Crazy Ex-Girlfriend Round-Up S2, E11-13 Round-Up Review: A Fitting Close To The Season

"Josh Is The Man Of My Dreams, Right?"

"Josh Is The Man Of My Dreams, Right?" has more of a Shakespearean feel to me, not necessarily due to murder or soliloquies, but because of the main conflict. You would think that Rebecca would be slightly happier after getting engaged to Josh, but you would be wrong. Her quality of life is still erratic, thanks to the Santa Ana winds. The devil winds, as Weird Karen  calls them, are personified by a puckish narrator, seemingly content to cause chaos around town just because it amuses him. Hmm, maybe Mr. Mxyzpltk decided to take a trip to West Covina before arriving in National City.

In any case, whether due to her ongoing issues or the impish forces of nature, Rebecca is starting to feel insecure about being engaged to Josh. She isn't feeling goosebumps when they kiss. On the other hand, when she accidentally bumps into Nathaniel, goosebumps are most definitely felt. I have to say, I could do without another love triangle.

The show then proceeds to lovingly mock romantic comedies by referencing the plot point of characters with romantic chemistry getting stuck inside an enclosed area. Sure enough, Rebecca and Nathaniel get stuck in an elevator. Darn it, Santa Ana Winds!

He also recognizes the mutual attraction between them and decides to get the deed done as soon as possible. Nathaniel may have undergone some character development, but the song shows that he's still a massive jerk. He casually insults Rebecca in between businesslike requests for them to have intercourse just so they can get it over with. They don't end up having intercourse, but they do have a conversation laden with Harry Potter references.

As for Darryl's plot, I know that he did something wrong by meddling with Paula's relationship, but I can't help but feel sorry for him. He really does think that Paula is his best friend. Ultimately, it does lead to a slightly better situation with Paula's romantic life and Darryl sings a sweet song. It's still funny, but it does have genuinely nice undertones.

"Is Josh Free In Two Weeks?"

In a mere two weeks, Rebecca and Josh will be married. I can't see anything going wrong with that. Nope, nothing at all. The stress of putting together an entire wedding in only two weeks definitely won't cause any problems. They'll never have problems again.

Of course, they're obviously going to have problems. Rebecca wants to do the entire wedding by herself, despite the enormous toll that the task would take on her. Josh wants to help with the preparations, but she keeps rebuffing him. It eventually leads to a heartbreaking meltdown where she plaintively begs the package deliverer, Patrick, for emotional support.

It really is genuinely upsetting hearing Rebecca pour her heart out about all of her new frustrations and anxiety over undertaking a huge new project, made even worse by the news that her father won't be at the wedding. Something about the background music in "(Tell Me I'm Okay) Patrick" reminds me, strangely enough, of Peanuts. I used to love watching a VHS of the You're A Good Man, Charlie Brown tv special before it eventually stopped working. Something about the neurosis expressed and Rebecca's frustration just brings back memories of poor Charlie Brown.

Thankfully, she does get some help, and might I add, it was immensely satisfying seeing Paula call out Naomi for being generally rude and awful in the earlier part of this episode. It's so nice seeing the solid female friendships in this episode in general, with Paula helping out Rebecca and Valencia agreeing to be her wedding planner. This, combined with Nathaniel helping to get Rebecca's dad to West Covina, really cements the happiness of the episode.

Nathaniel gets some more characterization in the episode, showing that some of his more unpleasant personality traits might have been instilled by his hostile father. It seems to be a critique on toxic masculinity. In this case, he's disgustingly sick, but refuses to leave work. He even refuses to rest, citing his father's claim that naps are for the weak. Darryl takes offense to this, saying that there's nothing wrong with a good nap. Naturally, this is delivered in the form of a rock song, entitled "Man Nap."

"Can Josh Take A Leap Of Faith?"

