Crazy Ex-Girlfriend: Is Josh Free In Two Weeks?

-All Rebecca Bunch wants is to be "normal". The kind of girl who doesn't have underlying issues to address, who falls in love with her dream man and single-handedly plans the perfect wedding where her father is there to walk her down the aisle and doesn't get bored or depressed or kiss her boss in an elevator. She's chasing a fantasy, something that doesn't exist because the only people who are truly "normal" are characters in movies. If she stops chasing it though, she has to confront what a broken "super wheeeee-ird" person she is (Thanks, Santa Ana Winds) and she doesn't want to do that, so she keeps chasing it until she finds herself closer to the breaking point than she's ever been and a blow-up seems inevitable. Until suddenly it isn't.

-It turns out impulsively moving your wedding from two years away to two weeks away is not the best idea if you have not done any planning for it. Wedding planners won't help her because it's impossible, her mom won't help her because even though she kicked this whole thing into motion Naomi Bunch is a selfish woman, and Paula can't help her because she's studying for law school finals with Sunil (Hi, Sunil! I've missed you.). Rebecca should give up but people have already RSVP'd and calling it off would give the impression that this isn't normal. So she decides to do almost all of it herself, which naturally leads her to suspect that a DIY wedding will be easier to pull off than a regular wedding, which only makes things worse.

-Rebecca attempting to copy the wedding of Dustin and Sasha from Halifax, Nova Scotia (Yay, Canada shout-out!) works on both a comedy level and a story level. Rebecca wants to be normal and a DIY wedding is normal so she springs for it. There's no time to actually come up with her own ideas though so she picks one at random and tries desperately to copy it. She takes something that is the vision of love, co-operation, and planning intended for two specific people and tries to weld her and Josh to that vision because she wants to be normal. She winds up lost and alone trying to bring dreams that aren't her own to life because she's scared of what her own dreams might be.

-When Seth Green first shows up as Patrick the delivery guy, it's a fun surprise, albeit a bit confusing. Why cast Green in what is essentially a bit part? As the episode goes on though and Patrick keeps returning, it becomes apparent that Seth Green is perfect for the role. Channeling his work as Oz from when he was on Buffy, Green makes Patrick the epitome of "normal", a laid-back regular guy who is genuinely concerned about this woman he barely knows, but also can't off the help or validation she needs because he doesn't know her. Green goes from feeling like a fun distraction to a vital part of the episode and he does it without really doing that much. Green is a master of the understatement when he needs to be.

-The stoic pleasantness of Green also makes him perfect as the focal point for (Tell Me I'm OK) Patrick, an honest aching plea to a person who has no preformed opinion of her asking him to tell her that she's normal and OK. It's a sad, moving song but it's also funny because Green is there staring blankly and trying to process what's going on as a near-stranger bears her soul to him until she starts yelling at him because she's convinced he has the manual to being normal in his truck. When it ends with her finally collapsing from exhaustion and him gently wrapping her with one of the wedding dresses she keeps ordering to try on before sneaking off, it's earnestly sweet.

-As (Tell Me I'm OK) Patrick played, I realized that this is the most vulnerable Rebecca has been in a song since Oh My God I Think I Like You back in season 1. There's been a fair amount of vulnerability in the music this season but none of it has come from her (Except possibly her part of You Go First, but that song is shared with Paula). As she's thrown herself into the delusion of a romance with Josh and then the distraction of female friendship and then back into the delusion of romance but on a grander scale, Rebecca has been guarding her true feelings from her fantasy life more and more this year. Tell Me I'm OK is the first time she lets it all out in a long while and it's all the more powerful because of how long it's been.

-Valencia has been out of focus for weeks now, save for one great scene a couple weeks back. That ends tonight as she returns just when Rebecca needs it the most. Initially though, she seems off and it looks like the episode is setting up the return of a jealous season 1-Valencia. But thankfully the writers avoid going this route, instead focusing on the idea that although she has moved past Josh, she had planned her whole life around him and is rudderless now that that plan is out the window. Her weirdness around Rebecca and Josh isn't really about Rebecca and Josh, it's about how Rebecca is stepping into the life she almost had, reminding her that she needs a new one. Once she confronts this though, she's able to help Rebecca and herself at the same time when she decides to plan Rebecca's wedding using the binder she had spent years building and it turns out she has a real knack for it. Of course she does. Valencia is confident, assertive, and stylish and her becoming a wedding planner makes so much sense for the character that it becomes blindingly obvious that's what she's meant to do the moment it comes up.

-Patrick was never going to be the person to give Rebecca the help she needs, but he manages to deliver it to her by informing Paula of what's really going on with her best friend. Following the reestablishment of their friendship, Rebecca has been making an effort not to make her friendship with Paula all about her and to give Paula a healthy amount of space. It's a nice thought, but it doesn't mean Rebecca should hide her feelings when she's in a place where she genuinely needs the help of her mother/friend. The scene where Paula watches Rebecca in awe of the dress her mother sent her before a flashback shows Paula ripping Naomi a new one to ensure that she would help her daughter is a nice culmination of everything the Rebecca/Paula friendship has been through this season. Watching Paula scream everything at Naomi that we as an audience have wanted to scream is also incredibly cathartic.

-There's a moment towards the end of the episode when Rebecca tries on the dress her mother got her and Heather remarks that she looks "surprisingly normal". The line and Rebecca's very touched reaction to it is played as a joke, but it's also very touching after the ordeal Rebecca went through. The only thing is there's a big difference between looking normal and being normal, which is something Rebecca is probably going to have to come to terms with sooner rather than later.

-Nathaniel starts the episode off demanding that the rest of the office be more normal, but this is the episode where everyone finally sees that he's just as weird and damaged as the rest of them. Also he poops his pants. Nathaniel's vision of normal is also skewed thanks to years of conditioning by his father to view being human as a weakness. That kiss with Rebecca meant something to him but he can't ever admit that because that would betray vulnerability. So in his efforts to exude strength and normality, he gets sick and gassy, but he keeps clinging to the kale smoothies he refuses to stop drinking and refuses to let his guard down. even as the rest of the office tries to help him. Just like Rebecca he reaches a breaking point, but where Rebecca's breaking point was the moment she tried to get a stranger to tell her she's OK, Nathaniel's is pooping his pants. It's a cheap joke, but a funny one and the sight of him in one of Daryl's spare, terrible suits later is a great image.

-Man Nap, Daryl's heavy rocker number about napping like a man isn't a particularly deep song. You could remove it from the episode without losing anything. It is however a terrific song and a lot of fun and the wigs alone justify it's existence.

-Of course the moment Nathaniel finally shows honest vulnerability and takes the nap his body so desperately needs, his father finally shows up and all the issues the show has been hinting at for weeks finally snaps into focus. Nathaniel just wanted to be normal for his father and he's come off as weak instead because his father is unreasonable. Confronted with his worst fear though, Nathaniel doesn't regress to the man he was when he first arrived. Instead, having realized that his father is never going to return his love, he emphasizes with Rebecca when she reveals her father won't be able to make it for her wedding and arranges for her father to be able to come after all. I'll never be sold on Nathaniel as a romantic match for Rebecca, but he has turned out to be much more of a kindred spirit than he originally seemed. What would be perfect is if the two of them connected on a personal level and helped support each other as they dealt with their separate lifetimes of baggage. Unfortunately neither of them are ready to realize how much they might need that.

-Bringing Rebecca's father back is huge. We've seen him in flashbacks but never have seen the actual man before. Rebecca's problems may not have started the night he walked out on their family, but they have been informed by that abandonment ever since. There is a huge amount of stuff to unpack with that part of her life and though it probably won't bring her the normality she wants or even the closure, it could start her on the road to actual recovery. Or it could all explode horribly. We'll find out next week.

-Josh spends this episode feeling like he's being shut out of the wedding process, failing to stay awake for the one DIY thing he wanted that Rebecca agreed with him on, and then making a stand for what he wants only to be shut down by the abrupt return of Valencia into his life. He seems OK by the end of the episode, but he also seemed to be getting awful close to that Sarah girl he was volunteering with. Remember, Josh doesn't want an equal partner, he wants a support system who will validate all of his choices, no matter how ridiculous (He wants a Sugar Ray cover band called Splenda Ray for crying out loud). This does not bode well for him showing up to the wedding next week.

-As promised a couple weeks ago, the full version of Period Sex, sung by Rebecca Bloom in a flowing red dress because of course it is. It's as good a culmination to this joke as you could want, and it loops in clips throughout the series of the various characters saying either "period", "sex", or "period sex", which is fun.

-"Over my dead body". I thought the show had forgotten about Trent. It has not. Oh boy.

-All in all a great episode this week and a strong set-up to what will hopefully be a major finale. Next week: The season ends with the wedding of Rebecca Bunch and Joshua Chan. This is not going to end well guys.

Riverdale is a Fun, Fresh, Dark, Soapy Take on The Archie Mythos

-I'm exactly Riverdale's target audience. I'm a lifelong fan of Archie Comics. I love high school shows and crazy Teen Soaps like The O.C. and Pretty Little Liars full of twists and snappy dialogue and sexual tension, which Riverdale has in spades. I also love the "suburban noir" Twin Peaks-esque vibe Riverdale is totally going for with their small town full of secrets. Yet despite loving all these things and planning to watch every episode of Riverdale, I had no expectations that this show would be any good. It wasn't that I think Archie can't be a crazy Teen Soap Murder Mystery show (I definitely think that), it was the way the show was marketed. Every ad, every hint that Archie and the gang were carrying dark secrets, every glimpse of angry angst-filled Jughead, every time they went to that shot of Betty kissing Veronica, it all seemed calculated, like some kid trying to prove how dark and edgy and cool they are. The marketing wasn't that misleading and it clearly established that this wouldn't be your father's Archie but after watching Chapter One: The River's Edge, it became clear that the marketing was selling the show short. Yes, it's a darker and sexier Riverdale than we're used to, but there's a lot of fun and warmth to be found in Riverdale too. It's a different, subversive take on Archie but it's still Archie and Riverdale is shaping up to be a worthy addition to the Archie universe.

