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| Left to right: Shiri Appleby and Adam Driver |
Welcome back to the TV Recap column for the Golden Globe-winning HBO series Girls. Join me as I capture the exploits of the Lena Dunham-penned series as it ventures through another season of scandal, accidents, and life in general. Will it be another great season for the Tiny Furniture director and her growing cast of friends? Tune back every Friday to find out more.
What is very impressive about the last stretch of Girls is that it almost breaks the trend of tell instead of show. Where we had a trilogy of episodes starting with "One Man's Trash" detailing each character's desperation, we are now in the third consecutive episode where they show up that they are in trouble. Or at least a more mental and physical set of trouble. While I am conflicted on whether or not the telling episodes are essential to the bigger picture, I am fascinated with where the show is going now that it pretty much wants to disassociate itself from the "comedy" moniker with a very, very, very, very dark episode which actually will make you cringe.
The episode begins with Adam (Adam Driver) and Natalia (Shiri Appleby) coming back from a Sandra Bullock movie. They're laughing and discussing it and how Adam cares for toilet humor. Natalia feels comfortable enough to state that she wants to have sex with him when it is appropriate. Of course, there are guidelines and he needs to take it slow and kiss beforehand. For the most part, everything is going great, and Natalia wants him to come along to an engagement party that her friend Angie (Amy Schumer) is throwing.
Meanwhile, Hannah (Lena Dunham) is coming home after her boss (John Cameron Mitchell) asks if her hymen grew back. The writing that she is supposed to be doing is horrid and very tame. He wants edgy and to make up having sex if she is not. This leads her to continue her nervous twitches and eventually causes her to shove a q-tip into her ear with intention of cleaning it. However, her OCD of doing it eight times leads to her getting a portion stuck and having to go to the hospital after calling her parents (Becky Ann Baker and Peter Scolari) with hopes that they will drive her.
Ray (Alex Karpovsky) and Shoshanna (Zosia Mamet) are in the middle of discussing their relationship. Ray is wondering why Shoshanna is acting all uptight and secretive. She claims that nothing is wrong, but Shoshanna is clearly afraid to admit that she held the doorman's hand in the previous episode. Meanwhile, Marnie (Allison Williams) is laying down a track on Garage Band and needs Ray's help. The three of them are heading out to a celebration party that Charlie (Christopher Abbott) is throwing to honor his success with the Forbid company.
At Charlie's party, Shoshanna begins flirting with all sorts of guys, claiming that they could have sex with her if she wanted. Ray is continuing to be suspicious. It isn't until later that Marnie drops a secret. She wants to perform a soft ballad cover of Kanye West's "Stronger" for Charlie. This brings the room down and while she is excited by her reveal, Charlie is not. This leads to them making out in a nearby office room. Ray finally talks to Shoshanna, and she admits to her past deeds, which causes him to hug her and accept forgiveness.
Hannah runs into Adam outside of Angie's party. She just returned from the hospital and is showing off her q-tip. This freaks out Adam and he tells her to be more careful. She is enthused by this. Adam says goodbye moments later to return to the party, where he doesn't get along with people talking about sports. Breaking his A.A. rules, he decides to have a drink in order to have a good time with Natalia.
One thing leads to another. They are dancing and having fun. When they head back to Adam's, he demands that she gets on all fours and crawl to his bed. She does, but this quickly turns into sex. Natalia isn't cool with this, but Adam is going all out. He ends by ejaculating on her chest and then wiping it off with his shirt. He stops and wonders if she is officially over him yet, or if he can still keep treating her like this.
The episode ends almost as it began. Hannah is about to use the q-tip that caused most of her problems to try and clean out her other ear.
Rating: 4.5 out of 5
I doubt that any of this week's episode can be considered a comedy. However, what is interesting is that somehow this show needs to wrap itself up by next week. There's only 30 more minutes to justify Hannah's mental breakdown and wonder if Charlie and Marnie are a couple again. True, there is the possible way of turning it into a vague establishment for season three, but it just felt like the past four episodes have been establishing something greater for the show. It almost felt like a cheat to throw in "One Man's Trash" and "Video Games" just so that these great ideas could come towards the end of the season.
The episode begins with Adam (Adam Driver) and Natalia (Shiri Appleby) coming back from a Sandra Bullock movie. They're laughing and discussing it and how Adam cares for toilet humor. Natalia feels comfortable enough to state that she wants to have sex with him when it is appropriate. Of course, there are guidelines and he needs to take it slow and kiss beforehand. For the most part, everything is going great, and Natalia wants him to come along to an engagement party that her friend Angie (Amy Schumer) is throwing.
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| Allison Williams |
Ray (Alex Karpovsky) and Shoshanna (Zosia Mamet) are in the middle of discussing their relationship. Ray is wondering why Shoshanna is acting all uptight and secretive. She claims that nothing is wrong, but Shoshanna is clearly afraid to admit that she held the doorman's hand in the previous episode. Meanwhile, Marnie (Allison Williams) is laying down a track on Garage Band and needs Ray's help. The three of them are heading out to a celebration party that Charlie (Christopher Abbott) is throwing to honor his success with the Forbid company.
