Recap: Crazy Ex-Girlfriend Episode 13: Josh and I Go to Los Angeles!

Recap – Crazy Ex-Girlfriend Episode 13: “Josh and I Go to Los Angeles!” – The CW, original airdate Mon. 2/29/16
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Well, they did it. They unjumped the shark for me. I’m pretty impressed with how the writers for Crazy Ex-Girlfriend handled the whole foiled fake boyfriend situation. In Crazy Ex-Girlfriend Episode 13, Rebecca handles the Trent situation (or, more accurately, Trent handles the Trent situation); Rebecca and a longtime rival battle it out, rap style; and the team heads to L.A. to try the hot water case.

(BTW, speaking of hot water, I’ve had “No Hot Water, means cold showers … next thing you know your kids will be on crack” running through my head ALL week.) On to the recap!

💬 Best quotes from tonight:

Trent and Rebecca, discussing his new place in her life — Trent: Oh, you know what they say … one person’s blackmailing is another person’s love story. Rebecca: Who says that? Trent: Me. I do. Got it from a phrasebook!

Rebecca, telling Paula that the Trent problem will resolve without police intervention — Look, this guy’s fine. I knew a million guys like him in college, trust me. He’s all into this now, and then he’ll see me eat a piece of ham off the ground, and he’ll move on. 😂😂😂

On the street, after court — Darryl: I am bisexual. I’m going for drinks with this gay man, whom I have a crush on. Passerby (about White Josh, to Darryl): He’s way out of your league. Nice job. White Josh (to passerby, about Darryl): Hey, BACK OFF, dude. He looks like Tom Selleck.

📝 The recap:

When we left off last week, Rebecca had come to Josh and Valencia’s, only to find her fake boyfriend Trent, and as a cover, had acted like he was her boyfriend, complete with full-on kissing. I was pretty sure there was no way to cover this one, but they did. They did. Trent plays along, going as far as to say “Look honey, I don’t know what this girl’s [Valencia’s] problem is, but you and I have dinner plans later, so I will see you at home.” As he leaves, Valencia looks pretty pissed. Josh points out that Trent was nice, and Rebecca responds, “Yeah, he loves kissing … with … tongue.” She tells Josh a little bit about the water case; when she leaves, Valencia is still unsettled about Trent and Greg is upset he got caught up in this drama at all.

Speaking of kissing, Darryl stops in to see White Josh at the gym, to thank him for the kiss (from last week’s episode). They kiss again, and Darryl asks W-Jo out for a drink later, only he doesn’t want to go anywhere that people will know him. This irks White Josh a little bit (but he’s pretty nice about it) — he’s out of the closet (he had to wait until he was 12 to come out) and doesn’t want to go back in.

After deciding with Josh and the others that they’re going to start a class action lawsuit with people from all over the valley who are having similar hot water problems, Rebecca heads home to a nice empty apartment — errrr, or not. Trent’s there. It turns out, he knows who Rebecca is (after all, they went to Harvard together); he’s loved her since he saw her eating a mac and cheese sandwich freshman year. She thanks him for covering for her. He tells her about himself (his computer programming firm, his almost inventing Twitter, his strange fitness goals). And he blackmails her. She doesn’t want a relationship; he does, and if she’s not going to go along with it, he’ll just have to tell her friends he doesn’t really know her. He winds up making her dinner and spending the night (not that kind of spending the night), which shocks Paula the next day. She thinks Rebecca should call the cops; Rebecca’s sure that’s a bad idea and he’ll go away without police intervention.

Crazy Ex-Girlfriend Episode 13 — Rap battle!
Photo credit: Scott Everett White/The CW

The Greater City Water folks show up during a case meeting, and Rebecca is certain that the company’s confidence has “evaporated” and they’re there to settle. But they’re not. They’ve hired the best: Rebecca’s old firm from NYC. They’re like “Taylor Swift, Elon Musk and Shonda Rhimes, combined.” And they’ve brought Rebecca’s archnemesis, Audra Levine! Audra has always wanted to be the best, and Rebecca’s always been in her way. Now she’s there, in this “dump” of a firm and a town, to tell Rebecca that there’s no settlement offer. “Frankly, you have no case, and no shot, and no idea how to blend your foundation at your jawline.” She tells Rebecca to withdraw the case and save herself the embarrassment. A RAP BATTLE ENSUES! Afterward, Rebecca tells Josh she’s sure she can beat Audra (but the truth is, she’s pretty scared). She winds up telling Trent all about everything (and how she wishes she had just one piece of irrefutable evidence) while he rubs her shoulders after dinner — yeah, he’s still there, and he’s a pretty badass cook.

The next day, the team heads to L.A., and are terrified when none of the plaintiffs show. But, they do, in grand musical fashion (there was just traffic on The 10.) After a very Le Mis-esque song about the leaky sink of change (and a very random cameo from B.J. Novak), they head into the courtroom to get the case tried. Apparently, this case is very big; it’s on public access and everyone’s watching from First Base. Greg watches begrudgingly; Heather’s entranced (she’s hired on to work with Greg during this episode, despite her admission to boss Kevin that they really just wanted to hook up in the stockroom).

Audra pretty much shuts the case down, right away. After Bert (the water truther), who used to work for Greater City Water, presents his evidence, she asks him how long he’s been a diagnosed schizophrenic. 16 years. Done. Rebecca freaks out during recess; now that Audra knocked out Bert, who’s most of the case, she’s got nothing. In walks Trent, to the rescue. (Paula: “Tucked in turtleneck … that’s not a look you see every day.”) Computer dude that he is, he’s hacked into Greater City Water and has incrminating emails, which expose a cover-up. Technically, they can’t really use these (they’re stolen, of course) but they’d really help the case.

After a flashback to a childhood altercation between herself and Audra, however, Rebecca takes the high road, and gives the judge a flowery speech about holding herself to the same high standards as the people she represents. Greg, watching on TV from Home Base, says she’s crazy, but Heather sees the look on his face and realizes he’s in love with Rebecca. (She’s seen enough Hallmark movies to know that look.) She sings a reprise of “Settle For Me,” asking Greg NOT to settle for her.

Rebecca loses the case, but keeps her integrity. She realizes that Audra thinks she’s happy with her NYC job, and with winning the case, but she doesn’t know what happiness really is. Audra’s so happy to have beaten her longtime rival, but that rival doesn’t exist anymore, because Rebecca is happy with herself now. (So’s Darryl, who has realized that he’s happy with himself and comes out as bisexual in front of the courthouse.)

Rebecca gives the emails to a guy at the local paper (but, she cautions, they’re not from her) so that he can expose the water scandal, and has a talk with Josh. She feels awful about losing, but he thinks she’s awesome. She tried so hard. She tells him she wanted him to be proud of her. They get closer and closer. We’ve been psyched out so many times that I think, “Something’s going to happen and they won’t kiss.” But they kiss. They KISS! A LOT! FINALLY! Paula witnesses this … and so does Greg. In typical Hallmark movie fashion, he’s come to tell her he loves her, but it’s too late. Aw, Greg. I’m a little crushed too. (I’ll admit it, I’m a sucker for Greg. Josh is great and all, but Santino Fontana … rawr.)

Oh, and Rebecca kicks Trent to the curb, even after he tries a “Dear Rebecca Nora Bunch” letter (in “Dear Joshua Felix Chan” fashion). Bye, Felicia.

🎥 The Videos:

JAP Rap – (JAP = Jewish-American Princess.) This is impressive as hell. It just has to be watched. Enough said.