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S01.E05: Josh And I Are Good People!

ElectricBoogaloo

By ElectricBoogaloo
in Crazy Ex-Girlfriend [V]

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Rinaldo

Rinaldo

The lack of response, an hour after the episode ended, is different from other weeks. For me, this wasn't a bad segment by any means, but it didn't leave me exhilarated as others have; the songs this time felt obligatory, there because the format requires them. And for once it's the dramatic development that dominated the hour: Greg's (understandable) contempt for Rebecca, her compulsion to prove her goodness publicly rather than simply doing good things. When she finally gets the message and does do something helpful to others, the insight is short-lived when Josh admits his feelings for her, and once again she goes off the deep end. So as always with her (and with most of us), for each step forward there's another step back.

 

All of which was well conceived and well done. But I expect I'll be revisiting "A Boyband Made Up of Four Joshes" and "Settle for Me" more. I guess it's unfair to expect such inspirations every week

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tennisgurl

tennisgurl

Yeah, not quite so great as the last few episodes, but definitely some good stuff. 

 

I really feel bad for Rebecca. She`s clearly a mess, but she has a TON of issues. I wonder if she has ever tried therapy? 

 

The dramatic close up of the snail was hilarious. I love a good dramatic close up. 

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RevmodDon

RevmodDon

The new songs seemed kind of uninspired, it's true.  But the use of overture versions of previous songs to score the rest of the episode made up for it somewhat.

 

Also, Tim "watching my long Os and pretending not to like hockey."  And yes, the close up of "Iggy Izsnailia".  And all the snail names.  So, there was stuff.

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alrightokay

alrightokay

(edited)

I think my favorite part of tonight's episode was Mrs. Hernandez telling Paula she was a good person.  The instrumental to "I'm a Good Person" played, and it was like Mrs. Hernandez was singing.  That was a lovely moment.  Otherwise, this episode was a bit disappointing.  Greg was right to be upset, and I think he came around too quickly.  Josh was sweet and earnest, and I was glad he tried to do the right thing here, but I was frustrated that Rebecca only heard what she wanted to hear.  Finally, I think we don't need to meet any more of the coworkers at the law office (the tampon lady wasn't very funny, and they gave her the tag at the end).  Let's get to know Neighbor Heather and White Josh better.  Or let's shift to the people at Aloha Tech.  

 

ETA: There was one other part I liked: how many times a character said, "Bu-bu-bu-bu-" to shush other people (I'm not sure how to write it out, but I swear, I think every major character made that sound tonight).

Edited by alrightokay
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arc

arc

Karen wasn't a great character, but she's played by a very funny person (Stephnie Weir), so I wouldn't mind seeing her again.  (Though it didn't help for me that she had short blonde hair since Maria Bamford played a similar oversharing, incompetent in a legal office in "Benched" last last year.)  Also, great to see Rene Gube ("Ground Floor") as Father Brah.

 

I'm Canadian myself living in California (but on a legit work visa! so I can say "soar-y" all I want!) so that part of Paula's plot amused me.

 

Daryl's song leaned right into the potential creepiness of the song while managing to keep him not creepy. Nice bit of tightrope walking there.

 

I felt bad for Rebecca for how she took that last conversation with Josh.  And yeah, Greg has a legitimate beef with Rebecca and I also think he came around too quickly.  But hey, at least she lost that 10 grand.

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possibilities

possibilities

I liked the episode. It wasn't as gleefully amazing as some others, but I enjoyed the relative sobriety. I'm sure they'll get back to highs, but an occasionally less peaking episode is OK with me.

 

I thought Greg's ability to forgive her, without giving her a pass, was a sign of his sanity and balance as a person, as well as his own irrational love-schmoop streak.

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rho

rho

I thought the A-plot with Becca was necessary, but probably handled poorly. The fact that she tried to frame the wife with $10K in the suitcase makes me rethink some of her previous wins in the courtroom.

 

But, I absolutely died with Paula told Karen to shut her "garbage mouth." It was a stellar episode for Donna Lynne Champlin and I'm glad we got to see her shine in the workplace this week

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Rinaldo

Rinaldo

And yeah, Greg has a legitimate beef with Rebecca and I also think he came around too quickly.  