This episode takes everything that the show has been building up to over the two seasons and creates a huge explosion of continuity. Backstories are given, mysteries are questioned, major revelations come for the cast! I'm impressed by the sheer amount of nods to past episodes that they managed to work in, while simultaneously furthering the characters' arcs and setting up for the future. Looking back, they have been subtly leading up to this for some time. Even one of the songs, "Rebecca's Reprise," shows her characterization slowly morph as time goes by. It features reprises of some of the songs that best showed the change.

I am so happy that The CW renewed Crazy Ex-Girlfriend for a third season. This episode ends on such a huge cliffhanger that to leave the audience dangling like that would be a crime to entertainment-lovers everywhere. (Just like The Grinder and The Muppets getting cancelled. Still not over that, Fox and ABC!) This is a beautifully-constructed episode and a master class in how to write a season finale.

If I absolutely had to find a flaw in the episode, it would be "What A Rush To Be A Bride." Don't get me wrong, the lyrics were perfectly fine. In fact, I wouldn't even be listing it as a negative if it just didn't have the strobe lights. I've never done well with them, they don't sit well with me. If you watch the link, just a warning: It has strobe lights throughout the video.

It's honestly hard to put this episode into a box, genre-wise. The inclusion of Trent and Rebecca's backstory almost makes it a horror story, but the wedding seems to indicate a romantic comedy. Whatever happens, the next season will be a twisted romantic comedy, full of revenge, drama, and lost loves. And that's just with Rebecca and Josh, because Darryl and White Josh might have their own drama. Maybe my Shakespearean reference from the last review wasn't that far off the mark. 

I do know that Rachel Bloom and Allison Shoemaker have previously stated that the series would last for approximately four seasons, so I guess we're rocketing towards the climax. I'll see you when the next season premieres!

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

Crazy Ex-Girlfriend S2, E10: "Will Scarsdale Like Josh's Shayna Punim?"

Heck yeah, Jewish representation! I haven't made it a secret that one of the most positive aspects of Crazy Ex-Girlfriend is the stellar amount of representation for Judaism. In fact, I even wrote a whole article on it! Not only do we have a main character who is explicitly Jewish, but references to Judaic culture are thrown in constantly. The first season even had an entire song just dedicated to it!

So, you might ask, how can the show amp it up with more cultural aspects of Rebecca's Jewish heritage? Pack your bags, it's time for a Bar Mitzvah! Rebecca and Josh, deliriously in love with their re-re-rekindled relationship, are headed to Rebecca's mom's house to attend her cousin's Bar Mitzvah. Let me just say, I love that the background music for Mrs. Bunch's house is her wonderful "Where's The Bathroom?" song from the first season. Their romance, by the way, is exemplified in an eighties disco song, showing that they think nothing at all can go wrong when they have love.

To Rebecca's frustration, it turns out that Naomi and Josh bond quite nicely. Along with a tinge of jealousy at his cheerfulness when she had such a bad time growing up, she's also confused that he's managing to gel with them in the first place. As she puts it, the East Coast, New York specifically, is filled with gloom and misery while the West Coast is a place for fun. As a demonstration, the hora turns into a deceptively cheerful song about suffering.

The subplot revolves around Darryl's insecurity about no longer being the boss. Nathaniel keeps undercutting what little is left of his authority. When Nathaniel takes away Darryl's candy stash, saying that it would just make the office even less productive, he organizes an all-out revolution. The employees come together to all shove candy inside Nathaniel's health food cupboard, but it just comes off as an irritating prank than a show of togetherness. He just calls them 'children' and tells them to get back to work. Thankfully, we finally get some character development for him and it actually some well-foreshadowed humanization.

The episode ends on a wonderful note for the future of the show. It's fortituous that it just happened to get renewed recently. While it is frustrating, that Rebecca didn't end up having a breakthrough during her psychologist appointment, it bodes well for the rest of the show's plot. I have a feeling that the next few episodes are going to be filled with some fascinating character moments. Who knows, maybe Nathaniel will start being a little nicer to the rest of the office.

