S04.E05: I'm So Happy for You

[dubbel zout]

BIG NEWS IN WEST COVINA - Heather (Vella Lovell) and Valencia (Gabrielle Ruiz) both have changes in their lives which leaves Rebecca (Rachel Bloom) reeling. Meanwhile, Paula (Donna Lynne Champlin) has to adjust to some good news/bad news from her eldest son. Vincent Rodriguez III, Pete Gardner and Scott Michael Foster also star.

[ElectricBoogaloo]

(Very short) promo:

[Spartan Girl]

As someone who has had multiple friends get married and fall out of touch, I could definitely relate to Rebecca this time around. I do hope the girl squad can stay together despite long distance.

"The Group Has Decided You're In Love" perfectly sums up how psycho and annoying shippers are.

Love that Paula's family turned the tables on her scheme.

[SeanC]

Much of this felt like a season finale, or penultimate episode, even though we're nowhere near that point in the season.

[taragel]

I liked this episode a lot more than pretty much all the other ones this season. I think I've really missed the scheming. Rebecca and Paula were both up to no good this episode and I think it made the show funnier and lighter than it's been in a while. It does seem odd though that Valencia is leaving now (is that it for Gabrielle for a while?). And I imagine we'd have to see Heather less by default as well.  The only real clunker for me this episode is that I didn't love Paula's song. It just seemed too much.

[NUguy514]

I was actually traveling around Botswana in June, and it is one of the three most beautiful countries I've ever been to.  I looooooooooved it.  Lucky Brendan!

This felt very much like a lead-up to a series finale.

[ElectricBoogaloo]

I know I'm about to sound like Monica Geller here, but what kind of a person tears a page out of a yearbook, folds it up, and puts it in a drawer?

I understand why Paula didn't want to lose Brendan just when she was finally having a good relationship with him but I was still cringing at her overreaction. The point of having a child is to raise them to become an independent and responsible adult. It's not your place to interfere in your kid's life once he's reached that place, especially if you're just being selfish. I'm glad that the whole family plus Veronica was in on the plot.

While I agree that Darryl and White Josh shouldn't let their friendship keep them from meeting new people, I thought it was a bit extreme to say that they can't watch tv together anymore. You can still be friends with your ex and spend time together and NOT let it interfere with other relationships! What about saying Darryl and White Josh have a weekly (or monthly) binge watching night so they know they still get to hang out but it still frees up their schedules to see other people?

Awwww, hearing "I Have Friends" playing while the girl group reaffirmed their friendship almost made me tear up!

I liked that Rebecca had a little backslide this week because it's realistic. You can have all the best intentions in the world but sometimes it just happens (and in this case I could see how learning that two of her best friends were moving would set her off). And at least this time her backslide didn't put anyone in danger.

There's also nothing wrong with having friends who aren't the same age as you. In fact, I think it's good to have friends who are older and friends who are younger and friends who aren't at the same place as you in their careers or their relationships. Just think how boring your life would be if all your friends were the same age as you with similar jobs and similar hobbies. Just don't go about it the way that Rebecca did because that was some serious secondhand embarrassment cringeworthy behavior.

[ElectricBoogaloo]

The Group Mind Has Decided You're in Love:

 

I've Always Never Believed in You:

[Empress1]

2 hours ago, ElectricBoogaloo said:

There's also nothing wrong with having friends who aren't the same age as you. In fact, I think it's good to have friends who are older and friends who are younger and friends who aren't at the same place as you in their careers or their relationships. Just think how boring your life would be if all your friends were the same age as you with similar jobs and similar hobbies. Just don't go about it the way that Rebecca did because that was some serious secondhand embarrassment cringeworthy behavior.

And she actually does have friends that are different ages and stages. (I thought Rebecca was older than 30.) Paula is probably 15 years older than she is and in a very different place in her personal life (and they were at different places in their careers for most of their friendship), and I think Heather is younger. But I can definitely see how she'd feel unmoored by two of her friends moving away at the same time. One of my best friends moved away recently (not too too far, about an hour and a half - I visited her a few weeks ago) and I was very sad about it.

I really hope they keep Darryl and White Josh just friends. I think it's brave not to have White Josh decide he wants kids.

... He really named that baby Habecca. Yikes.

