Crazy Ex-Girlfriend – When Will Josh See How Cool I Am?

By: Stacy Miller

At his group meeting, Greg (Santino Fontana) opens up about his drinking. A man at the meeting who goes by the nickname Guardrail (Jayden Lund) tells him about the euphoric feeling he felt when he got sober. He calls it “the pink cloud” and warns that once you come down from it, you feel worse. Greg thanks him for the warning and promises to bring the donuts next time. “I’m on it. What could possibly stop me?” Greg says.

Rebecca (Rachel Bloom) is in the kitchen cooking when Josh (Vincent Rodriguez III) returns from karate. She made him the Jewish dish Noodle Kugel, but Josh had a sushi burrito so he declines the meal. He tells Rebecca that one of the things he loves about her is that they are independent of each other. They come together when they want, but basically stay in their own lanes. Rebecca pretends she’s down with what Josh is saying and when he mentions that he is hanging out with the guys on Friday night at a ping-pong place called The Paddle, Rebecca lies that she was a teenage ping-pong champ. In fact (the lies continue), she was The Junior Miss Table Board Champion of The Eastern Seaboard County District. Josh suggests that Rebecca come by and give them a few pointers. “Sure Josh, once I learn how to play ping-pong I can definitely do that,” is what Rebecca was probably thinking but she just told him okay.

Paula (Donna Lynne Champlin) comes off the elevator at Whitefeather and Associates extending a “Hello men” greeting to Darryl (Pete Gardner) and the guys he’s with. They ask Darryl, “What’s with her?” Darryl doesn’t know, but he can find out. “I’m her best friend. Everybody knows that right?” Of course they do Darryl (as you say it often enough) the men reply.

Paula goes into Rebecca’s office and tells her that she is applying to law school and asks if Rebecca could write her a letter of recommendation, which she needs by Friday. Rebecca thinks that’s great and would be honored to write the letter. Paula is hopeful that maybe this dream will come true. And with that, viewers get the amazing Disney-like song “Maybe This Dream” performed by Donna Lynne Champlin as Princess Paula.

Having heard from Rebecca that she is applying to law school, Darryl tells Paula that he took the liberty of writing her a letter of recommendation. Paula tries to let him down easy since Rebecca is already writing her one, but Darryl feels having a second letter can’t hurt. Paula assures she really doesn’t need Darryl’s letter. “Maybe I’ll hang onto it and maybe do another draft, another polish. Everything could always use a little improvement,” Darryl says adding after Paula walks away “Just like a friendship.”

A twelve year old boy arrives at the law firm. He is Xiao Wong (Albert Tsai), a ping-pong champion who’s there to give Rebecca instruction.

At the bar, Kevin (Johnny Ray Meeks) applauds Greg’s courage in admitting and tactically his alcohol problem. Kevin tells Greg he’s even decided to take the beer battered shrimp off the menu. Heather (Vella Lovell) appears and says, “Heard you finally admitted you’re an alcoholic.” Kevin announces to the entire bar that Greg doesn’t want to be treated any different because of his alcohol problem. Josh is nervous because Greg has called a meeting with him, White Josh (David Hull) and Hector (Erick Lopez) where he tells them that he is an alcoholic. Greg’s friends are reluctant to drink beers around him, but he reminds that he is the one with the drinking problem – not them. Then comes a tale of what’s it like to have a drinking problem in a delightful song full of Irish charm and true but fun lyrics called “Greg’s Drinking Song.”

Afterwards, Josh meets Father Bray (Rene Gube) and tells him that Greg is an alcoholic and that because of this he can’t tell Greg that he slept with Rebecca. Greg is also there with Heather to right some wrongs as part of his recovery. He apologizes for a french fry incident that Heather doesn’t even remember. Josh tells Father Bray he’s just going to go over to say hello to Greg, but ends up telling him that he slept with Rebecca the night of the wedding, a few times afterwards and is also living with her. Way to keep a secret Josh! Feeling better for getting that off his chest, Josh leaves. Heather is confused. “Did you just bro hug the guy who slept with your ex?” This is important to Heather as Greg broke up with her for Rebecca. Greg tells Heather that he’s over Rebecca and doesn’t care but sings the reprise of the song “I Could If I Wanted To” as he punches a wall upon leaving the place.

Paula comes to remind Rebecca that today is Friday. “Yay Friday! TGIF Full House, Family Matters, Step by Step,” Rebecca says but Paula asks about the letter of recommendation. Rebecca promises to get it to her by 2AM so it can be submitted by the deadline. Paula tells Rebecca she could use Darryl’s letter. Darryl is outside the office eavesdropping and slips his letter under the door.

Xiao notices that Rebecca is getting better at ping-pong. Rebecca knows what Josh will say when he sees how cool she is at ping-pong. This leads to her fantasy in which Josh sings the ultra-cool ‘80s like song “Ping-Pong Girl”.

At home, Paula tells husband Scott (Steve Munroe) that Rebecca may be delaying writing her letter of recommendation because she thinks Paula attending law school is dumb.

Guardrail and a guy talk about Greg missing the meeting, which they don’t care about except that there were no donuts. I guess the donuts are an aid in helping the sharing process, which makes them a vital part of the meetings.

When Josh tells Rebecca that he told Greg that they slept together, Rebecca decides she needs to find Greg. When she does, Greg and Rebecca have their long awaited talk in which he confesses that when he got the DUI he was driving over to tell Rebecca that he was in love with her. But he missed his chance and if Josh treats Rebecca right and she’s happy, that’s all that matters. Greg comes to the meeting location with a box of donuts. Guardrail tells him to make it on time the next time and with normal donuts as Greg has gone to a pricey place and bought donuts fancy shapes. Then, he and Greg split the dinosaur donut.

The next day, Rebecca gives Paula the letter of recommendation she wrote. But Paula ended up using Darryl’s letter because he gave it to her on time. Rebecca tells Paula that her conversation with Greg last night made her realize that change is scary so she intends to be there for Paula and support her friend as Paula enters this new phase of her life.

Later that night, Rebecca tells Josh about her conversation with Greg and how he seemed okay. Josh asks whether Rebecca wants to join him in the video game he’s playing, but Rebecca admits she lied about liking video games. “Just like you lied about ping-pong, what was that about?!” Josh laughs. Rebecca tells him that she just wanted to spend time with him. She knows he lives there yet confesses, “But I deserve to be with someone who treats me right,” Rebecca says. She then goes upstairs, takes Greg’s Emory sweatshirt out of the drawer and cuddles it while laying down.