Crazy Ex-Girlfriend S4 - We Want to Be Here [spoilers]

[SpaceChampion]

2 hours ago, HelenaExMachina said:

In the absence of a new episode last night I spoiled myself a bit by watching Paula’s song from the next episode. 

oh, my sides 

I'm glad they gave her a standing ovation for that.  Her bashfulness made it all the more hilarious.

[HexMachina]

Totally did not keep singing under my breath at work today

First penis, very first penis I saw!

The singing into aubergine’s bit was hysterical 

[Eggegg]

Hmm, not sure if Netflix UK is releasing these once a week or not, but I've just finished episode 6 of the 3rd season.

I was a little worried that the show didn't quite know what to do with Bunch this year, the first couple of episodes potentially had an interesting direction with her going over the top crazy, but apart from one good song I was quite disappointed, and suspected that the honeymoon was over on this show.

However the last few episodes have been top drawer with the songs on episode 5 being some of the very best the show has ever done. They also dealt with some really dark subject matter in a sensitive manner whilst staying funny. Quite a trick. 

One thing that does bug me however, the need to implant a side story just so they can put a song in there, it feels quite obvious now, and would be more forgivable if the songs were always excellent. 

 

[HexMachina]

2 minutes ago, Eggegg said:

Hmm, not sure if Netflix UK is releasing these once a week or not, but I've just finished episode 6 of the 3rd season.

I was a little worried that the show didn't quite know what to do with Bunch this year, the first couple of episodes potentially had an interesting direction with her going over the top crazy, but apart from one good song I was quite disappointed, and suspected that the honeymoon was over on this show.

However the last few episodes have been top drawer with the songs on episode 5 being some of the very best the show has ever done. They also dealt with some really dark subject matter in a sensitive manner whilst staying funny. Quite a trick. 

One thing that does bug me however, the need to implant a side story just so they can put a song in there, it feels quite obvious now, and would be more forgivable if the songs were always excellent. 

 

Released once a week, usually some hours after they air in the US in the CW (which works out as around 9a.m. On a Saturday here). However, there was no episode last Friday, or this Friday, and the following Friday (6/12/17) is the mid-season finale. I think the show returns around 5/1/18

[Eggegg]

1 minute ago, HelenaExMachina said:

Released once a week, usually some hours after they air in the US in the CW (which works out as around 9a.m. On a Saturday here). However, there was no episode last Friday, or this Friday, and the following Friday (6/12/17) is the mid-season finale. I think the show returns around 5/1/18

Oh good. I thought that it was a mid season break or something!! That would suck.

[HexMachina]

Just now, Eggegg said:

Oh good. I thought that it was a mid season break or something!! That would suck.

Nope, that’s throughout December. It does indeed suck, but luckily I will just rewatch s1-3  

[Buckwheat]

2 hours ago, Eggegg said:

Hmm, not sure if Netflix UK is releasing these once a week or not, but I've just finished episode 6 of the 3rd season.

I was a little worried that the show didn't quite know what to do with Bunch this year, the first couple of episodes potentially had an interesting direction with her going over the top crazy, but apart from one good song I was quite disappointed, and suspected that the honeymoon was over on this show.

However the last few episodes have been top drawer with the songs on episode 5 being some of the very best the show has ever done. They also dealt with some really dark subject matter in a sensitive manner whilst staying funny. Quite a trick. 

One thing that does bug me however, the need to implant a side story just so they can put a song in there, it feels quite obvious now, and would be more forgivable if the songs were always excellent.

Just a question, which song did you think was the good one from the first couple of episodes? Because I cannot imagine somebody being disappointed by either Let's Generalise About Men, Strip Away My Conscience, or Everything I've Done For You Vol. 2.

Yes, it was obvious that Tim's story was inserted just to include that song and make a point. But I enjoyed that song a lot, so I do not care.

[Eggegg]

17 minutes ago, Buckwheat said:

Just a question, which song did you think was the good one from the first couple of episodes? Because I cannot imagine somebody being disappointed by either Let's Generalise About Men, Strip Away My Conscience, or Everything I've Done For You Vol. 2.

Yes, it was obvious that Tim's story was inserted just to include that song and make a point. But I enjoyed that song a lot, so I do not care.

Ok I think that I quite enjoyed 'Head in the clouds' as well. But the opening song of the season wasn't one of the best, Strip away my conscience didn't do much for me , the electric toothbrush song was overlong and one of those crowbarred in songs. I did forget that Everything I've done for you was in episode 2 as well, and yes that was a good song.

But I think my comment was more about the overall writing quality which I found a bit weak up until the later episodes.

The show also has a bit of a problem at the end of making me believe that anybody likes Rebecca at all. She's such an awful human being that when her friends are deeply concerned about her that it doesn't really seem very real. Paula I can understand as she has some pathological condition that means shes permanently linked to Rebecca forever, but everyone she works with and is friends with have very little actual reason to miss her or to not just permanently eject her from their lives.

[HexMachina]

34 minutes ago, Eggegg said:

Ok I think that I quite enjoyed 'Head in the clouds' as well. But the opening song of the season wasn't one of the best, Strip away my conscience didn't do much for me , the electric toothbrush song was overlong and one of those crowbarred in songs. I did forget that Everything I've done for you was in episode 2 as well, and yes that was a good song.