[dubbel zout]

4 hours ago, Empress1 said:

(I thought Rebecca was older than 30.)

Same here! I always thought she was 33, 34.

As they were sending off Heather and Valencia, I had to remind myself we were barely halfway through the season. In some ways the show is really racing to tie up loose ends, and this early on it's a bit disconcerting.

I loved Nathaniel begging to be in "The Group Mind Has Decided You're in Love," and Paula's son took "I've Always Never Believed in You" with a lot more grace than I probably would have, heh. 

[SomeTameGazelle]

Were Hector and Beth even at the farewell party? I didn't see them and it seemed odd, especially Hector who lives there. I also have to say that although I understand that they wanted to show the impact on Rebecca of half of her girl group leaving at once, it seemed weird and harsh that Heather and Valencia broke the news to her together. I would rather they had at least set up the audience expectation of one of them leaving in a previous ep, or shown the part where Valencia and Heather talked to each other about it, and then brought the whole thing together in this ep. It doesn't feel like there is a real flow from episode to episode this season.

I was also disappointed that although Rebecca mentioned her legal work at the prison it was a very generic reference. Specificity even in a passing reference would have been more interesting and effective, especially if they are going to return to that story in more detail later. (Unless it was a cover for Rebecca not following through on it, but I think we were supposed to believe in it.)

8 hours ago, ElectricBoogaloo said:

I understand why Paula didn't want to lose Brendan just when she was finally having a good relationship with him but I was still cringing at her overreaction. The point of having a child is to raise them to become an independent and responsible adult. It's not your place to interfere in your kid's life once he's reached that place, especially if you're just being selfish. I'm glad that the whole family plus Veronica was in on the plot.

I kind of forgave her because she did know she was being selfish and her scheme was to try to trick him into wanting to stay rather than to get his acceptance overturned or something more damaging. And it was sweet to see Brandon being kind and loving to her. Sadly however although I normally enjoy Paula's songs I was bored with this one and FF'd once I concluded that it seemed like I wasn't going to hear anything new after the first part and it wasn't going to develop into a duet to make it musically more interesting to me.

[Yeah No]

Paula's reaction to her son leaving reminded me of Frankie's reaction on "The Middle" when she finds out her son is leaving for another city - over the top and selfish with scheming involved.  But I can forgive them, it's probably tough.  I'm not a mom but I can certainly relate to that.  I teared up at certain points with Paula in this episode.  I think Donna Lynne Champlin is a phenomenal actress

I did think it was kind of early and sudden to announce big life changes for both Valencia and Heather.  Even I'm not ready for that at this point.  I'm hoping there are inevitable delays.  I wonder if Valencia's move to New York might play into Rebecca's future somehow.

[iMonrey]

Didn't Rebecca have any friends at all when she lived in NYC? If she did, she abandoned them without so much as a goodbye. She's known Valencia and Heather a comparatively short amount of time. I know she's fragile but a couple of friends moving away shouldn't break her.

I'm torn about Josh and Darryl. On the one hand I think the age difference, and Josh's indifference to playing a father role, are deal breakers. On the other hand, Josh really did seem like he was just way more comfortable with Darryl and just wanted to fall back into the routine. Maybe because it's just easier, but there's a comfort level there that shouldn't be dismissed. If he spent his entire date wishing he were sitting at home with Darryl, that says something.

[Cthulhudrew]

I liked all of the side stories this episode and hated the "A" plot of Rebecca's predictably trite abandonment story. Josh and Darryl's relationship story was good, and I like how the show treats it in a mature manner and doesn't forcibly put the two back together or have Josh suddenly decide he wants to be a dad. I really enjoyed the Group Mind hoedown, and liked the general storyline of Paula and Brendan, even if that feels rushed (acceptance and placement in the Peace Corps doesn't happen that quickly, and I doubt it does in the Peep Corps either). I also though the "Always Never Believed In You" song was very poorly dubbed, but then I have been noticing that quite a lot this season with most of the performances. This one was exceptionally glaring, though.

[txhorns79]

Quote

Didn't Rebecca have any friends at all when she lived in NYC? If she did, she abandoned them without so much as a goodbye. She's known Valencia and Heather a comparatively short amount of time. I know she's fragile but a couple of friends moving away shouldn't break her.

