Crazy Ex-Girlfriend Season 3 Episode 6: Josh Is Irrelevant Recap

CEG306Bex&Doc

Fasten your seatbelts, ladies and gentlemen! Rebecca was given a “definitive” “diagnosis” in this episode. If you know anything about the diagnosis, and if you’ve read anything written by me before, you might be able to guess how I feel about borderline personality disorder.

Let’s get on with the recap, while I try to hold Metamaiden back from turning this post into one long rant about the horrors of the borderline personality disorder diagnosis and the ways it’s overdiagnosed in women, and used to control us, especially when you disagree with your elderly psychiatrist, who probably shouldn’t even be practicing anymore, as evidenced by the fact that he prescribes one medication after another that’s contraindicated for your serious chronic illness and gets defensive when you refuse to take those medications**; or your middle-aged male psychologist who decides that your near death experiences due to your illness aren’t trauma, they’re just white girl problems, while being completely sympathetic to your brother’s trauma from watching you suffer; or your middle-aged female counselor who tries to diagnose you when you’re a teenager despite that being expressly excluded in the definitions of the diagnosis.

There was a very good reason why Rebecca didn’t like what she found on the internet when she looked up her diagnosis. It’s the “my doctor doesn’t like me and thinks I’m difficult to work with because I’m a woman who questions them” diagnosis.*

Continue reading “Crazy Ex-Girlfriend Season 3 Episode 6: Josh Is Irrelevant Recap”

Crazy Ex-Girlfriend Season 3 Episode 5: I Never Want to See Josh Again Recap

CEG305Naomi&Bec

After the last two tumultuous episodes, Crazy Ex-Girlfriend settles down a bit this episode. That’s not to say that Rebecca’s life settles down, though not for lack of trying by her mom, Naomi. Despite Rebecca’s severely depressed state of mind, this episode felt more like the show I love to watch. The end of the episode reached the conclusion that, if we’re honest, we all know we’ve been heading toward since the pilot.

Rebecca has been staying on her mom’s pull out couch since last weekend. Naomi, played by the ever glorious Tovah Feldshuh, has had enough of Rebecca’s lying around. She attempts to get Rebecca to go back to her life by using all of the usual methods, including shaming, hovering and controlling.

Continue reading “Crazy Ex-Girlfriend Season 3 Episode 5: I Never Want to See Josh Again Recap”

Crazy Ex-Girlfriend Season 3 Episode 4: Josh’s Girlfriend Is Crazy Recap

CEG304Me-josh-groban

In this episode, Rebecca’s breakdown progresses to the point that it requires a shrub costume and narration by Josh Groban. That’s right. Bex has progressed from Dream Ghosts in season 1, to Santa Ana winds in season 2, to an actual award winning singer narrating her spiraling fantasies in season 3. And a former Mormon missionary/King of England stops by to encourage her Swimfan fantasy movie spoof. It’s an exciting week in Rebecca’s head. In her life, things aren’t so great.

Gaston Nathaniel has been proving his manliness by holding up Rebecca, Officer and a Gentleman-style, in front of her door, all week. He keeps holding her through the first part of Paula’s impromptu, barely organized intervention. Once he figures out that this is serious and going to last a while, he puts her down and tries to figure out exactly what’s going on.

Continue reading “Crazy Ex-Girlfriend Season 3 Episode 4: Josh’s Girlfriend Is Crazy Recap”

Crazy Ex-Girlfriend Season 3 Episode 3: Josh Is a Liar Recap

CEG303Bex&Bex

Picking up where episode 2 left off, Rebecca is still in her wedding dress, laying on her bed, obsessing over the things she told Josh. She’s so worked up that, as her younger self says, her “anxiety is so powerful that it’s manifested in human form as me, who is you.”

On the plus side, she’s definitely getting her money’s worth out of that dress.

We practically get a reprise of You Stupid Bitch, but then Rebecca remembers that Josh doesn’t know that Robert isn’t a dog, so she still has a few secrets left. For now. Because Josh will need to defend himself when the lawsuit goes to court, and he’ll be looking for every shred of evidence that he can dredge up.

