Crazy Ex-Girlfriend – Nathaniel and I Are Just Friends

By: Stacy Miller

If there’s one patient that Dr. Akopian (Michael Hyatt) has that seems to be her own worst enemy, it’s Rebecca Bunch (Rachel Bloom) as Rebecca never follows her advice but insists on having the same destructive patterns. But when Dr. A. gets a voice mail from Rebecca that appears positive for growth, she hopes that this time it will be different, echoing this sentiment in a cabaret type number “This Session is Going to be Different.” Hyatt delivers a Billie Holiday vibe with her powerful voice and presence. But when Rebecca arrives for a therapy session and updates her about her breakup and then supply closet sex with Nathaniel (Scott Michael Foster), Dr. Akopian realizes that the more things change, the more they stay the same.

Mona (Lyndon Smith) notices that Nathaniel is preoccupied while they are at dinner.  He tells her that he caught two people who he didn’t know having sex in the supply closet. Mona can’t believe the nerve of some people.  I wonder how she will feel when she learns that Rebecca and Nathaniel are the two people.

At the law office, Paula (Donna Lynne Champlin) tells Tim (Michael McMillian), Jim (Burl Moseley) and Maya (Esther Povitsky) that she’s gotten them re-enforcements in the office, which is Paula’s friend Sunil (Parvesh Cheena). Paula tells the group that Sunil is really smart so they better not scare him off by acting like they normally do. Maya tells Paula that some strange noises have been coming out of the supply closet that sound like a possum and a cat fighting but then becoming friends (an idea for a new series she’s been pitching to CBS). Next, we see Rebecca and Nathaniel in the supply closet for another round of office sex.

Heather (Vella Lovell) is really excited about her new hobby “Making a human,” Heather tells Hector (Erick Lopez).  She also loves her new career at Home Base Industries.

A PR woman named Beth (Emma Willmann) meets with Valencia (Gabrielle Ruiz) to talk about hiring her as her party planner.  They seem to hit it off immediately as Beth tells Valencia that she doesn’t look anything like her picture then laughs at Valencia’s jokes.

Sunil is happy that Paula has hired him and that they will be serving up justice together. Heather is at work at Home Base Industries. We hear the music to “The Moment is Me” and the next thing we know is it’s eight months later and Heather is fully pregnant. She blames Hector for being in this condition because he didn’t try to stop her. Heather can’t believe that she still has another full month to go and just wants to quit. Heather tells Hector that agreeing to carry Darryl’s (Pete Gardner) baby was the worst decision that she’s ever made. Heather says that being pregnant she can’t have any fun.  She wants Hector to buy her a skateboard so she can go to a skateboard expo. She’s annoyed that she can’t have the things she loves like raw fish and alcohol. Where she was once excited about the Darryl baby project, now it seems like a burden.

Other things have changed in the eight months like Sunil developing a camaraderie with Jim, Tim and Maya and ignoring Paula. And remember Beth, the PR woman who wanted to hire Valencia to be her part planner? Well, a lot has changed for the two of them. Now Beth and Valencia share a personal relationship and are girlfriends. No not girlfriends, but girlfriends as in a couple. After everything she went through with Josh, Valencia is now a lesbian. I think it’s an interesting choice to have Valencia, the self-proclaimed pretty girl that other women were so jealous of that they couldn’t be friends with find she could really be herself in a relationship with a woman. Josh (Vince Rodriguez III) and White Josh (David Hull) now have a dog that White Josh found in Mexico. Josh wants to name it after him, Dog Josh.  But White Josh nixes that idea, saying that he knows what it feels like to be named after Josh. White Josh calls the dog Max. And let’s not forget about Rebecca and Nathaniel. What have they been doing these past eight months?  Well, Nathaniel is still dating Mona and they (Rebecca and Nathaniel) are still sleeping together.  “I really thought this time was going to be different,” Dr.Akopian sighs. Rebecca is annoyed that Dr. Akopian is quoting back to her some of the things that Rebecca has been saying in their eight months of sessions. Dr. Akopian asks Rebecca that in the eight months she still having sex with Nathaniel he still has a girlfriend. “Why have an affair?” Dr. Akopian asks Rebecca.  Rebecca tells Dr. A. that what she’s been having with Nathaniel is the healthiest relationship that she’s ever had because he’s involved with someone else, she has no expectations.

