Heather Is A Wild Card On ‘Crazy Ex-Girlfriend’

One of the most refreshing things about the second season of Crazy Ex-Girlfriend is that the focus is moving to the women while the men are slowly being pushed out of the equation. Warts and all, Rebecca, Paula, and yes, even Heather, are getting their due. Heather has been largely peripheral to the Crazy Ex-Girlfriend world, dipping in and out to serve as love interest, wise counselor, or smarmy comic relief for the benefit of other characters since the early days of Season 1. Admittedly, Heather's been utilized in the story almost (and arguably) exclusively to further the narrative of her white counterparts, which is problematic to say the least. But Friday's episode proved that not only is Heather a wild card of a character, she actually deserves to be explored in depth and given a chance to stand as her own person.

After Rebecca irrationally decided to set fire to Greg and Josh's belongings in her kitchen sink, thus burning part of her apartment to the ground, she asked Heather if she could crash on her couch for a little bit. During the exchange, Heather's parents entered into the picture. They readily accepted Rebecca into their home while she went through a makeover to get over the guys who had broken her heart. They made her pancakes and coddled her misguided makeover mission. They're sweet, yes, but in doing so, only fed Rebecca's unhealthy habits. This pushed Heather to show a new side to herself. We saw that she is a tough, motivated young woman who wants to break free from her parents' well-intentioned but unproductive parenting methods.

How did this happen? Well, Rebecca's makeover was spawned by her desire to not only get over Greg and Josh, but also to become the new spokesmodel for a company that makes douches. I know. It was a weird episode. After Rebecca suffered a setback in seeing Josh and failing to impress him with her new look, Heather jumped into action to get Rebecca's head back in the spokesmodel competition game.

After Rebecca failed to explain why she would be the perfect spokesmodel for Miss Douche (largely because she doesn't know who she is), she nominated Heather. Winning the Miss Douche title, Heather made a major announcement. The newfound sense of freedom from procuring a new title and a big pot of prize money led her to announce she was breaking away from her own stunted living situation. Instead, she was going to find a new place to live with Rebecca.

Heather's newfound sense of agency and independence was another example of a character on Crazy Ex-Girlfriend breaking away from their unhealthy old habits in favor of cultivating a better lifestyle. It seems that everyone in Rebecca's life is putting a stop to their bad choices; will she be able to follow suit? Regardless, seeing Heather transform into her own person was a great turn. Let's see how she does actually living with Rebecca. Will the good times last?

Image: Scott Everett White/The CW (2)