If you are unfamiliar with the show Crazy Ex-Girlfriend, it is a musical-comedy about a woman who moves from New York to California to pursue a man she had a summer camp fling with as a teenager. As the season one theme song suggests, the show and its main character, Rebecca Bunch (series creator Rachel Bloom), are more nuanced than the title suggests. Along with Jane the Virgin and freshman show No Tomorrow, Crazy Ex-Girlfriend has helped The CW carve out a place in the TV landscape for smart hour-long comedies about sincere, yet flawed, women navigating surreal worlds. Crazy Ex-Girlfriend brought The CW its first Emmy award (in a technical category), its second Golden Globe award (the first win came from Jane the Virgin the year before), and a Critics Choice Award. All this to say, this is definitely a show worth catching up on if you haven't already. So unless you want spoilers for season two, go do that now.
The best compliment I can give "Where Is Josh's Friend?" is that Crazy Ex-Girlfriend no longer feels like a show in search of itself. To be fair that transition happened some time in the back half of season one, but it would have been easy for the show to second guess itself moving into season two. I'm glad it didn't, because the version of the show presented here is moving confidently in some interesting direction. Rebecca, after being let down by Greg, is as committed as ever to making her "fairytale" with Josh a reality. Josh on the other hand cares about Rebecca as a friend, but any romantic attachment he feels for her is purely sexual. Now Josh and Rebecca just need to figure that out for themselves. Rebecca chasing Josh was such a huge part of season one, that I understand why the show wants both characters to naturally come to that conclusion on their own. That's a necessary process Rebecca is going to have to go through in order to be able to move on with her life.
This episode did a great job of starting to establish new stories for the supporting cast as well. Paula, after spending most of season one obsessing over Rebecca's love life, has decided to channel that energy into going to law school. Paula has demonstrated on multiple occasions that she is excellent at her job, and she's excellent at arguing even the craziest points. It's a strong new direction for her character. Greg also gets a meaningful storyline to pursue this season. The fact that Greg is an alcoholic makes sense after the show presented the evidence from season one (in the form of a flashback montage), but I have to say, it's not something I particularly noticed. Greg spends a lot of the show defeating himself so that he can never be disappointed by life, and the idea that a lot of that might stem from his alcoholism, gives his character a meaningful path forward on the show.
Other Thoughts:
- "Love Kernels" was an excellent first song (music video? that's essentially what they are) for the season. It was self-satirizing, catchy, and hilariously broke the 4th wall a few times.
- "We Should Definitely Not Have Sex Right Now" was much less effective. The show generally includes at least two musical performances an episode, and sometimes that means if forces one in like this, that feels unnecessary.
- The new theme song isn't nearly as catchy as the theme song for season one, but I understand why the show wanted to change the song as the story progresses.
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