Personally, I think she’s thinking like a Harvard lawyer here and giving Josh’s intelligence and ability to plan way to much credit, but whatever. She’s needs a reason to continue with her revenge scheme, and having been used and led on for 2 seasons, then left at the altar, humiliated and holding the bag for the very real and expensive nonrefundable wedding expenses, isn’t enough for the writers.

Just before the theme song plays, Young Bex does hit Adult Bex with all of the insults: “You stalking, obsessive, psycho, crazy…” She’s cut off before she gets to “bitch” and “st…alking” is inserted for stupid, but the parallel is obvious.

Continue reading “Crazy Ex-Girlfriend Season 3 Episode 3: Josh Is a Liar Recap”

Crazy Ex-Girlfriend Season 3 Episode 2: To Josh, With Love Recap

This week, Rebecca continues her revenge campaign, doubling down on the darkness and recruiting Nathaniel to add in the Machiavellian twist that she can never quite muster. Tim from the office also gets some devastating news about his wife’s electric toothbrush, and Josh tries communicating directly with God because reading textbooks for 4-6 years wasn’t part of his plan to become a priest.

And we have our new theme song, You Do/You Don’t Want to Be Crazy sung by a girl band made up of four Rebeccas! We have Carrie Underwood Rebecca, Taylor Swift Rebecca, Eminem Rebecca, and KD Lang Rebecca. The theme song and the episode are full of references to Taylor Swift’s song and video Look What You Made Me Do.

There’s also emphasis on the theme that Rebecca tries to be whoever she needs to be to get what she wants, or whatever she thinks other people want, instead of who she actually is. She probably has no idea who she actually is, beyond the parts of herself that she hates.

Continue reading “Crazy Ex-Girlfriend Season 3 Episode 2: To Josh, With Love Recap”

Crazy Ex-Girlfriend Season 2 Episode 13: Can Josh Take a Leap of Faith?

cegf213girlgroup-copy

Welcome to the Crazy Ex-Girlfriend Season 2 Finale. Things just got a little more “Ex” and a hell of a LOT crazier. This episode definitely answered its title question, Can Josh Take a Leap of Faith? I don’t think anyone saw the answer we got coming, though.

The previously on… reminds us that Josh called Rebecca weird when he broke up with her at the end of camp, and that she’s always felt that marrying Josh would make her problems magically go away. He’s not just the person who makes her feel loved. He’s the arbiter of normal. If Josh says she’s normal, then she’s not crazy or weird.

We find Rebecca sitting on her couch texting her dad. It’s word for word the same as her first text to Josh when she arrived in West Covina. She’s hoping to spend time with him before the wedding. Paula arrives with Rebecca’s wedding veil, which she’s made for Rebecca. They take a second to marvel over the fact that Rebecca managed to nab Josh Chan. Then they duet on a punk metal song called What a Rush to Be a Bride. There might be a bit of underlying panic and anxiety in the room. They go back to cooing over wedding accessories.

Continue reading “Crazy Ex-Girlfriend Season 2 Episode 13: Can Josh Take a Leap of Faith?”

Crazy Ex-Girlfriend Season 2 Episode 12: Is Josh Free in Two Weeks? Recap

cegf212tmiokp

This week, Rebecca goes into full melt down mode as she tries to plan her wedding by herself. She has very little time and no idea what she wants her wedding to be like, other than “normal.” The episode highlights Rebecca and Nathaniel’s unhealthy goals in life. Rebecca needs to feel normal, or at least appear normal, by marrying the normal boy in a normal wedding. Her standard of normal isn’t even well-defined in her own mind, making it impossible to reach. Nathaniel’s standard of manhood is very well defined. He needs to live up to his father’s unrealistic ideals, or die trying.

Rebecca spends the episode on what amounts to random busy work, flailing around in an unorganized way, trying to recreate other people’s weddings. Her disorganization is notable in someone who is known for being a top-notch attorney, which requires a high level of analytical and organizational skill. This is self-sabotage.

