What I’m Watching: Crazy Ex-Girlfriend (Season Premiere)

Crazy Ex-Girlfriend: Season 4, Episode 1 “I Want to Be Here” (B)

It’s rare to go into a show knowing that it’s almost over after just a few seasons on the air without feeling that it’s being cut way too short. Unlike other shows that started out strong and then found themselves subjected to a truncated final year, like “The Newsroom” and “Banshee,” this one has been given an eighteen-episode order, which seems fair enough after an uneven second and third season following an excellent and innovative first season. I really wasn’t happy that Rebecca set herself up to be sent to jail at the end of season three, and therefore it was a relief to see that she spent just one installment there, with a clever follow-up in the form of Rebecca deciding to start becoming a better person by volunteering to give free legal advice to her former fellow inmates. It didn’t take long at all for a parody of “Cell Block Tango” to be featured, and that ended up being more plot-involved than musical. I knew I recognized Britney Young, who played her unamused cellmate, and that’s because she stars as Carmen on “GLOW.” Rebecca, Nathaniel, and Josh singing “No One Else Knows My Song” was a highlight, especially since it really help to sum up this episode’s themes in a pretty decent musical number. I like that Josh, like Rebecca, is trying to diagnose himself with a disorder rather than acknowledge that he just doesn’t really get how the world works. Nathaniel’s punishment adventure camping trip was a bad idea, and good for George for following him to make sure he didn’t die a miserable death in the middle of the woods. Let’s hope for a fun and fresh final season!