After last week’s nuptial bombshell, there are wedding bells ringing inside Rebecca’s head on Crazy Ex-Girlfriend. It’s all she can talk about at work, throwing that Garfinkel Ring in the face of anybody who will look. It seems as though she’s finally gotten her happy ending, but surprise surprise, it doesn’t feel right. Rebecca is already starting to grow bored with her and Josh’s sex life, saying that she’s not getting goosebumps from it anymore. To make matters worse, she’s starting to become attracted to a now slightly reformed Nathaniel, waking up to a sex dream about him in the middle of the night. With all of this mounting up, those god-forsaken Santa Ana “devil” Winds have decided to come in and shake everybody’s lives up.
The episode began with the winds getting their own Frankie-Valli-esque song sung by Jersey Boys’ Eric Michael Roy. He served as a narrator for the episode, with his magical wind powers causing all of the mayhem. I love that we’re getting back to more plot-driven songs. While this certainly isn’t the most re-listenable song, it served as a unique framing device for the episode. There hasn’t been any magical realism quite as loopy as this on the show. Eric Michael Roy really threw himself into this too, and while this is probably just a one-off role for him, he did the most he could with it.
Those mischievous winds decide to trap Rebecca and Nathaniel in an elevator together with all of their sexual tension at its peak. If only they could remember George’s name, who would’ve gotten them out if they had. George is getting a lot of big moments this season, and like the constant reprises of Period Sex, I feel like that’s building to something in the finale. Anyway, Rebecca and Nathaniel get to talking, and right off the bat, he has an idea for how to pass the time.
I really hoped that Nathaniel would get a musical number before his edges were softened. We all knew that he would lighten up eventually, but his direct opposition to everything Rebecca stood for was thrown out really quickly. He’s really just a regular boss when it comes down to it, but to the cartoons who work at this law firm, he’s a villain for forcing them to be productive. Alas, that bad guy song never happened, and Nathaniel’s first song is “Let’s Have Intercourse.” This was a cute little “Thinking Out Loud” parody with him and Rebecca doing a suggestive ballet as he croons about getting this over with so that she can go back to “seeming weird to him.” Scott Michael Foster has a pretty nice voice, but the choreography is really what sold this. Bloom did all of the dancing here, impressive considering the amount of kama sutra gymnastics involved. It worked, but this is yet another “cut to another set” song parody that I’m growing a little tired of, and a character as off course as Nathaniel deserved something more unique. Hopefully, he gets a better song before the finale.
Despite being “disgusted” by his offer, Rebecca does start to bond with her smooth-talking boss. As it turns out, he’s a big Harry Potter fan, which is a bigger conversation starter than you’d think. I didn’t quite buy this. I get that this whole fandom thing was supposed to humanize him to her, but it just didn’t seem like enough considering all of their tension from before. It made their big smooch at the end feel a little un-earned. That said, I did dig the wind reprising “You Stupid Bitch” afterward.
Meanwhile, we got a Paula and Darryl (ugh) side story. As Paula’s self-proclaimed best friend, Darryl has decided that it’s on him to get her and Scott back together. So he takes Paula out to dinner and swaps Scott in to smooth things over. Darryl without White Josh to balance him out is just a painful excuse for a character. He basically has the mind of a child and watching them play out the weird friendship arc they’ve been building to all season was no fun for me. Plus, the whole “You’re My Best Friend and I Know I’m Not Yours” song at the end was not very strong at all. It wasn’t a cutaway song, so points for that, but I was too annoyed with Darryl to notice. I’m not thrilled about Paula being back with Scott so we can reset the status quo either. I thought her being on her own would make for some cool stories, but I guess we’re just dropping it.
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While not bad on its own, “Josh is the Man of My Dreams, Right?” was a major step down from last week’s incredible episode. I can’t help but feel like they’re forcing in this Nathaniel love triangle to provide extra conflict where it’s not needed. I get that they’re trying to re-enforce Rebecca’s insecurity about marrying Josh, but with the wedding being in two weeks, they already have plenty of material for that. I care much more about seeing that play out than a last minute side fling thrown in to replace Greg. Hopefully, these next two episodes zero in on what seems to be another wedding-set finale, and we can send season two out on a strong note.
Rating: 6/10
Note: I’ll be at Sundance next week, so I won’t be able to review next week’s episode, but I will be back for the finale.
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