-Over the 75+ years of Archie comics, a certain image has developed around the character of clean, fun wholesomeness. The Archie gang is all about burgers and milkshakes and love triangles and goofy capers and an ever constant status quo. What you see is mostly like you get. It's an image that's definitely justified, but not entirely accurate anymore, particularly since Jon Goldwater took over as CEO of Archie Comics in 2009 and began pushing to make Archie relevant for the 21st century. This started in 2010 with the introduction of Life With Archie, a series that depicted two different futures for Archie (one where he married Betty, one where he married Veronica.) and tackled more adult themes and stories about growing up, as well as the introduction of Kevin Keller, the first openly gay Archie character. After the horror-themed Afterlife With Archie became a runaway success writer Roberto Aguire-Sacasa (The showrunner of Riverdale, who developed it with producer-of-basically-everything-comics-related Greg Berlanti) was awarded the position of Chief Creative Officer of in 2014, and kept pushing to modernize Archie, most significantly through a reboot of the whole Archie universe in 2015, led by comic superstars Mark Waid and Fiona Staples. Through it all, the Archie brand has proven that it's incredibly versatile and can tell literally any kind of story, while still remaining true to the characters and the world. Archie has faced zombies, Predator, and has even died. So while the grit and darkness of Riverdale will definitely be off-putting to some, it's nothing really that new for the character or his world, and if you can embrace it, you'll find plenty to love about Riverdale (even if it's not perfect).

-As most people who read Archie will tell you, Archie is always typically the least exciting part about Archie. He's the everyman, our identification figure who guides us through the world so he can't be as vibrant or splashy as Betty, Veronica, Jughead, Kevin, Reggie, Hiram Lodge or basically anyone else. It's not that he can't be interesting, it's just very difficult to make him interesting and he's easily the blandest part of Riverdale so far. Oh, K.J. Apa gives it his best go and brings a much needed affability and relatability to the character, but it's just not that exciting to watch him try and figure out how to pursue his music or tell his dad Luke Perry that he doesn't want to follow him into construction or decide if he wants to play varsity football. Also "Archie got hot over the summer working construction" is literally a plot point because that's the best way they could come up with to explain why Veronica would be into him (Betty was already interested). This is all par for the course for Archie though. There's a reason we're introduced to almost every other major character before him and a reason why the show's called Riverdale and not Archie. Hopefully he'll become more compelling down the road but if not, that's fine because almost everyone else is much more interesting.

-If you need a reason to watch Riverdale, I can give you two: Betty (Lili Reinhart) and Veronica (Camila Mendes). You'll fall in love with Betty immediately. She's bright and sweet and adorable, an overachiever who needs to be pushed to take action a bit, but once she takes charge, there's no stopping here. She more than holds her own against Mendes Veronica, who's sophisticated, confident, witty and sexy. Veronica has what I always felt was an unfair reputation for being kind of a unlikable rich snob in the comics, but the show avoids that by having her be someone who is trying to be a better person, even if she occasionally falls into old habits.

-If this episode has a key moment, it's when Veronica is accepted for cheerleading over Betty but tells Cheryl that "Betty and I come as a matching set. You want one, you take us both". Betty and Veronica have a super weird comics dynamic, where they're best friends but also fierce rivals and although both want Archie for themselves, they're basically cool with him dating both of them (The new Archie series thankfully changes that last part). Riverdale seems committed from the get-go to really developing an actual strong friendship between the two of them that's complex, but true and it's really nice to see. Yeah, there's a bit of a love triangle, but at the moment the love triangle is secondary to the relationship between Betty and Veronica. There's a really camaraderie between Reinhart and Mendes and you instantly start rooting for their friendship. Veronica is fun and feisty and drives Betty to be more assertive and confident and tries to help Betty and Archie get together. When she does kiss Archie during Seven Minutes in Heaven, it feels like a betrayal and you can tell she feels terrible about it, even if she doesn't quite regret it. I'm not excited to watch Archie mope around on the guitar or play football or whatever, but I'm really excited to see Betty and Veronica try to work out their friendship and figure out their dynamic.

-OK, I have serious apprehensions about Cole Sprouse's moody, angst-ridden take on Jughead. He's barely in the episode, beyond providing opening and closing narration and one scene with Archie so I can't really judge it yet, but beyond the good advice he gave to Archie, he just doesn't feel like Jughead yet. Also, the narration is presented to us as part of a novel Jughead is writing about the town and he seems to be writing it in real-time with the events of the narrative, but then it becomes omniscient in the last scene and I don't know how I feel about that. The show needs to establish clear rules for how the narration works and fast.

-I'm not super familiar with Kevin Keller, beyond his portrayal in Life With Archie and the relaunched Archie comics, but Casey Cott is a lot of fun and immediately the most interesting male character. The Gay Best Friend character is a well-worn trope and Riverdale is aware that it's a well-worn trope, but Cott brings a lot of energy and sass to the role, providing a nice counterbalance to Archie's sulkiness and Betty's uncertainty that complements nicely with Veronica's assertiveness. He also sells lines like "Game-Changer. Archie got hot! He's got abs now", like they're the most normal thing in the world. Kevin's still a relatively new character in the Archie universe, but it's great to see him getting so much exposure.

-Ashleigh Murray doesn't get a whole lot to do as Josie McCoy, leader of Josie and the Pussycats, but the small amount of screentime she does get makes me desperate to see more of her. She makes an instant impression.

-Every Teen Soap needs a great villain and Riverdale sets up two of them with Betty's Adderall-pushing perfectionist mother Alice (Mädchen Amick) and Riverdale High Queen Bee Cheryl Blossom (Madelaine Petsch). Alice is introduced dramatically declaring that Jason Blossom can burn in hell and she quickly establishes Alice as someone to root against, a toxic person who emotionally abuses Betty (while basically forcing her to take her medication) and is definitely responsible for the mental breakdown of Betty's sister Polly, even if she would rather blame Jason. Petsch's Cheryl meanwhile is a lot of fun as Riverdale's resident "shady bitch", relishing in stirring up chaos and tossing barbed quips. Her one-dimensional brand of villainy could get old pretty fast, but for now it's very watchable.

-It should be noted that if you like shows with naturalistic dialogue that sound like how real people talk, Riverdale is not that show. If however, you like super stylized, pop culture reference-laden dialogue where people say things like "I'm like Breakfast At Tiffany's but this place is strictly In Cold Blood" or use "too season 5 Betty Draper" as an insult (Maybe the best insult of all time by the way, provided you're familiar with Mad Men, which all the characters apparently are), you're going to love how ridiculous a lot of this dialogue is. The dialogue is also nice, because it helps keep the show from being too dark or self-serious.

-Teen Dramas have a long-standing tradition of focusing on the adult characters almost as much as they focus on the kids. So beyond Alice, you get Luke Perry as Archie's dad Fred (Amicably divorced from Archie's mother in this version) and Marisol Nichols as Veronica's mom Hermione (Dealing with the fallout of Hiram being arrested for fraud and embezzlement). They're not super interesting yet, but you just know that Fred and Hermione are going to hook up at some point (They used to date) so I'm stoked for that. Also when Archie's mom does show up, she'll be played by Molly Ringwald, so that could be a lot of fun.

-If Riverdale was going to murder someone to kick off their story, Jason Blossom is a good candidate. He's the also-ran of the Blossom siblings and a 3rd-stringer Archie character, but notable enough that his death has instant stakes to it. Also, although I knew how the episode would end the moment Jughead tells us that the death was ruled an accident because no body was ever found, but I was still pumped for that last scene when surprise, surprise, the body does show up with a big bullet hole in the head. The murder isn't the most exciting aspect of Riverdale, but as long as it's kept relatively in the background to these characters and their development, it could be a lot of fun.

-Archie's summer love affair with Ms. Grundy (Sarah Habel) got a lot of publicity before Riverdale started for obvious reasons and looks to be a big plot driver, since it's connected to the death of Jason and it's the main reason Archie can't commit to the idea of a relationship with Betty. I'm not a big fan of this story so far. I can understand why it's in the show. It gives Archie a secret and connects him to the murder in a way that's natural, but television has a bad track record at portraying student-teacher relationships, tending to focus on the forbidden love aspect without engaging with all the dark, ethically murky implications of a person in authority sleeping with a minor and the reasons why they're a crime in the first place (See: Pretty Little Liars). Riverdale doesn't seem to be romanticizing Archie's relationship with Ms. Grundy but I'll remain skeptical for now.

-Really, the only misstep in how Betty and Veronica are being handled so far was the kiss. Having Veronica kiss Betty to play on outdated taboos for shock value and then immediately having another character call the kiss out as playing on outdated taboos for shock value doesn't really change the fact that the kiss was unnecessary, flimsily justified, and just there so they could throw another shocking thing into the promos.

-Also Betty was introduced in her underwear and Archie is introduced shirtless, both of which seemed excessive, but in a fun way.

-Kudos to Riverdale for bringing more diversity into Riverdale. Veronica and her mom are Latina, Reggie's Indonesian, and Josie, The Pussycats, and Pop are African-American. It's a small thing really, but something that makes Riverdale better reflect our world.

-Moose being closeted is definitely a different take on the character, but I'm willing to see where it goes. It's mostly played for laughs here before leading to the discovery of Jason's body.

-Reggie is probably the 5th most important Archie character in the comics, but he's basically an extra here, reimagined as a total bro jock who doesn't seem to have much of a rivalry with Archie. I'm assuming that'll change as the season goes on though. Reggie is much too interesting a character to just let go to waste.

-Keeping Hiram Lodge off the board for now is smart. He's the best antagonist in all of Archie and the most well-defined adult character, so having him in prison gives everyone else a chance to develop and become compelling in their own right (Plus maybe get a romance between Fred and Hermione going) before he inevitably comes on the scene to stir everything up. He's already covertly sending Hermione money. Who knows what he'll do next?

-Riverdale, like most Teen Soaps, has a strong soundtrack full of solid indie pop and alternative music. It's great!

-Riverdale's slogan is "The Town With Pep". Archie originally debuted in Pep comics so that's a fun little Easter Egg.

-If you are interested in exploring the world of Archie Comics further, I definitely recommend Mark Waid's relaunched Archie series. It's an all-ages contemporary take on Archie and his friends that actually manages to make Archie interesting and relevant for today's times. I'm less familiar with the relaunched Jughead, but I also hear nothing but good things about it.

-Murder Theory Corner: In which I try and figure out who the murderer is. Right now, I'm going with Josie. Why? Because she's a regular cast member who doesn't seem suspicious, isn't super connected to any of the storylines right now (Though I imagine she'll have a part to play as Archie's exploration into music develops), and she's a big enough character that it'd be shocking, without coming off as a massive betrayal for fans of the character. Actually, it could be seen as a massive betrayal. But guaranteed, whatever happened to Jason, Josie is connected to it somehow.