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

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.

Crazy Ex-Girlfriend S2 E7: "Who's The Cool Girl Josh Is Dating?"

This episode felt like a throwback to the first season, but with a twist. It definitely exemplified the character development that everyone has gone through. The main chunk of the episode focuses on Rebecca and Valencia cyber-stalking Anna, Josh's new girlfriend, on her social media accounts. The song during this piece, "Research Me Obsessively", was pretty good. It took the form of Alice, singing to them on her various social media accounts.

As can be expected, they egg each other on and end up outright stalking her place of work, convinced that she's a drug dealer. This leads to accidentally running over her cat, and eventually breaking into her office to delete the footage. Don't worry, the cat survived and she didn't end up being a drug dealer. I could see this bizarre chain of events happening in the first season, but instead of Rebecca and Valencia teaming up, it would just be Rebecca spying on Valencia. It truly is fascinating to see how they are now friends and the new dynamics it gives the show. It keeps it fresh and creates cool new character pairings.

Speaking of character pairings, Paula and Rebecca are still on the outs. The end of the episode featured a magnificent song describing how they feel about the fight. Both of them want to be friends again, but are too stubborn to be the first one to apologize. Granted, both of them have good reasons for this line of reasoning, but they also have bad ones. Also in that realm, I like that out of the Rebecca-Valencia plot, Rebecca is somehow the voice of reason. Valencia has a disturbing lack of ethics that leads to several acts of thievery.

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

Crazy Ex-Girlfriend S2 E6: "Who Needs Josh When You Have A Girl Group?"

This episode continues the last one's themes of bonding and feminism with Rebecca, Valencia, and Heather forming a girl group, immortalized in the amazing song "Friendtopia." Apart from a few lines, I absolutely love it. The conceit about literally taking over the world through the power of their girl group gets taken to a logical extreme when they start dividing up precisely what they would do when they rule the world. (Heather would slip poison in the water.) Even though her plans are horribly misguided, I do appreciate Rebecca's attempt to get Paula into the group. It's a good way to bring everyone together. I hope they can make up in the future. At least Paula gets to continue her awesome friendship with Sunil from the previous episode.

Trent, a recurring character from two previous episodes, has unexpectedly returned, and he's gotten even creepier. He's gone into full-on stalker mode. The cold opening, in a rare departure from the typical format, is completely devoted to his new plan to woo Rebecca by infiltrating Josh's group of friends and somehow managing to hang out with her. Later in the episode, he even gets his own solo number, "Trent Is Getting Ready Song, " which is actually a self-referential parody to season one's "Sexy Getting Ready Song."

He's meant to be Rebecca's male counterpart, but he's even creepier than she was before her character development. This is partially because he don't know his backstory or motivations for doing what he does other than an obsession with Rebecca and partially because he just seems so disturbing. I still remember when he broke into her house in order to fake being a couple in front of Josh back in the first season. In terms of other fairly minor characters, I'm happy that Maya is finally getting some development. Ever since her introduction, she's been used as an object of mockery by the usually-friendly Daryl. We finally find out why and, hopefully, it won't happen again.

Finally, Heather's "Stuck In The Bathroom" song was also wonderful. I feel like the style of the song was a reference to something, but I'm not sure what.

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

Crazy Ex-Girlfriend S2 E5: "Why Is Josh's Ex-Girlfriend Eating Carbs?"

Valencia's absence from the second season has been slightly odd, considering her prominent relationship with Josh, but this episode marks her return with a vengeance. In interviews before the second season appeared, Rachel and Allison said that she would be integral to the show, and now we're finally finding out how. Rebecca finally bonds with her over their shared breakups with Josh over the course of the episode, and all it took was a conversation about feminism, peeing on his equipment, and a disturbing drug trip. Fun?