I was torn on the latter point myself. But it helped (for me) that they're not back to the old footing, he still hasn't forgiven or ignored what she did. And it not only helped that she finally just said "I'm sorry" without adding a justification or excuse -- it made a nice parallel to Josh's confession (which must begin with a genuine act of contrition -- the first step is acknowledging, without qualification, that you've done wrong).

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ElectricBoogaloo

ElectricBoogaloo

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(edited)

In reality, I have mixed feelings about someone like Rebecca trying to do good things for selfish reasons. On the one hand, there are lots of rich assholes who donate huge amounts of money to schools, museums, charities, etc. and they get praised for it, so if Rebecca is motivated to do good for any reason whatsoever and the end result is that she is helping other people then yay? I mean, if Karen's terminally ill snake gets $1000 of medical help because of Rebecca's guilt, then great. But what I hated is that Rebecca was ready to give up on her boss's custody case just because Greg went home and wasn't there to witness her being not terrible.

 

Poor Paula. The people in their office really are garbage. I remember back in the olden days when you couldn't blast music at your desk. But for some reason, now that's okay which is SO annoying. I loved her kicking ass when Rebecca and Darryl left her in charge.

 

I love how tv people always have time to do stuff before work. So Rebecca met Josh for boba and then bought lattes and donuts for everyone in the office AND THEN went to work. I can barely drag my ass out of bed in the morning, so meeting a friend before work is never going to happen.

 

Mother Theresa Luther King needs to learn not to leave her purse on a chair in a restaurant so she can run after some guy who thinks she's a terrible person for ditching him to have sex with someone else on their first date. I know they are painting West Covina as this perfect little suburb, but that's how people get their stuff stolen. You'd think a girl who lived in New York would know better!

 

When Father Brah told Josh to write down all his sinful thoughts, I was sure that Valencia was going to find his list. Then again, Josh said he printed his list so maybe she will find the list on his laptop.

 

I think Greg was too quick to forgive her. Although she is the protagonist, I don't think anyone could objectively look at what she did and take her side. What she did to Greg was really terrible and hurtful. But I think that their reconciliation at the end was Greg seeing that anyone can do nice or terrible things but that doesn't define them as an entirely nice or terrible person. Nice people sometimes do terrible things, and terrible people sometimes do nice things. Most normal people do both nice and terrible things in the course of their lives.

 

I am not in any way excusing what Rebecca did but I think that Greg just realized Rebecca is a deeply flawed person who is not completely terrible (the fact that she offered to have sex with him in the storeroom to make up for sleeping with ManBun tells me that she has some issues that she needs to work out). I actually loved when he kept telling her how much she sucked and that unless she could unhave sex with that guy, he couldn't forgive her.

 

One of the problems with people like Rebecca is that they think they can just say sorry and that magically erases someone's hurt feelings. First you have to actually mean it. Earlier in the episode, the only thing she was really sorry about was that Greg thought she was a terrible person. In the end when she sincerely apologized and said he didn't have to forgive her, I think he saw the difference.

Edited by ElectricBoogaloo
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sacrebleu

sacrebleu

The musical numbers didn't really work for me, except for the "I'm a Good Person" reprise with Paula. Everything with Paula was pretty good.

 

And I did like that Rebecca did get to work through some stuff. The whole "lack of parental validation" epiphany was a nice bit of development. 

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taragel

taragel

(edited)

This one didn't work for me as well as previous episodes, either. For the first time, I was pretty uncomfortable with Rebecca's manicness (which maybe says more about me that I wasn't before!) I wish they didn't go there with the framing/$10,000 in the bag thing. I don't mind Rebecca being crazy but there has to be some ethical lines she won't cross if we really want to believe she's a good person deep down. I didn't like that the only reason her plan was foiled was because she got caught--and not because she rethought it at the last minute, like Paula did with the jerky coworker. But I did enjoy her finally just apologizing to Greg without qualifying it or trying to justify it and becoming self-aware of why she sought validation at the end.

