What I’m Watching: Crazy Ex-Girlfriend

Crazy Ex-Girlfriend: Season 1, Episode 5 “Josh and I Are Good People!” (B+)

This show’s premise could have worn thin very quickly, but the way in which this episode opened proved that it knows exactly what it needs to do to stay fresh. Greg calling Rebecca and Josh terrible people for different reasons prompted hilarious responses from both of them, and it didn’t even involve Greg outing Rebecca for moving to West Covina just to be with Josh. Rebecca going into full good-person mode was a lot of fun, and of course it involved helping Darryl with his divorce. His daughter spilling the beans about her mother sleeping at motels with her boss and leaving her alone seemed like a slam dunk, but I was glad to see that it went further than that, resulting in Rebecca tracking down his soon-to-be-ex-wife and befriending her after trying to plant lots of cash on her to get her arrested. The way in which Rebecca responds to the world around her is superb, like saying “Crazy is a pejorative term” and tuning out completely after Josh said that he was attracted to her. Josh nicknaming his priest friend “Father Brah” was terrific, and I enjoyed his very weird list of confessions involving mannequins and, more importantly, being attracted to Rebecca. Paula taking charge of the office and making nice with her secret Canadian employee was decently entertaining too, even though it’s the weakest part of a strong show. The best musical moments were “Newsflash douchbags, I’m a good person” and Mrs. Hernandez getting subtitles to silently sing her part of a song.