A show called Crazy Ex-Girlfriend actually being good representation for people with mental illness? That sounds, well, crazy. But it’s true.

The CW’s Crazy Ex-Girlfriend, which just completed its third season, tackles the subject of mental illness in a real and honest way, while managing to be a comedic musical at the same time. 

The show’s main character, Rebecca Bunch, isn’t perfect. She struggles with obsessive tendencies and sometimes hurts the people she loves. This is the reality of mental illness — it’s not attractive or aesthetically pleasing, as the show parodies in the song “Sexy French Depression”:

Sexy French Depression (feat. Rachel Bloom) – “Crazy Ex-Girlfriend”

The premise of the show is as follows: Rebecca quits her job as a New York lawyer to move to a small California town all because her ex-boyfriend, Josh Chan lives there. Rebecca then does things that would cause people to call her a “crazy ex-girlfriend,” hence the show’s title. 

As we all know, women are often referred to as “crazy” by their exes for behavior the ex may have seen as too emotional or demanding. This means that, for mentally ill women, the stigma of being called “crazy” is particularly unique. 

While Rebecca’s flaws are often highlighted through her actions, the show doesn’t make her out to be a monster either. That’s because the show understands that people with mental illness are neither flawless nor completely flawed. Crazy Ex-Girlfriend makes Rebecca human, which is what other TV shows should have been doing all along. 

Another choice the show gets right is portraying everything largely from Rebecca’s perspective. Sure, that might seem like a given since she’s the main character, but the way Crazy Ex-Girlfriend is written gives the audience access to Rebecca’s thoughts, allowing viewers to see the process leading up to her actions. One of the first episode’s initial scenes offers a realistic portrayal of a panic attack. A memorable song from the show (NSFW due to language) is a ballad where Rebecca sings to herself about how “stupid” she is, and how she ruins everything. This represents the negative, self-deprecating thought patterns that can accompany mental illness in a very real way.