Crazy Ex-Girlfriend: I'm On My Own Path (4x03)

Once again, great. I feel like there's no way I can think of new things to say about this show at this point. It's just all so good.

Cons:

Not specifically about this episode, no. But I suppose I'm impatient for more screen time from certain characters. I'm glad Heather and Hector get so much focus, and I love Josh's story-line, but we haven't even seen Paula's husband and kids this season yet, and White Josh was absent once more! I'm just being a nag. I know we'll get to see everyone soon enough.

Pros:

Okay. Let's start with the main story - Rebecca goes back to work, but then has a bit of a crisis and decides instead to work at a pretzel shop in the lobby of the building, owned by another former Whitefeather employee - Jim. This is all kinds of silliness, and we follow Rebecca as she wrestles between being a lawyer, something she's trained for and knows she's good at, but doesn't enjoy, and being an employee at a pretzel stand. In the end, she lands somewhere slightly different. She'll open her own pretzel stand, and do her own thing. It's silly, but it's poignant, and it feels right for Rebecca in this moment.

The songs are both in this plot thread, and they're both fantastic. "Don't Be a Lawyer" is catchy as hell, and Jim was hilarious. I especially liked the part that broke the rhythm to talk about working on a months-long merger of two pharmaceutical companies. "Our Twisted Fate" was just the sort of bizarre thing that this show would manage to pull off. Full of pretzel puns, with a haunting yet hilarious melody... just comedic gold. I love that Rebecca comes to the conclusion that she doesn't believe in destiny, and yet the show is still bringing things full circle in this way. After all, in the pilot episode, Rebecca rides a giant pretzel over the crowd as she arrives in West Covina, and now she's going to start her own pretzel-based business!

Before turning to the subplots, let's mention Nathaniel. He petulantly decides to take a vow of silence since Rebecca is back at the office, but in the end he breaks it by accident as he comes to the realization that he needs to fight to get Rebecca back. First of all, the bit with the blinds was one of the funniest jokes in the whole episode. Secondly, I love this. I saw another review criticize Nathaniel's moment of revelation, because it seems silly that he would only just now be realizing he loves Rebecca. That's not how I read the moment at all. He knows he loves her, but he's mad at her and he's confused by why even though he's opened himself up and been vulnerable to this woman, he's still not getting what he wants. It's a product of his privilege, and a product of his emotionally constipated upbringing that he's not really sure to do with all of the emotions that he's feeling. But at the end of the episode, inspired by another couple's love, he realizes that relationships are work. Loving Rebecca and offering to take her to Hawaii isn't enough to magically solve all of their problems and fast forward to the happily ever after. He's going to need to put in the effort.

Okay. Subplots. Poor Josh is "on the apps," hunting for a girlfriend, but the girls he ends up going out with are only interested in a hook-up. Josh and Rebecca actually talk about it and... it's kind of the best? I love that Josh is kicking ass at this therapy thing, and making real changes. It makes a hilarious kind of sense that he'd find self-improvement and self-reflection to be a little bit effortless, like everything else he does, but it's still a long journey, and we're only at the beginning. I'll note that it's nice to see diversity in this show, as always, as the two women Josh goes out with are very different in body type, and one is white and one is Hawaiian (and I recognized her from Emma, Approved!)

One of this episode's highlights is the conversation that Rebecca and Josh have at the therapist's office, where they run in to each other. It's almost perfunctory, just a chance for the show to say things bluntly that they've been exploring subtly for seasons. Rebecca apologizes, tells Josh that the way she treated him was wrong, and admits that if she'd been a man, she would have faced consequences much sooner. And Josh, in turn, says that there are things he needs to apologize for as well, like when they first lived together and Josh tried to downplay the seriousness of their relationship. "That was gas-lighting," he says sagely, using the term correctly although he's clearly just learned it. This kind of frank emotional honesty is just so refreshing to see, and it's nice to see that Rebecca and Josh can actually be friends, against all odds.

And now for Heather and Hector. My heart is so happy. Heather decides that she and Hector should get married for health insurance reasons, since Hector hurts his toe. They have a quick ceremony in a court house, and both get very weepy and emotional and profess their love. Then Hector talks about how he wants a "real" wedding with all the pomp and circumstance, and Heather shuts him down, saying that their love isn't like that, and why would they need all the ceremony stuff? Hector is disappointed, but acquiesces. Valencia helps Heather to realize that it's important to Hector, and so they throw together a surprise wedding, with Heather in the white dress, Rebecca saying a few words, and more weepy declarations of love.

This plot thread is, in many ways, a very standard sitcom arrangement. But what I love about it is that it's a wedding episode with very little fanfare. There's no buildup. It comes out of nowhere, it's short, it's sweet, there's no cliche wedding shenanigans. Obviously I also love the gender expectations being thwarted, as Heather is all about quick and efficient, and doesn't want the whole spectacle, while Hector does. Heather gives Hector what he wants, because it's important to him, and as an added note, she looks gorgeous in her wedding dress. Their love story is honestly the cutest thing, and I love how jaded Heather totally lets her guard down and gets emotional over her love for Hector. It stops her from becoming a one-dimensional character, and it's perfect.

I think that's all I've got for this one. I can't wait to see Nathaniel fight to get Rebecca back. That should be interesting and hilarious, as well as kind of pathetic, I'm sure!

9/10