I think Rebecca being that introspective about how her leaving NYC for California may have been for other people is a non-starter.  She's too self-centered. 

I appreciate that they are finally culling down the cast, but this was a strange way to handle things.  As someone else said, this felt like the penultimate episode when we have so many more left.  

[quangtran]

On 11/11/2018 at 11:38 AM, iMonrey said:

Didn't Rebecca have any friends at all when she lived in NYC? If she did, she abandoned them without so much as a goodbye. She's known Valencia and Heather a comparatively short amount of time. I know she's fragile but a couple of friends moving away shouldn't break her.

Pretty sure Rebecca had no real (non-Facebook) friends in NYC. Also, she breaks down every-time someone leaves her, like her dad, Josh, Greg, and Josh again at the wedding.

Also, I really need the show to stop having characters thanking Rebecca for messing with their lives. She's the inciting incident or cautionary tale, but hardly ever have been positive results been based on good intentions. It isn't a good thing that Paula only reconnected with her husband due to them bonding over Paula 's obsession with Bex's love life. It isn't a good thing that Paula only signed up for law school after seeing what a mistake it is being too invested in Bex. It isn't a good thing that Valencia is in a good relationship because Bex partially succeed in breaking her up with her longterm boyfriend. It isn't a good thing that Josh thanked her for "changing him" when really he was forced into it after trying to ruining his life.

Edited November 17, 2018 by quangtran

[Cranberry]

I love that "Other Rebecca" says something different at the end of the theme song every week. I hope after the season ends, someone makes them all into a video. I cracked up at this ep's crazy-eyed, "Don't look. I'm behind you."

[Irlandesa]

4 hours ago, iMonrey said:

I'm torn about Josh and Darryl. On the one hand I think the age difference, and Josh's indifference to playing a father role, are deal breakers. On the other hand, Josh really did seem like he was just way more comfortable with Darryl and just wanted to fall back into the routine. Maybe because it's just easier, but there's a comfort level there that shouldn't be dismissed. If he spent his entire date wishing he were sitting at home with Darryl, that says something.

Yeah.  White Josh has a lot of friends.  There's a reason he's choosing to spend a lot of time with Darryl.  And that often means he's spending a lot of time with Darryl and his daughters.  I'm curious how he saw his role when it was just Darryl's older daughter.  But they're still the one couple on this show I root for.

So take that Oklahoma-esque song.  (And I suspect that song was even aimed at people hung up on Greg and Rebecca.  Bex sleeping with his dad did kind of put a kibosh on hoping for a HEA for them for me but I still think Santino's Greg & Rebecca were Rebecca's best pairing and I enjoy rewatching their early stuff---so take that times 2, Rachel!)

Speaking of the Oklahoma-esque song, I loved it more more for the homage than the content with Mayo's almost-perfect Gloria-Grahame/Ado Annie and their comments about the random ballet in the middle of the hoe down.

I thought Paula's "I never stopped never believing in you" song was pretty.  Yes the dubbing was bad but it was so sweetly acted by both of them.

WIth one of her kids leaving and Heather and Valencia moving away, I wonder if we're in store for another time jump. 

[femmefan1946]

I was very impressed by Brandon's acting during Paula's song. Very subtle-- well okay I did notice it, so not invisible.  But the boy radiated intelligence and love for his clingy mum.
I hope he does well in his future career.

 

Also Scott looks great with the beard.

[Yeah No]

18 minutes ago, femmefan1946 said:

Also Scott looks great with the beard.

Plus he lost a ton of weight!  He and Paula have both dropped at least 40 lbs. a piece.

[Trini]

So ... how old is Paula's son supposed to be? Because, as far as I can recall, the last time we saw him before this season, he was a high schooler (which grade??) and failing; or at least underachieving. So it just confused me that he's off to the faux Peace Corps... but did he even graduate??

And I expected Heather/Hector to move out since they got married, but this felt like a really abrupt sendoff only one third into the season. Same with Valencia. I'll be sad if we're really not going to be seeing any of those three for a while.

Nathaniel and Josh only got one scene each, but Nathaniel's was annoying as well as unnecessary. Josh is still one of my favorite characters, so it sucks they don't have anything for him to do.