I love the continuing focus on feminism. Despite not a lot of the episode passing the Bechdel-Wallace test, it's actually relevant to the plot, with the bonding attempts. Some of my favorite scenes appeared in the second half of the episode, where Rebecca educates Valencia on feminism and what it personally means to her. I also enjoyed Darryl's plot about his anxiety with White Josh. This is a show that isn't afraid to go deep into complex issues and flesh out its supporting characters. This is also apparent with Josh's emotional subplot. Similar to how Valencia is depressed over their breakup, he is having trouble admitting to himself that he is afraid of being alone.

The songs in the episode helped to show the changing relationships in the cast and provide several hilarious moments. My favorite song wasn't actually a song, technically speaking. It was more of a themed dance performance, taking place during Rebecca and Valencia's accidental drug trip, with very few spoken lines of dialogue. Titled "Triceratops Ballet," it shows the two women coming to terms with precisely how they feel about Josh. Valencia's epiphany takes place in the form of a beautiful, Swan Lake-esque ballet performance, while Rebecca shows up in a triceratops costume with a goofy version of the theme song playing.

Josh's song, "Thought Bubbles", is slightly more emotional, but still funny. It shows him working at the office, having come in early to avoid any potential meetings with Rebecca. Unfortunately, as illustrated by, well, thought bubbles, it's hard for him to be in a situation where he's completely alone. Bad thoughts, illustrated in cartoon form, start to pop up and wear on him, causing extreme anxiety. It's a fascinating insight into his character, showing that he's not as relaxed as he seems. The third song is a simple reprise of the original, but with the nervous fantasies replaced by a new character, potentially teasing a new romantic interest.

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

Crazy Ex-Girlfriend S2 E4: "When Will Josh And His Friend Leave Me Alone?"

Warning: This review contains spoilers for two very important plot points.

Rebecca and Greg’s relationship may have been a sh*t show, but this episode definitely was not. I love seeing the depths that Rebecca will go to achieve her goals. No matter how depressing it gets, there’s still plenty to be amused by. Thankfully, the mix between drama and humor seemed to be angled more toward the fun side this week. Distraught by her two breakups and a massive humiliation, Rebecca decides that only a makeover can change her image. Cue the eighties pop music and montages!

The side plot revolves around Paula’s continuing struggle to choose between her potential future career as a lawyer and the revelation that she’s pregnant. Having another child would only increase the amount of stress in her life. As it is, she and her husband are exhausted and overworked. Still, being a lawyer would increase Paula’s morale. Instead of being a worn-out receptionist, she would be learning about how to follow her passions and become a lawyer.

Near the end of the episode, we do find out that after having a successful meeting with a representative of the college, she decided to have an abortion. I have to give credit to the writers, we find out in the weirdest way possible. At first, it just shows Paula in her bed, seemingly recovering from an illness or taking a nap. Then, the doorbell rings and her son yells, “Mom, I’ll get it, since you just had an abortion!” It’s presented partially in a humorous fashion, but it’s an important plot point, especially given recent political events.

As for the other major plot point, this episode marks the final appearance of Santino Fontana as Greg. In an interview, Aline Brosh McKenna, the co-creator of the show, said that his character leaving the show represented reaching a form of maturity and that everyone in West Covina is ‘stuck’ in some way. By going to business school, he is closer than ever to achieving his dreams. I will miss seeing him on the show but I understand the intent. On the plus side, I do appreciate the increased screen-time for Heather, especially because she’s going to be Rebecca’s roommate in future episodes.

Finally, I think that this episode featured the single most raunchy song to ever appear on Crazy Ex-Girlfriend, and possibly the CW network as a whole. “We Tapped That Ass” is a song sung by polter-guy versions of Greg and Josh about the many, many, many places where Rebecca had fun fadonkling times with them. It’s crude, filled with innuendo, and utterly hilarious.

Santino’s final song for the show as Greg was similarly stunning. Titled “It Was A S*** Show”, he waxes lyrical about how awful his relationship with Rebecca was right before leaving West Covina forever. It really gives him a chance to show off his singing skills. As a finale performance, it’s definitely a good one.

