A teenage girl gets her heart broken by a boy at summer camp and from then on, all her future relationships are forever doomed. She dedicates her life to studying and eventually becomes a fancy lawyer in NY. Inevitably, she’s psychologically fucked up, so the only way for her to stay ‘sane’ is to take a bunch of meds. One day, ten something years later she randomly runs into the crush that crushed her ability to believe; taking it as a sign for a second chance at love, after merely a conversation and “catching up” with him, she drops everything and moves to some village part of California to be with him. Oh and did I mention there’s singing involved?
Needless to say, it wasn’t exactly a ‘wow’ sort of pilot. But I’m a sucker for bad TV so I continued to watch it anyway. I’m glad I did cause boy, what a turnaround. It’s one of those shows that just gets better and better. The songs don’t only get less annoying but they progressively get more creative and entertaining. They look and feel like actual music videos but manage to deliver a very realistic and funny parody-like angle. It’s never the same thing where people just break into a song and run around; although every now and then that does take place. But mostly, these music videos are filled with wigs, grills, gold chains, white fur and other various costumes as well as different genres and color schemes.
A LITTLE ABOUT THE MAIN CHARACTER:
Rebecca has a body of a woman that didn’t dedicate her life to starvation. She eats bagels at night cause she wants to and they’re delicious; she doesn’t smell donuts from a distance for desert in attempts to stay skinny. With her slightly chubby bod she can rock a dress with cleavage like no other. Her short hair and smart Harvard head doesn’t make her any less cute; in fact both of those things make her that much more charming. She is definitely out there but in an awesome, non-terribly-psycho sort of way. Don’t get me wrong, as a person she’s certifiably crazy; she’s even got the bug eyes to prove it… But I’ve seen crazy ex-girlfriend types and this one got a mild version of neurosis sprinkled with denial at best.
A LITTLE ABOUT THE REST OF THE CAST:
Crazies flock together because Paula (her newly acquired best friend, who’s also a colleague at her new law firm) is just as crazy and just as awesome. Josh (the love of her life for reasons unknown to anyone with a brain) is your typical, kinda square, simple dude with a good heart. Josh’s hot girlfriend, Valencia (what kind of name is that anyway?) is uninteresting and mundane; also bossy and inconsiderate. They clearly only flock together because sex and some sort of ‘history’ is all they have in common.
Naturally the cast isn’t without the ‘great guy that finishes last’ – Greg. He is your local bartender; handsome in an unconventional sort of way and super lovable in an “I dig your dark personality but I just wanna make you smile” kind of way. Then there’s Rebecca’s neighbor – Heather. She’s this super obviously passive chick that doesn’t believe in facial expressions; nothing fazes her. Yet somehow you find yourself not hating her like you do every other pretentious hipster. She and Greg eventually get it on for a bit.
Then, you have Daryl (another coworker at Rebecca’s firm) – he’s your typical boss man who just wants to be liked by his subordinates. He’s also mid custody battle for his daughter which Rebecca manhandles for him like a champ of course (not without some crazy tactics inserted during the whole thing). Daryl ends up being super gay for one of Josh’s friends (White Josh – they call him). Of course there’s gay stuff! ‘Cause in order to be a successful TV show in this day and age it has to reach out to as many demographics as possible. I must say though, It’s not at all lame and played out. It actually manages to be quite refreshing and fun. It could be because they weren’t too serious about it. It could also be because Daryl’s an old dude who had no idea that he liked dudes and White Josh is a jock who’s a trainer at the gym – it just isn’t your typical gay couple. Either way, it works.
A LITTLE MORE ABOUT THE PLOT:
The show moves fast. You’re never bored. By just mid-first season so much takes place already. Major move and job change followed by pills being dumped into the sink; constant heartache over the unattainable along with other relationship problems; slutty behavior was practiced and regretted; holidays came and went along with meeting the parents; borderline explosive diarrhea happened; there was an attempt of a dramatic bartender exit; there was an awkward trip to the beach on a party bus; at some point a proposal to move in together was made – not all of these involved the main character and they didn’t all happen at once of course. The fun didn’t stop there; the second half of the season was just as awesome as the first. All sorts of scheming and lying took place, one of which involved a random Facebook guy from Harvard that ended up being a stalker. It was super weird and creepy. On a happier note, Greg finally got his and he and Rebecca were briefly in a relationship of sorts which I personally believed to be awesome but stupid Josh had to go and mess it all up of course. Stupid people and their wanting what they can’t have!
All in all, I was very pleased with the first season. The acting is brilliant. I’ve never seen so much exaggerated facial expression that still comes off incredibly natural. I hope they renew it. If not for the sake of finding out what happens between the Rebecca/Josh/Greg love triangle then at least to enjoy more of those awesome, dirty minded, well crafted songs.
