TV Recap: Girls - "Hannah's Diary"

Left to Right: Allison Williams, Lena Dunham, Jemima Kirke, and Zosia Mamet
I am going to attempt to keep up a weekly entry recapping the brand new HBO comedy series Girls, written, starring, and directed by Lena Dunham of Tiny Furniture fame. While the episodes usually premiere on Sundays, my entries will be posted towards the end of the weeks, usually on Thursdays or Fridays. This is more of a time convenience as I hope to take this new venture seriously and take time to review each episode. If this goes over well, I will continue to do more of these. I was going to do Bob's Burgers, but the idea came a few episodes too late. However, I am still considering doing Louie, whose previous season remains the best 30 minutes of TV each week.


I was right in predicting in last week's recap that things were about to get messy. After talk about HPV and sleazy men, it is a wonder where things can go from there. Unfortunately, this episode may not be as strong because it more of a set-up of dark things to come. 
The episode opens as Hannah (Lena Dunham) receives a picture of her boyfriend Adam's (Adam Driver) penis. She is overcome with surprise until an accompanying message defuses it saying "Sory that wasn't for you."  After discussing the pathetic use of dropping an 'r' in sorry, Hannah discusses with Marnie (Allison Wiliams) and her boyfriend Charlie (Christopher Abbott) the idea that Adam is cheating on her. Despite all of their wishes to have Hannah not respond, she does so with a naked picture of herself.
For most of the rest of the episode, Marnie is gone. We meet up with Shoshanna (Zosia Mamet) and Jessa (Jemima Kirke) as they wander down a street, discussing Jessa's new babysitting job. The banter doesn't last long as Shoshanna runs into someone she knew from summer camp years ago. One thing leads to another and suddenly they are back at her place watching movies. When Shoshanna thinks that the movie is getting boring, she offers to change the movie to something like James Bond or an animated one because she has five movies from Netflix. All he really wanted to do was put his bum knee up to stretch it, which leads to sensual emotions.
Soon they are in bed, and the build-up to Shoshanna's first encounter with sex appears to finally be over. As the guy is giving her oral sex, she suggests nervously that they have real sex instead. He is all for it until she blurts out that she is a virgin. It turns out that he isn't into virgins because they are clingy bleeders. Shoshanna insists that she is the least virginy virgin ever and that this won't be the case. Just like that, he walks away, promising to have sex with her when she is not a virgin.
Jessa's babysitting job has her taking the children to the park. She discovers a group of babysitters, and rallies them into starting a union for better pay. Throughout the episode, Jessa shows apathy towards her new job, but eventually finds interest in it as an organization that she can improve. She gets so wrapped up in the scenario that she forgets about her kids, who have since disappeared. When she finds them, they are under a gazebo and she is really upset. This is the first time we really see Jessa take full responsibility for anything in the show, and she immediately finds remorse when talking with the parents about situation. However, the husband shares some stories about losing them at a mall once. I am picking up the vibe that there is something going on between them, because they talk a lot about kids. Maybe it's a wall covering up emotional interests?
It is also nice to see Hannah at a job. This time she is working at some clerical assistant. When her boss comes in and gives her a hard time, it is assumed that it is hazing the new people. However, it slowly evolves into physical interaction, as the boss claims he's only trying to relax her muscles with a technique he picked up from Club Med. She consults coworkers later about the harassment, and discovers that they're all victims. They just don't care because he treats them to gifts and all sorts of special payments. Hannah is still too skeptical on the situation, so the coworkers apply some shading to her eyebrows, which ends up looking horrible.


Meanwhile, Charlie is at the apartment with Ray (Alex Karpovsky) working on ways for Charlie to impress Marnie. Charlie is still not sure why she doesn't care about him as she is too self reliant on her parents paying for half of her Blackberry. It is even revealed that no one has met Adam. One thing leads to another and they decide to raid her room for ideas. After finding panties laced with holes and a vibrator, they decide to dive deeper. They find Hannah's diary and begin reading about it. There they discover Hannah's opinions on Marnie and Charlie's relationship, which sends them into a frustrated anger.
Hannah is very busy this episode as she heads over to Adam's apartment to break up with him. She claims that is she wants to see his dick, she would just come over to see it. After giving a very long spiel, Adam makes a move on her, and suddenly they are back together. Hannah shows her reluctance by stating that she doesn't want to tell him these things. 
The episode ends with Charlie and Ray playing a show as Questionable Goods playing a song about keds. They aren't very good. However, it is the first time we have the main characters all together in one room, sharing the events of the past episode. Then it all comes to an end when Charlie and Ray pull out Hannah's diary and plays a song that is pretty much passages about why Marnie should leave Charlie. No one is happy. Ray and Charlie storm off stage, and Marnie throws water in Hannah's face. It's hard to see the happy ending of "All Adventurous Women Do" leading to this.


