Crazy Ex-Girlfriend: I Have to Get Out (4x13)

After watching this episode, I went on tumblr and discovered that there is Discourse about it. People are really heating up with the ship wars, and I'm just kinda over here with a shrug emoji about it all. That said, I am having some very complicated feelings about this episode in particular... let's get talking.

Cons:

So... there are a number of things that I didn't like about this episode, but that I acknowledge might actually not be so bad, provided that they are handled well in the coming weeks. The biggest example is this: I hated when Josh and Nathaniel both had scheming looks on their faces about the fact that Greg and Rebecca broke up. Josh and Rebecca have had such a fun dynamic this season and I don't want that to be ruined. And Nathaniel just had a whole episode devoted to his understanding that he needs to let Rebecca go. I don't want to see a repeat of the same poisonous behavior. BUT, I have to admit that this show is not just about Rebecca growing as a person. It's about the whole gang getting better and making strides to improve. Rebecca has backslides on her road to recovery, and I'm not saying that Josh and Nathaniel should be given as much care within the narrative, especially since neither of them has BPD, but it's possible that we're trying to show here that improving oneself doesn't always move in a straight line. Josh and Nathaniel might both be better people than when we first met them, but is it okay if we see them stumble and do bad things still sometimes? I don't know. I'm frustrated, but I also trust this show to handle the situation well, without condoning these men's behavior, but also without condemning them as people.

Then there's Skylar Astin. He's doing such an amazing job as Greg, but after watching this episode it has just occurred to me that it's really weird to bring Greg back if he's not going to be a central concern in the final episodes. I know that he doesn't need to end up with Rebecca in order to be important or grow as a person, but Greg was given an off-screen arc that felt pretty complete. He moved away and started a new life, met someone he was happy with and stayed sober. Did Greg really get brought back into the story just so that Rebecca could date him and break up with him, and then we'd see him kinda fade in to the background for the final few episodes? It feels weird to me. Again, though, I don't know where this is going. Maybe Greg will feel essential in these last few episodes. Maybe they do have more to do with him. Hell, maybe he and Rebecca end up together after all. I can only judge based on what I know so far, and what I know so far has given me some concerns.

Pros:

I loved the song about antidepressants. Holy crap. It was amazing. The choreography was cool, the message was so important to hear, the comedy was on point. I was all about this song. I also like seeing Rebecca adjust to her meds. She feels really sleepy, but she's sticking with it, and she knows that she needs to give it a try. For this show to point out the stigma against taking pills, and then do its part to dismantle that stigma, is really important and powerful. Rebecca is feeling the side effects, but she's not in a total fog like she has been in the past with her other meds.

The whole wacky scheme to get Paula out of the hospital so she could take the bar exam was great (although the bar is usually a two day test, so that was kind of odd). I like that it was silly and scheme-y and felt like vintage Crazy Ex-Girlfriend, but it was also more toned down and the consequences were less severe than in past instances. To me it seemed like a sign that Rebecca can recover and manage her mental health while still being the same person she's always been. She'll still do kind of wacky stunts with her friends, she'll still cross the line sometimes to help someone out, and she's still the kind of person with bad luck enough to get accidentally stuck in a morgue with three corpses who share her name.

Speaking of, the reprise to "The End of the Movie" was another awesome song. I think it works so well because of the themes of that earlier song. When we heard it last time, Rebecca was at her lowest point. She was realizing that life isn't going to work itself out magically in a tidy narrative, and she feels completely helpless because of that fact. In this instance, she is feeling tired on her new meds, and she's feeling sad that she doesn't have a dream to pursue. She wants life to give her a sign, and this time it does. It's not a lesson about life being like a movie after all. It's about being hopeful, and making proactive decisions without waiting for the universe to just guide you. And I love the idea of Rebecca pursuing theatre. It's one of those things that's totally obvious in hindsight, but I never would have thought of it as an end-game goal for her. I hope it goes well!

As angry as I was by the last few seconds of the episode, I actually thought Nathaniel, Greg, and Josh were hilarious for the majority of the run-time. I loved the fight, and the song cracked me up. Finally we're getting several episodes that have multiple great songs in a row - I think they were saving the good stuff for the end of the season! My favorite part of the song was the musical theatre bit, where Greg says he's really just a "singer who moves." That was excellent and so accurate. I also adored Nathaniel's exasperated and slightly freaked out reaction to the whole thing, and Greg setting down the weapon and saying "well, I didn't know," and then going right back to awkwardly grappling with Josh. So much comedy. These two men are acting incredibly immature, but I loved laughing at them all the same.

The breakup between Greg and Rebecca was really heartbreaking, and real, and true to both of their characters. I like that Rebecca talked about her triggers, explained that it wasn't Greg's fault, and was honest about the night of their fight, and how she went to both Nathaniel and Josh for comfort. She tells him about being on meds and doing the work to be okay. I go back and forth over what I want the ending of this show to be. I think Rebecca is someone who wants and deserves a healthy and happy romantic relationship, but I also think she's being honest with herself about needing to get on track before she can really make something work with another person. Her relationship with Greg has been so much healthier and better this time around than any of the other romances we've seen her have on this show. She's been honest, and seemed truly happy with him. Just because it didn't quite work out in this instance doesn't mean she's doomed to be single for life, and I think the show is doing a good job of telling us that.

Finally, the Darryl subplot was super adorable. I don't know that I have a lot to say about it, other than just: awwww. It was so sweet that Madison conspired with her rival in order to get her dad and her rival's mom a chance to get to know each other. It's cute when kids are aware of their parents' needs and want to help them out. I hope Darryl and this new woman can find some time to hang out and discuss bean dip and being single parents!

That's what I've got for now. Broken record time: this show is amazing. I might be slightly antsy about some of the stuff with Nathaniel and Josh, but I completely trust this show to know what it's doing and to do it right.

8/10