Crazy Ex-Girlfriend: I'm So Happy For You

November 9, 2018 9:12 PM - Season 4, Episode 5

Heather and Valencia have changes in their lives that leave Rebecca reeling. Paula has to adjust to some good and bad news from her eldest son.

Allison Shoemaker at the AV Club: In a potent, prickly episode, Crazy Ex-Girlfriend feels like a musical again

posted by JimBennett (14 comments total)

aline brosh mckenna confirmed on twitter that heather and valencia aren't leaving the show.
posted by JimBennett at 9:36 PM on November 9, 2018 [3 favorites]

That felt strangly depressing to watch.
posted by Faintdreams at 3:54 PM on November 10, 2018 [2 favorites]

Those musical numbers were notably low budget. A case could be made that the faux-frontier musical number was set up that way to parody low-rent community theater sets and hokey soundstage-shot musical films. But why was Paula's number so pedestrian in its setup/execution?
posted by DirtyOldTown at 10:47 PM on November 10, 2018

Those musical numbers were notably low budget.
I guess it's because they have the same budget as last season but have to stretch it over more episodes ?

I really loved the Darryl and White Josh storyline.
posted by Pendragon at 4:35 AM on November 11, 2018

It's increasingly difficult for me to believe Rebecca's friends don't cut their losses and tell her to fuck off. The show usually pays it off somehow eventually, but my disbelief is becoming almost impossible to suspend.
posted by under_petticoat_rule at 9:49 AM on November 11, 2018 [3 favorites]

under_petticoat_rule yes! You managed to vocalise what I was feeling. Rebecca was a grade A Narcissistic Trash Person this episode and had zero excuse for it.

Her friends don't deserve her constantly spinning out just because *life continues to happen* despite her bullshit.
posted by Faintdreams at 11:03 AM on November 11, 2018

That Oklahoma-ish number was brilliant in its execution, even if it was low budget. I also didn't mind the low-key approach taken to Paula's song, but boy oh boy was that depressing.

The Darryl and White Josh story was so strong and mature, and sadly it's not one that is very common in the media, even though I suspect it's a really common pattern in real life, so it was nice to see it reflected.

I had to look up at the top of this post to see what episode this was because it really felt like an episode the comes up near the end of a run or a season--like maybe the penultimate episode. I don't know how many the production team is doing this year (although based on the comments above, it sounds like it's going to be a longer than average number of episodes), so now I'm curious as to how the storylines are going to progress with Valencia and Heather off in different cities.
posted by sardonyx at 6:45 PM on November 11, 2018 [4 favorites]

this season will end up being 18 episodes.
posted by JimBennett at 5:38 PM on November 12, 2018

Darryl and White Josh not being together still makes me sad but yeah, this is a realism we don't see much. Unlike say, Brendan's miraculous transformation from drug dealer to international relief worker in a few episodes. Paula takes Brendan's moving a lot better than my mom would, who loses her shit if I consider moving at all whatsoever. Whee.

I dunno what to say on the Oklahoma fangirl number. I think the song is good commentary on shipping, but why Oklahoma? I was enjoying Maya in the number, though, she's always a delight.

I totally relate to Rebecca (wait until you're a lot older and still behind compared to every person you know, sweetie) on the "everyone else makes big life changes except for me and I still suck" train. I just keep it to myself and don't end up speaking to those people again like a regular person though. (Which is to say, if it was real life, you'd never hear from Valencia again after the move and in my experience you get dropped once someone's married and you're not.)
posted by jenfullmoon at 7:32 PM on November 12, 2018 [3 favorites]

I was excited to get more Maya this episode, because she is one of those characters who seems really interesting (maybe just because of how well the actress portrays her - she consistently makes interesting choices for her), but we didn't actually get anything new from her character this time, which was a bummer.

It was also weird to have Josh in the episode for just the song!
posted by lunasol at 1:12 PM on November 13, 2018

I did not care for Paula's song. It made her sound like an unloving mom, and she's not -- sometimes a bad mom or a negligent mom, but a very loving one. Kinda wrecked the episode for me.
posted by Eyebrows McGee at 6:35 PM on November 14, 2018

Despite the fact that the lyrics literally say the point is that she didn't believe in her kid, I still didn't actually believe that was the point of the song. To me, it was about the insecurity and fear of feeling like you've ruined your kid long, long ago and all of your subsequent best efforts are just playing out the string.

But then, my kid is only nine and EM's may be in diapers still, I think. Does a parent of an older teen want to weigh in?
posted by DirtyOldTown at 6:39 AM on November 15, 2018 [1 favorite]

I did find a piece on EW where Aline Brosh McKenna talks a bit about the song:

My son was never a truant or a juvenile delinquent, but really, the song, to me, is about how wonderful and surprising it is to be a parent of any type of kid. You create these beings, at first they can do nothing on their own, and then one day they surpass both you and your expectations for them.

posted by DirtyOldTown at 8:39 AM on November 15, 2018 [1 favorite]

TV Line - Crazy Ex-Girlfriend Bonus Musical Number: Rebecca's Just 'So Happy 4 U' (YouTube link)
posted by oh yeah! at 11:17 AM on August 9, 2019