I Got Thoughts On Crazy Ex-Girlfriend: All Signs Point To Josh... Or Is It Josh's Friend?

I Got Thoughts is a point-form collection of my thoughts on episodes of television. When a normal recap just won't properly allow me to express what I want to say or when I just don't want to organize my thoughts in a cohesive format, that's when I Got Thoughts comes in.

-Wow, it did not take long into the season for everything to blow up now, did it?

-Towards the end of All Signs Point To Josh... Or Is It Josh's Friend?, Rebecca lays down a summary of what the romantic comedy version of her and Greg's story would be to Dr. Akopian (A wonderful Michael Hyatt). "So I move to West Covina in love with someone else, and he's the sarcastic messed-up bartender who calls me out on my stuff, and I ignore him but we have undeniable chemistry, and now Josh and I break up, and it's about me and Greg". In the lesser romantic comedy version of this show, this would be more or less accurate. In fact, it's what it seemed like the show was going to inevitably set up in the early going, but Crazy Ex-Girlfriend has turned out to be more ambitious with more to say than that version of the show.

-The ideal end point for Rebecca's journey isn't that she winds up with Josh or Greg, it's that she winds up alone and OK with herself. The right guy can come after that. The problem with Rebecca is she refuses to accepts this and would rather interpret coincidence as signs from the universe. She keeps trying to work events that happen in her life as part of some grand narrative, but narrative isn't real and trying to turn life and random events into narrative the way Rebecca does is only going to lead to havoc for her and for the people in her life.

-"All Signs" not only deconstructs the idea of love triangles and looking for signs from the universe, it completely blows up the triangle Rebecca believes herself to be in because she was looking for signs. She may have been able to explain away her "I moved her for you" confession to Josh, but telling him she's pregnant, immediately getting her period right after, and then trying to sweep it all under the rug with a rousing song about period sex? It's going to be hard to come back from that one. And Greg sees the only sign that matters, the danger sign next to the incredibly romantic bridge Rebecca is waiting for him on and decides to do the healthy thing and get out of West Covina.

-Is Greg actually moving to Atlanta? Don't get me wrong. He really should get the hell out of West Covina, but as much as it loves to deconstructs tropes and challenge narrative conventions, Crazy Ex-Girlfriend is still a TV show and Santino Fontana is a regular. He could still leave but it seems early in the season for the show to be done with Greg as a character. Still though, I doubt whatever Rebecca is going to tell him at the airport is going to change his mind. Hmm.

-Also the "run to the airport" is another classic romcom convention that the show plays with tonight. It's a beautiful gesture in the movies (and in the last episode of Friends). In real life? Very over dramatic and creepy. We'll see how this plays out next week.

-We only got 20 seconds of "Period Sex", but that's about all we'll ever need. The brevity is what keeps it funny. Josh suddenly stopping her also sets up that the people in her life aren't going to just go with the narrative she's trying to create anymore.

-The Math of Love Triangles was the only real song in the episode tonight, but it was a great one. A pitch-perfect parody of Diamonds Are A Girl's Best Friend that shows Rebecca getting carried away with the idea that she's at the centre of some great love triangle (The song also reminds us that a proper triangle has multiple centres). The chorus of men actually being there to teach Rebecca's baby-voiced Marilyn Monroe impression about literal triangles was terrific. As was this exchange: "Is this a triangle?" "No, that's a shoe". "Is this a triangle?" "No, that's you." "So I'm a triangle?" "What?! No." "One two three six eight three, go!"

-There are a lot of scenes in Crazy Ex-Girlfriend that are hard to watch but Rebecca convincing herself that she's pregnant and then telling Josh she's pregnant was the hardest one yet. I couldn't stop wincing. Vincent Rodriguez III was great in that scene though, playing Josh's fugue state, followed by him breaking up with Rebecca perfectly.

-Also great was the farewell between Josh and Greg at the airport when Josh admitted that he hasn't been a great friend to Greg the last few months. It'll be interesting to see if this marks the start of a more self-aware Josh Chan.

-Chris' goodbye scene to Greg was sweet and set up the joke of Hector also having his mom waiting for him in the red zone well.

-While looking for signs on who she should be with, Rebecca stumbles upon an ad for Signs 4 and wonders how she missed the last two Signs. It's a dumb, silly joke and I loved it so much.

-Rebecca and Greg totally ship White Josh and Daryl. As we all should.

-More Guardrail tonight. Yay! If Greg actually goes to Atlanta and we follow him there, I hope we get to meet Barry (Who is an actuary, not a biker. Way to stereotype, Greg).

-A lot of the score in the show is instrumental reworkings of the various songs that have been in the show. It's a neat trick for underlining or establishing the inner thoughts of the characters during scenes  and it was especially effective at a couple key moments tonight. First was when "You Stupid Bitch" started playing after Josh breaks up with Rebecca, underscoring how much she hates herself in this moment. Second was when "Settle For Me" started playing as Greg considers meeting Rebecca at the bridge, underscoring the mistake he'd be making by settling now instead of going to Atlanta.

-The show acknowledging the fact that Rebecca and Paula will often leave work for no reason and Rebecca should probably be fired at this point was appreciated.

-Oh Daryl. One day Paula will realize that you're the best friend she deserves, even if your grand gesture this episode only exacerbated her crisis this episode.

-Rebecca's fake pregnancy scare leading to Paula actually being pregnant was very well done and devastating. The scene where Daryl surprises her with the early admission to law school he's arranged for her is bittersweet and devastating, and Donna Lynne Champlin does some of her finest work on the show yet as Paula realizes the impossible position she may be in and that she can't put off not knowing any longer.

-Now I realize that those previous scenes of how well Paula's marriage is doing was quietly setting up what could be an incredibly rocky period if not it's ultimate destruction if this leads to Paula choosing to get an abortion.

-If Paula gets an abortion, she'll be the 3rd character on a show I watch to get one in a month. Abortion's a real hot topic right now apparently. That's good though. It's a part of life and it deserves to be explored honestly.

-It's telling that the show chose to end on the Paula pregnancy cliffhanger and the serious drama in her life instead of the false drama of Rebecca confronting Greg at the airport.

-Frick, this was a good episode of television. Next week is going to apparently take on the classic romcom trope of "the makeover" so that should be fun.

-Rachel Bloom also did this today. You should watch it. It's funny AND important.