Crazy Ex-Girlfriend should feel suspiciously familiar to any one who's seen Disney's Enchanted. It's a show in which the saccharine joy of fantasy gets t-boned by the cynicism and banality of real life. Specifically, its about Becky, a promising lawyer who tosses away her medication and career to move to a podunk town three thousand miles away, all in an effort to find a childhood sweetheart who never particularly liked her in the first place.
Though that could very easily be the premise to a stalker thriller movie, here it is the vehicle for a breezy comedy series. Becky, now lacking the inhibitions from a steady drug regimen, sees the world as a colourful place where people break into joyful song at the drop of a hat. Though being based in reality, those songs tend to be about urinary tract infections, broken showers and period sex.
The title itself is somewhat provocative, the humour comes from a really dark place, and Crazy Ex-Girlfriend approaches the delicate issue of depicting mental health problems with all the subtlety of a blitzkrieg. The writers seem to know exactly what they are getting into though, and as far as I can tell, the comedy is audacious enough to get away with it.
If there is any criticism to be had with the writing, it is that the quality is very inconsistent between songs. Some are brilliantly clever and funny, whereas some are so lazily put together they don't even rhyme, let alone tell a joke. You get two or three tunes per episode and one is guaranteed to be a dud. It's a real shame, though perhaps its to be expected when someone undertakes the mammoth task of writing dozens of original songs for a tv comedy.
Ultimately, Ex-Girlfriend never gets as dark as its subject first suggests. The show doesn't dwell too much on the sadder aspects of Becky's life, and the destructive consequences of her actions are often laughed off or easily resolved. Becky isn't any more crazy than the standard romantic comedy protagonist (who have a free pass to be as big a stalker/sociopath as they like), so we can not only forgive a lot of her behaviour as a comedy conceit, but relate to her a lot as well. Rachel Bloom plays Becky as this wide-eyed, expressive, charismatic hero and like the rest of the characters, the audience find themselves on her side.
Not Quite Living Up to Its Name
Crazy Ex-Girlfriend should feel suspiciously familiar to any one who's seen Disney's Enchanted. It's a show in which the saccharine joy of fantasy gets t-boned by the cynicism and banality of real life. Specifically, its about Becky, a promising lawyer who tosses away her medication and career to move to a podunk town three thousand miles away, all in an effort to find a childhood sweetheart who never particularly liked her in the first place.
Though that could very easily be the premise to a stalker thriller movie, here it is the vehicle for a breezy comedy series. Becky, now lacking the inhibitions from a steady drug regimen, sees the world as a colourful place where people break into joyful song at the drop of a hat. Though being based in reality, those songs tend to be about urinary tract infections, broken showers and period sex.
The title itself is somewhat provocative, the humour comes from a really dark place, and Crazy Ex-Girlfriend approaches the delicate issue of depicting mental health problems with all the subtlety of a blitzkrieg. The writers seem to know exactly what they are getting into though, and as far as I can tell, the comedy is audacious enough to get away with it.
If there is any criticism to be had with the writing, it is that the quality is very inconsistent between songs. Some are brilliantly clever and funny, whereas some are so lazily put together they don't even rhyme, let alone tell a joke. You get two or three tunes per episode and one is guaranteed to be a dud. It's a real shame, though perhaps its to be expected when someone undertakes the mammoth task of writing dozens of original songs for a tv comedy.
Ultimately, Ex-Girlfriend never gets as dark as its subject first suggests. The show doesn't dwell too much on the sadder aspects of Becky's life, and the destructive consequences of her actions are often laughed off or easily resolved. Becky isn't any more crazy than the standard romantic comedy protagonist (who have a free pass to be as big a stalker/sociopath as they like), so we can not only forgive a lot of her behaviour as a comedy conceit, but relate to her a lot as well. Rachel Bloom plays Becky as this wide-eyed, expressive, charismatic hero and like the rest of the characters, the audience find themselves on her side.