One of the true jewels of
television is airing its final season on the CW. The fact that Crazy Ex-Girlfriend has managed to
survive to a fourth season is remarkable. It's ratings have been microscopic,
even for the network that airs it, and I doubt even one of the lesser cable or
streaming services would be willing to keep it on the air with the numbers it does
have. Which is a great tragedy, considering that this series is likely one of
the great series of the past decade, certainly one of the most unique.
Rebecca Bunch has been on a hell of
a journey, one that even the most advanced cable series probably wouldn't have
dared take their lead on. Starting out as a more than slightly delusional
twenty-ish New Yorker who relocated to West Covina
to chase her ex-boyfriend, she has finally been effectively diagnosed with a
borderline personality. And after three seasons of talking in terms of destiny
and irresponsibility, she finally seems to be on the right path. Of course,
this being Crazy, that path led to
her spending a few weeks in prison for a crime she wasn't responsible for, and
has now become infamous as 'The Rooftop Killer'. But now, Rebecca finally seems
to be the woman she appeared to be in the first few episodes - a good person
following her heart.
Never was this more clear in last
week's episode, where she faced the exact same situation she was at in the
Pilot. Offered a partnership in her law firm, she used the exact same dialogue
and behavior to walk out of her firm, and go into the lobby to work at a
pretzel cafe. And being Rebecca, she immediately
screwed that up, wrecking the franchise for a colleague of hers. Then, she
decided to stop being an attorney and open a pretzel company. But when Paula,
whose been really supportive of her, said it was a destiny, Rebecca responded:
"I don't believe in destiny. I don't think I ever did. I just don't think
the law is right for me." This is a decision she couldn't have come to
even a few episodes ago, and reveals a level of evolution that you'd be hard
pressed to find on any TV show.
And it's not just Rebecca who's
evolving. Josh (Vincent Rodriguez III ), who
has never seemed particularly worthy of Rebecca's love, and has always seemed
incredibly dim-witted, in the season premiere, finally decided to go into
therapy himself. (Ironically, its the husband of Rebecca's therapist.) He's
actually making some progress on himself as a person, which I never would have
happened. Of course, he's still a little slow on the uptake (when he goes a
disastrous date, he doesn't realize that Uber has to call before getting the
cab there) but its definitely there.
Every other character is showing
signs of growth as well. Heather, Rebecca's best friend, has finally admitted
that she is capable of love, and has decided to get married. Of course, first
she agreed to marry her boyfriend just for insurance purposes, but still....
Darryl, now a father again, is beginning to realize he doesn't need a mother
for his new child. Even Nathaniel has finally decided, after nearly two seasons
of gruff menacing, that actually is a human being, that he loves Rebecca.
All of this is fine stuff in its
own right, but as those few but faithful who have watched Crazy from the inception know, the series is also a brilliant
musical, with all the songs written by Rachel Bloom. And if nothing else, she continues to put up
some of the most brilliant satiric numbers in the history of... honestly,
there's no precedent for this anywhere. Last week, she gave a 'Fresh Prince
style rap song' called 'Don't Be A Lawyer' to a fringe character, which is the
funniest argument for not going to law school, and ended with a perfect
self-aware joke that I wouldn't dream of spoiling. Then, after spending the
entire episode ranting at the pretzels, two pretzels became Muppetized and
began singing a Simon and Garfunkel type parody, involving every pretzel
reference you can imagine. Even the opening theme has become a self-satire on
where Rebecca is. Now it's a parody of seventies-TV shows theme music, starting
with introducing us to the wrong Rebecca, and telling us basically every
screwed up thing Rebecca's ever done, before going back to the 'other' Rebecca,
who punctures that joke. ("I live in this park!" she said last week.)
I've said it countless times
before, and will say it one final time - Rachel Bloom is arguably the greatest
discovery to come out of TV and music in the last few years, and its a travesty
of the Emmys that they refuse to nominate her or her show for anything other
than technical awards. (Granted, Bloom's picked up a couple of trophies this
way as a result, but still!) I still don't know whether this series or Jane the Virgin (the other brilliant,
underrecognized CW series coming to an end this season) will go down in history
as the CW greatest triumph. What I do know is that Crazy Ex-Girlfriend has been one of the most joyful and remarkable
experience I've ever seen in all my years of watching TV. I'm sorry its ending,
but I'm glad it' lasted long enough for Bloom to give it the proper farewell it
deserved.
My score: 5 stars.
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