-So yeah, overall it was a strong start for Riverdale. I'm planning to cover this show weekly so stay tuned for much more sexy Archie shenanigans.

Jane The Virgin Tries To Stop Meddling in Chapter 52

-This weeks title: Jane The Person Who Really Hates Bruce (Those last three words practically hit the screen). Jane The Meddler also would've fit because this episode was all about meddling.

-It's surprising it's taken this long to get to an episode about Jane's constant inserting of herself into the problems of everyone around her. This has been one of her most persistent character traits throughout the shows run and Chapter Fifty-Two finally takes her to task for it, showing how harmful it can be, but also showing that if her heart in in the right place then her meddling can be helpful and even necessary, as long as it's with the right person.

-One thing that's clear is that it's high time for Jane to stop meddling with her mother's life and let Xo deal with her own decisions. This is the main thrust of the episode as Jane tries to deal with the fact that Xo is back to dating Bruce, the man who broke her heart over and over again. Jane wants to be OK with it, but despite the constant reminders of Michael's "Let It Bee" sock puppet, she can't keep herself from interfering. Jane spent most of her life having to take care of her mother and be the adult. Now Jane has her own family and Xo is finally becoming capable of taking care of herself and is more than able to decide for herself if she can handle being back with Bruce but Jane still can't break the habit of taking care of Xo. The relationship with Bruce might end poorly, but it's not up to Jane to keep it from going forward. Even when Jane uses her meddling powers for good at the end and is able to convince Bruce's daughter Tess to give the relationship a chance, Xo rightfully points out that Jane shouldn't have been the one who did that (No matter what other sock puppet Bette Meddler said). Jane stood up for her mother, but didn't give Xo the chance to do that for herself and the show doesn't let her off the hook for that.

-Tess makes for a nice counterpoint to Jane, as the show continues to remind us that Xo's situation with Bruce was complicated and destructive for everyone involved, not just her. Jane may have had to watch Beaches with Xo, every time Bruce broke her heart, but Xo was the other woman in Bruce's marriage and the catalyst for Bruce ultimately deciding to end the marriage. Of course Tess is going to hate Xo even more than Jane hates Bruce. She's a 16-Year-Old kid who had her family torn apart because of this woman. This makes Tess much more interesting than if her meanness and negativity towards Xo was unjustified and it'll be interesting to see how Xo interacts with Tess.

-Where Jane's meddling is much more welcome is with Michael, who quits his job after deciding he just can't spend the rest of his career on desk duty. Michael was born to be a cop and now that he can't, he's feeling adrift. This leads him to consider trying to become a stand-up comic. Of course, while Brett Dier is a pretty solid impressionist, it's clear that Michael isn't really cut out to be a stand-up. Jane lets him go through with it though, because she's trying not to meddle, even though telling your husband not to get up on a stage full of people with a set full of goofy impressions of fictional characters pretending to be other fictional characters is probably a good choice.

-Michael's stand-up set was the big comedic setpiece of the episode and it was handled nicely. Michael doesn't bomb but he doesn't blow anyone away either. He does his jokes and they're pretty amusing (I particularly enjoyed Spongebob as the Somali pirate in Captain Phillips and Dame Judy Dench as Scarface), and his family loves them so it doesn't matter what the others in the crowd think. He's a bit embarrassed afterwards but not terribly so and it ultimately leads to his decision to become a lawyer, which could be much more interesting.

-Jane also isn't the only one who meddles as Xo finds herself struggling to support Rogelio's decision to have a child with Darci Factor. It's a good parallel to Jane's storyline that the show doesn't really hit on the head. Xo doesn't agree with Rogelio's decision and thinks it's weird, but is able to come to support it in the end once she and Darci talk and she understands that this arrangement might actually go well for everyone.

-Justina Machado continues to be terrific as Darci and I hope this arrangement with Rogelio does work out and she sticks around for a good long while. She and Jaime Camill have excellent chemistry and their characters complement each other perfectly. She's just as over-the-top and self-obsessed as Rogelio, but she's also a straight shooter with no time for nonsense. She's a perfect fit for the world of "Jane" and her storyline with Rogelio is just the right boost of levity for the show.

-Of course, it turns out Rogelio is going to have a harder time than Darci keeping emotions out of it. The show's been setting up his big full-frontal scene for a while now and the pay-off of him realizing he's attracted to Darci coming at the most inconvenient time (When she's watching him shoot his big scene and he gets a hard-on during filming) is comedy gold. And they say you can't tell a good boner joke anymore.

-I had been a bit disappointed at how easily Rafael wrestled control of the Marbella back from Petra so I was glad to see that it was only the beginning. Rafael's mostly a good guy but he can make a lot of questionable decisions and trying to exploit Petra's recent trauma to make her feel like she's paranoid about his colluding with Scott was a real low blow from him (Which the show pointed out). It feels like Petra's motivation for being mad at Rafael is constantly shifting based on what the plot needs it to be, but it makes sense why this particular betrayal would sting the most. After all she's been through, Petra is having a hard time trusting anyone or anything right now and Rafael made her question her own judgement and lose faith in herself instead of being honest.

-What Rafael did is cruel, but it also makes sense given all he's going through right now. Confronting the fact that his parents aren't his real parents and his whole identity is a lie is heavy stuff. Making matters worse is the fact that suddenly, all those times his father was dismissive and unsupportive of him take on a brutal new light. No wonder he's making people question themselves, he's going through the exact same thing. It doesn't excuse his actions, but it keeps him from coming off as totally unlikeable here.

-The narrator's concerns that Rafael might not be rich anymore are played off as a joke when they first surface but turn out to be foreshadowing an amendment to Emilio's will that states only his biological children are entitled to his estate. It's a brutal little twist that sets up quite the dilemma for Rafael, especially since Petra planted cameras everywhere and is also in possession of this information. Could Rafael lose everything? Probably for a few episodes at least. I'm sure the prospect of a penniless Rafael is just too rife with storytelling possibilities for the writers to pass up. It'll be interesting to see where things go from here.

-I'm starting to get a bit tired with how the writers are dragging out the "Is Catalina Shady" storyline. The french guy turns out to be her husband Arnaud who she's divorcing because she rushed into the marriage, and who she tells Rafael about at a trying-not-to-meddle Jane's advice. Except Jane sees her kissing Arnaud later except it was maybe just a friendly kiss? Ultimately Rafael keeps dating her and Jane vows to stay out of it (Good decision Jane) but it still seems like there's something sketchy going on with her and I wish the writers would just tell us already.

-So with the narrator's ominous proclamation about Michael not fulfilling his new dream of opening a law firm, the writers are now actively trolling us. The show really wants us to believe that Michael is going to die at some point, but it feels unlikely it would happen so soon after they almost killed him off at the start of the season. Maybe law school doesn't work out or he goes back on the force? Probably the latter because I also don't think he'll be gone from the police force forever.

-If you want to see more of Justina Machado (and you should), definitely check out the Netflix remake of One Day At A Time that came out a couple weeks back. She's terrific in it. Rita Moreno (who plays Rogelio's mom on "Jane") is also on the show as Machado's character's mom, meaning her two children (from two different shows) are now planning to have a baby. Which is kind of weird, but whatevs.

-"I'm with her." "I was too... along with the rest of the popular vote". Best out of nowhere joke of the episode by far, although I also really loved the shout-out to The Americans.

Crazy Ex-Girlfriend: Josh Is The Man Of My Dreams, Right?

-Well that escalated quickly.

-As a non-Californian, I assumed the Santa Ana winds were probably a real thing, but had no idea the "devil winds" stuff is an actual superstition. I liked the use of them in this episode as a storytelling device, personified by Eric Michael Roy serving as a do-wopping Frankie Valli-esque "sort of" narrator/personification of Rebecca's subconscious. One of the major themes on Crazy Ex-Girlfriend is how we try to blame our own behavior on anything that isn't ourselves. Rebecca has been clearly attracted to Nathaniel from the beginning and getting engaged to Josh has not changed the fact that he isn't going to fix her myriad of problems. Maybe Nathaniel wouldn't be keen on wanting to sleep with Rebecca if the winds hadn't blown her blouse open but it still wouldn't change that Josh hasn't been giving her goosebumps lately and yes, the winds caused Rebecca and Nathaniel to get stuck in an elevator together but she's the one who chose to kiss him after they were free. The winds give her something to fixate on and blame, but as he tells her at the end "I just reveal your deepest wishes and fears". People might act "whee-ird" during the winds but it's not the wind's doing, as much as people pretend otherwise. Then after laying out her biggest fear of all: "You ruined everything, you stupid bitch", he disappears and Rebecca is left with no one to blame her problems on but her. So she retreats even further into denial.

-The "stuck in an elevator" trope is pretty tired at this point, but the show's lampshading of how this is a rom-com staple helped make it work here because Rebecca is just the kind of person who would get caught up in the romance of being stuck in an elevator with someone you can't help but be attracted to. It's also why she goes in for that kiss even though they've been freed. It's the kind of grand romantic gesture that would be a beautiful moment in a rom-com and it's played like one, but once the moment is over reality sets in and the whole thing looks like a big mistake.

-Nathaniel gets a lot of development this week that continues to flesh him out as a character while allowing him to remain a brash jerk (Though his hostile relationship with the office this week seemed a lot friendlier, like everyone has accepted that this is their dynamic and they're cool with it). Scott Michael Foster continues to be terrific in the role also. That being said though, I am very weary of the idea of Rebecca and Nathaniel coupling up by the season's end (As I'm sure the writers want everyone to be because they're smart like that. Even with that longing look he gave her at the episode's end, he's been very clear that it's all about the chase with him. He's not going to be happy or satisfied in a relationship with Rebecca and that's only going to compound her misery. Also proposing casual sex to pass the time the moment you get stuck in an elevator is a sleazy move, especially when you know the other person is "en-gaged".

-That being said, "Let's Have Intercourse" was a very fun Ed Sheeran-inspired number that helps demonstrate exactly why Rebecca should not have intercourse with Nathaniel. It's all routine to him, like a transaction and Rebecca isn't built for that kind of attitude towards sex (Unless she really hates herself as demonstrated when she slept with Trent).

