Crazy Ex-Girlfriend

I put off watching Crazy Ex-Girlfriend for ages because I couldn't decide if it was a cringe-comedy, an actual musical, or some weird parody. Turns out, it's all of those things with extra layers. The show follows Rebecca Bunch (played by Rachel Bloom) as she upends her high-powered lawyer life to chase a high school crush across the country. That premise sounds messy and it genuinely is, but in a good way — the show leans right into the chaos of her mental health and romantic decisions, without sugarcoating anything.

The reason this works is honestly Rachel Bloom herself. She has this rare ability to be ridiculous, pulpy, and somehow deeply, painfully truthful all at once. Every musical number (and there are lots of them) is a full-blown, genre-hopping punchline. Sometimes you'll get a Disney parody about having no chill, and the next episode you’re hit with a 90s boyband song about anti-depressants. The songwriting is whip-smart and totally original, and most of the musical bits actually add something to the character development.

What really surprised me was how frank the show gets about mental health. It starts out feeling like just another zany rom-com, but by the second season, it's digging into therapy, self-destruction, and real consequences. One episode in particular tackles a truly dark moment with a shockingly apt Broadway number — and somehow it’s not tone-deaf or trivializing, just darkly funny and raw.

On the downside, the pacing is erratic. Some episodes fly by and you barely notice 45 minutes pass, then others stretch a one-joke premise for way too long, especially in the middle of the run. There are B-plots that just don't work (a certain love triangle comes to mind) and a couple of supporting characters who feel sidelined or sketchy compared to how well Rebecca is written.

Visually, the show is nothing special. For a series packed with musical numbers, I kept wishing they'd flexed some creative muscle in the way things were shot. Choreography is intentionally awkward a lot of the time (which fits the humor), but now and then, you long for a real showstopper moment, and it doesn’t quite happen.

Still, it’s easily the bravest TV musical since Galavant, and the risks pay off most of the time. The humor isn’t always universal, but if you’ve ever felt like your life is a mess or that you’re the villain in your own story (or both), Crazy Ex-Girlfriend will probably hit something personal. It’s clever, it’s weird, and it’s oddly comforting if you give it a chance.