Why You Should Watch Crazy-Ex Girlfriend (But Probably Aren’t)
In spite of lackluster ratings and a limited (but adorably obsessed) audience, Crazy Ex-Girlfriend was picked up for a third season by the CW Network. The musical-comedy, created by and starring Rachel Bloom, has been a critical darling since it first aired in October 2015, scoring two Emmy awards and a Golden Globe. In her acceptance speech at the Critic’s Choice Awards, Bloom noted that it was the critics that have kept the show on the air.
So where’s the audience?
I can’t speak for everyone, but one reason I procrastinated on watching this show was because of the network it’s on. When I think the CW, I usually think of sensationalist teenage dramas which are entertaining, but not what you would put in the same category as Mad Men or Orange is the New Black in terms of quality. Even the title of Bloom’s oeuvre sounds like the sister of Gossip Girl and The Vampire Diaries. Everything you need to know is in the title, right?
You would think after viewing the first episode. An intelligent and successful lawyer, Rebecca Bunch passes up a promotion at a prestigious law firm to move from New York to West Covina, California. And it’s totally not motivated by the fact that her first love, Josh Chan (Vincent Rodriguez III), happens to live there and that she never got over the way he dumped her at summer camp years ago.
Yet as the show progresses, you come to the same conclusion you reached when you hear some guys talking about their “crazy” exes. That is, you’re not getting the whole story. You weren’t getting the “crazy” ex-girlfriend’s name, what her parents were like, or how her life has unfolded. You knew nothing about this girl aside from a derogatory label slapped on by folks who either don’t understand her or don’t bother trying to.
What’s so radical about this show is that you get to know the crazy ex-girlfriend from her perspective. You get her name, her parents, and her life story. Sure, others insist on calling her crazy, but they don’t control the narrative this time around.
Crazy Ex-Girlfriend is a love letter written to all women with underlying issues to address who never had the chance to tell their side of the story.
Now I don’t want to give too much of the show away, but I will list a few reasons why I got hooked almost immediately.
The Characters
Rebecca’s not the only “crazy” (read: dynamic) character on this show. For instance, there’s Rebecca’s co-worker and best friend, Paula (Donna Lynne Champlin), who is part-voice-of-reason, part-enabler for Rebecca in her schemes. Their boss, Darryl (Pete Gardner)is one-eighth Chippewa and delightfully clueless about what’s going on most of the time. Rebecca’s neighbor, Heather (Vella Lovell), is a cool college student who is arguably the most sane character on the show. Josh’s BFF, Greg (Santino Fontana and Prince Hans from Frozen), is a sarcastic bartender who has the hots for Rebecca and dreams of going to business school at Emory.
Other characters worth mentioning are Josh’s on-and-off yogi girlfriend, Valencia (Gabrielle Ruiz), Rebecca’s overbearing Jewish mother Naomi (Tovah Feldshuh), and Rebecca’s coworker Weird Karen (Stephnie Weir of Mad TV alumni).
It Spoke To Me On Very Personal Levels
The show’s main goal is to deconstruct the trope of its title, as well as a few others on the way. In the process of binge-watching the show’s two seasons, I related to various story lines almost too much. Not only did I see various aspects of myself in Rebecca Bunch, but I also saw other people in my life in the other characters on the show. I felt like the show was holding up a mirror to my personal life, if not stalking me. I haven’t flown from New York to California to be near a lost love, but I have unsuccessfully tried to infiltrate a crush’s friend group more than once as a teenager. If I had gone on a beach trip similar to the one in the episode “I’m Going to the Beach With Josh and His Friends”, it probably would have played out similarly. As I saw my own life story in the show, I started to realize things about my life as well as get over personal setbacks that I had been dealing with for years.
The Musical Numbers
The show’s biggest selling points are its musical numbers. Every episode contains at least two short songs (sometimes three) illustrating the inner-monologues of various characters. Yet Crazy-Ex Girlfriend goes above and beyond with musical range, and every song has its unique DNA. I could write an article on the musical numbers alone, because there’s so much to discuss here. The show has evoked genres such as 1980s hair metal and the 1930s musicals starring Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers. You can also catch parodies of artists such as Ed Sheeran, Fifth Harmony, and the Spice Girls. Subjects can range from everyday themes of love and friendship, but also about depression, obsessively checking through someone’s social media, and even those Santa Ana Winds.
Rachel Bloom
A show like Crazy-Ex Girlfriend is very character-driven, and couldn’t work without a capable, multifaceted lead. Rachel Bloom is an actress, comedian, writer, as well as singer-songwriter. With these traits, Bloom is able to fulfill the substantial role of the show’s protagonist and succeeds on every level.
A graduate of NYU’s prestigious Tisch School of the Arts, Bloom made a name for herself by creating music videos set to her comedic songs. Her biggest hit at the time was “F*** Me Ray Bradbury”, which won the 2011 Hugo Award for Best Dramatic Presentation, Short Form. Some of my personal favorites from the pre-Crazy period are “I Steal Pets” and “You Can Touch My Boobies.” She released two albums of her comedic songs, Please Love Me and Suck It, Christmas (A Chanukah Album), the latter including the delightful Santa Baby parody “Chanukah Honey.”
You can binge-watch the show’s two seasons on the CW App (without a cable login), as well as on Netflix while you’re waiting for Season 3.