“Makeover” is a shorter one, but the pure catchiness has wormed its way into my brain. Ever since I watched the episode, I’ve felt it crawling around in my brain, taking up more space and kicking out useless information. It’s not quite as catchy as “West Covina”, but I might change my mind after a few more repeat viewings. The ending joke of the song might rub some viewers the wrong way, but I giggled.

Crazy Ex-Girlfriend can be seen on the CW or on the CW app.

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

Crazy Ex-Girlfriend S2 E3: "All Signs Point To Josh...Or Is It Josh's Friend?"

This week’s new episode of Crazy Ex-Girlfriend is incredibly hard to watch. Reality suddenly appears with a vengeance, even interrupting the second musical number of the episode after a few seconds. Potential pregnancy, the nature of Rebecca’s mental health issues, and crumbling relationships just barge in, taking the comedy quotient down. Almost all of the past episodes in the series have led to this.

Don’t get me wrong, I enjoyed the episode. It just started to wear me down near the middle point of the episode. The relationship drama between Rebecca and Greg felt like a slight retreading of the last season and Paula’s breakdown broke my heart. I had to pause the video in some parts because it just mentally drained me. I also feel sorry for Darryll because he just wants to be friends with Rebecca and Paula, only to be rebuffed every time. At least his new relationship with White Josh seems to be helping his emotional state.

The main song in the episode is “The Math Of Love Triangles”, primarily voiced by Rebecca Bunch in her Marilyn Monroe impression. I have to start giving her more credit. Rachel’s vocal skills are astonishingly good. She has a wide range of impressions, both while singing and speaking. As for the song itself, I really appreciate the effort the writers put into the various math puns. I wish I could find out who wrote it. Props to them! I’m not going to give my thoughts on “Period Sex”, as it was cut off after a few lines.

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

Crazy Ex-Girlfriend S2 E2: "When Will Josh See How Cool I Am?"

After last week’s tension between Rebecca and Paula, it’s nice to see them on good terms again. Rebecca’s excitement over Paula asking her for a letter of recommendation for law school was adorable. I think that the Rebecca-Paula plot and the Greg plot represented one of the highlights of the episode and of the series as a whole. Despite some very somber moments, Rebecca and Greg both showed that they had grown in the end. It actually made me misty-eyed, seeing them morosely reflect on past events. The “I Have Friends!” song from the first season playing in the background as a leitmotif only made it more touching.

The humor was in fine form this week. Not only did Heather have a substantial part in the episode, but she also represented a refreshing moment of (relative) sanity amidst the chaos of the other characters. She really does remind me of Parks And Recreation’s April Ludgate in more ways than one. In addition, I think that Rebecca’s mini-rant on football contained one of the best jokes of the episode. Josh accuses her of hating it, before she lies about liking it, then starts grumbling about how it’s boring, the societal issues that come from it, and the concussions before finally admitting that she really does hate it. Combining with more Jewish representation, I enjoyed the scene with Rachel cooking noodle kugel for Josh and he cluelessly refers to them as ‘Jewish noodles’ a few minutes later.

All of the songs in this episode were great, one of the best being “Maybe This Dream,” Paula’s solo number. Not only was it great to see her singing again, but it also provided more insight into her character and life. The song combined the traditional woodsy setting of a Disney number with the boring legal office as she sung about hoping that following her passions would help her feel happy again. She really sells it. You could hear the raw emotion in her voice after the song ended and she despondently picked up the phone to answer a call.

Josh and Greg also had their chances to enjoy the musical spotlight. Not only did Greg briefly reprise the “I Could If I Wanted To” song about his anger, but he also gave one of the funniest songs in the series so far. It’s already one of my favorites. Titled “Greg’s Drinking Song,” it features him singing about the troubles that come from his alcoholism in the style of a traditional Irish drinking song. After hearing it, I’m tempted to go back through the last season and comb it for foreshadowing. I also really like Josh’s “Ping Pong Girl” song. Something about the style reminds me of the What’s New, Scooby-Doo? theme song. I’m pretty sure that it’s in the rock band genre. Imagined by Rebecca, it shows an interesting glimpse into her mindset.