-The moment they brought up the idea of Josh and Rebecca putting themselves on a two-year long waiting list for the perfect venue, it became easy to guess that they would suddenly be getting married a lot sooner than that by the episode's end. I didn't expect it to be because a guilty Rebecca paid someone to vacate their spot though. Also I winced at the phrase "an exorbitant amount of money". Rebecca's spiralling back into old habits (In this case, spending wayyy too much money in the name of love) and it's tough to watch.

-The winds sideline Josh for the majority of the episode, which allows Rebecca to be pre-occupied with Nathaniel but hopefully he's more of an active participant in the last two episodes of the season. Proposing to Rebecca was as much a cry for help from him as anything she's done and it'd be good to see more of his headspace as we hurtle towards that inevitable catastrophe of a wedding.

-If you want to give a jerk character easy depth, make them a closet fan of the Harry Potter series. I'm already more endeared to Nathaniel, even if I think he's as bad a romantic match for Rebecca as Josh is. Also, Rebecca may think she's a Gryffindor masquerading as a Ravenclaw but she's totally a legit Ravenclaw (I'm a Gryffindor and I have no problem saying it BTW).

-Daryl's view of Paula as his best friend has been a sweet running joke since the idea was introduced and it gets explored here when a weird dream about Daryl's death and an oil painting of him and Paula leads her to guiltily accept a dinner invitation.  It's a good plot that gives much-needed context to Daryl's view of his friendship with Paula. Daryl knows he isn't Paula's best friend and he's fine with that. It doesn't mean he can't appreciate her honesty or her sarcasm towards him as something he needs and values. She can still be his best friend even if he isn't hers (As the catchy and helpfully titled "You're My Best Friend (And I Know I'm Not Yours) demonstrates. He doesn't need equality in their friendship. What little she can give him is good enough.

-Of course Daryl isn't perfect and I appreciate the way the show doesn't let him off the hook for ambushing Paula with her estranged husband in an effort to reconcile them. Was his heart in the right place? Absolutely. Was it way out of line? Absolutely. Instead of trying to honestly engage Paula about her insecurities about welcoming her husband back into her life, he basically tries to force her into it. It works out in the end but not cool, Daryl.

-Rebecca may be deep in denial at this point but her words to Paula about not caring what people think do prove useful in finally letting Paula forgive Scott and getting to the heart of her dilemma nicely. Paula still loves Scott despite what he's done and she probably knows that he's not likely to do it again, but she also knows what he did is very awful and doesn't want to look foolish for taking him back. It feels like a very honest reaction and it makes the scene where she does take Scott back (while making it clear he'll have to earn back her trust) all the more powerful.

-Whatever happened to Paula in law school/Sunil? I miss both of those things and hope they can be fit in before season's end.

-I was curious about why a clip of George being called by the wrong name had made it into the "Previously On" and the moment he showed up outside that elevator, it became clear where this was going. What a terrific payoff to a great running joke. If this is truly it for George (and I doubt it is.), being more focused on Nathaniel remembering his name than the fact that he's been fired again is a great way to go.

-So it turns out Mrs. Hernandez talking and calling Rebecca out on her nonsense wasn't just a one-time deal. Excellent. The "silence" thing had kind of run it's course and with the increased prominence of people like Karen, Maya, and George (I refuse to believe he's gone for good) this season, Mrs. H needed to change course a bit.

-As far as "manifestations of Rebecca's subconscious" go, I would place Mr. Wind above the Spirit Guides but below the Dream Ghosts. Can't top those ghosts.

-"What's a girl to do when she's stuck between men? Especially when one of those men is a snake?!" Oh, Karen. Funniest tag of the season by far.

-Another solid episode this week. Next week: Rebecca tries to plan an entire wedding in two weeks. That'll go well.

The Good Place Ends It's Season On A Stunning High Note

I don't typically put spoiler warnings in my recap but trust me. If you have yet to see the last episode of The Good Place's first season, do not read this review. You'll thank me later.

-Twists are tricky. A well-deployed one can change or re-contextualize the direction of the narrative in a way that revitalizes the story and captures the hearts and imagination of the audience. A bad or poorly-executed one can sink the story and drive the audience away in droves. It's especially hard if your show is full of big twists because if you're not careful, you could wind up sacrificing meaningful character development in service of the plot. The Good Place had a new twist practically every episode, but it managed to pull it off because the show was always keeping it rooted in the characters and their journeys. The twists and the mystery were fun but also besides the point. And when tonight's finale featured a massive twist of world-shattering proportions, it worked like gangbusters because of how well it clarified it's characters in addition to what was happening around them.

-The best twists are the ones that are hidden in plain sight, unseen because we don't realize what we're looking at or what clues we should be paying attention to. Throughout the first season of The Good Place, something has always felt a little off. It's not just that Eleanor and Jason wound up in the wrong place by some kind of convenient cosmic error, it's also how Michael was always terrible at putting his guests at ease (As well as just being terrible at his job in general) or how for heaven, no one was ever at peace. It's how Tahani managed to get in, despite the fact that the motivation behind her lifetime of good work was always suspect or how a nervous wreck like Chidi who couldn't even write his book qualified. There was something not right, but that feeling of weirdness could easily be chalked up to (depending on the plot point) first-season kinks or the vaguely-defined rules that the show's universe followed. Instead, all the little inconsistencies and weirdness turned out to be very intentional as we learned that our heroes have actually been in the bad place this whole time, part of an experiment designed by Michael (architect for The Bad Place) to subject them to their own personal hell where they torture each other. Everyone else in the neighborhood is a bad place actor (Hence why we never really spent time with anyone outside of our core group) and they've been pushing them to make each other miserable. It's an incredible twist and one that immediately makes me want to re-watch the season to see how it plays now that the whole picture has been revealed.

-The great thing about this twist is it doesn't negate or render any of the character growth we've seen this season irrelevant. The reset sort of does it but I doubt it'll last that long before our characters have their memories back next season (Assuming there is a next season. I'm hopeful though). Sure Eleanor, Chidi, Tahani, Jason, and Janet to an extent were being manipulated all season, but the growth they experienced is real and they're probably on their way to belonging to the good place for real. Well, not Jason. If anything this episode doubled down on his selfishness and awful behavior. The rest of them are getting better though.

-Chidi's flashbacks now take on greater significance in retrospect because they're no longer just about how his need to do the right thing tortured and paralyzed him over the years, they're explaining how a life of alienating and hurting everyone he cared about as a result of that compulsion to do the right thing caused him to fall short of entering the real good place. Without those flashbacks, it would be much more of a stretch that Chidi belonged in the bad place (Tahani makes much more sense as a bad placer).

-That smile though! Ted Danson has been an all-star all season but that moment when Michael gives up the charade and shows his true colours was next-level good. It's a huge shock but there's so much subtlety into how Danson plays the switch. He's like a terrific method actor who suddenly breaks character. It's super jarring in the best possible way and it'll be interesting to see him play both versions of the character if/when the show returns. It's also really impressive how manipulative the majority of Michael's behavior becomes in retrospect now that his true motivations have come to life.

-Though the twist winds up dwarfing everything else that happens in these two episodes (Especially since the whole Shawn thing was just a ruse and the whole "pick any two people to go to the bad place" thing was only there to set up Eleanor figuring out the truth), I do want to talk about the first episode of the night Mindy St. Claire for a minute, particularly the medium place.

-"Mindy St. Claire" was a strong episode for showing how far Eleanor has come since she died, despite her efforts to run away from it and live in eternal mediocrity. The opening flashback to her final moments shows her at the height of her selfishness, the culmination of years of taking care of only herself that began when she emancipated herself from her even more selfish parents. She truly has changed and even if Shawn's threat to "send" Chidi and Tahani to the bad place wasn't there, it's likely she would've eventually gone back on her own. She's not a medium person anymore and even when Jason tries to lull her into staying, she's able to stay strong and convince him of their need to go back.

-As for Mindy St. Claire herself, Maribeth Monroe does a great job, playing someone who has made peace with her life of isolation and imperfect lifestyle, despite having not entirely kicked her cocaine addiction. She also serves as the platonic ideal of a "medium" person: someone who did bad things before having the intention to follow through with a grand idea she got (while on cocaine) for a charity that would genuinely help people, which was enough to save her from torture after she immediately died (The foundation was established posthumously). She's like a heightened version of Eleanor and the perfect final temptation for her to overcome on her quest to be better than medium.

-The big question about the medium place post-twist though is if it was real or part of the post-confession scrambling. I'm leaning towards real because Janet wasn't part of the ruse and Mindy seems like too promising a character to just discard on a one-off appearance that didn't matter. I guess we'll see though (Hopefully).

-Real Eleanor turns out to be Fake Eleanor. Tirya Sircar played genuine goodness so well that it was actually shocking (and hilarious) when she suddenly drops the ruse and reveals herself to be another bad place jerk. Hopefully there's room for more of Vicky in season 2, though they'd have to find something new for her character to do since we all know Fake Eleanor's goodness is a sham.

-Janet falling in love with Jason was real! Aww, that's sweet. I don't have a whole lot of interest in an Eleanor/Chidi/Tahani love triangle (At least not with Chidi as the center) but Janet and Jason forever! Their attempts to figure out how to have sex were terrific.

-I'm not sure which joke I liked more: Jason's failed attempt to destroy the train with a Molotov cocktail or Eleanor realizing that she might legit be into Tahani. Both were great for different reasons. Jason's for how the episode makes you think this will work for a split second before it fizzes out terrifically and Eleanor's for how well it pays off the running joke of Eleanor describing how beautiful and perfect Tahani is.

-Marc Evan Jackson was perfect as "Shawn" (If that is his real name), both before and after the reveal. The joke that his character goes into a literal cocoon when a situation becomes the slightest bit emotional was also great and made perfect use of the dry emotionless monotone that he somehow rings so much nuance from. Who knew there was such a stark contrast between normal indifference, cruel indifference, and annoyed indifference?

-It's telling that when Eleanor has seconds to write a note to herself to help her break the cycle she chose "Find Chidi". She could've said "Don't Trust Michael" or "This is the Bad Place" or any number of things but she prioritized finding the man who helped turn her into a better person because she knows she can't become a better person or break the cycle without him. That's a more convincing sign of the Eleanor/Chidi bond than any silly love triangle.

-Also this exchange: "I feel like I failed you". "No. Don't ever think that. I was dropped into a cave, and you were my flashlight".

