“She’s the crazy ex-girlfriend!”
“That’s a sexist term!”
Amongst all the DC Comics adaptions, vampires and period dramas littered throughout the CW, there’s one gem of a show that seems to fly under the radar — Crazy Ex-Girlfriend.
The series follows young lawyer Rebecca Bunch as she moves to the town of West Covina to find happiness in her high school boyfriend, Josh Chan.
Upon first glance, it seems as though it could be just another stereotypical romance drama, but if you give it even a few minutes of your time, you’ll very quickly see that that is not the case. Written by Rachel Bloom (who also plays the role of Rebecca) and Aline Brosh McKenna, Crazy Ex-Girlfriend is a show about a woman, written by women.
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The use of the slur ‘crazy’ is called out within the theme song itself (as well as again in the series), and the show seems to poke fun at the anti-feminist messages pushed by romantic comedies — without turning into a parody.
With an openly mentally ill Jewish female main who is surrounded by an unapologetically bisexual boss, a Filipino love interest and multiple other people of colour, the series is one of the most casually diverse without making it the central point of the show. The characters are not defined just by their sexuality or race, and they all have their own internal struggles outside of those things that make them interesting.
We did something really interesting: we did four episodes with no straight, white, male characters on the show at all. Except for Trent, all the male characters on our show are either people of color or gay or bi. We had no straight, white men for four episodes.
The show itself is a musical, but the songs are fun, progress the story without being annoying, and are almost always hilarious. Gettin’ Bi smashed stereotypes surrounding bisexual people, Sexy Getting Ready Song poked fun at the expectations of women and beauty, and Put Yourself First speaks the sad truth about why women are told to ‘put themselves first (for him)’.
For once, the supporting characters have lives outside the protagonist, and ‘Crazy Ex-Girlfriend’ will never let you forget it. From Paula’s ambitions and marriage struggles to Greg’s alcoholism, each character is well developed beyond Rebecca, and it’s near impossible not to love them.
Between the catchy tunes, representation and overt feminism, there’s no reason to not be watching. But, above all of that, Crazy Ex-Girlfriend passes off one important message — you don’t have to be offensive to be funny.
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