 

But also, it's interesting to me that Josh is becoming the most stand-up guy of them all. Yes, he can be a little too dude-bro-ish but he's a genuinely nice, sweet guy from pretty much everything we've seen AND he makes moral choices. Conversely, even though Greg was right and entitled to (some) of his anger, I still thought he was sort of a jerk in a "two wrongs don't make a right" way tonight. Yeah, he didn't tell Josh what she did but he was thoroughly obnoxious about it anyway. I guess this is where I feel like he has to (unless we're supposed to believe he's pretty crazy too) cut bait on Rebecca entirely. Get some distance, dude. Don't turn into a Nice Guy TM. 

 

I can't even with the daddy song. Lol. I mean, it still surprises me the shit they get through S&P just because it's put to music. I enjoyed the daughter too. All the kids on this show are aces, which is so unusual. 

 

The office stuff was just okay for me, although I liked the silent reprise of You're a Good Person. Heh. 

 

Anyone know who played Darryl's wife? She looked so familiar to me but I couldn't figure it out. 

Edited by taragel
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taragel

taragel

Allison Dunbar.

 

Thanks! Maybe I remember her from The Sopranos--or maybe she just looks like someone else IRL or from reality TV or something. I thought she was one of the Real Housewives at first.

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Katienne

Katienne

Thanks! Maybe I remember her from The Sopranos--or maybe she just looks like someone else IRL or from reality TV or something. I thought she was one of the Real Housewives at first.

Not exactly a big name, but she does show up in the occasional big hit.

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alrightokay

alrightokay

I kept getting a sense of deja vu while watching this episode, and it hit me (now, I know this is a stretch) that this episode gave me flashbacks to Clueless, with Greg dressed like Paul Rudd (whose character was named Josh), sporting a close-cropped haircut and being snarky/dismissive, and with Rebecca desperately trying to prove that she's a good person (the way Cher/Alicia Silverstone wanted to improve herself to impress her Josh).  It was as if Clueless, which was set in Beverly Hills, got transplanted to West Covina.

 

(See pic of Paul Rudd at bottom of this page.)

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AlliMo

AlliMo

I get why Greg is angry and upset with Rebecca, but as much as I enjoy the character, I don't entirely sympathize with him. He's admitted himself that he doesn't even *like* Rebecca, yet he continues to pursue her. He's fully aware that she's into Josh, and she's straight up told him that she's a total trainwreck, yet he's surprised when she turns out to be exactly what she said she was. Yes, she did a shitty thing, but it's not like he was never told, and even when he's trying to pursue her, he's really kind of a jerk to her all the time. Stop being a drama queen and acting like someone stabbed your puppy, dude; you got what you asked for.

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sacrebleu

sacrebleu

 

I love how tv people always have time to do stuff before work. So Rebecca met Josh for boba and then bought lattes and donuts for everyone in the office AND THEN went to work.

Maybe it was 'weekend Tuesday" again and she rolled in around 11... 

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BooBear

BooBear

But also, it's interesting to me that Josh is becoming the most stand-up guy of them all. Yes, he can be a little too dude-bro-ish but he's a genuinely nice, sweet guy from pretty much everything we've seen AND he makes moral choices. Conversely, even though Greg was right and entitled to (some) of his anger, I still thought he was sort of a jerk in a "two wrongs don't make a right" way tonight. Yeah, he didn't tell Josh what she did but he was thoroughly obnoxious about it anyway. I guess this is where I feel like he has to (unless we're supposed to believe he's pretty crazy too) cut bait on Rebecca entirely. Get some distance, dude. Don't turn into a Nice Guy TM. 

Yes I am starting to fall for Josh myself.  Overall not the best episode ever. I am willing to give Greg a bit of a pass here only because Rebecca kept showing up where he was and was working. Other than when they ran into each other at first. I also feel like Greg still likes her despite himself and he knows it. It is obviously the way the show is trying to keep them apart (in kind of a strained way) Greg is probably going to get his own love interest now.

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arc

arc

I love how tv people always have time to do stuff before work. So Rebecca met Josh for boba and then bought lattes and donuts for everyone in the office AND THEN went to work. I can barely drag my ass out of bed in the morning, so meeting a friend before work is never going to happen.

I have a friend who regularly does full workouts before work. At a gym, in some kind of Crossfit-like program with a group, and they Facebook about it.  I'm with you, I prefer to experience the least amount of morning possible.