-Bambajan bursting in with an obscure precedent that could fix everything and being waved away by Eleanor was terrific. I really hope we get to spend more time with the employees of the bad place next season as they try to maintain this insanely elaborate ruse for 1000 years.

-The idea of starting season 2 with all the characters reset to their season 1 selves but separated from each other with some details changed is certainly promising. Eleanor being given a new shirtless mailman soulmate is funny already. Changing the focus of the show from "selfish person tries to learn to become good" to "flawed people who are better together try to come together and overcome the bad place" is a smart call. Before it was hard to see the premise of The Good Place sustaining itself for that long. Now, it's easy to see how this show could be sustainable.

-So that's it for season 1 of The Good Place. This has been one of the best first seasons of a TV comedy I've seen in a while and I'm very hopeful that we'll get more of this wonderful show in the future.

Fortunately, A Series Of Unfortunate Events Is Anything But Unfortunate

The following contains some spoilers, a word which here means the revealing and discussing of certain plot points that could impact your viewing experience, for the A Series of Unfortunate Events Netflix series. It also contains some general overview spoilers for the book series the show is based on (which will be marked again when we get there).

If, like me, you were a kid who was incredibly sarcastic, an avid reader, and/or in love with the English language, you probably were a fan of A Series of Unfortunate Events, the 13-book series written by Daniel Handler under the pen name of Lemony Snicket. The books were aimed at kids, but the incredibly dry tone, dark and complex subject matter, sly wordplay and obscure references made for a unique literary experience that people of any age could enjoy. The tone and style of the books however makes adapting the series and all of it's nuances into non-literary forms quite the challenge, as the 2004 movie version starring Jim Carrey clearly shows. The movie was fine, but without the involvement of Handler (Who wrote the original script but was let go partway through the production.) it didn't come close to capturing what made the books so wonderful, especially since it was condensing multiple books into a 90-minute film.

Thankfully though, Netflix has turned out to be the perfect venue to bring the plight of the Baudelaire Orphans from page to screen, and Handler was very involved (Writing 5 of the 8 episodes) in helping Mark Hudis and Barry Sonnenfield (The original director of the movie version who was also fired during production) develop the show. The result is a show that feels just as whimsical and inventive as the books it was based on while expertly handling the dark text and heavy themes of the books in a way that feels very timely. It's also an adaption of the books that feels free to add, change, and expand on the source material, not settling for being a good adaption but striving to be a new and enhanced version of the story. It succeeds at that too for the most part. So let's break down the things that were fortunate and unfortunate (but mostly fortunate) about A Series of Unfortunate Events.

Fortunate: The Show Is Expertly Cast: A Series Of Unfortunate Events requires a collection of talented actors to bring justice to the larger-than-life characters and to make the breathtaking prose most of them spout sound believable and the show succeeds on both those counts. As the unlucky orphans at the center of the story, Malina Weissman's Violet and Louis Hyne's Klaus are likeable, sympathetic presences who believably come off as ordinary children with big vocabularies caught up in this sudden madness. They're a bit stilted in the early episodes but they grow more comfortable with the material as the season progresses and are more than capable of holding their own at the end. Presley Smith's Sunny is as good a baby actor as you could want and often steals the show with a well-timed look. K. Todd Freeman takes the ever bumbling, clueless Mr. Poe and makes him into a figure who you just can't hate, even though he's constantly screwing up when it comes to protecting the children in his charge. Joan Cusack, Aasif Mandvi, Alfre Woodard, Rhys Darby and more all shine as the various guardians and adults that the children meet along their journey, each putting their own spin on the material.

The standout performances though belong to Patrick Warburton and Neil Patrick Harris. As Lemony Snicket, Warburton is our reluctant guide through the story of the Baudelaire's, popping in and out throughout the show to explain things, lead us on tangents or just advise us to stop watching. Warburton's perfect for the role, keeping his naturally gruff voice but replacing it's normal joyful boisterousness with a world-weary sorrow. His Snicket is a broken man, burdened by the weight of the story he tells and the loss he's suffered and his presence adds to the atmosphere of the story immensely. Meanwhile Harris shines as Count Olaf in what is probably the most difficult role to play in the show. The tricky thing about Olaf is that he has to be a credible threat and a monster with zero redeeming qualities, but he also has to be vain, oafish and kind of goofy. It's a tricky line to walk (Jim Carrey's version was always a little too wacky for my tastes) and Harris nails it with aplomb. His Olaf is both awful and campy, scoring many of the show's best laughs with his disdainful delivery, even as you never question how frightening it'd be to have this man after you.

Fortunate: The World of the Show Is Realized Beautifully: The world A Series of Unfortunate Events takes place in can best be described as "Vaguely the mid-20th Century as imagined by Wes Anderson channeling his inner Tim Burton". It's a world of typewriters and trolleys, antique cars and landlines, secret codes and widely read newspapers. An occasional contemporary reference will sneak in every so often but there are no cellphones or computers in sight. It's a nostalgic, timeless fairy tale vision of a past long forgotten and the show brings it to life beautifully, making the world come alive even with a fairly gloomy, muted colour palette that follows the Baudelaire's everywhere they go. The locales that populate this world are just as inventive and Sonnenfield's influence is definitely felt. From Count Olaf's horrible abode that oozes filth and disrepair in every nook to Aunt Josephine's home perched halfway over a cliff to Mr. Poe's metallic banker's office to the many libraries the Baudelaire's encounter on their journey to the various secret passageways utilized by Lemony Snicket, everywhere we visit feels lived in and real. I can't remember the last time I kept stopping a show to take in the world around it.

Fortunate: The Show Nails Down The Tone And Feel Of The Books Perfectly: The tone of A Series of Unfortunate Events is incredibly cynical but darkly whimsical. The heavy themes and stories of innocent children in constant danger and peril would be hard to take if they were played totally straight but the books keep it's tongue firmly in cheek with a constant stream of sly dark humor, clever turns of phrase, ridiculous situations, and constant reminders that this is all terrible and we shouldn't be reading to keep things feeling fun, even with all the murder and cruelty. Translating that to screen is tricky because there's an extra layer of remove from the action in a book that you lose once you bring that action to life on screen making terrible things harder to swallow, but somehow the show manages to pull it off. From the always changing opening theme song warning you to look away (Doing the kind of content advisory the back of the books used to do) to the constant presence of Lemony Snicket gravely defining words and changing outfits to blend into his surrounding better to the love of language present in every scene (Something brought over from the books) and all the brilliant turns of phrases (There's just something so joyful about phrases like "official fire department" and "vigorously fixed destination"), the show manages to soften the horrible events with pure whimsy. And on the few times where the show drops the whimsy and dwells on the horribleness of an unexpected act of violence or the loss of another home, those moments hit all the harder.

Fortunate: The Show's Not Afraid To Stray From The Books: As most readers of the books will tell you, the early installments of ASOUE (The ones this season adapt) tend to be simpler and more repetitive than later installments. That's because the series wasn't approved for 13 installments until a few books in so the larger narrative arc of the books doesn't really start until book five (The Austere Academy). Now though, it's been a decade since the series wrapped up and the show is free to adapt the books in a way that better connects them to the overall narrative. This makes a season that could've been a bit of a snooze more purpose and gives both people who read the books and people who didn't a more cohesive viewing experience. It also allows for the show to do things that will delight and surprise book readers. From minor stuff like changing the context of things like the "Zombies in the Snow" film and The Anxious Clown to big stuff like a massive reworking of a lot of The Miserable Mill and an ongoing subplot involving mysterious characters played by Will Arnett and Cobie Smulders that had me scratching my head most of the season (We'll get to that in a couple sections), the show feels like a fresh version of a beloved story. The series also feels free to more often leave the perspective of the Baudelaire Orphans to show you some of the behind the scenes machinations and while this doesn't always work (The second episode devotes 5 minutes to a flashback that adds almost no new information and could've been done in half the time and the fourth has a chase scene that seems only there to give an Easter egg for book readers), when it does, it gives you the sense the Baudelaire's are players in something much bigger than they can imagine, adding a layer of resonance to their plight.

Unfortunate: The Show Can't Avoid The Repetitiveness of The Early Books: As much as the show deviates or plays with the structure of the first four books, for the most part it's hard for the show to break completely free of it's patterns (The exception being The Miserable Mill episodes which add in enough different elements to shake things up a bit). For the most part, even without reading the books you'll be able to guess when Count Olaf will show up, when he'll try to pull off his plan, when Lemony is going to walk in with an interjection of some kind, even when the Arnett/Smulders scenes or spy intrigue will pop up. The predictability isn't a major flaw or anything. It's baked into the structure of the books (even the later ones follow variations on the same basic plot) and into the structure of scripted television in general. It does put a bit of a damper on the plot momentum though.

Fortunate Yet Also Maybe Unfortunate: The Show Foregrounds The Mystery Early On But About That Mystery...: (This section contains vague general spoilers about where the mystery goes in the books, along with show spoilers so read at your own risk) As I mentioned above, the full narrative arc of the books isn't introduced until book five and the mystery doesn't kick into high gear until a couple books after that. Eventually the events of the earlier books are grandfathered in to be connected to the mystery. The show makes the choice to start laying down the groundwork for the mystery almost immediately, through the introduction of the mysterious spyglass (The spyglass motif is the one thing the show borrows from the movie version) and the introduction of Sara Canning's Jacqueline (Who might be a genderswapped version of Jacques, a key character in the books) and Luke Camilleri's Gustav (Who is never seen in the books). The show also works in a subplot about Mother (Cobie Smulders) and Father (Will Arnett), two characters heavily implied by context and editing to be the Baudelaire's parents as a mystery for the viewers (particularly book readers) to try to solve on their own. For the most part, the show utilizes the mystery well, using it to motivate the Baudelaire's throughout the series and give them more agency than they had in the early books where they passively went from one event to the next, but not making the mystery so prominent that it becomes more important than the Baudelaire's journey. It also throws plenty of bones to book readers who know where this is going by including some fun Easter eggs. Count Olaf offhandedly mentioning a missing sugar bowl? Excellent. The scene where Gustav is hit by a poison dart, says "The world is quiet here" and slips away into a reflecting pond? A treasure trove of book references. They're also nice because they don't lock out non-book readers at all, but rather give them something to discover once they have the full picture though.

