Crazy Ex-Girlfriend Review: I’m So Happy for You (Season 4 Episode 5)

Crazy Ex-Girlfriend Season 4 Episode 5, “I’m So Happy For You,” trolls us shippers, moves us repeatedly to tears with Paula’s storyline and lets us enjoy a normal, albeit fizzy Rebecca. Another masterful episode from the deeply aware Crazy Ex-Girlfriend.

The season is just getting started. Skylar Austin’s Greg hasn’t even made his appearance yet! Still, it feels like a love-filled goodbye letter to the West Covina crew. Each episode has a resolving tone, taking on the issues Rebecca has struggled with in the past. 

As Paula tells us, it is not yet goodbye. These are the moments in between that we need to embrace before the final bon voyage. 

Valencia still needs the story she deserves. My greatest hope and reservation for Season 4 is how Valencia fares in the closure-seeking series.  I have a Bunch of faith in Crazy Ex-Girlfriend’s writing team.

So, let’s leap into it and chat about this just-a-bite shy of 5 pretzels howdy-rowdy episode. 

I Fall To Pieces

Donna Lynn Champlin is a revelation.

She manages to tame any nasty edges of Paula’s ridiculousnesses such that we fall in love with her every episode. Even as she is insulting her dear children, to their faces, we are on Paula’s team every moment. 

All that is because of how Champlin does her job. She hits every note, no matter how difficult (I mean those elongated Oooohs! Come on now!) and makes these explicit realities of life-like never doubting your doubt in your children-sound angelic.

I am thirsty for her voice. 

On “I’m So Happy For You,” Paula is the mindful anchor Rebecca needs to make through the life-altering changes happening at Rebecca’s home base.

Paula just realized her sons are not couch-lumps on Crazy Ex-Girlfriend Season 4 Episode 4, “I’m Making Up For Lost Time.” So, she becomes the unanchored person at her own home base when she learns her oldest is moving much farther than Denver.

She falls to pieces as she annihilates those pieces of pie. 

It’s all so achingly tender. And real. 

My favorite part of the whole Peeps for Peace (hilarious in itself as it gives us a millenialized, “fizzy” version of the Peace Corps) story is when Paula’s family pranks her.

Zayne Emory, Kayla Maisonet, and Steele Stebbins as Brendan, Vanessa, and General Buttface Jackson, respectively, are brilliant and delightful manipulators. They trick Paula into thinking her meddling has led to Brendan meeting her low expectations. They beat her at her own game and I squeal at the fun of it all.

Listen, they learned that from their momma! 

Not only is the story top to bottom funny, from the Lawyer-Bitch earrings to putting Tommy in the corner so OTP magic can happen, but Champlin’s performance also repeatedly moves me to tears. 

Paula has taken some digs from her friends and family for not being a “good” mom. “I’m So Happy For You,” shows how motherhood is a vastly impacting, complicated and diverse experience. Sometimes “good” moms don’t believe in their kids, but that never always means they don’t love them. 

WhiteJoshFeather

Let’s face it, Crazy Ex-Girlfriend is trolling us!

Every single fan of the show I’ve talked to ships White Josh and Darryl. And the cry for the couple to get back together is universal. Crazy Ex-Girlfriend knows it and is calling us out! I love it. I feel seen.

The Seven Brides for Seven Brothers-esque hoe-down number takes on the entitlement of the group. The fandom decides whether two people love each other and the song authentically identifies that sometimes that’s a practice people do to distract themselves from their struggles irl. 

It is brilliant. 

The complicated square dance is just the right style to talk about the topic of aggressive shipping. It looks all fun and light, but it is actually a lot more nuanced than that. 

As far as Darryl and White Josh go, I don’t agree that White Josh is just afraid of leaving the cocoon. When you are in a new relationship, the getting to know each other’s strange friends and their weird interrelations is one of the best parts! It is fun and exciting.

White Josh’s friends are so zany and their connections are soap opera level interesting.  Even though WhiJo doesn’t seem the type to love gossip, he is sitting on a first date and actively wanting to leave so he can avoid the getting-to-know-you part. 

That’s a red flag. 

It’s not that he is scared of losing comfort, it is that he wants to be with Darryl. He likes spending time with Darryl, he likes the teasing banter, and that Darryl isn’t afraid to lean into his strange. 

These two really are an OTP and I may be being quite a Tim and Maya right now, but I think they need to wake up and get back together. 

#GirlSquad4Eva

I love that the Girl Squad that has come together to support Rebecca. The peppering of one-liner jokes and inside references, (Segundo Base is my favorite) makes the story work, but it’s not as rich as the other plotlines. 

What works best is the brief scene between Rebecca and Dr. Akopian. It is refreshing and powerful to see Rebecca go through a “normal” issue. BPD is not the root of her struggle on “I’m So Happy For You.” 

All of us would be having a hard time with two key people in our lives moving on.  Dr. Akopian is so right, we all compare ourselves to our friends. It’s natural. 

Rebecca’s admission that she feels threatened by others’ success is so real. I know I am not the only one nodding and laughing along as she whispers this hard truth to her dream therapist. 

The chemistry between the two actors is incredible and this scene is a stand-out from the season so far. 

I’m so happy for Rebecca. She is so insightful to recognize that she should get back to her BPD group. She is growing and getting healthy. And, to the great credit of Crazy Ex-Girlfriend, it is still just as entertaining.

Crazy Talk

• Netflix binges are romantic. No one can tell me any different. 
• Estrella doesn’t get along with Hector. That fits. 
• Nathaniel gleefully dancing in the back line makes me ship him with Rebecca even harder.
• We need another #GirlSquad song. This was not a sufficient goodbye to this group. 
• Maya ACED the episode. “Back the car up, hit a lamppost, call your mother, you’re getting towed. WhiteJoshFeather is my OTP!”
• Ironic scrapbooking actually sounds amazing. Sign me up. 
• I finally feel seen as a member of the “watched the first Full House in real-time” generation. 

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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