Crazy Ex-Girlfriend Review: Nathaniel is Irrelevant (Season 3 Episode 13)

To borrow a Hector phrase, “I am surprisingly cool with this whole situation.”

I’m more than cool with it, actually.

Crazy Ex-Girlfriend Season 3 Episode 13, “Nathaniel is Irrelevant,” blows me away with its emotional intelligence and integrity. Rebecca Bunch is responsible; Rebecca Bunch is guilty. That is not crazy; it’s the love story at the heart of the show. 

“Nathaniel is Irrelevant” smartly warns us with its title that, just like it was never actually about Josh, it was never about Nathaniel either. Being with Nathaniel and having him save her is not the justice Rebecca needs.

Crazy Ex-Girlfriend‘s masterful detail in storytelling is highlighted by the subtle choices like episode title.

Rebecca needs to take responsibility for her choices. Paula sets the boundaries that allow Rebecca to come to that conclusion.

THIS IS WHAT GOOD MENTAL HEALTH MANAGEMENT LOOKS LIKE!

Please excuse me while I jump in my chair with excitement! This season has been frustrating at many points. Rebecca over and over, in episode after episode, makes the same against-advice choices to manipulate.

Rebecca never understands how her choices have impacted others and we do not see how other characters have been traumatized by her actions.

On “Nathaniel is Irrelevant” we see her reach out to her BPD support group. Just the fact that Rebecca is asking people working through mental illness to help her is HUGE.

Then, her revelation about her night terrors and hallucinations comes from a group therapy practice.

Do not overlook this! Rebecca does a “body scan” for her internal emotional processes and when she does it she finds the guilt.

The climax of the entire SEASON is her recognizing and accepting this: Rebecca is guilty.

She applies the practices and resources she’s been given by mental health professionals and it gets her to the place that she could NOT get to on her own (recall Crazy Ex-Girlfriend Season 3 Episode 12, “Trent?!” where Paula felt guilt, but Rebecca could not).

Rachel Bloom’s delivery of the speech explaining her guilty plea is simply perfect. Perfect.

The wordless communication between Rebecca and Paula is bursting with hard-earned, sorrow-filled love. It is a mutual understanding of where they have been and what has to happen for them to remain best friends.

Give Rachel Bloom and Donna Lynne Champlin the Emmys right now!

Speaking of Donna Lynne Champlin’s Paula, I love that the episode starts with her singing about an aspect of her identity, motherhood, that Rebecca has directly attacked.

The song is laugh-out-loud hilarious, accurate AF, and subtly sets Paula up as a complete character with notes in motherhood, career, and friendship.

Women are ALWAYS more than one note characters.

Where almost every other show out there forgets the ladies and makes them props, Crazy Ex-Girlfriend makes women characters complex and transcend any gender-based label. Even more minor characters like Mona are provided nuance.

Crazy Ex-Girlfriend is the most feminist and women-empowering show on television. 

On “Nathaniel is Irrelevant,” Nathaniel is indeed irrelevant to Rebecca’s ultimate choice to take responsibility for her actions (Paula is the most relevant other person).

But, Nathaniel is NOT irrelevant to the show. Rather than cast with a level of simplicity as the lead love interest, Nathaniel is doused with imperfections and under-the-radar development.

Nathaniel picks out rugs with Mona and reveals a key character flaw: he is attracted to the imperfect and only is able to love a rug, ahem-person-ahem, that has a major flaw and is likely to manipulate him.

Nathaniel’s addiction to volatility is not romantic. Crazy Ex-Girlfriend gingerly and melodically presents Nathaniel’s mental health malady, without coming to any particular conclusion about it.

That is not the story Crazy Ex-Girlfriend is telling, at least not in Season 3.

Even though Nathaniel is not the focus or driving perspective of the episode, we still see, in part because of the consistently excellent acting of Scott Michael Foster, how he is waking up to his own mental health issues.

He loves Rebecca, she loves him. Perhaps next season we will be able to explore why that fact alone is not enough for a healthy relationship.

“Nathaniel is Irrelevant” showcases perfectly how guilt can be a healthy emotion to motivate change.

It is not clear what Rebecca’s housing and job situation will look like in the future, but the season finale provides a sense of peace and closure.

I am confident that the love between Paula and Rebecca readies the Crazy Ex-Girlfriend family to weather any storm.

Crazy Thoughts:

• When Mona reveals her nickname for Nathaniel, “Nat,” it is the nail in the coffin of their relationship. It is almost as bad as Hebecca.
• Valencia should have gotten a letter from Rebecca. It is not clear why Valencia is continually overlooked as an important person in Rebecca’s life. I, again, urge Crazy Ex-Girlfriend to fix this.
• Josh punching Nathaniel resonates emotionally. However, we don’t know if Rebecca confesses to the stalking, cyber-harassment, and professional sabotage. Josh Chan is a wonderful character and we need more time with his emotional reality. I wish we saw him having night terrors.
• Beth and Valencia’s love bubble continues to be a joy spot on the show.
• “Adam and Eve were messed up by God.” is a brilliant line and I cannot even handle the perfection.
• Mucus plugs are real and not even that gross. I love that we finally have a birth song that sets the right tone of simultaneous joy, disgust, and fiery pain.

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 on The CW.

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