Over the course of its run, Crazy Ex-Girlfriend has thoroughly explored the suburban utopia of West Covina, sipped a lot of boba tea, and taught viewers about the math of love triangles—and quadrangles—all while following the chaotic story of Rebecca Bunch, a lovestruck woman with just a few underlying issues to address. On Friday, after four seasons on the CW (which picked it up in 2015, after Showtime, which originally developed the series, passed) Rebecca and the gang will say goodbye with a series finale, followed by a musical special highlighting some of Crazy Ex’s most memorable numbers.

Rebecca has taken not only viewers, but her friends on a wild ride throughout the show, navigating her obsession with Josh Chan and subsequent rocky relationship with Greg Serrano; forming friendships with former adversaries Paula Proctor and Valencia Perez; and, eventually, even dating her boss-slash-nemesis, Nathaniel Plimpton III. Oh, and then there’s Darryl, Rebecca’s colleague, who came out as bisexual before, eventually, having a baby, after Rebecca offered to donate one of her eggs to him. Even minor characters, including Rebecca’s former roommate, Heather, and Hector and White Josh (friends of Regular Josh and Greg), have embarked on their own respective arcs.

As the series comes to a close—with two Emmys and a Golden Globe under its belt—many fans are probably wondering which guy, if any, Rebecca will choose to be with once and for all: Josh, Greg, or Nathaniel. But the show’s co-creators, Rachel Bloom and Aline Brosh McKenna, would be the first to tell you that the situation’s a lot more nuanced than that. Throughout Rebecca’s journey, the guys were always incidental; what’s mattered more, they say, is achieving true self-love, mental clarity, and the confidence to present four separate Crazy Ex-Girlfriend theme songs. (Bloom has some choice words for those who still miss the show’s ultra-catchy Season 1 opener.)

Vanity Fair: How does it feel to close the book on this show—at least before it becomes a stage musical, or whatever the future may hold?

Rachel Bloom: Well, there are a lot of things that are happening. As I’m on this call right now, I brought all of my stuff from the office home. The costumes of the show are splayed across my bed. I am surrounded with the past four years. It hits me in waves.

It’s been these weird stops and starts. Aline and I wrote the first draft of the finale in one day. And so we cried when that happened. And then, of course, it went through a bunch of changes. We cried—I mean, sobbed—at the final table read. But then we hadn’t even sold the episode yet. I cried when we wrapped filming the episodes, but then we had the whole concert special, which is not the narrative finale—we didn’t play our characters, and it’s kind of this add-on. But still, it’s been these kind of false endings, just like there were false starts in the beginning. So it’s—

Aline Brosh McKenna: Aww, wow!

Bloom: It fucks with you!

Brosh McKenna: I hadn’t thought about it that way; that’s so true. We had, like, 15 different starts, and we’ve had like 18 different endings. And then we did something insane, which is we decided to make a concert special and a behind-the-scenes documentary. Two genres we have not done before—at the same time—while finishing the finale. Which was just bonkers. So, you know, it has not been just like, “Let’s put our feet up, and just glide, and kind of understand what this show has meant to us.” The shows are still airing; we are still doing promotion; and then Rachel is putting together the show for Radio City in May. It sort of snowballed into being, and the snowball will slowly melt!