Recap / Crazy Ex Girlfriend S3E4 "Josh's Ex Girlfriend is Crazy"

3x04 "Josh's Ex-Girlfriend is Crazy"

Written by Rachel Bloom & Aline Brosh McKenna, directed by Joseph Kahn. Original airdate November 3 2017.

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Songs

"Scary Scary Sexy Lady" (sung by Rachel Bloom)

• Call-Back: The credits show that the stand-in was "Broom Darryl" a joke from the song "Love Kernels" in "Where Is Josh's Friend?"
• Foreshadowing: The video shows things that will be important in the episode, like Greg's dad's oxygen tank, or the carnival.
• Groin Attack: "She’s here to chop your penis off"
• Shaped Like Itself: One of the lyrics is Rebecca describing herself as "Sexy like a sexy witch"
• Special Edition Title: The show turns into a horror/thriller homage for the whole episode after these special titles are shown.

The End of the Movie (sung by Josh Groban)

• Adam Westing: The song is a parody of the kind of sweeping, sad ballad Groban is known for singing.
  "But the truth is, sometimes you're the lead
  And sometimes you're an extra
  Just walking by in the background
  Like me, Josh Groban!"
• This Is Reality: The point of the song is that life isn't like the end of a movie — not everything happens for a reason, things aren't always tied together for some clever narrative purpose, sometimes people make dumb choices for no apparent reason, and things don't always wrap up in a neat little bow. In fact, more often than not, they don't.
• What the Hell, Hero?: Josh Groban points out to Rebecca that it's super weird that she slept with her ex's dad, and that she probably shouldn't have done that.

Tropes in the episode:

• Affectionate Parody: Of Swimfan.
• And Then What?: Jarl asks Rebecca what she thinks will happen after she's reduced Josh to a wreck. Rebecca just vaguely answers that she'll feel better, and it's clear that she hasn't actually thought about it.
• Arson, Murder, and Jaywalking: A probably unintentional example: The show (including the musical number) treats Rebecca sleeping with Greg's dad as the worst thing she did. While it certainly was off putting and gross, it's really nothing compared to her deliberately terrorizing Josh and his family.
• Brutal Honesty: Rebecca spurts out the most painful things to everyone of her friends, while these were meant to hurt them, they end up actually make them all realize that what she said is true:
  • Darryl is denying the fact White Josh doesn't want children, despite his obvious hints at that.
  • Paula is spending too much time with her friends at the cost of ignoring her own children, who are becoming messes, including her older son being a drug dealer.
  • Heather is a cynic with no purpose in life. Latching on to college was her way to never have to deal with adult life.
• Call-Back: A organ version of "I Give Good Parent" from "My First Thanksgiving With Josh!" is heard at the carnival.
  • "Oh My God, I Think I Like You" is briefly heard when Rebecca receives a butt-dialed call from Greg.
  • A butter ad, much like the one from the pilot, re-appears at the carnival, only now reading, "Butter can't save you now!"
• Comically Missing the Point: When Valencia reveals that Paula's son is her weed dealer, Paula beams with pride, because that means he's running his own business.
• Credits Gag: All written from Rebecca's point of view (i.e. "Special Effects: My Imagination; Verbal Fight Choreography: Years of Mistreatment").
• Funny Foreigner: Jarl is from Denmark, has a funny accent and seems a bit dim - for one thing, he is apparently confused as to just where in California movie stars can typically be found, e.g., not in a youth hostel in West Covina.
• Genre Shift: After Rebecca sings “Scary Sexy Lady” the episode is shot and edited like a teen thriller, a la Swimfan.
• Internal Reveal: Valencia discovers how Paula has basically been stalking her to help Rebecca for the last two years.
• Hope Spot: Greg calling Rebecca, complete with "Oh my God, I think I like you" playing in the background – only to reveal that he butt-dialed her.
• Jumping Off the Slippery Slope: Rebecca starts acting like a straight up horror movie villain in this episode, including taking Josh's mom to the carnival and implying to Josh she is going to hurt her. (we do eventually learn she never intended to harm Josh or his family and was just trying to scare him, though Josh had no way of knowing that, and even that is pretty reprehensible). Fortunately, she does start to realize whats happening and shows remorse for her actions at the end of the episode.
• Kick the Dog: Her comments to her friends, as mentioned under Brutal Honesty. Yes, they make be true, but that doesn't make them any less cruel. Particularly in the cases of Paula (who is clearly about to burst into tears) and Valencia (who just utters a stunned "wow, that's really mean").
• Love Father, Love Son: Downplayed. Rebecca has a one night stand with her ex-boyfriend's father but she feels disgusted with herself afterwards.
• Not Herself: Likely the reason Rebecca's friends are so forgiving: they realize she' acting this way due to being so hurt and humiliated (Heather even suggests this to her at one point, though of course she doesn't listen)
• "The Reason You Suck" Speech: Rebecca takes this tone when she rants at everyone on their own crap from Paula being "broken and boring" to Heather having to get kicked out of college. Of course, what she sees as triumph just comes off as a raging rampage of pure Jerkass.
• Revenge by Proxy: Subverted. Josh justifiably thinks Rebecca's going after his mother to get back at him, but she reveals that she would never harm Lourdes and was just using her as a plea for attention.
• Rooting for the Empire: Rebecca reveals she loves the movie Swimfan...and thinks Erika Christensen's psychopath character who turns to stalking and murder is the heroine.
• Scare Chord: Mostly heard when Rebecca is trying to freak Josh out. A subversion happens when Jarl gives Rebecca some psychological insight about her.
• Ungrateful Bitch: Rebecca. Paula and the others know the truth and yet are ready to help her and forgive her and be there for her despite knowing what a mess she is...and Rebecca tears them down completely and acts like they're the ones who are out of control and blames Josh for telling them the truth. Justified, as her mental health issues are hampering her judgement.
• What the Hell, Hero?: Valencia is rocked to realize how much Paula has been stalking her over the show and Paula admits it was bad and should have said so before.