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Snarklepuss

Snarklepuss

I agree that it was not the best episode but it didn't suck either.  I didn't like the bit about the $10,000.  If they're going to make Rebecca look like a whiz lawyer she can't be doing unethical stuff like that or it goes over the line into unbelievable.  She wouldn't last 5 minutes as a lawyer if she went off the deep end to that extent on a regular basis.  I was suspending disbelief just about as much as I could when I thought they were making her out to be an "idiot savant" of sorts in that she was wackadoodle in her personal life but a total pro in her work life.

 

I'm not really warming up to Josh that much.  I actually see him more and more as a space cadet in a lot of ways.  Innocent and sweet but there's no real "there" there with him like there is with Greg.  Josh is certainly beautiful but he can only interact with Rebecca on the most basic of levels.  I can totally understand Greg being very cautious given Rebecca's issues so he wins points with me on that.  I also think he gave in too easily in forgiving her - but it's just like that for someone who is conflicted about someone.  Greg seems to be the "anti-Josh" in a lot of ways, although he too is not hard on the eyes and is generally an all around good guy.  He seems deep, complicated and would be able to relate to Rebecca in all the ways Josh can't - And I'm beginning to think that may be the whole point.  Their polar opposition sets up Rebecca's indecision about them as being almost irreconcilable.  I wonder if the show were to continue past this one season if she would constantly vacillate between the two of them, because it looks like that's what they're setting her up for.


I have a friend who regularly does full workouts before work. At a gym, in some kind of Crossfit-like program with a group, and they Facebook about it.  I'm with you, I prefer to experience the least amount of morning possible.

 

Yeah, add me to the non-morning person pile.  I do as much as I can the night before so I can get up as late as possible.  I once tried the early morning workout and it was a total disaster in just about every way.  I'm leaning toward "Weekend Tuesday" as the explanation for the pre-work meeting on this episode. 

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ElectricBoogaloo

ElectricBoogaloo

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I have a friend who gets up at 5am so she can workout before work which is something I could never convince myself to do. At least boba with your crush is more enticing. I stay in bed until the last possible second and even then I can barely manage to peel myself off the mattress!

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Snarklepuss

Snarklepuss

Well I think in the past, Rebecca was on some medications. When she got to WC, she threw all of that out.

 

Oh, I know, I'm talking about what they may have her do in the future - If she continues with the crazy unethical stuff it becomes unbelievable for her to get away with it without grievances being filed, etc.  In real life that would never happen.  At some point she would get in trouble for it.

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Latverian Diplomat

Latverian Diplomat

(edited)

The songs were kind of uninspired. The "I Love My Daughter"-song didn't really resonate with me, because I have never really heard about people thinking that a father's love for his daughter is creepy.

 

I suggest you google "purity ball". 

 

Now, Darryl is not at all that kind of Dad, he's cool. But to me, the song was really successful at having him sort of blunder in things that sounded wrong or had a subtext that could be interpreted the wrong way. I thought it was really clever. But I do like comedy where a well meaning person gets tangled up in their own overthinking and awkwardness and ends up sounding like a crazy person.

 

ETA: I thought it good that Rebecca actually found very legitimate grounds for getting Darryl temporary custody. (I love that she really is a super competent lawyer!) Then the $10000 frame up plan came out of nowhere, just so she could cross the line for the moral of the story. That didn't really seem plausible to me, for her to suddenly veer into felony/disbarment territory after she had already won a big victory, but at least there was a solid, amusing payoff (she doesn't get the money back).

Edited by Latverian Diplomat
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eteffi

eteffi

Eve, great post! Not to nitpick, but isn't Karen's snake named Long John SLITHER? That's what my husband and I heard and we almost died laughing/from terminal fang cancer. I hope I'm right, because if his name isn't Long John Slither, it SHOULD BE.

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Rinaldo

Rinaldo

I suggest you google "purity ball". 

That's certainly a valid relevant notion, but what it suggested to me is the self-feeding atmosphere in online discussion forums (which Rachel Bloom certainly knows about). After a depiction of a close loving relationship between siblings, or parent and child, someone will inevitably comment to the effect of "Is it just me, or was there a creepy incestuous vibe in that scene..." and things degenerate from there.

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Wings

Wings

(edited)

I will stay with this because it is what I do when a show catches me at the onset.  Not as into it as I have been. Rachael's crazy is wearing a bit thin for me. 