The issue with putting more emphasis on the mystery though is that a major theme of A Series Of Unfortunate Events is that mysteries are kind of pointless and answers only lead to more questions that might never get solved. You get some answers over the course of the series and the Baudelaire's get more answers that we simply aren't privy to but a lot of things are left blatantly unsolved. That's part of the fun of the books, but it's also a point of contention for many fans who became invested in the mystery (It's like the kid's literature version of Lost). So fleshing out and developing the mystery is potentially going to be frustrating for many people down the road who are waiting for the answers the Baudelaire's are constantly promised. A lot of things are intentionally Red Herrings as well. The story of Mother and Father who turn out to be not the Baudelaire's parents but the parents of the Quagmire children is basically a take on a subplot from the later books involving the Snicket File, a document suggesting there was a survivor of the fire. As a fan of the book and how it subverts expectations, I was thrilled with how this subplot played out and how it sets up the formal introduction of the Quagmires for next season. However I know there are probably plenty of people who were frustrated with that development because of how the show basically goes out of it's way to trick you. So while the mystery can be a lot of fun, the show needs to be careful with how much they emphasize it as the seasons go on or at least how they manage viewer expectations. It's fine for now but it could make or break the show down the road.

Unfortunate Yet Also Fortunate: The Show Feels Suddenly Timely And Just Might Be What We Need Right Now: At it's core, beneath the layers of irony and the wordplay and the many references, A Series Of Unfortunate Events is about how to respond to evil and how to find a way to keep going in the face of unspeakable tragedy and unrelenting horror. It seems every person the Baudelaire's come across have a different way of dealing with the injustices of the world and none of them are perfect. Mr. Poe seems content to ignore or underplay the dangers and horror around him until it reveals itself right in front of him. His wife sensationalizes and monetizes it daily in her newspaper, not really caring about it. Uncle Monty stands on guard but fails to recognize who his enemy actually is until it's too late. Aunt Josephine hides in terror from anything that could hurt her, refusing to truly live. Charles quietly protests but always complies with his partner's tyranny. Phil is the ultimate optimist and refuses to waver from his sunny worldview. Jacquelyn, Gustav and their associates fight the good fight, but their methods are overly complicated, overly secretive and often ineffectual in preventing things from getting worse. Even our narrator struggles with responding to injustice. Lemony Snicket dutifully chronicles the story of the Baudelaire's, consuming the tragedy until it overwhelms him but unable to let go of the past.

This all resonates more strongly in January 2017 than it would have in most other years. 2016 was an unrelenting series of gut punches that are just now sinking in and taking effect. Death felt more rampant, basic social norms and human decency were overturned, fear won out over hope and unity at almost every turn and the institutions and people who were supposed to stop things from getting worse failed on every level. Many people seemed incapable or unwilling of noticing the looming danger around the corner. Plenty of clever and knowledgeable people made plenty of clever and knowledgeable arguments that failed to change minds or stop things from taking hold. Now there's a lot of uncertainty about what's going to happen and every day it feels like there's some new horror to react to or deal with. We like to think that everything will ultimately work out more or less and things will start to get better. A Series of Unfortunate Events argues that "that's not how the story goes". Evil can be thwarted and outran for a time but it'll always find it's way back and there might actually not be a way to stop it.

That doesn't mean you stop trying though. Buried deep within the incredibly bleak and cynical worldview that surrounds the story of Baudelaire orphans is something resembling hope, or at the very least, resilience. The Baudelaire's have lost everything and find themselves in a world that's cruel and dangerous, surrounded by secrets they have no idea how to unravel. Their talents and penchant for problem solving thwart the schemes of Count Olaf but he always gets away to scheme another day. Adults frequently condescend to them because they're children and any adult they try to put their trust in either disappears, gets killed or is ineffectual in helping them. As they move from one unfortunate event to the next trying to figure out what happened to them, they become increasingly disillusioned until they decide they can only count on each other. Despite all the adversity though and Snicket's insistence that this is a story of nothing but misery and woe, they aren't overcome by all that's happened to them. They survive and they go on and they don't stop fighting even when they want to. By relying on each other, they find strength in each other and that's ultimately enough to get them through to the next fight. It's not much but it's better than nothing and watching them face the evil of the world together can get downright inspiring. The sinister forces of the world may amass against them time and time again but through all the horror and the tragedy, they can't stamp out the children's light or their innate goodness and if the Baudelaire's can get through everything that comes their way so can we as long as we keep at it. There's not a perfect way to deal with tragedy and there's not a perfect way to deal with injustice, but there is a way forward and as long as we don't give up even when it seems hopeless and we keep pushing and searching for that way forward, we just might be able to find a brief respite from the storm. Even if it's just for a moment.

A Series Of Unfortunate Events is now streaming on Netflix. Definitely watch it!

Crazy Ex-Girlfriend: Will Scarsdale Like Josh's Shayna Punim?

-Towards the end of "We'll Never Have Problems Again", Rebecca and Josh's disco anthem to the delusional idea of love solving everything, Rebecca mentions that "for once, this situation's a lot less nuanced than that". It's a clear callback to the season 1 theme song and Rebecca's insistence to the animated chorus calling her the "Crazy Ex-Girlfriend" that there was more to moving to West Covina than Josh Chan. The thing is the situation is a lot more nuanced than that but not for the reasons Rebecca believed. She moved to West Covina because she was miserable and figured that if she could get back together with Josh, she'd be happy like she was all those years ago. It was never about Josh, it was about the feelings she associated with him and the hopes she's pinned on him. Now she's gotten Josh but her misery hasn't gone away because surprise: love doesn't solve everything. The problems are still there and they can't be solved by disco-ing the night away. That's not going to stop Rebecca and Josh from trying though.

-There's a running joke this episode about Rebecca and Josh broadcasting their relationship to every single social media platform in existence (Including Waze and Words With Friends) so everyone knows how happy they are together. It's a funny joke but it's also strong insight into the central problem with this relationship. Social Media is an escape from the realities of life. You control what you put on there so you control the narrative. You might be miserable but you can trick the world into thinking otherwise. Rebecca needs this to work because she's pinned her happiness on it and Josh needs this to work because he has nothing else going for him in his life outside of his relationships. They're both in denial and as long as they keep posting cute couple selfies and letting everyone online know how happy they are, they can continue to perpetuate that denial.

-There was a cavalcade of returning guest stars this week as Tovah Feldshuh, Rachel Grate, and Michael Hyatt all returned and enriched the narrative in various ways. Patti LuPone also showed up this week as Rebecca's old rabbi and was as terrific as expected.

-Valencia also got to return this week for the first time since Josh and Rebecca officially got together. I was worried she might regret into her bitchy season 1 self but she seems to be taking it pretty well. She even warns Rebecca to be careful, despite feeling lukewarm about her right now. Aw.

-Naomi Bunch continues to be a fascinating character. She loves her daughter and wants the best for her, but she's also kind of toxic for Rebecca's well-being and the best thing she could do for her would be to leave her alone for a while until Rebecca's in a position to have an honest conversation about their dynamic. Tovah Feldshuh is always a delight to have on a show and she's a lot of fun here. Her hitting it off with Josh was unexpected considering her attitude towards him last season, but it was an interesting dynamic and the last scene between them sets up the ending beautifully.

-Rebecca's trip back east is enlightening for how much it hammers down that Rebecca's problems were always her own. She's been projecting all her misery and pain onto the people she left behind, convincing herself that she was being drawn into it. Josh having a great time and pointing out how great everything seems to be punches a hole from that. She figured having Josh there was going to illuminate how sad the east coast was, but the only sadness that was illuminated was her own. Rachel Bloom is terrific every week, but she really sold Rebecca's subtle misery this week and confusion about why Josh wasn't making her happy.

-Will Scarsdale Like Josh's Shayna Punim? features the most devastating ending of the show to date. Rebecca has finally gotten to what feels like an actual breakthrough. She's realized that her problems are with her and she can't depend on another person to fix them. Dr. Akopian becomes an audience surrogate, looking on in amazement and disbelief before coaxing Rebecca to the next part of the revelation: the part where she takes some time for herself and actually confronts her real problems. It seems too good to be true though and the "Remember That We Suffered" musical refrain keeps popping in like an ominous warning, jauntily signaling that the disguising of misery under a happy exterior is coming and can't be stopped. Sure enough, just as Rebecca is mid-breakthrough, in bursts Josh with the Garfinkel ring he bought back from the pawn shop it was sold to last season so he could propose (Under advice from Naomi). She says yes. Dr. Akopian speaks for all of us as she screams "No!" and all that progress is gone. The misery is pushed away for the cover of false happiness and you know this is going to end horribly. It's incredibly frustrating to watch, but it makes for brilliant television.

-I assumed the 3rd act of this season was going to be about Rebecca realizing Josh wasn't right for her. After this episode though, I'm now thinking it's about Rebecca continuing to ignore her problems and throw herself deeper into denial until it blows up spectacularly (My guess? Someone's getting left at the altar. Probably Josh but Rebecca also seems plausible.).

-Oh, other stuff happened too this week as we explored Daryl's feelings of inadequacy at work now that Nathaniel was there making him feel like an "emasculated sock puppet" and Nathaniel lost his antagonist status along with a tooth and gained a lot more depth along with a friend.

-It was obvious from the get-go that Nathaniel had issues with his father so when Paula mentions he's waiting for his father to give him a major account we know where this story is going. The journey is still a lot of fun though, particularly Daryl's candy rebellion and the way the office rallies around Daryl Spartacus style when Nathaniel confronts him about it. Watching Nathaniel fall hard off the treadmill desk (making it's triumphant return) was pretty cathartic but it also led to a genuinely sweet bonding moment between him and Daryl, as Daryl acted like the father figure he needed.

-Only one scene between Rebecca and Nathaniel this week but the chemistry between Bloom and Scott Michael Foster is obvious. It looks like we'll be exploring that more next week.

-"We'll Never Have Problems Again" is my favourite new CXGF song in a good while. It uses the fun and the gleam of disco music to showcase just how far into their denial Rebecca and Josh have sunk. Heather trying to burst their bubble before soul train-ing out of there was also terrific.

-"Remember That We Suffered" was also a lot of fun. Patti LuPone and Tovah Feldshuh are clearly having a blast cheerfully singing about Barbra Streisand and Hitler and Steven Spielberg and Hitler and Hitler (Hitler comes up a lot during the song). It also does what all the great CXGF songs do by illustrating Rebecca's mental state. Everyone is celebrating and having a good time but she can only focus on the misery and darkness.

