Crazy Ex-Girlfriend: I Need Some Balance (4x09)

Great episode. Great laughs, great drama, great title, great acting, just... great. Man, this show kicks some serious ass.

Cons:

I freakin' loved the Cats motif, don't get me wrong, but I do notice that this is yet another episode this season that doesn't have any new favorites for me. There are so many songs from the first three seasons that I feel like listening to on repeat right after finishing the episode, and I haven't found that to be true with as many songs this season. I'm sure we've still got some great stuff coming up, though.

Pros:

Where to even begin? I love that Rebecca's dislike for the musical Cats ends up creating a musical motif for an entire episode of the show. What a strange throwaway joke to become such a big focus! All of the musical interludes with the cats were just hilarious. I think the first one was my favorite, but they were all excellent, and added so much to the energy and themes of the episode.

One thing that's really cool about Rebecca's character arc this season is that things still get wacky and troubling, but they never spiral down to the low points she has suffered in other seasons. The dilemma here is that Rebecca wants to get laid, but she has a yeast infection, which she then makes worse by trying to cure quickly. In the end, she tells the guy the real situation and it looks like they have a chance to continue connecting... but she is thwarted by the appearance of her ex-boyfriends. All three of them. This is a dramatic situation, and the old Rebecca might have made some very self-destructive choices in the face of that much tension. But here, we see that she leans on her friend Valencia, and while things aren't all hunky dory by episode end, we're not worried that Rebecca is going back off the deep end, either.

Valencia and Josh both had supporting roles in this week's episode. And I mean that in the sense that they had smaller parts, but also in that they were both there to support Rebecca. Josh is a well-meaning, oblivious guy, same as he's always been. Obviously the situation with Rebecca and Josh living together is not going to work out in the long run, but I like that Josh is just genuinely trying to be helpful to Rebecca, and for the most part he is, fetching her medication, and trying to save her from the feral cats. Valencia serves as something of a Greek Chorus as she reacts to Rebecca's ongoing vagina-related drama. But I also like that she's genuinely trying to be helpful, and she accepts that she and Rebecca are very different people, so the things that might work for Valencia won't necessarily work for Rebecca. She encourages Rebecca to be honest with her date, even though it's not advice Valencia herself would have taken in quite the same way.

Before jumping to the other plot threads, I want to just say how hilarious this episode was, in a gross-out humor kind of way. All of the vagina and yeast-infection talk, the stuff with selfies of someone pooping in a public trashcan, etc. etc.... all of that actually put me off my food a little bit, but I also found it genuinely funny and daring. This show really does push boundaries, in a lot of different ways!

The plot thread at the law firm was probably my least favorite of the three, but that by no means indicates anything bad about it. Basically, Darryl and Bert fight over who gets to be the "dad" to the employees. That's it. That's the concept. Thematically, I liked the part where Father Brah came in and tried to caution them to create some separation between their personal emotional needs and their professional relationships, which is a lesson Darryl really needs to learn one of these days. There were lots of great jokes, mostly with Maya trying to choose between the two bosses, and with poor Tim having flashbacks to his parents' divorce as he watches the two of them fight.

Finally, we've got my favorite part of the episode: Greg and Nathaniel become friends at the gym, as WhiJo watches in horror. What a hilarious, perfect setup. It never really occurred to me that these two never would have met, although of course they haven't been on the show at the same time before. And... it's excellent. (Also, as a side note, see how I'm talking about Greg as if it's the same actor? That's how seamless the whole thing is. I love it). Nathaniel makes a friend because he's nice now, and Greg makes a friend because he's trying to take care of himself better, and the whole thing is just so warm, and sweet, and they actually get along really well. It's interesting, because if Rebecca didn't exist, their friendship wouldn't have this secret complication to it. On the other hand, without Rebecca, neither of these guys might have recognized their own toxic behavioral patterns and decided to get better. I'm not saying that Rebecca changed them, but they changed themselves at least in part because of knowing her.

And then there's White Josh. This might be my favorite episode ever for his character. He's hanging out with his new love interest gym guy, just watching with mounting horror as Greg and Nathaniel meet, get closer, discuss their exes without realizing it's the same ex, and even discuss going into business together. Poor WhiJo knows both of these guys pretty well, and he understands how hard it is for them to reach out and be vulnerable enough to make a friend. And now, it's all about to come crashing down around them. I liked the genuinely funny comedy with this setup, but also the true worry that WhiJo had for his two friends.

I honestly can't wait to see where things go from here. I want Nathaniel and Greg to stay friends! I want Rebecca to repair her relationships with Nathaniel and Greg, and re-evaluate the boundaries of her relationship with Josh, and at the same time I just don't know anymore who she should end up with at the end of all of this, if anyone at all! And I don't know if that question is even really the point! This show is just incredible.

9/10