Dancin' Dan back at long last with a return to our favorite musical comedy TV show! This time out, we movie-lovers have a lot to get excited about as Rebecca goes to court and receives more than a few surprises in doing so.
S1. E13: "Josh and I Go To Los Angeles!"
Rebecca and Josh's case finally goes to court, only the opposing counsel turns out to be a surprise guest from New York...
Let's rank the crazy!
Not Crazy, Totally Sane
Heather. She is fascinated by Home Base (where "the moms look like hookers and the hookers look like moms"), is genuinely excited by Rebecca's trial, to the point where she turns it on at Home Base (where Greg has gotten her a job), and when she notices how Greg is acting while pretending not to watch/eventually watching the trial, she realizes that she's just not the woman he loves. Plus:
"I'm way too bad-ass to be someone you settle for"
Heather is basically the best.
A Little Intense
Rebecca's old nemesis Audra Levine is desperate to beat Rebecca - in court, yes, but also in life. And she may still be a Rebecca wannabe (she's styled exactly like Rebecca was in the NYC scenes of the pilot), but she has also come to West Covina armed with some downright merciless put-downs:
"Well, frankly you have no case, and no shot, and no idea how to blend your foundation at your jawline..."
The rivalry between the two "hard-as-nails Shebrews from Scarsdale" is sketched in via flashbacks and it's clear that Audra has always been jealous of Rebecca, but also that she really doesn't care about anything other than being the best. Which used to be true of Rebecca, but now?
Sobering Up
Throughout the trial, Rebecca is genuinely worried about letting all of her clients down. Especially Josh. But importantly, she's specifically worried that if she loses, Josh will lose all respect for her. Not that he won't love her, but that he won't respect her. And of course, since she is finally doing the right thing for the right reasons, the TV Gods reward her with the ultimate prize: A big ol' romantic kiss from Josh after they lose the trial.
Bonker Balls
Let's start with the fact that NO ONE BESIDES REBECCA HAS HEARD OF CHINATOWN. Shocking!
And now, let's go to Rebecca's fake boyfriend Trent (perfectly described by Rebecca as looking "like if two Kennedy cousins made it"), who you may remember showed up at the end of the last episode as part of Valencia's plan to expose Rebecca as the liar and Josh-obsessed fiend that we all know she is. WELL.... it turns out Paula picked him out a little too well.
He goes along with Rebecca's lie in front of Josh, Valencia, and Greg, which is fine. But then he shows up at her apartment unannounced, makes her dinner, gives her a massage in the bath ("It wasn't weird," says Rebecca, "I was wearing my bathing suit.") and mentions off-hand that he's loved her since the first time he saw her at Harvard: "You were eating a mac 'n cheese sandwich, remember?" All of which would be a bit too much on the C-R-A-Z-Y front, except that Trent gets all the BEST lines:
"I almost invented Twitter, but I thought, eh, no one's gonna use that."
"You know what they say, one person's blackmail is another person's love story!"
"Does anyone really KNOW anyone? ...I think you should check your facts on that!"
And he's so devoted to Rebecca that he finds her the Erin Brockovich-esque smoking gun she needs to win the case!
...But Self-Aware
Except Rebecca doesn't use it, because she decides that she doesn't want to win dirty.
And after the trial, she even tries to bury the hatchet with Audra, reminding her that she used to live her high-powered life, and that being happy was just as important. But Audra, who (it seems) genuinely wants the life of a high-powered alpha female attorney, just looks at Rebecca like she's crazy.
Episode Grade: B+/A- The one-liners are great, but the court case is a wash, and it takes up most of the episode.
MVP: Guest Stars Rachel Grate and Paul Welsh. Talk about making a memorable one-episode appearance! Yes, they're given great material, but their delivery is so pitch-perfect that even things that shouldn't really be funny come out gut-bustingly hilarious. Both characters are used to show Rebecca possible versions of herself, but thanks to the personality of the actors they never once come off like that.
Songs: "JAP Battle" (Rebecca and Audra), "Flooded With Justice" (Ensemble), "Dont' Settle For Me" (Heather), "Flooded With Justice (Reprise)" (Ensemble)
Introducing: Rebecca's long-time frenemy Audra Levine (Rachel Grate).
S1.E14 "Josh is Going to Hawaii!"
Josh and Rebecca have very different reactions to their first kiss. Learning that Josh will soon be going to Hawaii to see Hector in a surf competition, Paula urges her to make the grand rom-com gesture and go, too. Only there's a slight problem with Rebecca's credit card...
Not Crazy, Totally Sane
Racked with guilt over kissing Rebecca, Josh goes to Father Brah for advice. Even though he's stoned (he's got a bad back!), the good Father tells Josh that he has to ask Valencia for forgiveness, even though Valencia will probably kill him.
