This wasn’t a particularly substantial episode of Girls, but I enjoyed it. So much of whether one likes this show or not has to do with who you are. I watch it and love it, because I’m a 20-something creative-ish type, and I relate so well to so many of the plot points and specific character quirks. (I say that because I hate the idea of “I’m a <insert character name>”, but I do believe in relating to particular aspects of each character.) My fiance also watches the show, and likes it enough that he’s back for season two. But as a thirty-something practical-minded dude, it’s not exactly his spirit animal of television shows. So at the end of this episode, Rob looked at me and said “That was boring, nothing happened.” And I liked it. No, it’s not Game of Thrones. I don’t need a Wikipedia article to catch me up to speed on what I missed even though I just watched the show. But it’s the little moments of Girls that I adore so much, and that’s why I liked this episode.
I love how well this show depicts the 20s phenomenon of “OK, I think I’ll be someone else now.” Like, your current personality doesn’t fit anymore, so it’s time to try on something new. This week, we saw that with Marnie and Jessa.
Oh, Marnie. When she quietly responded “Ann Taylor” to the question of “Where does on even get a suit like that?” my heart broke a little for her. She’s not cool enough to work in the art world. Instead of brushing that advice off and continuing to follow her dreams, Marnie reassessed everything and took the worst advice ever from a lovestruck Shoshanna. Marnie decided to make money off her looks, and now she’s a hostess with a uniform that makes her look “like a slutty Von Trapp child”. It’s a phase that will pass, but as someone who’s lost jobs before and will probably lose jobs again, I could relate.
Jessa, meanwhile, is now a blissful wife and artist. It’s super weird, but so superior and arrogant that it’s perfect for Jessa. I almost always hate Jessa. When the husband gave her a basket of three puppies – surprise! – I almost died. This is so stupid, but it perfectly fits the character. I can’t wait for it to implode.
Then there was Hannah’s storyline, which I think it essentially about still being the kind of girl who screws everything up, even when you’re trying so hard to not be that girl. Hannah’s relationship with Troy Sandy falls apart not because of their political differences (he’s a republican) but because he doesn’t like her writing. The republican stuff was a problem, and I liked seeing that explored. In a way, I wish the show had dug more into whether a girl like Hannah could try to overlook the republican thing. I commend her for trying, but I sure as hell couldn’t get past that. But Hannah is a selfish character, and the real deal breaker was that Sandy described her essay as “not for me”.
The entire sequence was incredibly meta, considering the criticism Lena Dunham faced about racial diversity last year and the fact that, as stated above, this show is not for everyone. But because the material was so true to Hannah, the show managed to be incredibly self-aware while the character most certainly was not. I thought it was an extraordinarily well-written scene.
Then Hannah’s relationship with Adam got even worse, when he showed up at her house late at night and she worried that he was going to murder her. Hannah dialed 911 and immediately hung up, because this is what self-involved people do. We assume we’re important enough to be murdered. Yet, Adam is behaving like a lunatic, and while Hannah was into that while they were together, it’s understandable that it scares her now. The police showed up and arrested Adam for some previous unresolved issues, and Hannah felt horrible. I liked the messiness of the story, and how it yet again revealed another layer of that relationship.
Best moment: “Denise?Shosh.Howareyou?I’mamazing.” (I typed it like that to convey the hilarity of Zosia Mamet’s delivery. She wasn’t in the episode a lot, but she stole her screen time.)
