‘Crazy Ex-Girlfriend’ Musical Recap: Chicken Soup for the Jewish Soul
Mazel tov, Crazy Ex-Girlfriend. You’ve gifted American Jews with the finest onscreen Bar Mitzvah service since Danny Gopnik delivered his Torah portion stoned in the Coen Brothers’ A Serious Man. Simply putting Jewish Broadway legends Patti LuPone (playing a rabbi no less!) and Tovah Feldshuh in the same frame would have been enough. But their disciple in the religion of musical theater Jewish humor, Rachel Bloom, goes further in the show’s tenth Season 2 hour, “Will Scarsdale Like Josh’s Shayna Punim?” I mean, look at that title alone! What other show would be meshugganah enough to refer to Josh Chan’s shayna punim, aka “pretty face” in its classic Yiddish form? She’s a real bal-shem, that one.
Related: ‘Crazy Ex-Girlfriend’ Musical Recap: Mom’s the Word
Beyond the Bar Mitzvah festivities, the cameos by Jewish acting royalty and the Yiddish phraseology, this episode is also deeply rooted in another key aspect that comes with being part of the Chosen people: guilt and self-doubt. It’s only now that Rebecca and Josh are finally an item — even exchanging “I love you’s” and everything — that she’s starting to question whether this is what she actually wants. And to the delight of her therapist, Dr. Akopian, that self-doubt brings her to the precipice of a potentially life-changing realization… that is until Josh goes and spoils it all by proposing to her. Meanwhile, the guilt comes from the muted reaction of Rebecca’s new best friend, Valencia, to the news that she and Josh are back together only five episodes after they were both peeing on his electronics equipment in the middle of the desert. Speaking from personal experience, that’s rarely a scenario they pose to you in Saturday synagogue school.
“We’ll Never Have Problems Again”
What It’s About: Josh and Rebecca forcefully rebutting Heather’s insinuation that their fanciful love bubble is eventually going to be popped by a sharp-edged real world problem.
Sounds Like: Earth, Wind, & Fire funk with a touch of Bee Gees disco.
Best Lyric: “We don’t need gasoline, our car will run on love.” “Elon Musk is developing that kind of car. The first test failed, but that’s ‘cause it wasn’t true love.”
Funniest Sight Gag: Heather exiting the duo’s fantasy dance number with a classic Soul Train sashay.
What It Reveals About Josh and Rebecca: The fact that they’re vociferously denying that they’ll ever confront another problem is, in and of itself, a really big problem.
“Remember That We Suffered”
What It’s About: Rebecca’s mother, as well as her spiritual authority, join forces to remind her that to suffer is Jewish; to complain, divine.
Sounds Like: The geekiest version of “Hava Nagila” ever recored.
Best Lyric: “Have we mentioned Hitler? I’m just saying that we suffered!”
Funniest Sight Gag: Josh’s gleeful face as he gets his groove on to traditional Jewish folk dancing — an exotic form of dance for this boy band-ready hoofer.
What It Reveals About Rebecca: Simply attending a Bar Mitzvah is, for her, a form of suffering. Not so for Josh, whose able to see the joy in the event, which is yet one more reason her self-doubt starts creeping in.
Crazy Ex-Girlfriend airs Fridays at 9 p.m. on The CW.