But I think my comment was more about the overall writing quality which I found a bit weak up until the later episodes.

The show also has a bit of a problem at the end of making me believe that anybody likes Rebecca at all. She's such an awful human being that when her friends are deeply concerned about her that it doesn't really seem very real. Paula I can understand as she has some pathological condition that means shes permanently linked to Rebecca forever, but everyone she works with and is friends with have very little actual reason to miss her or to not just permanently eject her from their lives.

Lots of the people around Rebecca have their own issues too - Valencia has by her own admission always struggled to make sincere friendships because “girls don’t like me” (which is of course code for “I thought I was better than everyone else”). In Season 1 Rebecca made an effort with Valencia several times, albeit there were ulterior motives at times. But she genuinely made the effort when they were both in Josh’s sister’s wedding, and was willing to give up her place in the wedding to cover after Paula fucked Valencia over. Then in season 2 we see Rebecca make the effort to help Valencia process her feelings and lack of direction post-Josh with the time in the desert and so on. And Rebecca quite clearly helps Valencia with some of her more damaging thoughts and behaviours, especially regarding body image and self-esteem (we usually hear the start of these talks and then cut away). Hence Valencia’s breaking down this week and saying she has never had a friend like Rebecca...she hasn’t. 

Heather is a bit more difficult, but at the start it was clearly more of a “well this woman is interesting, I want to hang around with her” type of thing. But over time they seem to have made a bond, and tbh I think a lot of it is heather wanting to help Rebecca because she sees how bad of a situation she is so often in. 

Darryl also has his own issues (i’ll Edit these in later if I remember).

And that is just to give a basis of friendship. I think you are underestimating how much people excuse their friends’ faults or problems when it suits them to. I actually have a friend who suffers from BPD, and before she was diagnosed she was similar to Rebecca in some of her impulsive and destructive and Ocassionally hurtful (to others) behaviours. But because I had a basis of friendship and had come to genuinely care for her I made excuses or ignored these things, even before she was diagnosed with BPD and made everything somewhat clearer

[SpaceChampion]

Anybody watching Lady Dynamite (netflix)?  Maria Bamford is the star, based on her life; it's about her return to normal life as a comedian trying to make it in Hollywood after a period in a mental institution.  I'm not sure it's off-kilter sense of humour really tickles the same funny bone as Crazy Ex-Girlfriend, but I have a feeling people here will like it.  I'm almost done season 1, and season 2 is out.

Here's the opening, which does actually remind me of a CXG type humour:

 

[Buckwheat]

So the trip to the yurt did not help at all.

[HexMachina]

 very sad to see WhiJo and Darryl break up. But even so...I have to applaud the way it was handled because they continue to be a shining example of a healthy relationship on this show of dysfunction. Far rather an amicable breakup when you hit such an insurmountable issue than staying together and  allowing that isssue to fester and cause you to resent one another. The breakup was sad but ‘healthy.’ 

I really loved the whole episode actually, especially giving some screentime to Paula and allowing her to address her own issues (and dysfunctional relationship with Rebecca too). First Penis I Saw was hysterical, especially he eggplant microphone

[Buckwheat]

9 hours ago, HelenaExMachina said:

 very sad to see WhiJo and Darryl break up. But even so...I have to applaud the way it was handled because they continue to be a shining example of a healthy relationship on this show of dysfunction. Far rather an amicable breakup when you hit such an insurmountable issue than staying together and  allowing that isssue to fester and cause you to resent one another. The breakup was sad but ‘healthy.’ 

Madison had to help them. I was surprised by that, I thought she liked them together and would work in the opposite direction, if she got the chance. But it is weird she knew all about their relationship trouble in the first place - who tells their 9-year-old daughter all this?

Quote

I really loved the whole episode actually, especially giving some screentime to Paula and allowing her to address her own issues (and dysfunctional relationship with Rebecca too). First Penis I Saw was hysterical, especially he eggplant microphone

I agree, I especially liked the parallels between the two meeting in the shop.

Nathaniel and Rebecca are still ... hot.

The other song was weirdly creepy, though. And Josh's infected incident was disgusting.

I am very excited about what they are going to do with Heather now. Rebecca literally told her it is time to fill out some job applocllications. She cannot spend the rest of the reason being the smart one against Josh's dumbness, as much as he needs it.

[Eggegg]

On 28/11/2017 at 2:14 PM, HelenaExMachina said:

And that is just to give a basis of friendship. I think you are underestimating how much people excuse their friends’ faults or problems when it suits them to. I actually have a friend who suffers from BPD, and before she was diagnosed she was similar to Rebecca in some of her impulsive and destructive and Ocassionally hurtful (to others) behaviours. But because I had a basis of friendship and had come to genuinely care for her I made excuses or ignored these things, even before she was diagnosed with BPD and made everything somewhat clearer

I guess. My issue is probably that I find Rebecca so utterly unlikable in almost every regard. When she is being nice to people it is usually out of some motivation to get something out of them, rather than genuinely having any real affection for anyone. She does occasionally have some nice things to say about Paula, but also treats hers as the sidekick in the Rebecca bunch show and often has little to no regard for her well being. 

