Of all the fascinating programs
this very underrecognized network puts on the air, by far the best - as well as
one of the most original programs ever devised for any network - is Crazy Ex-Girlfriend. Centered around the
adventures of Rebecca Bunch (the incomparable Rachel Bloom), a very neurotic attorney who has changed her
entire life because of her obsession with her incredibly dim teenage crush Josh
(Vincent Rodriguez III ), with each season
Rebecca comes a lot closer to living up to the 'crazy' part of the title.
Granted, what happened at the end
of Season 2 would probably unhinge a far saner woman than Rebecca. Having
finally gotten engaged to Josh halfway through the season, he then proceeded to
leave her at the altar, not for another woman, but for the priesthood. She
basically came close to throwing herself off a cliff, but has now decided to
devote her entire focus to having revenge on Josh.
Unfortunately, the same problems that made her
so incompetent when it came to wooing Josh in the first place make her equally
unfit to try revenge. So far, she tried
to film a sex tape with an actor playing Josh (also Rodriguez) but then, she
attempt to actually have sex with
him, and blew that up. Her best friend Paula (Donna Lynne Champlin) tried to
convince her to sue Josh for breach of promise, but that didn't satisfy her.
She then tried to engage in a very elaborate (and ludicrously sketched Fifty Shades of Grey parody) revenge
plot with her boss Nathaniel, but his plan for revenge was too brutal (get his father deported, have his grandfather taken off
life support, etc.) So she finally confronted Josh at his parish about what he
at done to her (in her wedding dress). And told him every crazy thing she'd done. This made Josh, who'd only joined the
priesthood because he didn't know how to
deal with Rebecca, realize that this wasn't his fault, and now he can leave.
But Rebecca felt better. Until she realized what she'd told him.
This is much funnier then it
sounds. What makes it the most remarkable series on broadcast TV is the fact
that all of this is a musical, with every song written or co-written by Bloom.
In the most recent episode alone, Josh did a Gene Kelly type song and dance number
called 'Head in the Clouds', in which he celebrated taking the veil, Rebecca
did a Chicago style song in which she seduced Nathaniel into her revenge, ended
in a striptease, she had a particularly remarkable ballad in which she sang
out/confessed her crazy sins to Josh, and there was a Les Miserables style number in which an extra basically sang a
number in which he realized his wife was using a vibrator. This last one had no
relation to anything to do with the plot, but the fact that it was there, along
with the buildup and the climax (so to speak) is just one of the many things
that makes Crazy Ex-Girlfriend so
incredible.
Crazy
Ex-Girlfriend is one of the most outstanding series on television, period.
But nobody knows it exists, or at least watches it on the night it airs. The
Emmys have chosen to ignore it (though every other award show has given it some
recognition), and its on Friday nights, a dead zone for any TV series. The fact that the series has made into Season
3 is astounding, considering how low its ratings are, even for a CW series. But
Rachel Bloom is a force of nature, who can make anything entertaining. (If this
series doesn't convince you, watch her work the Tonys or the Emmys). And I
don't know of any other actress who would be willing to so much to humiliate
herself for a laugh since the glory days of Tina Fey and Amy Poehler. Will this
series manage to make it to a fourth season? I think that's an even harder
question to answer than if Rebecca will ever find peace. But as long as this
series is on the air, I will celebrate it, and hope like hell the world manages
to find the time to watch it as well.
My score: 4.75 stars
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