S3E9 "Nathaniel Gets the Message!"
The episode begins right where the last one left off, with Rebecca showing up at Nathaniel's. The breakup scene that was obviously coming is really well-done, as Rachel Bloom does an excellent job of communicating Rebecca's internal conflict. She doesn't want to break up with Nathaniel, but she knows it's what she has to do, as hard as it is for the both of them. While Bloom is excellent, I don't want to neglect to mention Scott Michael Foster, who also gives a stand-out performance in this scene. He really wants Rebecca, but he doesn't see the entirety of the situation. The opening scene of the episode is an excellent one in many ways.
With the break-up completed, it's now time for Rebecca to figure out what she does with her time, and she decides to volunteer. She struggles to decide how to volunteer, and ends up helping Valencia with her business. (When looking at how much money she and Valencia have, Rebecca realizes that she spent tens of thousands of dollars on Josh. That sounds about right.) Valencia is planning a party for an engaged couple, who turn out to be Marty and Ally, two people we have met before.
When it becomes obvious that Marty is much more committed to this relationship than Ally, Rebecca wants to intervene. Valencia is opposed to this because of her business, and that sticks Rebecca in a difficult situation. Who does she help, Marty or Valencia? I get that Valencia doesn't want to harm her potential business, but I would think that she would be a little more sympathetic to the two considering what happened with Josh. Rebecca of course can't stay quiet, and she ends up discovering that Marty knows what's going on, but in the process she reveals to all of their friends and family that Ally is cheating on him. Rebecca tried to help, but ultimately didn't.
At the end of the episode, Rebecca is once again at a low. She reaches this often due to her depression, and usually it has to do with how she has screwed up her life in some way, but this time feels even more depressing, because she has screwed up someone else's. She reflects on how Valencia has had to forgive her so many times at this point, and feels like she is really a problem. Rachel Bloom, as excellent as she is in the comedic scenes, is even better when she is portraying Rebecca's depression, as it feels very complex and real.
While Rebecca has been avoiding obsessive love this week, she still gets the opportunity to make a big, impulsive decision. She decides to donate an egg for Darryl. In some ways her logic is sound, she has eggs and Darryl needs one. Darryl doesn't have money and Rebecca wants to help someone. However, she admits at the end of the episode that she hasn't thought it through. There are potential issues here, there is a certain hereditary aspect to mental illness, so is Rebecca the ideal person to donate an egg? However, a lot of people have potential bad things to pass down genetically. Rebecca also hasn't considered how this choice may affect her recovery. I'm really interested to see where this decision takes Rebecca.
The main subplot of the episode unties two unlikely characters, Nathaniel and White Josh, with their common situation, they've both been dumped. They try to convince each other that it was truly mutual, Nathaniel commenting on how much better looking White Josh is than Darryl being the highlight of this, and then they decide to get fit to take their minds off of this. After doing so, they decide to show off their bodies. I had a good laugh at White Josh's line "Let's go to a bar, you sexy dumb-dumb."
White Josh takes them to a gay bar, and there are some great comments here about how straight women have taken over gay bars. It does end up working well for their situation though. Nathaniel and White Josh keep denying their feelings and the fact that they got dumped, but they can't do it forever. They end up feeling sad even when they think they should feel happy, and there is a hilarious interaction with a bachelorette party about this. Eventually, Nathaniel and White Josh go their separate ways story-wise. Nathaniel takes a girl home, but White Josh isn't ready to take a guy home, which I think indicates that Darryl and White Josh's story is not over.
Darryl and Josh each had their own, smaller parts of the story that ended up tying in to the other stories at the end. Darryl's story had some great Darryl jokes, but not much happened there. Josh ends up with Nathaniel and White Josh when his new job is revealed. I had a great laugh when Josh told White Josh that he thinks his friends put him on a pedestal, and when he told White Josh that the gay bar had a ton of gay guys like it was a surprising fact. Josh can be really aggravating, but at least the traits about him that make him that way were used, and used well, for comedy here.
While some of the moments in the episode, particularly at the start and the end, were more serious and sad, this episode was also really funny. The running joke of Mrs. Hernandez listening in to all of the conversations and telling everyone about them was really funny. I loved that even White Josh and Marty knew about this. I also loved the callbacks to things like the grocery clerk with half an eyelid. This show does a great job with callbacks and not forgetting stories. I wonder if we will see Trent again.
And now for my thoughts on the songs of the episode...
"Without Love You Can Save the World": The irony of the song, saying that love keeps you from doing great things, was really enjoyable. It had a variety of great lines, including "It's an asexual utopia." I also really liked the fact that this song brought all of the cast in, and we got to see some people dance together whose paths don't really intersect anymore, at least in the ways that they used to. I am, however, a little disappointed that we didn't get a Santino Fontana cameo, as this would be a perfect moment for him to appear.
"Fit Hot Guys Have Problems Too": I really liked the idea of the song, though there wasn't much that was added as it went along, it was just the same point over and over again. Still, I really enjoyed it for obvious reasons, and the obvious discovery that Josh dances at this club was fun. I really liked when Nathaniel asked him "You wanna join our imaginary song and dance?"
This episode wasn't perfect, but it was pretty close. It delivered on all fronts really. Excellent performances were given dramatically by Rachel Bloom and Scott Michael Foster, while Vincent Rodriguez III and David Hull were very funny this week. It also has a clear set-up for where the show is headed, with Rebecca offering to help Darryl make a baby.
Score: 9.5/10
What did you think of "Nathaniel Gets the Message!"? Leave your thoughts in the comments!