Glad they clarified the Darryl/WhiJo relationship, and let WhiJo move on. That song was totally aimed at the WhiteJoshFeather 'shippers! But yeah, it could apply to shipping in general, too.

Yay, Dr. Akopian appearance! Rebecca's scheming was a relapse, but I'm glad she recognized it as such.

[justmehere]

20 hours ago, ElectricBoogaloo said:

I understand why Paula didn't want to lose Brendan just when she was finally having a good relationship with him but I was still cringing at her overreaction. The point of having a child is to raise them to become an independent and responsible adult. It's not your place to interfere in your kid's life once he's reached that place, especially if you're just being selfish. I'm glad that the whole family plus Veronica was in on the plot.

 

20 hours ago, ElectricBoogaloo said:

I liked that Rebecca had a little backslide this week because it's realistic. You can have all the best intentions in the world but sometimes it just happens (and in this case I could see how learning that two of her best friends were moving would set her off). And at least this time her backslide didn't put anyone in danger.

Being extremely upset and acting out over friends leaving (whom you've known a couple years) is OK but feeling devastated when your firstborn is about to go to the other side of the world for 5-10 years isn't? Paula had a bomb dropped on her. It might take her a minute to adjust. It is a parent's job to raise a child and let them go into their own lives. That doesn't mean it's not terribly difficult to let go after having been responsible for 18 (or more) years, especially after things have been less than great (otherwise known as teenage years) and you've just started to get them back. Just having a kid go to college is an adjustment, let alone going so far away for so many years. Paula did overreact, but her "sabotage" attempt was in fairly gentle way: she tried to steer him toward love. She didn't get sick or in an accident (subconscious control) or try to make him feel responsible for her. She reacted badly to a shock of impending loss yet came around pretty quickly. (Now, if she went on for years trying to manipulate him or keep him close, that would be selfish.)

[theatremouse]

I kept waiting for the other shoe to drop that he wasn't going where he said he was going, especially because the 5-10 year commitment seemed really long. So either it was a joke to exacerbate Paula's reaction (but didn't quite land for me) or it didn't really make sense.

[Empress1]

9 minutes ago, theatremouse said:

I kept waiting for the other shoe to drop that he wasn't going where he said he was going, especially because the 5-10 year commitment seemed really long. So either it was a joke to exacerbate Paula's reaction (but didn't quite land for me) or it didn't really make sense.

Super long - the Peace Corps is only a two-year commitment. It's rare to have the same job for 10 years these days!

[Caseysgirl]

I’m sure I must have missed a few episodes last season because I’m trying to figure out why Josh Chan is living with Hector’s mother and not with his own parents.  I’m also wondering why every one is leaving West Covina- have all the actors secured other parts somewhere? 

[tennisgurl]

Wow, I guess the show is really getting ready to close down shop and wrap up all those lose ends, huh? Its sucks that Heather, Hector, and Valencia are all leaving so soon into the season, it felt like a second to last episode. I hope they can come back at least for the finale. 

"You need to get out more Tim." Oh my God, the Oklahoma shipper song was great, probably my favorite so far this season. From now on, whenever I catch myself getting a little too into shipping, I will have to go back to that song.It was also a pretty spot on parody of all those kinds of group dances in musicals. "Oh now, they're randomly doing ballet." So, is this the show telling us, officially, that Darryl and White Josh are totally never, ever, getting back together? Because, while I would understand them doing that, I do still kind of wonder...Damn it, get out of my head, group mind!

It wouldn't surprise me that Rebecca doesn't have very many friends. Rebecca can be a little...intense. And, as she said, she gets super competitive with her friends. Her trying to do "young" was super awkward, but at least she realized what she was doing. 

Paula freaking out was out of line, as always, but I could at least understand it. Her son, who she has been emotionally away from for years, is suddenly leaving for years, thats a pretty understandable reason to be upset. The ending song was sweet, and it makes me wish that we had seen more of Brendan, the actor did a really good job. 

[theatremouse]

5 hours ago, Caseysgirl said:

I’m sure I must have missed a few episodes last season because I’m trying to figure out why Josh Chan is living with Hector’s mother and not with his own parents. 

His mother kicked him out and told him to grow up, in the song Get Your Ass Out of my House in January (ish). 

