Crazy Ex-Girlfriend S2, E8-9: "Who Is Josh's Soup Fairy?" and "When Do I Get To Spend Time With Josh?"


Crazy Ex-Girlfriend S2, E8: "Who Is Josh's Soup Fairy?"

Paula's been having a rough time of it over this season. She's had a tough time with finding a balance between her home life and new career, had a nasty fight with Rebecca, and tensions with her husband are worse than early-season one levels of frosty. They are currently separated, with him living somewhere else. Not only has she been growing closer to Sunil, but it's been recently revealed that he cheated on her with one of her coworkers. So, Rebecca tries to help her out by letting her have a weekend off while she takes care of Tommy. Yeah, this isn't going to go well, considering that most of Rebecca's knowledge of being a mom comes from a podcast.


Wacky misadventures ensue, with Rebecca trying to teach Tommy about feminism and the patriarchy, but ironically, getting distracted by Josh at every turn. A trip to the mall? She hands him a load of cash and subtly asks Josh about Anna. A talk back at home about why he should not buy dirty magazines with said money? She sees an Instagram post by Josh thanking Anna for a big bowl of delicious chicken soup. Unbeknownst to him, Rebecca actually sent him that soup. She goes over to a night club to tell him that, taking Tommy with her. Right, because that's the responsible thing to do. Actually, considering the alternative, it probably is. Keep Tommy away from the seedier parts of the Internet, please.

Back with Josh, he is delighted when Anna makes a surprise visit to the club to see his new business opportunity. Unfortunately, she immediately becomes disgusted with him and breaks up with him after seeing him model teen clothing on a runway. I'm not sure if this means that her character will leave the show, but it's disappointing. I wish that there was more time to fully flesh out her character. This doesn't seem like the best ending for her arc.



Still, Josh does end up realizing that Rebecca sent him the soup in a weird pop song, titled "Duh." Overall, the episode demonstrated a large amount of character growth on Rebecca's part and a genuinely heartfelt ending. I hope that the second part of this week's double-feature will be as good.

Crazy Ex-Girlfriend S2, E9: "When Do I Get To Spend Time With Josh?"

When the episode begins, it seems like everything is finally coming together for Rebecca. She and Paula have made up and she's having a delightful time with Josh. There's a delightful scene with the happy couple going across West Covina, featuring background music from the eponymous song and several references to it. For example, soft pretzels! Mmmm, pretzels. However, when Darryl sells part of the company to a new person, reality sets in. They will actually have to work, and some people at the company will be fired to maintain profits. Maya, Weird Karen, George, Paula, and Tim all have a magnificent song about their new boss.


Seriously, it's filled with a bushel of meta jokes, making fun of the show's ratings, the characters, and the potential reaction from the viewers at having a mysterious new character to deal with. As it turns out, this new character, Nathaniel Plimpton III, is an incredible jerk. Right off the bat, he establishes himself by insulting several workers, potentially making a racist comment against Josh, callously playing mental games with Rebecca regarding her relationship with Josh, and firing poor George. He even undercuts Darryl's authority by going behind his back and becoming the majority shareholder, effectively becoming the new boss. George, for his trouble, gets a dramatic song, but it's interrupted by a commercial break.


The entire episode is a thrilling tale of true friendship and the lengths that Rebecca will go to help her coworkers. Every joke works, every member of the cast absolutely nails it, and the ending scene has one of the creepiest Patton Oswalt characters that I've ever seen.

Zachary Krishef is an evil genius. Do not question his knowledge of Saturday Night Live trivia or Harry Potter books.