The funniest show in the past few years? It is a big statement to make, but the first season of Crazy Ex-Girlfriend left me laughing like a hyena in every single episode, and is definitely a show to recommend if you enjoy a good comedy drama.
The premise of the series is hilarious by itself. A woman, unhappily working as a highly ranked lawyer in a New York firm, bumps into someone she fell for at a summer camp when she was a teenager and decides to pursue her potential happiness by following him back to a sleepy town in California. She then spends the whole season in hilariously awkward situations as she tries to hide the truth from those around her.
The comedy of the show, though laugh out loud hilarious, isn’t anything unique. However, in the inclusion of various musical numbers, obviously parodies of the music industry as a whole, was a masterful touch. The tone and content varies massively, from singing about lost loves to yoga and even giving someone a UTI. These infuse the show with even more brilliant moments and also makes sense, considering the character is neurotic and imagines quite a lot. The punchline is that it seems like the other characters are also imagining these numbers – or maybe they even happened.
The writers do a good job at making virtually every character likeable, mostly because viewers can relate to them as they are not perfect people – they express jealousy, anger, boredom and are occasionally very weird and rude. This is true testament to the writers and the acting that viewers are able to like and empathise with two characters on opposing ends of an argument. Each leading character also feels so unique in their personalities that they all somehow work together.
Rebecca’s journey and how her relationship develops with Josh, the guy she fell for at a summer camp, and also with the moody and sarcastic Greg, the opposite to Josh but someone who seems to click with her in more ways, is paced pretty well. I’m glad that, whilst her budding relationships are more often than not in the foreground, enough of Rebecca’s character is developed so that she doesn’t feel one note. As the season progresses, viewers get a sense of why she does struggle with relationships, especially with males, as well as her rocky relationship with her constantly disapproving mother. Viewers also see the lives and struggles of the other primary characters, so that they also feel fully formed as characters and not background figures to Rebecca’s story. If there would be one tiny critique it would be that the season feels a couple of episodes too long and that these don’t really add much to the season but that is me trying very hard to find anything wrong with the season.
If you want an excuse to laugh out loud, then I would definitely recommend the first season of Crazy Ex-Girlfriend. The hilarious musical numbers interlaced in the episodes give the show its own unique identity and I will be continuing the show to see what happens next after a crazy cliffhanger moment, which you will have to watch for yourselves!
Star Rating: 4.5/5
The Blogging DJ 