Crazy Ex-Girlfriend Final Season Premiere Review

She moved across the country for a guy, she told the guy she moved there for him, she got engaged to him and then was jilted, and now, Rebecca Bunch is...going to jail? With the second half of season three had Rebecca focusing on her mental health, in the finale she decides to needs to be responsible for her actions, and she decides to do that by pleading guilty for the attempted second-degree murder of her stalker Trent. Now the fourth and final season sets out to have Rebecca become a more responsible person.


S4E1 "I Want to Be Here"

The episode begins with everyone but Rebecca realizing that her desire to go to jail is ridiculous. Co-creator and showrunner Aline Brosh McKenna guest stars in this scene as a prosecutor, who gets a funny moment. The judge sentences Rebecca to six weeks in county jail, thinking that will convince her that she doesn't want to go to jail, and that she then won't plead guilty. This not only makes sense, but sets up the jail plot to be short-term, which it really does need to be.

The episode's first song ("What's Your Story?") is a parody of "Cell Block Tango" from Chicago. Rebecca's enthusiasm to have the other women's stories be like the stories from "Cell Block Tango" is hilarious, in how it points out why most crimes actually are committed. The song also has a great moment where it points out racial bias in the judicial system. It was very fitting to have the first song of the season really demonstrate the style of Crazy Ex-Girlfriend.

Despite not being liked by the other people she is in jail with, especially when they discover she chose to be there, Rebecca still believes that she needs to be there. When Paula tells her that the charges are getting dropped because Trent woke up from his coma and confessed to everything he did, Rebecca is disappointed, much to the frustration of Paula, Heather, and Valencia. She finally, at the end of the episode's fifth act, gets the message that if she wants to pay some sort of penance, she should do something that actually benefits people.

Josh once again makes things in Rebecca's life about him, as he concludes that he must, like her, have a disorder. Hector pointing out how wrong he is was great. Josh, as a result, takes a very Josh route, deciding to take online quizzes to figure out what disorder he has. Heather is very entertaining in how she tears apart his delusion. She is always an entertaining voice of reason. She convinces him to go to a therapist (which ends up being the male Dr. Akopian), who tells Josh he doesn't have a disorder. There is also a great running joke about Sex and the City character quizzes.

Nathaniel feels betrayed by Rebecca, and like Rebecca and Josh, his solution is obviously a poor decision to everyone around him. The unexpectedly delightful dynamic that the show found between Nathaniel and George is utilized in this story, as George follows Nathaniel on his extreme camping trip. Nathaniel's obsession with this Man vs. Wild sort of thing is odd, but luckily it doesn't last for all that long.

In the second song of the episode ("No One Else is Singing My Song"), Rebecca, Josh, and Nathaniel all sing about how alone they are, and how no one understands them, the irony being how similar everything they say are to one another, and how they harmonize. It's a well-done and enjoyable song, with funny moments and great purpose.

The episode's conclusion highlights a difference in viewpoints between Rebecca and Nathaniel, with Nathaniel offering to take Rebecca to Hawaii, and Rebecca wanting to focus on helping people. She ends the episode by making a good decision, something that doesn't happen all too often in this show, so it's rewarding when it does happen. Offering free legal advice to the ladies in jail is a great way for Rebecca to help, and it really shows that she has learned something.

The episode also has a great tag scene at the end, where Paula discovers that Trent isn't actually in a coma. All of her different tactics to try to get him to wake are entertaining, but the best is the one that proves successful, getting his alma mater wrong. The show's Harvard jokes really are quite funny (and this is the second of two in the episode, both of which are hilarious).


Overall, this was a strong season premiere. It wasn't perfect, it did feel a little formulaic and typical at times. Still, it was a really enjoyable hour that did a great job of dealing with where Rebecca, Josh, and Nathaniel are at right now, and it sent Rebecca on a path to follow in the show's final season.

Score: 9/10

What do you think of "I Want to Be Here"? Leave your thoughts in the comments!

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