Crazy Ex-Girlfriend Review: I Need A Break (Season 4 Episode 12)

Crazy Ex-Girlfriend Season 4 Episode 12, “I Need a Break,” is flawless.

I am not even being hyperbolic; it is perfect. ALL THE PRETZELS.

Every second of the episode beautifully builds upon previous seconds and at the end, I do need a break because I am simply so overwhelmed by the depth of emotional resonance it provides.

I am still reeling.

I know that the episode will continue to tumble through my mind and I will be coming to new discoveries and conclusions in the weeks to come.

Even my first impressions of the episode are complex and rich, which is a testament to the incredible prowess of this little show, Crazy Ex-Girlfriend.

Paula and Rebecca are the Real OTP

It is not until Rebecca faces Paula and pleads for her to make better choices that it dawns on me how parallel and intertwined their stories are on the episode.

REBECCA: Promise me you’ll take better care of yourself.

Once it does dawn on me I literally burst into tears.

How we treat ourselves matters, and it matters most to the people who love us and need us to stay.

This is what was missing for me during Season 3, a recognition of how Rebecca’s management, or mismanagement, or her mental health impacts all the people who love her.

And on “I Need A Break” here it is. It gives the recognition I needed, but delivered one thousand times more elegantly and interconnectedly than I could have imagined.

Paula is working herself to the point of exhaustion. She refuses to accept help. She laughs off people telling her, very directly, that she does not look well.

Sound familiar to anyone else?

We know that something is wrong with Paula, but for the first part of the episode, we are not really concerned.

Sure, Paula should take a break, but we minimize her pain, her risk, we really do, because that is what moms have to do. They have to get it all done, and their bodies take the brunt of the over-working.

Crazy Ex-Girlfriend. pulls the rug out from under us, revealing that we are so biased against women that it takes until the doctor is calling the ICU for us to realize how serious Paula’s condition is.

We just don’t see women getting heart attacks.

Even though heart disease is the number one cause of death in the United States, we just don’t see women experiencing heart failure on TV. We don’t even recognize the signs.

I could easily rattle off the list of the symptoms of a heart attack: tingling left arm, extreme pressure on the chest, breathlessness.

ALL THE SYMPTOMS FOR MEN!

Crazy Ex-Girlfriend shows us what the symptoms are for a woman experiencing heart failure: overheating, sweating, exhaustion, body aches, and vomit.

This show is literally a lifesaver.

It also continues to embody women, meaning it gives women characters bodies that do things that actual human bodies do.

Incredible as it may be, very few shows manage to fully embody women. No show so fully and richly gives women complete characterization, mind, and body, as Crazy Ex-Girlfriend.

Paula’s heart attack brings Cookie and Momma Cookie together and shows us how meaningful their relationship is.

This is now the second time we have seen Rebecca being willing to take an important step in her recovery because of Paula (the first was on the Season 3 finale when Rebecca admitted guilt).

These two bastions of strength come to see that they are too precious to be treating themselves so crappy.

Self-care is so much more than yoga and facials. Self-care is actually a very giving gesture towards the people who love you and need you to be healthy.

The episode brilliantly makes the point that Rebecca and Paula cannot do it on their own. They need each other and their squads, both as support and as people to stay healthy for.

The Boss is Back

New Greg made his initial debut on Crazy Ex-Girlfriend Season 4 Episode 8, “I’m Not the Person I Used to Be,” in a very Greg way. He sings a sardonic but still kinda sweet song with Rebecca.

But then New Greg got boring. He seemed basic lovey-dovey.

On “I Need a Break”, New Greg just becomes Greg. He sheds the sweet and turns into the hater that we love so dearly.

“I Hate Everything But You,” perfectly showcases who Greg is. Sure, some of his grouchiness was a result of his alcoholism, but not that much. He’s just a grouchy guy.

His cynicism and flair for dramatic judgments of others is a part of his personality.

Rebecca likes and connects with him on this because her rainbow vision of the world masks a more cynical center.

She can bring Greg a bit up with her optimism, but still, have her itch for the negative scratched by his pessimism.

It’s actually a really good fit.

This episode pulls me towards Grebecca much more than Crazy Ex-Girlfriend, Season 4 Episode 10, “I Can Work With You.”

The episode also heartily sells me on Skylar Astin as Greg.

My favorite hates from the many, many examples Greg provides are people who talk about golf, people who love frisbee golf, and people who call frisbee golf, folf.

Same, Greg. Same.

The song makes a more meaningful turn, in relation to Grebecca, when Greg admits he believes in love.

GREG: I hate the phrase love conquers all, and I hate that it’s true because I want to not hate things when I’m with you.

And Rebecca does not hear that. She only hears Greg say that he hates everything.

Rebecca’s hearing drops out, because of her raging BPD, right at the part where he says he believes love conquers all. He is basically saying he loves her and she totally misses it!

Her ex, Tyler Darkness, has made her deaf to the positive things people in her life are telling her. This is a very realistic and telling example of how people with BPD can interpret good news.

This is yet another example of how Crazy Ex-Girlfriend. is breaking down barriers in how mental health struggles are portrayed on TV.

Greg plays a very important part in this portrayal as well. He flexes his new skills by calling out the unhealthy communication, but in a really loving way.

The examples are so thoughtful and thorough that I literally think this show would be an excellent resource for group therapy sessions.

It’s a joy to see and gives me great hope for the future Greg is going to have once the show is over.

I can’t be the only one who is all about Skylar Astin’s wild pit hair. Meow.

The M-Word

It is so wonderful to see Dr. Akopian back on the show and in Rebecca’s life.

Our favorite Dream Ghost ushers in one of the most important and heart-crushing topics on the episode: the m-word.

No, not medication, though that’s a huge part of it. The m-word is Maintenance.

REBECCA: The whole thing is so relentless.

Season 3 gave us the journey of Rebecca’s suicide attempt, diagnosis, and breakthrough of taking responsibility.

This season we have the far less dramatic but equally as essential journey of Rebecca maintaining her progress.

It would indeed be so much easier if maintenance wasn’t necessary. Binge is always easier than moderation.

But that’s not real. Real progress is sustained. Real progress considers medication, group, regular one on one therapy, and strong community support.

It is exhausting.

But as Dr. Akopian points out, it is worth it to invest the time and energy. When maintenance is overlooked, progress is lost and there is risk of a total relapse.

The monotony, the drudgery, the war of attrition that is involved in the m-word is portrayed impeccably on the episode.

The valuable discussion we witness about the core elements of recovery is very important. The episode is holistic in its approach to Rebecca’s recovery.

Miraculously, it is also always funny as it covers these very difficult, nuanced and sensitive topics.

For me, it is impossible to overstate how important, valuable, accurate, and profound the representation of mental health is on this show.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MpqtwN_vkbk

The episode is a special moment, a piece of art, and a life-saving guide for people facing the toughest of journeys, right alongside Rebecca.

Needless to say, it handily earns its five pretzels.

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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