But she doesn't. When Josh tells Valencia they need to talk, she figures it's because he's finally going to propose, and she's devastated when Josh tells her what he did. But her response boils down to one question: "Do you love her?" When Josh assures her that no, he doesn't, Valencia makes like the Madonna ("the Bible Madonna, not the buff Madonna" according to Josh) and forgives him. She even offers to start over, because she loves him so much.
Adorably Awkward
Darryl and White Josh continue to have the cutest courtship ever, with Darryl taking Josh to a Jacket-Required restaurant for their first official date. But when Josh tells Darryl that he's "not NOT seeing other people," and that this all a little too much, a little too fast, Darryl is devastated.
BUT! Darryl does take Josh's advice and goes on dates with a guy and a girl, neither of which can fill the White Josh-shaped hole in his heart, and when they see each other again, Josh suggests they start over as two regular, chill people without any fancy stuff.
Meanwhile, Greg thinks Heather is totally fine with their break-up, but she reveals that he broke her heart when he chose to go after Rebecca instead of protesting that it was Heather he truly loved. Greg will just have to live with the uncertainty of not knowing if Heather's going to throw a dart through his eye, though, because she has resolved that she's not going to leave this job.
You've Seen One Too Many Romantic Comedies
The best comic runner of the episode is Rebecca and Paula's dialogue about whether Rebecca's relationship with Josh is like a romantic comedy or a fairy tale (one of the show's main tenets is beating down the fantasies women have been fed through fairy tales and rom-coms). Witness:
Paula: "It's like youre Kate Hudson, and Josh is this British actor that no one's ever heard of but is super cute, and Valencia is the skinny bitch who ends up getting just what she deserves."
Rebecca: "I kinda saw it as a fairy tale where I'm the spunky princess, Josh is the handsome prince who gets turned into a stone, and Valencia is the witch who turned him into that stone."
Paula: "Have you NEVER seen a two-and-a-half star movie? Right now, he has to come to you. The most important thing is that you DON'T call, you DON'T email, you don't reach out in any way!"
And later...
Paula: "I know these things. I am your funny best friend with all the answers. I am your Judy Greer, your Rosie O'Donnell, your... your... [GASP] your Joan Cusack!"
Rebecca: "You know, in my narrative I pictred you as like the funny singing raccoon... It's not an insult, you have, like, the breakout song of the whole movie!"
Bonker Balls
At Paula's insistence, Rebecca goes to buy a ticket to Hawaii, where Josh will be cheering on Hector in a surf competition (assuming he's able to wake up on time...), in order to make a grand gesture. Except her card is declined. And her bank account has a negative balance. Because she has been spending money pretty indiscriminately since moving to West Covina.
Paula: "I keep forgetting that you are so smart and so NOT SMART."
Rebecca: "I just never had to think about money."
Paula: "You don't have to think about money, wow, THAT must... free up some time."
So of course, her car gets reposessed and Rebecca sells her couch for $25 (after lying on it naked - it would have been $10 otherwise), and then pawns a present from her mother: The Garfinkel Ring.
After seeing Valencia and Josh's argument and hearing Josh say that he doesn't love her, Rebecca almost has a full-on psychotic break, to the tune of a Disney Villain-esque song:
Like "You Stupid Bitch", this is simultaneously actually "crazy" AND the most introspective Rebecca has ever been. Seeing things from Valencia's point of view (and kudos to Gabrielle Ruiz, who manages to make Valencia extemely sympathetic while never letting us forget that she can also be kind of a bitch) makes Rebecca completely re-assess what she's doing, to the point where she runs from the ceremony where the Mayor of West Covina gives her the key to the city as thanks for the work she did on the water case, and...
...But Self-Aware
...runs into Dr. Akopian, the therapist she's been avoiding, on the plane. Realizing that they're both going to be stuck next to each other for the whole five hour flight, Dr. Akopian asks Rebecca if she wants to give the therapy thing a go, and Rebecca "ovaries up" and agrees.
Episode Grade: A-
MVP: Costumer Melina Root has done fantastic work delineating each character throughout the entire series, but she topped herself with Rebecca's unbelievable sushi pajamas in this episode. Plus, there's the JUST-too-big loaner sport jacket White Josh wears at his first date with Darryl, the Miami Vice-like suits for Darryl's band during his big coming out number, and Paula's purse at the key ceremony, which perfectly matches her top without being exactly the same. AND, notice how Rebecca's outfits incorporate more and more black as she starts to realize that she just may be the villain in this story.
Songs: "Gettin' Bi" (Darryl), "I'm the Villain (In My Own Story)" (Rebecca)
Introducing: Maya (Esther Povitsky), Whitefeather & Associates' new Administrative Assistant, who likes online shopping and kale salads, is also bisexual, and who I really hope we get more of next season, just to see how much deeper she can get under Darryl's skin.