Edited by wings707
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SmithW6079

SmithW6079

The flashbacks to young Rebecca are heartbreaking -- the one this episode, where her mother calls her a terrible person and the reason her father left, and a previous one, where only three girls showed up to her birthday party and her mother basically kicks her father out.

 

I thought "Father Brah" was awesome, and I loved how Josh broke down the etymology of how he arrived at it: "Father Joseph" --> "Father Broseph" --> "Father Bro" --> "Father Brah." I also really liked that Josh is religious, or at least his faith appears to be important to him. Too often, religion on TV shows (especially ones like this), show Christians to be intolerant evangelical fundamentalists. The fantasy of the mannequin three-way was hilarious.  

 

I appreciate how they're trying to show how people are nuanced, but the redemption of the mother seemed forced. In the judge's office, she's dressed tawdrily and garishly, and not only puts down her husband but admits to a five-year affair and leaving her child alone overnight. Then, suddenly, she's conservatively dressed and really a good mother after all. The planting of the $10,000 was a stupid plot point.

 

Josh is a sweet guy and pretty to look at, but otherwise, there's not much "there, there." I was kind of sorry that all Rebecca heard was "I'm attracted to you..." without listening to the rest of his statement, because she's in love with a 15-year-old fantasy. They could never be compatible now.

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Rinaldo

Rinaldo

I also really liked that Josh is religious, or at least his faith appears to be important to him. Too often, religion on TV shows (especially ones like this), show Christians to be intolerant evangelical fundamentalists. 

Or they treat churchgoing as a purely social activity with no further significance. (As in the recent Black-ish episode where the family was picking out a church to attend, but the words "Well, what do we actually believe?" were never uttered.) I say this as a nonbeliever, albeit with a minister in the family: I would hope that someone who attends church services actually believes something, and isn't using it as a country club or singles club. So Josh gets points for me in that department.

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Snarklepuss

Snarklepuss

I thought "Father Brah" was awesome, and I loved how Josh broke down the etymology of how he arrived at it: "Father Joseph" --> "Father Broseph" --> "Father Bro" --> "Father Brah." I also really liked that Josh is religious, or at least his faith appears to be important to him. Too often, religion on TV shows (especially ones like this), show Christians to be intolerant evangelical fundamentalists. The fantasy of the mannequin three-way was hilarious.

 

I agree, I liked the way they attempted to include mainstream Christianity in the show, although it was a bit of a stretch for me to believe that a young, with-it guy like Fr. "Brah" would exist.  Unless they really have Roman Catholic priests like that in Southern California and I just don't know about it (I'm from the Northeast).  But yeah, all too often faith is not represented at all or if so it's in a negative context.  So points to the show for that.
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blueteainfusion

blueteainfusion

I agree, I liked the way they attempted to include mainstream Christianity in the show, although it was a bit of a stretch for me to believe that a young, with-it guy like Fr. "Brah" would exist.  Unless they really have Roman Catholic priests like that in Southern California and I just don't know about it (I'm from the Northeast).  But yeah, all too often faith is not represented at all or if so it's in a negative context.  So points to the show for that.

 

Oh, they definitely exist. I know at least 4 guys from my high school who became priests and they all have varied degrees of "modern approach". This is why Father Brah and his friendship with Josh rang so true to me. After all, my best friend's wedding was officiated by a priest who had also been her prom date back in a day.

 

I'm curious how they're going to further handle Catholicism in the show. Next episode promo shows Rebecca being invited to the Chan family mass and both Rachel Bloom and her character are Jewish (and Rebecca hasn't been portrayed as a religious person, as she "believes in science") - so that could get messy/interesting/funny/cringe-worthy, as this show usually is.

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Snarklepuss

Snarklepuss

Oh, they definitely exist. I know at least 4 guys from my high school who became priests and they all have varied degrees of "modern approach". This is why Father Brah and his friendship with Josh rang so true to me. After all, my best friend's wedding was officiated by a priest who had also been her prom date back in a day.

 

Really?  That's amazing.  I went to a Jesuit university over 35 years ago and majored in Theology and only one guy I know became a priest, and he converted to Orthodox because he got married.

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