‘Crazy Ex-Girlfriend’ Musical Recap: Dance Dance Evolution
Who misses Greg more: Rebecca or Josh? Based on Crazy Ex-Girlfriend’s fifth episode, “Why Is Josh’s Ex-Girlfriend Eating Carbs?” we’re leaning toward Josh. While it wasn’t easy for Rebecca to watch Greg get on that Atlanta-bound plane, which also spirited Santino Fontana away from the series, she’s now occupying her mind with thoughts of mending fences with Valencia, Josh’s original girlfriend turned ex-girlfriend. That quest takes the odd couple to the middle of the desert for a music festival/pharmaceutical circus where they bond over their mutual frustration with Josh and the freedom that accompanies dropping trou and urinating on electronics equipment.
Related: Crazy Ex-Girlfriend: We Talked to Josh Chan!
Mr. Chan, on the other hand, is at loose ends since his best friend blew town. And that’s not a good headspace for him to be in. When he’s in the company of friends and girlfriends, his natural gregariousness overrides his self-doubt. Left to his own devices and company, though, he’s a bundle of nerves — nerves that are further frayed by the discovery that his two exes are suddenly close buddies. At least Josh won’t have to be solo for long: He’s got a new distraction in the form of the lovely Anna (Brittany Snow), who is poised to become the rebound to his rebound. That should help fill the Greg-shaped hole in his heart.
“Alone With My Thoughts”
What it’s about: We’ve seen several songs — most recently “Ping Pong Girl” — where Rebecca tries to imagine herself in Josh’s head. Here, Josh tells us directly what’s going on inside his head, and it sounds like a pretty messy place, with dark memories and strange digressions clouding out the sunny self-image he tries to project to the world.
Sounds like: A stream-of-consciousness Jack Johnson track.
Best lyric: “That reminds me that I barely passed lifeguard school/That’s why that kid almost died in that pool/That’s a bad thought/I don’t like that thought.”
Funniest sight gag: All the thought bubbles that Josh is desperately trying and failing to pop.
What it reveals about Josh: His train of thought is constantly in danger of becoming a runaway locomotive. Also, his spirit animal is President Obama’s dog, Bo.
“Dream Ballet”
What it’s about: Valencia and Rebecca express their conflicted feelings about Josh through a psychedelic-enhanced dance number.
Sounds like: A vintage Rodgers and Hammerstein dream ballet in the tradition of Oklahoma and Carousel.
Best lyric: Ballets are generally lyric-free, but Rebecca is hilariously on point when she remarks: “Rawr, I’m a triceratops!”
Funniest sight gag: Rebecca the Triceratops rips out Josh’s still-beating heart and feasts on it with relish … hold the mustard.
What it reveals about Valencia and Rebecca: While Josh is dead to both of them post-beakup, they have very different versions of how he perishes. Valencia, for example, sees him as the rampaging dinosaur that ruins her life until she’s forced to stab him in a tragic act of mental murder. Whereas Rebecca envisions herself as the rampaging dinosaur that stalks and kills her elusive prey, who is pathologically afraid of being with her.
Crazy Ex-Girlfriend airs Fridays at 9 p.m. on the CW.