Overall, I felt like this episode was a necessary follow-up to last week's happy ending to a story about HPV. There was a necessary need to continue conflict. However, this episode is not nearly as strong as "All Adventurous Women Do" because this is more of a set-up for future episodes. While it is a great set-up, we need to get a lot of this out of the way in order to build some solid conflict.
I still believe that Jessa and the husband have some sort of thing going on. I am glad to see Jessa's conflict is that she is learning to be responsible for others. I feel like her evolution will be subtle, but eventually make her the superior character. She clearly has a strong initiative here and while she has ways to go, she is showing signs of dominance. Part of me think that it's mostly to find a way to get with the husband. Another part goes back to "Vagina Panic" in which she discusses the desire to have children with many men. I don't think she'll take these children, but I feel it's mostly experimenting for when she does.
It's nice to see Hannah back in the work place. However, with all of the harassment, I wonder if the show will stick with it or drop it after a few episodes, though it was nice to see those ridiculous eyebrows. I guess I was wrong to assume that Hannah's big arc this season would be to find a job. However I hope it is finding a way to dump Adam. I am thinking that she'll need support from someone, though the most obvious answer (Marnie) seems to be against her. I am also surprised that I didn't notice it earlier, but Adam is such a recluse that I've never seen him outside of his apartment.
The episode lacked Marnie like "All Adventurous Women Do" lacked Shoshana. I am wondering if anyone else will be tossed aside for an upcoming episode. However, I felt that the use of Marnie was a lot stronger here. Even though the central theme is actually about Charlie and Marnie's very public break-up, she is rarely there in person. It is mostly done through damage of Hannah's diary, an excellent technique, speaking it has been awhile since we've talked about Hannah's impact as a writer. Unfortunately, it has to be this way.
Then Shoshanna's role is beefed up this week, and we see her try to have sex with an old friend. She manages to play nervous very well and her reluctance to spout out statements about virginity and having sex just fits so well. Even when he's giving up on her, her desire to have sex is so wonderful and heartbreaking. However, it seems weird that to date, we've only seen Lena Dunham naked. We come close here, as Zosia Mamet is in nothing but a bra, but it seems a little weird. If Shoshanna actually does have sex, will we get some boob shots? Why is it only Lena Dunham? Also, I hope there is more to Shoshanna than being a timid lover. Seems like a tragic waste.
I am really excited for whatever is coming in the next episode. Will Jessa make more of an advancement on the husband? How will Marnie and Hannah duke out the situation? Will Marnie talk to Charlie and patch things up in ways similar to Hannah and Adam? Will Shoshanna finally get a story line more than a quest for sex? Will Hannah actually get out of her abusive relationship? Also, can we see the girls as a group again? I appreciate splitting them up, but I would like to see them in pairs again like in "Vagina Panic," where it's two of them just talking things over. 
I think that this show is really good, but it runs a risk of losing interest by having way too many stories going on. They have managed to be in sync with similar themes so far, but I worry that some plots will become more fulfilling than others, making this show very conflicting. I worry that Marnie and Hannah's big fight to come will only separate the show more in some way, as I don't feel it plays too many things safe.
Though I am glad to see Alex Karpovsky back in swing. Wish he was in more of the episodes. Also, this song from the closing credits, the Echo Friendly's "Same Mistakes" is pretty rad.


Favorite moment: While this is a weaker episode, there are actually a lot of better moments than "All Adventurous Women Do." I would probably have to say that the favorite is the piece needed to progress the drama. The scene in which Charlie and Ray invade Hannah and Marnie's privacy is excellent. It mostly is genius, but at first Charlie is reluctant until Ray begins searching through Hannah's diary and thus setting up the events to come. It also gives us a few pieces about Hannah and Marnie's relationship without being obvious.

Rating: 3.5 out of 5

Check out more of my work at www.nevpodcast.com where I post every Wednesday and have a podcast called Nerd's Eye View.

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