Crazy Ex-Girlfriend can be seen on CW, the CW app, or the official CW website.

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

Crazy Ex-Girlfriend S2 E1: "Where Is Josh's Friend?"

Rebecca and Josh might be newly entangled in a romantic relationship, but that isn’t making the show any less chaotic. The new theme song even says that there’s still more to deal with in terms of Rebecca’s life and mental health. I do miss the old theme song, but I’m sure that this new one will grow on me in time. It’s not bad, just different. The more I listen to it, the more I appreciate it and recognize how it shows the character development that Rebecca has gone through ever since the beginning of the last season.

The main status quo for the series definitely changes, and not just with Rebecca and Josh. Greg is going to a support group to deal with his alcohol addiction, White Josh has moved in with Darryl, and Paula is unsure about continuing to help Rebecca with her various schemes. Again, I’m surprised by how emotionally compelling the subplots were. To be honest, I had forgotten how poignant it could be.

Rebecca isn't happy with Paula's decision.

Thankfully, the show is as funny as ever. I missed the show’s particular weird brand of humor. It’s kind of like if you took 30 Rock’s sense of sardonic humor and mixed it in with a stereotypical romantic comedy. Every cast member of the show is funny, and I do wish that some of the more recurring characters had more than a few minutes of screen time in the episode. Still, it’s just the first episode of the new season, I’m sure that they’ll have more jokes and important roles to play in the upcoming episodes.

The songs in this episode didn’t get almost instantly stuck in my head like some of the other tunes, but my mind was more on the visuals. The production values in the first song, “Love Kernels”, were spectacular, using multiple costume and scenery changes. In fact, Rebecca breaks the fourth wall at one point to say that they blew the entire budget on that one song. Darryl would have to be replaced with a broom. Also, Rebecca is a cactus.

Does this even need context? It's funny enough on its own.

The other song, “We Should Definitely Not Have Sex Right Now” is a duet between Rebecca and Josh that delivers exposition about the plot and makes jokes about heist movies. The connection between the two is that there’s always a sequel. I question the accuracy of that statement, seeing as Tower Heist hasn’t gotten one.

Crazy Ex-Girlfriend can be seen on the CW channel or, if you don’t have it, the official CW website or online app.

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

Modern Jewish Representation And Crazy Ex-Girlfriend

Note: This article contains mild spoilers for the first season of Crazy Ex-Girlfriend. 

If you are Jewish, then you have most likely realized that the majority of characters on television are either Christian, Catholic, or some other fairly similar religion. For the most part, Jewish characters are a minority. If a character is Jewish, then their religion might only be referenced with a single line. It’s likely that you’ve all heard one character, typically a recurring or minor one, in a Christmas episode say that they celebrate Chanukah. Alternately, maybe they said Hanukkah. There’s a running joke among almost everyone that it has multiple spellings.

As for significantly more major characters, well, almost all of them fall under some stereotype or another, or merely just don’t have any references to Jewish culture at all. Even Isabella Garcia-Shapiro from the Disney cartoon Phineas And Ferb, is explicitly said to be Jewish, but it’s also said that she celebrates Christmas in the show’s first Christmas episode. To be fair, as with all of the main characters, her father is never seen or mentioned, so it can be implied that she celebrates both holidays. There’s also a pretty great song in one episode that shows off some well-researched information and clever puns about a Mexican-Jewish cultural festival.

Glee’s Rachel Berry is also Jewish, but you would be forgiven for not knowing that. Not only is she given only token references to her own religion, but she isn’t even played by a Jewish actress. Normally, that wouldn’t bother me so much, but the show had Jewish actors on it. (For the record, none of the Jewish actors play Jewish characters.) On the other hand, Jacob Ben Israel, who has multiple references to being Jewish is not a particularly great role model.

