Have you met Rebecca? If you haven’t, now is probably the perfect time to do so. Crazy Ex Girlfriend concluded its fourth, and final, season on Friday, April 5 after four seasons on The CW. The show has made me laugh as much as it has made me cry, and though I myself became ensnared in the show’s romantic plots — of which there are three main ones — at the end of the day, I knew what this show was: a story about Rebecca Bunch.
If you describe this show as a satirical romantic comedy about a woman who flees her stuffy, corporate life in New York for a small town in California, serendipitously running into her ex-boyfriend from when she was a teenager, most will look at you in confusion. I have found myself on the receiving end of those confused gazes many a time. And while the show is weird, in the sense that it is wholly unlike anything you’ve ever seen on television — it’s good. Undeniably so. It captures the nuance and severity behind life as a woman juggling life, romance, and mental illness, while also throwing in a catchy musical number or three per episode, elaborate costumes and set design more than likely included.
The show, co-created by Rachel Bloom, who stars as Rebecca Bunch, and Aline Brosh McKenna, almost didn’t make it to network television. The pilot was originally created for Showtime, until they decided not to move forward with the show in early 2015. It was picked up by The CW in May, and the show has been broadcasting weekly, hour-long episodes, season after season, until now. And, though it is one of my favorite television series I’ve ever watched — for its wit and snark as much as its heart — I could not be happier.
See, it’s far too often that shows either get cancelled before their time, left for us to marvel at what could have been but never was, or extended and renewed to the point where they become unrecognizable next to the writer’s initial vision.
I am a fan of television shows telling their story, as they should, within the timeframe they should. Aline Brosh McKenna and Rachel Bloom envisioned four seasons of story for Crazy Ex Girlfriend — and that is exactly what the show received. Despite the constant censorship due to the show’s willingness to cross boundaries and joke about taboo subjects and despite the low ratings (though the show received massive critical acclaim), Crazy Ex Girlfriend persisted to work towards its goal of providing a female-centered narrative that allowed our stories to be nuanced and real. And it did so in four seasons, exactly as our showrunners wanted it to.
So, yeah, one of my favorite TV shows is over. Forever. But I couldn’t be happier — it is a marvel that this show was able to successfully tell its story exactly the way it was supposed to.
Wait, you still haven’t met Rebecca? Well, what are you waiting for? The four seasons are officially on Netflix — go on, you know you want to.