At Charlie's party, Shoshanna begins flirting with all sorts of guys, claiming that they could have sex with her if she wanted. Ray is continuing to be suspicious. It isn't until later that Marnie drops a secret. She wants to perform a soft ballad cover of Kanye West's "Stronger" for Charlie. This brings the room down and while she is excited by her reveal, Charlie is not. This leads to them making out in a nearby office room. Ray finally talks to Shoshanna, and she admits to her past deeds, which causes him to hug her and accept forgiveness.
Hannah runs into Adam outside of Angie's party. She just returned from the hospital and is showing off her q-tip. This freaks out Adam and he tells her to be more careful. She is enthused by this. Adam says goodbye moments later to return to the party, where he doesn't get along with people talking about sports. Breaking his A.A. rules, he decides to have a drink in order to have a good time with Natalia.
One thing leads to another. They are dancing and having fun. When they head back to Adam's, he demands that she gets on all fours and crawl to his bed. She does, but this quickly turns into sex. Natalia isn't cool with this, but Adam is going all out. He ends by ejaculating on her chest and then wiping it off with his shirt. He stops and wonders if she is officially over him yet, or if he can still keep treating her like this.
The episode ends almost as it began. Hannah is about to use the q-tip that caused most of her problems to try and clean out her other ear.
Rating: 4.5 out of 5
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| Left to right: Alex Karpovsky and Zosia Mamet |
It is weird however that I have come full circle on Adam. I started off in "Vagina Panic" thinking that he was a sleaze. Now with "On All Fours," it almost feels like he is returning to his old, dark self. True, the entire arc of Adam in season two has been about how much of a creep he is, but it almost felt forgivable in some circumstances. He was brutish and over Hannah, but as proven tonight, maybe he doesn't hate her all that much.
However, I think that the case is not so much that Adam is intentionally a jerk. I believe we come to the root of the problem in this episode. While he has long been established as an alcoholic, we never have really seen him drink to an excessive degree. Obviously it starts off well to a great Fiona Apple-sung montage. However, by the end of the episode, he is questionably raping Natalia and wondering if she will stick around.
I was even surprised to see that they showed the ejaculation. However, in terms of its necessity, I side with that it was. It could have been removed and not missed, as Adam has done that many times before. However, in a very dark episode, Adam does the darkest thing, which is disgrace Natalia's body. Showing the final marks is just as much shocking as it is poignant to the story. With Hannah, it at least felt like it was in playful fun when it wasn't shown. Here, it almost feels like it serves the narrative.
I am wondering if Marnie's relationship with Charlie is going to be long term. They initially broke up because Charlie wasn't an exciting guy. Marnie was too organized. A season later, and they both are at opposite ends of the spectrum. Maybe it could work out, that it still feels like Marnie is using him for desperation just like she did with Booth. It is also funny that Charlie started the company to get away from her and it only brought them closer.
Also, it is nice to see them incorporate Allison Williams' singing career into the show. After all, she got her start posting videos on Youtube. Don't believe me? Check this video out of her performing Ke$ha's "Tik Tok." I just wonder how far they are going to go with her singing career. Is she going to use Charlie's success as a gateway into the industry? I don't know how that would work, but it seems like one of the more plausible set-ups for next season. Still, it was pretty great hearing her perform "Stronger," even if it was meant to show her at her lowest. I just felt like it moved the plot forward and while she may be looking at a terrible singing career, it at least is a nice change of her working at a restaurant.
I admire that Hannah seems to be in the background of this entire episode. Her problem is still consistent and while I begin to feel like we're going to end season three with her in a psych ward, it is fascinating to see how far this show is taking OCD and mental illness while doing it in somewhat respectful manner. I do believe that this consistent reliance on calling her parents is going to result in more familial drama next season, but for the time being, I am convinced that Hannah is on a long, downward spiral. How long the show plans on centralizing the focus will be a good question. However, it does irk me a little that she got a q-tip lodged in her ear. As a personal fear of mine, it was harder to watch than the rape scene. However, that doctor was pretty funny and it was nice to see him drop so many witty lines in a bleak episode.
I must admit that Shoshanna's nervous nature finally makes sense in this episode. She is trying to belong, but instead goes around trying to ignore the one person that loves her. I felt like in season one she was too much of a walking joke, only invented for nervousness. Here, she continues her evolution to actual character, and when Ray finally accepts her at the end, it feels like there is at least one happy moment in this entire debacle.
I am not entirely sure if I am loving season two more or less than season one. Episodes like "On All Fours" definitely show it going in ambitious new directions, though risking comfortable nature in the process. Still, it is nice to see a show be this ambitious and while I wish that we saw it more over the past season than in the last run, it is turning out to be a twisted, fun ride. While I still don't know how Adam fits into the grand picture, I feel like things are only going to get worse for him. However, I really do hope this series doesn't end before he takes that boat and sinks it on the Hudson. Now there is a scene that the show has been teasing forever and only reminded me of here. That would be brilliant, if a little hard to shoot.
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