I mean, one of the reasons I believe that Rebecca is so messed up is because she's so internally motivated, she is obsessed by herself and is constantly examining her own emotions and reacting to them. My personal philosophy is that its impossible to be happy if you mostly focus on yourself, and only by caring about other people can you really achieve little bits of happiness. The people I've found to be the most unhappy and have the most issues were those who constantly thought about their own problems over others and obsessed about their own happiness. So in that way I think the show is totally accurate in its portrayal of her character.

Plus I think she's a completely false human being. Even when being nice she's putting on a show, trying to impress or get people to like her. She has moments of being genuine, but usually its as a way of making up for those moments where she has messed up royally. 

I don't think the show expects you to like her, and thats why I enjoy it so much. She's a horrible human being most of the time. The show kind of hinges on your enjoyment of watching her , but you don't have to actually like her at the same time. So when the show pivots and tries to make out that everyone really loves her, in an 'Its a Wonderful Life' sort of way, then it falls down and feels false. I'm totally ok with those characters being concerned for her or wanting to help her out, thats kind of normal, but I felt like they laid it on a bit thick in that episode, and it didn't sit right with me.
 

On 09/12/2017 at 11:37 PM, HelenaExMachina said:

I really loved the whole episode actually, especially giving some screentime to Paula and allowing her to address her own issues (and dysfunctional relationship with Rebecca too). First Penis I Saw was hysterical, especially he eggplant microphone

That was a great song. I quite liked the episode on the whole, despite it basically being about many of the side characters and giving them some screentime. I actually really enjoyed Rebeccas song about Paulas dad, it was creepy, but that was the point, she probably has a number of daddy issues, and I'm sure Paula's dad was wondering why this young girl was hanging out with him!

On 09/12/2017 at 11:37 PM, HelenaExMachina said:

 very sad to see WhiJo and Darryl break up. But even so...I have to applaud the way it was handled because they continue to be a shining example of a healthy relationship on this show of dysfunction. Far rather an amicable breakup when you hit such an insurmountable issue than staying together and  allowing that isssue to fester and cause you to resent one another. The breakup was sad but ‘healthy.’ 

I think this whole storyline was dragging on TBH. The breakup was well handled, but they really needed to move things forward rather than having the whole season about whether they have kids or not. I'm still not entirely convinced that WhiteJosh would ever be going out with Darryl in the first place so hopefully they do something more interesting with it. 

[SpaceChampion]

Darryl's sperm song -- what genre of music is that? Sort of Black Eyed Peas vibe.

Another good episode.  The past few have seemed a bit drained of emotion, both Paula and Rebecca's storylines.  Appropriately so.  They each obviously want to feel big emotions, but don't know how to do so positively, non-obsessively.  So the drained feeling is appropriate to show that dead inside feeling they have that they're fighting against, and gives them all the reason to retreat into past patterns.  I can't wait to see them develop further.

[HexMachina]

6 hours ago, SpaceChampion said:

Darryl's sperm song -- what genre of music is that? Sort of Black Eyed Peas vibe.

Another good episode.  The past few have seemed a bit drained of emotion, both Paula and Rebecca's storylines.  Appropriately so.  They each obviously want to feel big emotions, but don't know how to do so positively, non-obsessively.  So the drained feeling is appropriate to show that dead inside feeling they have that they're fighting against, and gives them all the reason to retreat into past patterns.  I can't wait to see them develop further.

Agreed. I really liked how the Nathaniel/Rebecca thing played out, and it seems likely Rebecca will break up with him, recognising that she needs to focus on herself right now and not lose herself in her relationships as she so often has in the past. 

Also thought it was good to see Josh developing and recognising he can’t carry on being a man child all of his life. Also, Lourdes’ song  

Darryl’s sperm song too  

[RhaenysBee]

I still have a love-hate relationship with this show... I mean it’s good to have something idiotic to watch in bed, but man, just what f was this...? 

Where’s Heather or Valencia or Sam (or whatever is Paula’s husband’s name) or Hector or White Josh or any semi-sane character? 

[Buckwheat]

I missed Heather and Valencia too. Especially Heather. And Maya during the office scenes. It seems like the office was filled with random not-named extras this week instead of Maya, Karen, Jim and Tim. At least Mrs. Hernandez was funny.

[Buckwheat]

Ooooooookay, if that is not Bled on a photo on Josh's karaoke machine, then I don't know what is. In my head, it definitely is. Crazy Ex Girlfriend joins the ranks of TV shows with random appearances of Slovenia in them!

EDIT: Two better pictures for comparison. The shot on Josh's karaoke machine must be exactly from the point where the stairs to the church on the island reach the lake (that grey line beside the lady's elbow).

This show just got about 1000 times more brilliant than it already was.

[HexMachina]

My sperm is healthy is possibly the song which I am struggling to stop humming along to. The lyrics are hilarious and keep popping into my head randomly at inappropriate times. “My semens steamin’ like a demon...”

both songs were really good actually. We need more Amy Hill!