Crazy Ex-Girlfriend – Josh Is A Liar

Rebecca spends the entire episode trying to discredit Josh but gets made by Trent’s opposition research folder.

This season has been moving much faster than the previous two, probably because Rebecca’s brain is also in overload. There are so many balls in the air that she’s constantly juggling with so it makes sense that every act break includes some fire she’s got to put out by adding another ball to the bunch.

After telling Josh EVERYTHING in the last episode, Rebecca’s anxiety is so high that it manifests itself in the form of YoungBecks. Ava Acres is back to tell Rebecca some hard truths, like how this lawsuit will literally put Josh on the stand and force him to testify and defend himself using the ammunition she just gave him. Deciding that it’s good enough that Josh is at preschool priest school, the Rebecca’s turn to undermining Paula and tearing her down in order to drop the case.

Sometimes Becks is mean without realizing what she’s doing and peripheral people become collateral damage to her obsession, but sometimes, like in this heartbreaking scene with Paula, she knows exactly what she’s doing. To convince her to drop the case, Rebecca starts poking holes in Paula’s legal talents – AKA SHE IS THE WORST! Paula is the only person on this whole show who knows (almost) everything about Rebecca and still helps supports and loves her, and Rebecca treats her like shit and honestly it made me extremely upset. It was difficult to watch her destroy her best friend’s confidence, her ideas, and her self worth. Paula literally calls Rebecca a Madonna-Malala-Moana salad of inspiration and role-modelism and Rebecca continues to be shitty to her.

After Paula is crushed and the case is dropped, Josh goes live on Instagram to announce to everyone that he’s leaving preschool priest school and coming back to West Covina. He adds that he has some huge scoop to share with everyone and that they should meet him at Home Base (RIP Greg) for Happy Hour. Of course, he’s only coming back because he’s forgiven himself for leaving Rebecca like that now that he’s heard everything. Typical Josh, not to blame for anything at all ever – everything is everyone else’s fault.

Now Rebecca has until happy hour to destroy Josh’s credibility. She crawls back to Paula, makes up some lame excuse about being scared, and asks her to reopen the case, and more importantly to un-cancel the interview she had set up with feminist internet blog The Corset. While the blogger & Paula want to talk about the law and how they’re using it to empower women, Rebecca keeps steering the conversation towards Josh being a compulsive liar. In true Alexander Hamilton fashion, she’s even prepared an itemized list of lies he’s told.

The corset runs with this story and literally turns Josh into a pariah. Everyone he knows is reading it and these lies are perfectly constructed by Rebecca to hit home for each and every one of his friends. She says that he doesn’t listen to Hector’s podcast, that he’s a holocaust denier, that he’s a homophobe, and so much more. By the time Josh comes to tell his story, WiJo, Hector, Chris, the Bartender, and literally everyone hate him and will not take him seriously. Rebecca’s plan actually worked and both she and little Becks are shocked and impressed with themselves, with adult Rebecca feeling a little remorse as well.

Being targeted like this forces Josh to open the file that Trent gave him on his wedding day, to see into Rebecca’s past and find himself a golden ticket back to being the golden boy of West Covina. AND BOY DOES HE FIND IT. That folder contains EVERYTHING about Robert, the restraining order, the arson, the rehab facility…ALL OF IT.

Chan takes this file to Father Brah (heyyyy Rebe Gube, long time no see) who reads it and immediately calls Paula who he feels needs to know the truth about Rebecca as her best friend and fiercest defender. Rebecca listens to Paula’s messages (bad friend alert) and hears this message from Father Brah. She & Tiny Rebecca decide to get the hell out of town because everything is about to go to shit, but as she’s being carried out the door by Nathaniel (we’ll get to this in a second), she’s stopped by Heather, Valencia and the whole gang – she’s got some explaining to dooooooooo.

So, Nathaniel. He’s not used to being rejected by anyone, he’s a White 10 and typically gets whatever he wants. Hence Rebecca’s cold and distant behaviour towards him is making him crazy. He takes George’s advice (why?) and asks her out on a proper date so he can regain the power. She only says yes because he has dirt on her (trying to kill Josh’s grandpa and all) but totally forgets about the meal. Plimpton does what he always does when he’s sad, goes to the zoo, wanders around, looks at the monkey, but none of it works to cheer him up. He decides to make the romantic grand gesture and heads to Beck’s place.

He gets there RIGHT as she’s packing and trying to get out of town to avoid the blowback from her Robert fiasco. She’s about to tell him that he doesn’t really love her, that she’s been where he is, but she realizes that he has a private jet, which is perfect for someone whose trying to get away quick. He becomes her knight in shining armour in her moment of need and she lets herself be rescued. He picks her up and they almost make a clean break but then all of West Covina show up at her door.

Okay now I’ve saved the best for last, Heather time! Homegirl has finally graduated! She’s taken literally EVERY course the college offers and it’s time for her to spread her wings and fly. As any student can attest to, that is the most terrifying feeling OF ALL TIME. You have to leave the safety of school and the ease of being able to say “I’m a student” and enter the real world. The whole thing is scary AF and it leads a reluctant Heather into a musical number about the uncertainties of the future. Vella Lovell performs this song perfectly and the song captures the fears of post-grad life perfectly. Honestly it was so relatable to me I couldn’t handle it.

She also becomes collateral damage to Rebecca’s nonsense this episode, as she’s trying to converse with her and have a real heart to heart about her school dilemma, Rebecca doesn’t listen at all and off-handedly suggests Heather kill her pet starfish Estrella. Becks’ logic is if the Marine Biology assignment dies, Heather can fail the course and stay a student forever, but Heather decides to do the responsible thing and not murder her pet.

This was honestly a great episode of television, the musical numbers brought just the right amount of ridiculous and fit right in to the plot, it seems this season is on a very determined track with no room for fillers or errors, just the way we like it. I am dying to see everyone’s reaction to the Robert news and how the dynamics change from here.

Side-note, Darryl thinks posthumously means “after he was a human” which is the cutest thing ever.

Crazy Ex-Girlfriend airs Fridays on The CW