Nathaniel Needs my Help! is the eight episode of Crazy Ex-Girlfriend's third season. It aired on January 5, 2018.
Rebecca wonders if history is repeating itself as Darryl embraces a newfound superpower and Paula schemes again, this time for good.
Songs:
"My Sperm is Healthy" (sung by: Pete Gardner)
- Shout-Out: To multiple Tom Hanks movies.
- Pastiche: Of Meghan Trainor songs, specifically "Me Too" (shown by the body-mounted camera shots, cutting away to the main singer against a blue background and legion of people dancing behind Darryl as he struts around the office).
- This Is Gonna Suck: Mrs. Hernandez's reaction when Darryl starts singing.Mrs. Hernandez: Oh God, this is gonna be gross.
"Get Your Ass Out of my House" (sung by: Amy Hill)
- Basement-Dweller: Lourdes is imploring her son to stop being this and move out.
- Lyrical Dissonance: The song is a gentle karaoke ballad about how Lourdes is booting her only son out of her house.
- Parental Love Song: Subverted. The song starts as this, but it's clear that Lourdes being fed up with Josh still living with her is the main thrust.My son, my beautiful child
You've brought me joy
you've made me smile
But now that you're grown
and you're a man
Why are you still here?
I don't understand - Parental Sexuality Squick: Josh is visibly grossed out when Lourdes complains that she can't have sex with Joseph (or at least, can only do so quietly) while Josh is in the house.
- Take That!: The song takes a brief dip into the weird and cheesy stock footage that karaoke machines often run on."What's with the random rowboats?"
Tropes in this episode:
- Bitch in Sheep's Clothing: The donor Paula and Darryl chose turns about to be a blackmailer who is not nearly as nice as she appeared in the catalog. Also, she smokes.
- History Repeats: Rebecca realizes she's dipping into the same obsessive patterns of her love for Josh with Nathaniel, and seeks to defy this trope by breaking up with him.
- Leaning on the Fourth Wall: George claims that he likes Rebecca's "normal body" and that he thinks "it's brave," much to her annoyance. That sounds less like something you'd say to another person than like a well-meaning-but-not-very-complimentary compliment that Rachel Bloom (who does indeed have a normal body, unlike most women you see on television) probably gets a lot of.
- Mistaken for Cheating: When Rebecca stalks Nathaniel's father, she sees him greeting an older woman and her daughter, who hugs him and calls him 'old man'. She then tries to inform Nathaniel by having the two meet, only to learn that Nathaniel and the girl have known each other for years — the woman is his father's secretary, and Mr. Plimpton pays for her tuition.
- No Good Deed Goes Unpunished: Seems to be the theme of the episode:
- Rebecca tries to get Nathaniel's Jerkass dad to pay more attention to him. She does some poking around and finds out he has another daughter. Rebecca feels that Nathaniel will be excited. Unfortunately, he already knows about her and feels mad that Rebecca violated his boundaries, leading to them breaking up.
- Paula helps Darryl pick out an egg donor from a catalog. Unfortunately, they find out she is unavailable. Paula manages to track said donor down and while she is reluctant at first, she agrees. Unfortunately, Paula later learn the donor is a smoker and is planning on blackmailing Darryl about it. "Luckily", the fertilization doesn't work, but as a result Darryl won't be getting a baby any time soon.
- Pet the Dog: Nathaniel's father putting his secretary's daughter through college is pretty much the first nice thing we've ever seen him do. The fact that he's keeping it secret specifically to make sure no one thinks he's a soft touch also hints that, like Nathaniel, he might consider it necessary to pretend to be more of a jerk than he actually is.
- Stalker with a Test Tube: A (relatively) benevolent variation. Paula stalks Darryl's chosen egg donor and asks her to donate her egg.