Seinfeld, contrary to what you might believe, was very ambiguous about it. The fictional version of Jerry was Jewish, but was shown eating food that wasn’t kosher, namely, lobster. Additionally, while many of the characters used Yiddish phrases, that may be due to Jerry Seinfeld and Larry David being Jewish and simply writing in phrases that they used or heard. Also, fun fact: Kramer’s last name was originally going to be Kessler, but Brandon Tartikoff, one of the higher-ups at NBC at the time, had it be changed. His reasoning amounted to ‘Kessler’ sounding too Jewish and wanting the show to appeal to a broad variety of audience members. Sure, that makes sense when the star of your show is Jewish. A similar comedy that takes place in the eighties, The Goldbergs, actually is similar, being a semi-autobiographical show created by Adam F. Goldberg. While it doesn’t necessarily have a large amount of elements, it did devote an episode to Chanukah. Alison Brie plays Annie Edison on Community, and while not a major part of the show, her religion does play a key role in some episodes. In general, Community is actually very good about showing a variety of religions.

Additionally, a few scenes in The X-Files imply that Mulder might be Jewish, Friend’s Monica and Ross Geller are implied to be Jewish due to their father’s lineage, but that’s not how it works in real life. Rachel Green is also hypothesized to be Jewish, but, again, nothing concrete. In Sex And The City, Charlotte York-Goldenblatt does convert to Judaism to marry a lawyer, but the ‘Jewish lawyer and/or doctor’ is another stereotype in itself. A friend did notify me that Arrow's Felicity Smoak is Jewish. I did some research and she does have a menorah at her desk and she is shown performing a Jewish burial ceremony at a friend's funeral. Namely, the tradition of putting some dirt on the casket. Adding to this, she does have a menorah and says 'Mazel tov,' which roughly translates to 'Congratulations!' in Yiddish. There was a questionable moment in the fourth season involving a gas chamber, but as I'm not far enough into the show to have seen it, I'm not going to judge it yet.

While primarily only based on supplementary material, the hit Disney cartoon Gravity Falls actually has a wonderful Jewish character. Many viewers believed that Grunkle Stan, Dipper Pines, and Mabel Pines were all Jewish due to their usage of Yiddish phrases and because they are based on the creator’s life experiences, similar to most of the show’s more realistic material. As with many other parts of the show, they are written based on his personal life experiences. Finally, according to a tweet from creator Alex Hirsh, they were not raised with the holidays, but they celebrate all of them ‘at Mabel’s insistence.’

You might remember the PBS cartoon Arthur as being based on the famous book series, but it has a prominent Jewish character in Francine Frensky. On several occasions, her family is shown celebrating Yom Kippur (“Is This Kosher?”) and Chanukah (“Arthur’s Perfect Christmas”). The former even references Yom Kippur for almost the entire episode, showing Francine trying to follow the tradition of fasting.

This is especially important, as it shows that Chanukah isn’t the only Jewish holiday that exists. You would be surprised at the amount of people that only know about Purim and Chanukah. While not specifically part of the show, “A City View,” an episode of the live-action spin-off Postcards From Buster, has Buster traveling to meet with a Jewish family in New York City.

Sadly, now for the awful examples. The infamous Comedy Central animated show South Park has a Jewish character, Kyle Broflovski, but the writers don’t let that act as a deterrent for the use of anti-Semitic jokes and slurs under the guise of comedy. One example of this would be Eric Cartman turning into a Nazi after watching The Passion Of The Christ. While it is true that the purpose of the episode was to satirize Mel Gibson’s anti-Semitism, the stereotypical Jewish characters in the show were so awful that it only makes the show look like it’s missing the point.

