode of Crazy Ex-Girlfriend? Share your thoughts with us in the comments below!
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Crazy Ex-Girlfriend airs Fridays at 8/7c on the CW.
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Janelle Ureta
Janelle Ureta is equal parts Veronica Mars, Raven Reyes, and Rebecca Bunch, but she aspires to add some Tammy Taylor to the mix. An attorney turned teacher, Janelle believes in the power of a well-told story. She is currently exploring how to tell short stories, 140 characters or less, on twitter. She loves to talk about TV, and right now she can't shut up about Timeless, Dear White People, Crazy Ex-Girlfriend, The 100, or Younger.
2 comments
FINALLY! Somebody else is angry about the sacrificing of Josh Chan on the altar of Rebecca Bunch! I have seen fan after fan declare him to be the villain for leaving her at the altar, when she and her parents conspired to keep him unaware of her psychiatric history. This qualifies as grounds for annulment. Add to it that at first everyone blamed him for her suicide attempt and then held him in contempt as he blamed himself, mocking that he thought everything was about him.
Any mother who fake snores when her son is pouring his heart out to her should be ashamed of herself, and the show appears to take the stance that he shouldn’t have done it.
Finally, as fun as the song was, it was a major continuity error. He hadn’t been living in his parents’ house “year after year,” and Lourdes was free to turn the room into a daycare center for a long time. When we met him, he was living in New York. From there he got a place with Valencia, lived off-and-on with Rebecca, and was even apprehensive about moving back in with his parents when he was single. It had a “pep” talk from Hector, which didn’t really make him less apprehensive. After the full split with Rebecca, he was in the seminary (“Priest school”), and had moved back with his parents for a few weeks when she kicked him out.
All that did was serve to make Josh look less competent than he really is. He’s not brilliant, but he’s definitely not the loser that people make him out to be.
Yes. Such great points about how Josh has never been the type of son to take advantage and over-stay his welcome! Josh Chan has been victimized, so has Valencia, and I really want to see them both vindicated and healed. Loved the “Priest school” jokes–I’m so glad you reminded us of them!
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