Crazy Ex-Girlfriend - Josh Has No Idea Where I Am! - Review: "I'm Your Dream Ghost!"
28 Mar 2016
Crazy Ex-Girlfriend Reviews WMStop whatever you are doing at this moment. Well, after you read this, stop whatever you are planning to do next and go spread the word about Crazy Ex-Girlfriend. Yes, I'm aware the show has been renewed, so we won't have to worry about not getting more adventures of Bunch and co. but please, it's criminal how low this week's ratings were. People need to see this show! We were doing so well with a nice little upswing in same day ratings, only for it to fall again. I watched Josh Has No Idea Where I Am! and then immediately got sad because I had to wait until next week to see a new episode. No matter how many times I walk around singing the Crazy Ex theme song, listen to the soundtrack or think about when I inappropriately sang "Dream Ghost" during the Knightmare sequence of Batman vs Superman (in a packed theatre,which got a few chuckles), nothing is helping me with the wait. After watching this episode, I know just how much I love the West Covina crew and I don't care who knows. This episode didn't have quirky side plots for all of supporting characters, it was really about Rebecca and her realizing things she already knew but was afraid to admit. This is what made this episode great, the fact that after all this time Rebecca is truly changing and growing and in doing that it mixed in some really good dramatic developments with some witty comedy that show excels in. If Crazy Ex-Girlfriend is not nominated for an Emmy in any comedy category, I just might rage.
I loved that this week the action was really focused around Rebecca's internal journey after she ran off last week when she heard Josh tell Valencia that he didn't love Rebecca. One of the most frustrating aspects of the show has been how "one step forward-two steps back" Rebecca's infatuation with Josh has been and how much everyone has enabled her aside from Greg. I really enjoyed that Rebecca realized she was not the princess in the story but the villain, and I feel she deserved that harsh smack in the face that was Josh and Valencia deciding to stay together. Which brought us to Rebecca sitting on the plane next to her therapist and deciding to go ahead and give the whole therapy thing a real go. Except in true Rebecca fashion she doesn't. Rebecca downs a couple of sleeping pills and an alcoholic beverage and then has a walk through of her life with her very own "Dream Ghost" in the guise of her therapist. The musical number for "Dream Ghost" is most certainly in my top five from the show.
Winston's Top Five Crazy Ex Musical Moments
1. Sexy Getting Ready Song- I'm not sure anything will ever top this.
2. Crazy Ex- Girlfriend Theme
3. Settle For Me
4. Face Your Fears/West Covina reprise w/Josh
5. Dream Ghosts/I Have Friends
The best part of the whole Dream Ghost scenario is not only that it pulls back some layers on Rebecca's "Crazy" but also that it flat out acknowledges that whatever the Dream Ghost shows Rebecca is stuff she already knew herself. Which for me is a huge moment of growth for the character and the show in that Rebecca admits that she has been lying to herself. Rebecca's fist stop is to the memory of the time young puberty plagued Rebecca lied to her mother and concocted a plan to see her father a.k.a the first time Rebecca made a rash, grand decision to capture the attention of a man she loved. I knew this wasn't going to end well, because something on her father's face when he looked at her, just didn't seem right. Rebecca had done this elaborate plan to get here, and he was surprised, but I wouldn't say he was excited. She begs him to not tell her mother, and he says he won't. The next day as she's making breakfast for the two of them there's a knock on the door. This is the part of the story that Rebecca hates, she feels her mother tore her away from father, who truly wanted to be with her. Except, all this time she was wrong. He called Rebecca's mother and asked her to take Rebecca away because he had plans already. Her mother pleaded with him to just let her spend some time with him because she went through all this trouble, but in the end he won out. This was a great moment to show the softer side of Rebecca's mother and for Rebecca to realize, while it may not have been from the one she wanted she was still loved as a child.