[Trini]

5 hours ago, Caseysgirl said:

I’m sure I must have missed a few episodes last season because I’m trying to figure out why Josh Chan is living with Hector’s mother and not with his own parents. ...

His parents kicked him out, and Hector's Mom had a vacancy because Hector had just moved out.

[DianeDobbler]

theatremouse, it had to be b.s. to exacerbate Paula's reaction. none of these organizations demand a 5-10 year commitment. That's the sort of thing that insults the audience's intelligence. My mom was in the Peace Corps. It's two years. A junor version or an alternate version wouldn't be any longer than that. 2-3 years, max, but probably no longer than two. I hate that kind of shit.

Kind of early to be clearing out extraneous cast. Heather, Valencia, Hector - gone. For an eighteen episode season, it's early days. I hope the table setting is done quickly, because this show needs a new organizing principle.

[quangtran]

Quote

Kind of early to be clearing out extraneous cast. Heather, Valencia, Hector - gone. For an eighteen episode season, it's early days. I hope the table setting is done quickly, because this show needs a new organizing principle.

Having characters moving out doesn't mean they're gone. Bex doesn't work at Mountaintop anymore and we're still seeing her former work-mates. Also, the only cast member seemingly downgraded is David Hull, who'se now back to being credited as a guest star, so I don't think the writers have any real plans for WhiJo. Speaking of WhiJo..

[Scott]

22 hours ago, Irlandesa said:

Speaking of the Oklahoma-esque song, I loved it more more for the homage than the content with Mayo's almost-perfect Gloria-Grahame/Ado Annie and their comments about the random ballet in the middle of the hoe down.

I did too, for the same reasons.  I'll admit, I let out a "nice!" when it went into letterbox (and then wondered if they filmed it in both CinemaScope and Todd-AO).  

[femmefan1946]

My great-niece did one of those post high school terms overseas. She went to Tanzania for a couple of months.
Peace Corps and the like are usually post-university, because volunteers with less than that are not really very useful.

I know a few people with trades who did similar volunteer work- an electrician and  a plumber. Neither had degrees but trades training is as intense as university, maybe more so.

[Rinaldo]

22 hours ago, Caseysgirl said:

I’m also wondering why every one is leaving West Covina- have all the actors secured other parts somewhere? 

It's been confirmed (by Aline Brosh McKenna) that Valencia and Heather are NOT leaving the show. It seems to be more about that stage of adulthood where you counted on your friends being around forever, but they have lives of their own and may choose to move away for work or other reasons, and how do you deal with that? I admit I haven't always dealt well with it myself, but one has to learn how to, because it does keep happening.

[smartymarty]

On 11/11/2018 at 6:30 PM, tennisgurl said:

Paula freaking out was out of line, as always, but I could at least understand it. Her son, who she has been emotionally away from for years, is suddenly leaving for years, thats a pretty understandable reason to be upset.

I guess it depends on what you're accustomed to. Both my parents moved to the town I grew up in for jobs, as did probably 97 percent of my friends' parents. So the idea that kids would leave home at 18 (away for college, and then somewhere else for a job) was ingrained. Parents might be sad, but not half as close as Paula, and they'd be supportive of the moves. But where I live now, generations of families live. So here parents are more shocked when one of the flock decides to leave. To me, parents have 18 years to gradually let go. Parents also understand that their kids are not gone forever -- parents can visit them and vice versa. So none of this ridiculousness Paula did, which really was trying to sabotage her son.

 

On 11/11/2018 at 12:38 AM, femmefan1946 said:

I was very impressed by Brandon's acting during Paula's song. Very subtle-- well okay I did notice it, so not invisible.  But the boy radiated intelligence and love for his clingy mum.
I hope he does well in his future career.

You beat me to it. Yes, the synch was off for Paula's singing, so I concentrated on Brandon's acting, which I found superb.

[AllAboutMBTV]

Well, I guess I'm a shipper and didn't really know it. When I saw David Hull listed as a Guest Star instead of a regular in the credits I was, well, "saddened" is too strong a word, but I'll miss both him and WhiJo if that was, in fact, his last appearance. And he's one of the best dancers on the show, and he didn't get to dance in the Oklahoma! parody, he just stood around looking (understandably) peeved. Sigh... (Although, well done, show, for the snap into letterbox format; I laughed out loud.) I hope Hull has other work lined up (it was nice to see him on HBO's Insecure a couple of times). Who's next to go, Father Brah? Should we start a CEG dead pool?