Even with that, Family Guy still has an even worse track record. Mort Goldman is one of the most flagrant, offensive stereotypes. I don’t think it is possible to find a single Jewish character on the show that does not fall into the stereotypes of Jews being greedy, and whiny. I am not going to repeat them here, but it seems as though Seth McFarlane, someone who is Jewish, can get away with the jokes using ‘social commentary’ or the fact that he is Jewish as a reasonable excuse. I am of the personal opinion that when a show has made Nazi jokes, Hitler jokes, Schindler’s List jokes, and multiple Holocaust jokes, there are no redeeming factors or reasonable excuses.



Crazy Ex-Girlfriend has some of the best representation of Jewish characters and Jewish culture in recent television history. This is unsurprising, as Rachel Bloom, who plays Rebecca Bunch, acts as the creator, star, and one of the writers for the CW program. Rebecca Bunch is shown to be Jewish even in the first episode, and the eighth one partially shows her celebrating Chanukah. It opens up with Eastern-European versions of herself and her mother immigrating to America on a boat, before a delightful scene of Rebecca decorating her house for Chanukah, complete with appropriate music in the background.

I can’t describe how utterly delighted I was when it began to show her putting up decorations similar to the ones that are put up in my house every single year. Representation is wonderful, especially when you see characters behaving in similar ways to you. For added delight, the opening scene is in Yiddish and the decorating montage has a clever joke about the seemingly endless variations on how to spell Chanukah. Various other episodes show her interactions with her mother. The thirteen episode, “Josh And I Are Going To Los Angeles!” even has a Judaism-themed rap battle between Rachel and one of her former coworkers at a legal firm. Among other items, it features references to Yiddish, primarily Jewish sections of New York, and the holy tradition of birthright. I’m half-joking when I say this, but that one song has more references to Judaism than your average tv show.

I do have some nitpicks about the show, such as the occasional over-the-top stereotype of Rebecca’s Jewish mom and the two brief mentions of the stereotypical “Jewish nose” by Darryl, but they are few and far between. Mrs. Bunch’s song, sung entirely in a Klezmer folk tune by the Jewish actress Tovah Feldshuh, is glorious.

In doing my research for this piece, I have noticed that some of the most well-developed Jewish characters are from the late nineties to the early 2000s. I hope that this will start a pattern of accurate, well-rounded characters who celebrate all kinds of Judaism in various television shows to come. This is important because not only will it validate viewers, it will also teach people about Judaism and stop the prejudice. Just imagine a little kid watching Rugrats and you see the families celebrating Chanukah and telling the story. You can proudly jump up and say, "Hey, hey, they're talking about my holiday!" Earlier, I mentioned an episode of Postcards From Buster that had a Jewish family in New York. I distinctly remember being on a family vacation and seeing that episode pop up on the television in our hotel room. I ran to go get my parents and joyfully show them the screen.

Representation can lead to spreading knowledge of the Jewish faith, culture, and traditions. In turn, that will bring out a new generation of people who understand that the Jewish people are not a one-note joke about being able to solve math problems or an obsession with money. Similar to how G. Willow Wilson's Ms. Marvel has brought about a wave of appreciation and normalization, seeing more Jewish characters on the small screen can do the same thing. Maybe the Marvel Cinematic Universe can start doing the same thing with Agents Of SHIELD. Edwin Jarvis's wife was Jewish, but she isn't a superhero. Perhaps they can introduce the Israeli superheroine known as Sabra, Moon Knight, or the Hulk ally Doctor Samson, whose very name is rooted in Jewish legend.

I want to see more representation on television during the upcoming years of production in order to teach the world that Judaism isn't a joke. It's a legitimate religion and it has deep connotations and meanings. This is why I can’t wait for Crazy Ex-Girlfriend to return, not only for the accurate and nuanced depiction of Jewish characters, but also for the show’s amazing levels of humor and emotional depth. You can bet that, as a Jew, a Jewish comedy fan, and a fan of comedy in general, I will absolutely be watching it.

Crazy Ex-Girlfriend airs on the CW Network on Fridays at 9 pm.

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