Rebecca (Rachel Bloom) is definitely certain about her love for Josh.
Thanks to various interviews, we already knew that the second season of Crazy Ex-Girlfriend would focus on Rebecca's being sure about her feelings for Josh (Vincent Rodriguez III). We've got a new theme song, which makes Rebecca's intentions abundantly clear — other characters aren't even featured, other than Josh's face appearing in a heart.
At the end of last season, we saw Rebecca admit to Josh that she moved to West Covina to be with him. The confession, of course, came after she and Josh slept together following his sister's wedding. Josh suggested that he and Valencia (Gabrielle Ruiz) were done — but it was hard to believe he'd drop his years-long relationship after consistently seeming hesitant about being with Rebecca.
But it looks like Valencia really is out of the picture — at least for now. Josh and Rebecca have developed a friends-with-benefits relationship. He's sleeping on her couch, since Valencia's still living in his old apartment.
Of course, as happy as Rebecca is to be having sex with Josh, she'd love for their situation to develop into an actual relationship. She tries to make Josh feel at home by creating a Scott Joplin-playing drawer for his stuff, but (unsurprisingly) it freaks him out. The drawer, combined with Josh's realization that Greg (Santino Fontana) doesn't know he's been hooking up with Rebecca, is enough to convince him to move back in with his parents (after spending a night sleeping on the floor at Aloha).
We already knew Josh and Rebecca would be in an uncertain relationship, though — both of the songs from tonight's episode, "Love Kernels" and "We Should Definitely Not Have Sex Right Now," were released ahead of the premiere. The real shocker was Paula's (Donna Lynne Champlin) reaction.
In the first season, Paula was Rebecca's fiercest advocate in her pursuit of Josh. She went to hilarious lengths to try and get them together — remember the camera-loaded owl pin Rebecca wore to the Chan family's Thanksgiving dinner? But now, Paula doesn't believe Rebecca and Josh should be together.
"I don't think Josh cares about you the way you want him to," Paula tells her. It's a sharp turn from "After Everything I've Done For You," but it's great to see Paula being so sensible — and giving Rebecca some much-needed tough love.
Another Paula shocker is the surprising success of her marriage. We see Scott (Steve Monroe) and Paula talking about Rebecca's issues with Josh — Scott concludes that she can't come back from telling Josh she moved to West Covina for him, even though she tried to play it off on the night of the wedding. Paula realizes she's talking about Rebecca too much and that she doesn't need to be so invested in her life — especially since her relationship with Scott has taken such a positive turn. The two apparently have a great sex life now; in a truly hilarious product placement, Paula ordered a harness for them on Amazon Prime.
Paula makes good on her promise to be less invested in Rebecca's life, too. She creates a civil contract for Rebecca to sign, outlining their "terms of friendship." It includes the fact that Paula will no longer participate in any of Rebecca's hijinks. And she decides to apply to law school! Let's hope that leads to more B plots and solo songs.
As for Greg, he's apparently been MIA for several weeks after the wedding. It turns out he's been going to Alcoholics Anonymous. The speech Greg gives at an AA meeting is meaningful, moving, and not at all cheesy. As with Rebecca's depression and anxiety, Crazy Ex-Girlfriend is handling Greg's addiction in a thoughtful way — and showing that issues like these aren't always obvious to friends and family. He tells the group that he's known he was an alcoholic since the first time he drank — it tasted like "glitter." He also admits that he's felt less angry since he's been attending the meetings.
We don't see a lot of Darryl (Pete Gardner) and White Josh (David Hull) this episode, but it looks like they're developing quite a connection. Darryl gives Josh a key to his apartment and the two sit giddily together, poring over what appears to be an Ikea catalog.
Personally, though, I thought the best part of the episode was when Rebecca tries to make Josh's Scott Joplin drawer not sound ridiculous. When explaining that she'll install Scott Joplin in every drawer, she goes on a tangent about having a drawer for too-small bras, because of a "bad birth control." (Heavy boobs, right?!) It's one of those Crazy Ex-Girlfriend moments where Bloom perfectly identifies something so specific, you had no idea how much you wanted it to be normalized on TV until it happens. (If any small-chested ladies want to raid my own small-bra drawer, as Rebecca suggests, you know where to find me.)
Next week, expect plenty of awkward scenes if Greg does find out that Rebecca and Josh have been sleeping together. Hopefully, we'll also soon see the return of Father Brah (Rene Gube) to guide Josh through his feelings.