Paula tells Rebecca that she can’t believe that she hired Sunil to be on her team and he has been siding with Jim, Tim and Maya.

Nathaniel tells Rebecca that Mona wants to go to Darryl’s baby shower as his date.  Rebecca assures Nathaniel that she is cool with it “We’re all adults here,” Rebecca says.

The great boyfriend that he is, Hector brings Heather some things that she make her happy.  But it’s not the skateboard that she asked for. Hector tells Heather that he couldn’t risk getting her something that could hurt the baby.  He reminds that the decision to carry Darryl’s baby was optional, so she can’t quit now. Suddenly, Hector sees something happening with Heather’s face that he’s never seen before: tears…she is crying. Heather explains that she never in her life cried before; even as a baby her parents thought she was broken because she didn’t cry.  But now that she is carrying a baby, she’s just so emotional that the tears are coming. Hector didn’t want to bring it up while she’s in this state, but he reminds Heather about Darryl’s baby shower and asks her whether she’s getting him (Darryl) a present. “I ALREADY GOT HIM A PRESENT BITCH!!!” Heather shouts. Pregnancy, definitely not a good look on her.

At Darryl’s baby shower, he’s choked up when he sees how well the venue looks for the shower. Valencia is so happy that she and Beth are partners (in business and personally), they are good together. When Mona and Nathaniel arrive and are all couple-like, Rebecca gets jealous and doesn’t like it.  And when Paula overhear Sunil talking about her with Jim, Tim and Maya, she is hurt.  Both Paula and Rebecca want to leave the shower, even though they are “Mama Rebecca” and “Auntie Paula.” They pretend that they both got bees on their dresses. Paula is upset when Rebecca tells her that everyone thinks of Paula as the office bitch; Paula even has that mug that says ‘Office Bitch.’ Rebecca confesses that it’s not a possum and a cat in the supply closet fighting…it is she and Nathaniel having sex. Paula can’t believe that Rebecca is the other woman, she is the Tanya (the woman that Paula’s husband Scott cheated on her with).  Paula asks Rebecca why have an affair when they can simply date. Later at the office while some of the employee like Maya and Paula are watching, Rebecca tells Nathaniel that they can no longer get office supplies together because she saw his supply distributor.

Heather is wearing a fat suit that her father got the whole family when he thought it be fun to act out the Thanksgiving scene from The Nutty Professor. Why you ask is Heather wearing a fat suit?  Well, she’s decided to go to the skateboard expo and is using it to hide her pregnancy so no one will stop her.  But Hector threatens to wrestle Heather to the ground if he has to; he’s not going to let her risk hurting the baby.

Nathaniel tells Rebecca that he’s been thinking about what she said and wants her to know how much the last few months have meant to him and it’s not just about the sex.

“In not so many words, he basically said that he loves you and wants to be with you,” Dr. Akopian tells Rebecca, asking her why she thinks that her feelings don’t matter. She tells Rebecca that she can’t live her life without intimacy “You need and deserve love.” Rebeca knows she’s a saner version of her former self, but knows how she acts when she’s in a relationship and feels abandoned…she goes to dark places and doesn’t ever want to find herself in that place again.

Paula apologizes to Sunil for being a bitch.  She explains that she was a ‘C’ student who got knocked up before she finished college and that makes her constantly prove herself.

Thinking about Dr. Akopian’s words, Rebecca sings a song “Face Your Fears” as she decides what to do about Nathaniel.