The next step of the journey sees Rebecca at time in college when she was actually happy. Rebecca had gotten a part as fish # 3 is some douchey guy's senior thesis project which was Moby Dick: the musical. It seems like this memory is trying to show that Rebecca missed happiness when she missed a romantic entanglement with the sweet and cute Peter for a chance at being bumped up to fish #1 and sexy times with douche director Warren. After Warren reveals that he wasn't exclusive to Rebecca, she gets upset and quits the play. Even Rebecca thinks this was about Peter, until Dream Ghost Dr. Akopian points out how happy Rebecca was doing that play, and doing something she loved. (Loved Rebecca admitting she imagines parts of her life as song) She suggest maybe Rebecca should do more like that to find her happiness.
Meanwhile, back at Rebecca's house, Paula has taken over the Bunch residence since she just knows Rebecca is in Hawaii only to discover when Josh comes by that not only is he not in Hawaii with Rebecca but that Rebecca has gone off the grid. She deduces (aloud) that Josh chose to stay with Valencia and that Rebecca must have heard it to a very confused Josh. Soon, they are joined by both a panicked Darryl and an unconvinced Greg and they discover that Rebecca has decided to move back to New York, where she was decidedly unhappy. Everyone, minus Greg, appears to be pretty bummed out at the thought of Rebecca leaving. Paula decides to take Josh to the side and get him to understand why she might be leaving town. (I REFUSE TO BELIEVE THAT AFTER THAT KISS HE CAN STILL BE IN THE DARK ON ALL OF THIS!) Which leads us to the final stop of Rebecca's journey, as she sees all of her friends, who love her, upset by her disappearance and decision to move back to New York. Despite being distracted by her bonus check, Rebecca realizes that she does have people who love her, if she would just open her eyes to the possibility of the love being not quite what she wanted. (Pointed look over at Greg, who is not only "Super Hot" to everyone but Josh, has been playing all nonchalant about things, but had called every hospital and some morgues before learning Rebecca was okay)
Realizing all of the love she has in her life, Rebecca awakens to a confused Dr. Akopian, who really has no idea what Rebecca is talking about when she mentions Dream Ghosts and dental plans. She hops on another flight to West Covina and heads back home and greets her worried friends. Rebecca hugs and thanks Greg and Darryl before turning her attention to Josh, who is holding all the pictures of him that Paula handed him that belong to Rebecca in her attempt to get Josh to see why Rebecca left. Paula, sensing the stir of feelings in the room dashes off, declaring to wash and return Rebecca's bathrobe, and Josh turns to Rebecca and asks her if she loves him. Cut to Black.
Final Thoughts: This hour is most certainly one of the best of the show, we got so much character movement for Rebecca and it seems that for once she may be realizing that Josh is not the cure for her depression but more a symptom of her delusion. I loved seeing that Rebecca has always been this crazy Rebecca but was just a shell of herself when we met her in New York waiting to reconnect with this side of herself. I laughed so hard at some of the good one-liners this week. I also think it's interesting we see that Rebecca has a bit of a pattern with not noticing the good guys that are right in front of her. It seems that signs really seem to be pointing to a Rebecca and Greg coupling in the near future, but I have thought that before and they always seem to move another way. The show has done a really good job in taking what was a weirdly interesting set of one-sided love-lines and turned them into a formidable triangle. We didn't get any White Josh-Darryl moments, or a chance to see the fallout of the kiss, but I think we got a really good look at the wake up Rebecca needs. She can find the happiness that she wants so much in West Covina, but she should stop forcing it and let it come from genuine moments. With that said, I am curious to see what exactly her answer to Josh is going to be. Will it be another convincing lie, or will she finally get honest?
Character of the week: This week it has to go to Rebecca. This was an episode all about her, and it worked. I find myself actually rooting for Rebecca.
Song of The Week: Dream Ghosts, obviously.
What did you think of Josh Has No Idea Where I Am? What do you think Rebecca will say to Josh? Are you hoping we get more Greg and Rebecca before the end of the season? Sound off below!
Josh's Sister is Getting Married! airs Monday March 28th at 7pm/c on the CW.