-Period Sex 3: Tovah Feldshuh edition! Rachel Bloom has promised we'll see a full version of the song by the end of a season, albeit an online-only version for obvious reasons. I'm excited but apprehensive, if only because the full song is going to have a ridiculously high bar to clear.

-We finally meet Audra Levine's husband who Rebecca once slept with and it turns out he's basically East Coast Jewish Josh. How delightful.

-George was rehired! No one remembers his name still but we'll never forget you George.

-Mia's old college roommate was Zosia Mamet. This better be set-up for a Zosia Mamet guest appearance at some point down the road.

-Crazy Ex-Girlfriend got renewed for a 3rd season this week, guys! Considering how atrocious the ratings were and how quickly the writers were burning through story, I figured it was a goner but I'm very happy to be wrong.

-"We'll Never have Problems Again"  mentions that obsession tends to last for about four years. Rachel Bloom has mentioned the ideal length of the show would be 4 seasons. Hmm.

The Good Place Prepares For Judgement in What's My Motivation?

-Throughout Eleanor's quest to become a better person has been the unspoken fact that her motivation for self-improvement is inherently selfish. She doesn't want to become a better person because it's the right thing to do. She wants to become a better person so she can stay in the good place and not be tortured for eternity. Sure she's doing good things out of this desire for self-preservation but would she be so eager to do good if her soul wasn't on the line? It's easy to say her experiences have changed her and she wouldn't backslide into old habits but it's more plausible that she ultimately wouldn't change that much. Actions are important but motivation is important too and "What's My Motivation?" brings this to the surface.

-If the hyper-serialized approach to The Good Place has a drawback, it's that there hasn't been much time to develop the neighborhood beyond our principle characters. We hear a lot about how all the craziness is affecting the residents but we don't really see how they actually feel about all this. "What's My Motivation?" starts to rectify this by showing that the neighborhood is not at all happy with all the grief and trouble Eleanor has caused them. It even brings back classic residents like "The Girl Whose Dog Was Kicked Into The Sun" and "The Guy Who Fell Into the Sinkhole" (They have actual names, but I have yet to learn them. Maybe I will if there's a season 2). It's a good way of affirming that yes, Eleanor has caused a lot of pain and suffering since she's gotten there and needs to rectify it.

-If you're going to quickly move past a plot point as ripe for stories as "The Neighborhood Hates Eleanor" with a joke, it better be an amazing joke. And the idea that all of the residents of the Neighborhood would find "Bobody's Nerfect" hysterical enough that they'd be willing to forgive Eleanor for all she's done? That's an amazing joke. It's the way Bell delivers it as a last-ditch effort and how slowly but surely a multitude of laughter sweeps in that sells it. It's ridiculous and kind of stupid and just absurd enough to work.

-The "Someone says 'I Love You' and The Other Person Doesn't Know How to Respond" story has been done to death at this point, but The Good Place makes it work by channeling it through what we know about Chidi's character. Because of his tendency to overthink things and his obsession with ethics, of course he's going to agonize over his motivation for saying it back. It also helps that the story is brief, serving more as the key to why Eleanor's point score isn't going up.

-Jason marrying Janet was played mostly for laughs when it happened last week and while it's still mainly a source of comedy this week (Mainly for Jason still being unable to grasp that Janet isn't a girl and Michael isn't her father), it winds up tying back into the story in a big way as Michael finds out the truth about Jason, which ultimately leads to the train stealing ending twist.

-Janet has mostly been deployed for comedy purposes throughout the series and her nature as a cosmic database prevented her from growing and changing like the others did so the revelation that Jason bonding with her while she was rebooting has given her feelings and a bit of agency is a nifty twist I didn't expect. Janet is capable of character growth now, even if she's still fairly aloof and robotic and I'm really excited to see the show possibly explore that.

-The return of the lie detector cube and basic morality test was hilarious and revealing in how Jason's answers differed from Eleanor's when she took the test a few episodes back. It underlines just how out of place Jason truly is in the good place.

-Nice to see Eugene Cordero return as Pillboy in the flashbacks to Jason's untimely death. Suffocating in an airtight safe you've been doing whippets in as part of the world's worst robbery is a ridiculous way to go but for Jason, it's fitting. It's also interesting in how the revelation of how he died actually does cause Jason to do some self-reflection for the first time in his "life". Jason bemoaning what an idiot he is was much more poignant than I would've expected, even with the tragicomic punch of him realizing why wearing a snorkel in the safe didn't work.

-Eleanor realizing the only way she can get her point score up enough to stay in the good place is by deciding to give up and go to the bad place is a strong twist that pays off 11 episodes worth of character development well enough. Even better is the reveal that there IS a "medium place" and Eleanor's decision to join Janet and Jason in stealing a train to go there, undercutting Eleanor's sacrifice in a believable way. Eleanor has grown a lot but her choice to go meet Mindy St. Clair shows the limitations of that growth. She's been saying she belongs in a medium place all along and now that she knows it's possible, she's willing to throw away everything she's been working towards. Why try to be better if there's a place where she doesn't have to be better AND doesn't have to be tortured? It's a great hook to head into the endgame of the season on and I can't wait to see how this plays out.

-Shawn has arrived and brought with him official spelling (courtesy of the credits) on how to spell his name! He's played by Marc Evan Jackson, which is very obvious casting in retrospect (Jackson is brilliant at making self-seriousness hilarious and has been on fellow Mike Schur shows Parks and Rec and Brooklyn Nine-Nine.) and also brilliant. He doesn't get much to do in his debut, but I'm sure he'll be a significant part of next week's finale.

-Tahani has both sacrificed her life for someone AND changed the consciousness of a nation. I wonder if we'll get to see the former, based on this trend of flashbacks showing the character deaths that's been present the last couple episodes.

-Michael trying to give rousing speeches, only for them to be derailed by his own preoccupations and despair has become a great running joke this season.

-Janet can love things now and she can hate things too. "So far it's genocide and leggings as pants".

-"I truly believe [Fake Eleanor} is a good person". "Are you sure? Because I believe she's stealing my train". This line doesn't seem funny on paper but when Marc Evan Jackson says it, it's hysterical.

Superstore Considers It's Options in Rebranding

-One of the things Superstore has to confront the longer it runs is that retail jobs don't tend to last forever. Sure someone like Glenn is content to stay at Cloud Nine for the long haul but what about someone like Jonah who applied on a whim after dropping out of business school or Amy who clearly wants more out of life? Sure they don't have any other options right now but can we really expect them to plausibly be there for the entire series (Assuming Superstore has a long run)? That tension is brought to the forefront tonight in Rebranding, yet another winning episode of Superstore.

-It's been a while since Jonah's time in business school has been meaningfully explored but it comes back tonight with the arrival of Rex, a Corporate VP who just happens to be Jonah's old friend from business school. This makes Rex much more interesting than if he was just some corporate suit with no connection to the characters. It also gives the show an organic way to reveal that Jonah could go back to business school if he chose, which spins the story away from the rebranding of the Cloud Nine in-store brand and towards Jonah and his future.

-Of course there's no tension in the idea of Jonah leaving anytime soon because he's one of the leads of the show and it's far to early for Ben Feldman to decide he wants to walk away. So the show does a couple of clever things. First, it makes it clear that Glenn is the only one outwardly concerned about the idea that Jonah might leave. Then it makes it clear that Jonah has no intention to leave and makes the story about him trying to show Amy that he's not different from her even with his deferral. Then it drops the second reveal that Jonah's deferral lapsed without him realizing it and he actually doesn't have the option to just pick up where he left off. Suddenly the story's about Jonah realizing that he doesn't have an option anymore and he IS in the same boat with Amy and the rest of them. It makes for a much more compelling story than if we just watched Jonah grapple with whether to go back to business school. Jonah knows he was miserable in Business School and what we saw of him there shows he was floundering but he liked having that option there. So even though he didn't want to go back, finding out that the option isn't there anymore is a blow and it feels like one.

-Props to Ben Feldman tonight, who gave maybe his best performance yet as Jonah. From the video of "Business School Jonah" spitting out a bunch of corporate buzzwords and nonsense to the look on his face when he learns his referral has lapsed, he really brought it tonight.

-Ravi Patel doesn't get a whole lot to do tonight as Rex, but he's terrific in his brief screentime, really selling both Rex's corporate fake niceness and the business school bro vibe he gives off around Jonah. Hopefully he'll be back because his dynamic with Jonah is just dying to be explored further.

-Also, if Jonah isn't periodically called Iceman for the rest of the series, I will be furious.

-I kind of wish we could've seen Jonah's Business School rap but cutting away from it was probably the right choice. There's no way it could've lived up to what we could create in our imaginations.

-I'm at the point where I get excited every time Michael Bunin is on as Jeff. Bunin takes a character who could've been a generic authority figure/love interest and makes him a fully realized human being who always manages to steal the show with his subtle oddness. His reaction to Cheyenne's pitch that the Supercloud mascot should've been a superhero with clouds for arms was hysterical. The look on his face when Sandra boops his nose was just as good.

-Last week, I was a little concerned with the casual abuse heaped on Sandra. When Mateo throws her under the bus by telling Dinah she's in a relationship with Jeff to keep her from figuring out that he told Jeff she called him an asshat, I was worried with where this was going. Sandra just going with the idea that she's in a secret relationship with Jeff though and having everyone be impressed and intrigued by the fake details she provides was the best possible route for this story. Kaliko Kauahi is the best utility player Superstore has and she showed why tonight.

-Deliciousness and Mr. Man might be the world's greatest pet names, even if they are fake.

-Also Sandra's lie is never revealed, which gives her a very rare "win" and keeps Mateo's actual secret relationship with Jeff a secret, both of which were unexpected surprises. This also gives the writers the option to revisit Sandra's deception down the road which I hope they take advantage of.

-Cheyenne trying to hide the heavily discounted Halo products she wants until her shift was over and she could purchase them was more of a runner than an actual story but it was a good runner and the pay-off of a defeated Cheyenne discovering a massive stockpile of Halo stuff in storage was funny and more uplifting than Superstore usually allows. Really everyone won today except Jonah (And kind of Mateo.).

-This week in Mark McKinney is a damn treasure: Glenn trying and failing to hide his palpable excitement about Jonah's deferral lapsing. The little jump he does at the end is incredible.

-Best interstitial: Cheyenne tries to move a Halo display out of reach of a determined customer.

