Since the television show premiered in 2015, “Crazy Ex-Girlfriend” has been one of the smartest, funniest shows on TV. Rachel Bloom, Aline Brosh McKenna and the “Crazy Ex” team have created three seasons of female-centered television that teaches as it provides laughs and reignites the flame of TV musicals to boot.
Each season so far includes a different theme song, usually showing the viewers a part of the season’s tone as well as hinting at what’s in store for the main character, Rebecca Bunch (Rachel Bloom). Bloom herself revealed some of the lyrics for the Season 4 theme song at San Diego Comic Con.
The video of the event reveals that the new song revels in the complications of Rebecca’s life at this point, starting with the usual twist on a familiar musical trope, in this case, the ’90s jingle. The video has yet to clarify if the theme for this season will even include the word “crazy,” which would signal a major change in direction.
Is it even a Crazy Ex Girlfriend panel if Rachel Bloom doesn’t sing a song? Here she is with the fourth season’s opening theme at #SDCC pic.twitter.com/qAr3NaO9Xy
— Jordan Crucchiola (@JorCru) July 20, 2018
Instead, the song seems to point to Rebecca accepting the complicated nature of her personality and situation. She’s not like “that other Rebecca” mentioned in the song; no one is. The things she does don’t always make sense and sometimes her character traits and actions seem to clash with each other. Acceptance of those realities, though, could make for a totally different tone in Season 4 and a fascinating dynamic for writers and viewers alike to explore.
Such a change in direction wouldn’t necessarily be out of place. In Season 3, the show’s writers showed just how far Rebecca’s actions could take her into the abyss, and then took her out and had her, for the first time, seem to actually get better. Last season, Rebecca finally stayed in therapy long enough to get a real diagnosis: borderline personality disorder.
In the past, theme songs for the show have indicated where Rebecca is in her mental health journey, while also skewering the way that media portrays women. In the first season, the theme song featured a Rebecca who didn’t quite understand why she was doing what she was doing as she moves to California to follow a man, claiming that she’s not there for him before finally admitting she’s actually there for him, and so on.
The second season featured a Rebecca in denial; using an old-timey showgirl type song, she says she “can’t be held responsible for [her] actions,” which is a clear reference to both her character’s denial of her own issues and the media’s habit of explaining ridiculous behaviors of female characters with “love.” This portrayal comes from the same place that the sexist idea of the “crazy ex-girlfriend” itself does, implying that women in love can’t control themselves and have some kind of hysteria.
By the third and most recent season, the theme song features Bloom dressed in all different costumes, and in one fell swoop examining the way that different genres of popular music view the moniker “crazy.” Each different Bloom character sings, “you do/you don’t want to be crazy,” clarifying that pop culture is not sure what kinds of crazy are good and what kinds are bad.
The wait for Season 4 is still relatively long, but Bloom’s song reveal has intrigued fans and hopefully will be the theme music for a season full of redemption, character growth and, as always on “Crazy Ex-Girlfriend,” consequences.