Continue reading “Crazy Ex-Girlfriend Season 2 Episode 12: Is Josh Free in Two Weeks? Recap”

Crazy Ex-Girlfriend Season 2 Episode 11: Josh Is the Man of My Dreams, Right? Recap

ceg211bexnatdance

Much to Dr Akopian’s dismay, Rebecca and Josh are still engaaaged. But, the devil winds are a-blowin’ into town and they bring all manner of strange thoughts with them. Well, I don’t think Karen’s thoughts actually got any stranger. Just even more inappropriately public.

I can’t help but feel like Rebecca’s taken a huge step backward this week, while Paula took a couple of steps forward. Rebecca ignores every warning sign the universe and her psyche send her, to the point where we get a brief reprise of You Stupid Bitch. That song is the lowest of low points for Rebecca, and it’s incredibly painful to hear even one line of it. Paula, on the other hand, learns some things from Rebecca and Daryl, and makes some positive changes in her own life.

It’s windy in West Covina, this week. Welcome to the desert, kids. Rebecca’s seen weather before, though. She’s all about her ring, which is a family heirloom, but it was bought back for her by Josh and he put it on her finger and proposed and she said yes OMG!!! High pitched SQUUEEAAALL!!

Continue reading “Crazy Ex-Girlfriend Season 2 Episode 11: Josh Is the Man of My Dreams, Right? Recap”

Crazy Ex-Girlfriend Season 2 Episode 10: Will Scarsdale Like Josh’s Shayna Punim? Recap

cegf210tovahpatti

Tovah’s back!! I haven’t been this happy to see her since she charged a hallway full of zombies! She brought Patti Lupone along with her, who sings about suffering, as one would expect, and has the honor of being the person who finally gets through to Rebecca that Josh Chan can’t save her from her issues. It doesn’t stick, yet, but the seed is planted.

This episode was spectacular. One of the best of the series.

Rebecca and Josh are ADORABLY IN LOVE and EVERYBODY needs to know. They are selfie-ing and hashtagging and creating new forms of social media to post evidence of their love on. They are so in love that when Heather doubts them, they turn into ABBA, embarrassing jumpsuits and all, and sing about how they’ll never have problems again. Everyone knows that once you put it in a song, it’s really true.

Continue reading “Crazy Ex-Girlfriend Season 2 Episode 10: Will Scarsdale Like Josh’s Shayna Punim? Recap”

Crazy Ex-Girlfriend Season 2 Episode 9: When Do I Get to Spend Time with Josh? Recap

Crazy Ex-Girlfriend is renewed for a third season! The CW renewed almost all of its fall shows on Sunday (1/8), giving the showrunners ample time to plan for next season. (And avoid mistakes like letting Santino Fontana slip away.)

It’s a week later, and Paula and Rebecca have settled into coparenting. Paula understands the value of a wife now. She appreciates it so much, in fact, that she’d like several. (Duh, we all need a permanent 50s housewife and mom of our own.) Rebecca’s avoiding Josh, even though he’s made good on his promise to woo her. There’s a little shrine in the corner, filled with his offerings- stuffed animals, balloons, candy, and other romantic little gifts. Josh has been standing outside Paula’s house, waiting for Rebecca to change her mind, for 3 days.

Rebecca admits that she’s scared that Josh is still not committed to her. He’s had three girlfriends in three months. She can’t trust him any more. Josh promises things will be different this time. With a brief shovel talk from Paula, then her blessing, Paula and Josh head out into West Covina to start their romance for real. There’s a reprise of West Covina playing in the background, but this time we see the town closer to how it really is. The kids are spraying graffiti, the porn theater is hanging a new sign, and the ambulance-chasing lawyer is looking for new business. Everyone is happy, and happy for Rebecca and Josh. Rebecca thinks she’s going into the relationship with her eyes wide open this time.

Continue reading “Crazy Ex-Girlfriend Season 2 Episode 9: When Do I Get to Spend Time with Josh? Recap”