-This week in ridiculous customers: Jonah helps a man who is facing an existential crisis brought on by the replacing of the Halo toilet paper with Supercloud. Him putting rolls of toilet paper to different parts of Jonah's body to see if it feels different was a terrific visual.

-Another great Jeff bit Bunin sells the hell out of: Him playing "Get Ready For This" to try and jazz up the employees for Supercloud followed by a cut to him being surprised at how long the song is. "What was that, 11 minutes?"

-Glenn tries to cheer up Jonah. "You will always have a place here until the day you die. You can die here."

Crazy Ex-Girlfriend: Who Is Josh's Soup Fairy/When Do I Get To Spend Time With Josh?

Wow. So a lot happened on Crazy Ex-Girlfriend tonight. I mean a lot. I'm going to break it down by the episode for reasons that'll be clear on the first bullet point of the second episode.

Who Is Josh's Soup Fairy?

-So the most important thing we learned tonight: Mrs. Hernandez can talk! And she's apparently been talking this whole time without Rebecca realizing it! I can't remember the last time I laughed as hard as when she suddenly starting tearing Rebecca a new one for her making Paula being upset all about her. As people like Karen and Maya have grown more prominent in the Whitefeather stuff this season Mrs. H has receded into the background a bit, but she re-emerged just at the right moment for her best moment since the silent "I'm/You're A Good Person" reprise last season.

-The conflict between Scott and Paula last week was pretty even between both sides but Scott officially became the villain this week as he revealed he had impulsively cheated on Paula. It's a shocking move that comes from out of the blue (though probably intentionally) but ultimately makes sense with what we've seen from Scott last episode along with how he almost cheated on Paula previously with the woman he ultimately cheated with.

-Is this the end of Scott? I hope not. Steve Monroe has been great with his increased screentime this season and though Paula immediately throwing him out after he revealed he cheated on her was the right move, that doesn't seem like the end of their story.

-Rebecca takes Mrs. Hernandez's blow-up to heart and decides to help Paula out by watching Tommy, her one remaining son (The other one took off on a greyhound across the country until he runs out of money he stole. Definitely a lost cause) for a weekend so Paula can go on a law school trip. Of course Rebecca is completely out of her depth here. Despite the Uptown Funk-type number that declares her to be "So Maternal", Rebecca has no clue what she's doing when it comes to Tommy. They do wind up striking a weird kind of bond though, probably because Rebecca essentially treats Tommy like an adult when she's not treating him like a preschooler. Or because she gave him 200 dollars for "candy". Either way, Steele Stebbins proves to be a good scene partner for Rebecca and their dynamic is a lot of fun to watch.

-Of course the moment Rebecca says "hi" to Josh in the grocery store, you know there's going to be trouble. So of course the moment she finds out he's sick, she orders him soup and when an incident keeps him from knowing who sent the soup, she gets Tommy a fake I.D. and drags him to a club so she can tell Josh, only to very quickly lose Tommy. It's all typical Rebecca and it's hard to watch her fall back into the same cycle she's fallen into many times before, but it's necessary to Rebecca's journey here. She can't be friends with Josh because she's an addict and when she gets a taste of friendship from him, she goes overboard at the expense of everything else in her life. It's a serious problem but at least Rebecca finally seems to realize that.

-Josh's walk down the runway was the perfect mix of cringe-worthy and hysterical. From the way White Josh and Hector (Who figure out what's about to happen way before Anna does but can't stop her from bearing witness) try to salvage what he's doing to Anna to the way Josh tosses that sleeve on Anna's head. it's a terrific scene that makes you completely understand why Josh and Anna don't work. It's not that she's from the city and pretty condescending about everything in the San Gabriel Valley, it's that she's a functioning adult and Josh isn't. She told him she liked how simple he was but she didn't realize just how simple he really was. Her immediately leaving and breaking up with him following the performance is harsh, but ultimately understandable. I sure will miss Brittany Snow though.

-Josh labeling Anna a "poo person" immediately following their break-up is typical Josh. He doesn't want to do any self-reflection, he just wants to blame Anna's rejection on her being a bad person and move on.

-In case you somehow still thought Rebecca and Josh were a good match or something to root for, Josh's "Duh" number and realization that he "loves" Rebecca drives home the truth that they definitely are not. Josh chooses Rebecca because she's always there for him, always nice to him (Peeing incident excluded) and takes care of him. He doesn't want a girlfriend, he wants a mother. He wants someone who will be supportive of him and enable him to be a manchild without him having to offer much in return. Josh lacks a fundamental maturity and every time he's confronted with that, he runs from it to anything that can offer him validation. It's incredibly unhealthy and destructive. Rebecca deserves better.

-Rebecca turning down Josh's declaration of love and offer to talk so she can come clean to Paula about what really happened with her and Tommy (Who was totally fine and just took an Uber home) is probably the biggest moment of personal growth she's had so far on this show. With the man of her dreams finally in her reach, she pushes him away so she can focus on Paula. which is a gesture much more meaningful than any apology Rebecca could give. Paula has sacrificed so much for Rebecca and Rebecca finally returns the favour. For once Rebecca is no longer thinking about herself and her needs. It's a very earned way for the show to finally close the rift between Paula and Rebecca and restore things to how they were.

-Rebecca tries (and fails) to dissuade Tommy's boob obsession by calling back to last season's Heavy Boobs number and the explanation that they're just sacs of yellow fat.

-Paula once lost Tommy at a mall for the weekend and he wound up living in a Barnes and Nobles. Makes sense.

When Do I Get To Spend Time With Josh?

-So after When Do I Get To Spend Time With Josh? establishes and then challenges another new status quo for Crazy Ex-Girlfriend, it's becoming apparent that this season is going to be divided into 3 acts/mini-seasons. The first act (Roughly the first four episodes of the season) was about Rebecca throwing herself into a relationship with a less-committed Josh and it exploding spectacularly, along with the dissolution of her relationship with Greg. The second act (Episodes 5-8) was about her efforts to replace her romantic relationships with female friendships and how it forced her and Paula to confront the imbalance in their relationship. Now we're in Act 3 and Josh and Rebecca are finally together and in love but Rebecca is slowly starting to realize what Anna realized: Josh is too simple for her.

-To be honest I wish we had a bit of a breather episode between this one and Soup Fairy. They were both strong episodes but the plot has moved so quickly I almost got whiplash watching. That's the reality of a 13-episode season though, especially when you're trying to cram in as much as this show is doing. Still Josh and Rebecca getting together (With Paula's blessing) within the first two minutes of this episode feels rushed.

-Josh and Rebecca's "new beginning" involves a montage underscored to West Covina, the very first musical number the show ever did and a return of many of the things, locations and people from that video from the "accidente" sign guy to the xxx store sign flipper. It's a good way to establish the love bubble between the pair that's about to burst.

-After a season where Rebecca ignoring her job has become a running joke, her job suddenly becomes very urgent with the introduction of Scott Michael Foster's Nathaniel, the new boss after Daryl sells part of the company to Nathaniel's family's law firm (Though Nathaniel is quick to obtain the shares he needs to control the company completely making Daryl a figurehead). Nathaniel makes a strong first impression and makes for an interesting contrast to Rebecca. Where Rebecca is driven by her emotions, Nathaniel is all business and has no time for other peoples feelings if they get in the way of a bottom line. He represents the kind of soulless corporate lawyer Rebecca moved to West Covina to get away from and he's certainly the antagonist in the episode but he's not a monster by any means. He's just a professional and if firing people will save him money, that's what he's going to do. It makes for a compelling character and I'm excited to see where this goes.

-Nathaniel immediately sizes up Josh as a loser, and while he may be overly harsh with that designation, he's not wrong when he says Josh isn't right for Rebecca and Rebecca knows it.

-Rebecca may be with Josh but this time she doesn't lose all of the growth she experienced during the last few episodes. Progress! Sure her actions to save everyone's jobs (Except for poor George) become partly motivated by her anger at how Nathaniel starts making her doubt Josh and even get bored by him for a minute (The most aware of Josh Rebecca has ever been) but she also cares about Whitefeather and Associates and isn't going to just let Nathaniel fire people even if it means doing some of the soul-destroying work she despises and letting gross white men demean her sexually (Provided they hire her of course). It's another big sacrifice from Rebecca for the sake of other people.

-Rebecca may have decided not to quit her job for now but it seems likely she'll quit by the end of the season, even if the sexual tension between her and Nathaniel is palpable. After all, if Whitefeather and Associates becomes just like the firm she left in New York, why stay?

-Apparently the friendship contract Paula and Rebecca signed is gone, or at the very least does not apply to gravedigging situations. That's fine because it leads to the dementedly funny scene of Paula trying to climb out of a grave and Patton Oswalt's cameo at the end as the aquarium-obsessed security guard.

-Josh forgives Rebecca for blowing him off to go do her job and snapping at him in front of his parents but this episode just cements how emotionally immature he is. He's like a puppy dog who just wants attention and validation. He's been inspired to start pushing for a promotion at work, but going for a management position at an electronics store isn't as ambitious as Josh thinks it is. Rebecca is able to blame her dissatisfaction on Nathaniel, but she's not going to be able to do it forever. The love bubble has burst and it's going to be impossible to get it back.

-The show is definitely setting up Nathaniel to be a love interest for Rebecca, but is he right for her? The brief references to his father suggest similar parental issues but he's also a rich jerk and CXGF isn't the kind of show that ignores that kind of thing. Hmm.

-Crazy Ex-Girlfriend has gone meta before but never quite to the degree of the two songs in tonight's episode (references to blowing their production budget on Love Kernels excluded). Who's The New Guy? has Paula, Karen, Mia, poor George, and the Canadian guy whose name I can't remember wondering about the new character (as in "what a character") that's suddenly in their lives, if he'll only be around for a couple episodes (Karen has manic episodes) and how invested they're supposed to be in someone introduced so late in the season (It's almost fall!). It's a funny, clever number that lampshades the show's low ratings with a smile and some stellar choreography.

-George, we hardly knew ye. Danny Jolles gives his all in George's Turn, a song from an extra who's finally ready to stop being ignored and start making an impression. Of course he gets cut off by commercial less than 30 seconds in, but it's an impression all the same. George's Turn might be an even funnier microsong than Period Sex if that's even possible.

-Ultimately these were two very strong episodes of CXGF that have me both excited for the rest of the season and sad that there's only a few episodes left, possibly forever. But whatever the future holds, I can't wait.