[Update: The video has been removed, and it’s likely the upload went up earlier than it should have by mistake. Another song from tonight’s episode “Horny Angry Tango” is up though, which you can watch below.]
If you’ve been keeping up with this season’s Crazy Ex-Girlfriend, you’ve been following one of the most funny, heartbreaking, and thoughtful shows on air right now. Heads up: spoilers for season three ahead.
This season followed Rebecca after being abandoned at the altar by Josh, which led to some really candid and unflinching plot lines around our singing protagonist’s mental illness which was eventually diagnosed as Borderline Personality Disorder following a suicide attempt. While the title of the story and each episode of the show had previously revolved around Josh Chan, the object of Rebecca’s obsessive affection, the show took a sharp turn this season with the episode “Josh Is Irrelevant”. Our focus instead when on Rebecca’s own wellness and how she would confront BPD now that she had a name for her struggle.
It’s no accident that our 100th song is called, “Without Love, You Can Save the World.” To quote @alinebmckenna: “We are the world’s most unromantic romantic comedy.” #crazyexgirlfriend
— Rachel Bloom (@Racheldoesstuff) January 13, 2018
That’s not to say the romantic plot-lines were over: the show quickly turned to Nathaniel, Rebecca’s boss. While Nathaniel might’ve been a bit of jerk at first, he won over viewers and Rebecca with his love of Harry Potter and eventual vulnerability. A happy ending? Not in Crazy Ex-Girlfriend land. “Nathaniel Needs My Help!” (the show titles shifted to Nathaniel, in a telling move) had Rebecca realizing that she was repeating patterns of obsession with her new boyfriend, and “Nathaniel Gets the Message!” had her breaking up with him for her own good.
In tonight’s episode, “Oh, Nathaniel, It’s On!” the synopsis tells us a “feud” breaks out between the two after Rebecca tries to get her job back. One song shared ahead of the episode is titled “He’s the New Guy“, a reprise of an earlier meta song. The song takes another romantic trope to task: the reformed jerk. So often romantic stories will have a brooding hero who wins the heart of the fans and protagonist because of a backstory, being “changed” by a female character’s goodness, or one dramatic romantic gesture. But does that realistically make them a good match or a changed person?
Crazy Ex-Girlfriend features hilarious hi-jinks natural in the setting of a comedy show, but it’s also never shied away from showing surprisingly real consequences for that behavior. Remember Greg’s alcoholism plot? Or when Rebecca’s romantic “stop him at the airport” moment ends in a break-up? I’ve grown to love Nathaniel, but, oh yeah, he did almost destroy Josh Chan’s family.
Lines from the song include:
“JUST BECAUSE YOU’VE SEEN HIM SHOW
AN OUNCE OF VULNERABILITY
DO YOU THINK THAT MEANS HE HAS
SOME SECRET HEART OF GOLD”
And the most burn:
“HE’S THE NEW GUY
NOT EASILY REFORMED BY
SOME QUIRKY GIRL
THAT HE MET AT WORK”
Of course, the other song of the episode as debuted by Mashable is “Horny Angry Tango”, so the song might just as likely be Rebecca attempting to turn the office against him in a poorly-thought-out scheme or plan. (It can also be both!) We’ll just have to wait and see.
Crazy Ex-Girlfriend tonight at 8 PM on the CW.
(image: screencap)
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