And where has Zayne Emory (Brendan) been all this time? The kid was excellent.

[Rinaldo]

18 hours ago, AllAboutMBTV said:

When I saw David Hull listed as a Guest Star instead of a regular in the credits I was, well, "saddened" is too strong a word, but I'll miss both him and WhiJo if that was, in fact, his last appearance.

Has anyone said this is his last appearance? I expect to see plenty more of him, if not every week (hence the "guest star" status). And we know that Heather and Valencia will be around the rest of the season too.

[iMonrey]

I don't think David Hull was ever a regular cast member. He does not appear in every episode.

[Rinaldo]

19 minutes ago, iMonrey said:

I don't think David Hull was ever a regular cast member. He does not appear in every episode.

He was bumped up to "regular" status for season 3 only. I don't know what went on behind the scenes, but my supposition is that the producers did the math and decided that in that season he would be in a high enough percentage of the scripts to justifying putting him on a season-long contract (even if he doesn't appear every single week), rather than paying him by the episode. This series (like most, but I do think there's a special challenge as they must create, record, and stage two musical numbers each week) has to do a delicate balancing act in getting the most out of its limited finances.

[Irlandesa]

44 minutes ago, iMonrey said:

I don't think David Hull was ever a regular cast member. He does not appear in every episode.

Being a regular doesn't necessarily mean you're in all of the episodes.  I believe it usually guarantees you a set number of episodes over a set time period and you the actor prioritizes that job over other opportunities. 

I remember some older shows cutting costs by asking some of their regulars to reduce their guarantees so they'd only appear in 18 of 22 episodes for instance.

[DianeDobbler]

Brandon's acting was GREAT. Sweet, intelligent, loving, understanding. It's one of those moments where you re-realize what you already know, "Ok, this kid is an actor." Very unlikely his career would have progressed to where he got to be recurring on CEG if he only could do the notes his character did early on.

Very surprised that Gabrielle Ruiz and Vera Lovell are not actually leaving the show. Or maybe they'll be gone many many episodes on end but return for the wrap up episodes?

I was wobbling back and forth with Paula - lady, you could hardly muster the interest since we've known you, now you don't want him to leave? But I thought it was spelled out fairly well, starting with the adventure in the escape room. She realized there was more to her kids than she'd assumed. Brandon had become a great, interesting guy and she wanted to know THAT guy, since she'd just realized he WAS that guy and not the sullen dumb ass she'd assumed.

[ElectricBoogaloo]

My reaction to Heather's news that she and Hector are moving to El Segundo:

[SmithW6079]

This episode just further confirmed my belief that Paula is a bad mother. That her son turned out to be a good man is a tribute to his father, not her. Her sudden sadness when faced with him leaving just felt forced, and her song just proved she never believed in him. 

I never liked Darryl and White Josh together, so I don't understand the whole "they're soulmates" crap. In fact, I think the only reason they were together was -- as one of the coworkers said -- they were the only two gay men on the show. 

[Glory]

Did anyone notice that the back of the picture of the high school girl Brendan had a crush on was a guy? I thought for sure it was going to be a bait and switch where he came out as gay and that he was secretly hiding the picture of the boy he had a crush on, instead. Too much TV Tropes for me...

[aradia22]

Quote

"The Group Has Decided You're In Love" perfectly sums up how psycho and annoying shippers are.

I think it's fine if you're not shipping real people. I do think it's creepy if it's real people but it feels like a lot of this season is particularly responsive to fans/critics comments. I did love the blatant homage to Oklahoma down to the dance moves and the reference to random dream ballets.

I didn't need that plotline but I sympathized with Paula because we lost Brendan just as he was becoming likable. The actor is cute when he's not being a sullen teenager and it would have been nice to see more interaction with him on some of those episodes in past seasons with very weak B and C plots. Of course we've seen so little of him that I can't remember when they switched actors.

Quote

I also though the "Always Never Believed In You" song was very poorly dubbed, but then I have been noticing that quite a lot this season with most of the performances. This one was exceptionally glaring, though.

Yes