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| Lena Dunham |
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.
The season officially has one episode to go and it feels like things are just getting started. Maybe not for Hannah (Lena Dunham), who has been building all season, but for the supporting cast. They all feel like their plots have been ignored and have been ignited in the past few weeks in order to come to a logical conclusion by next week's finale. The only question really is if we want to view this season as a Girls (pluralized) season, or a Girl (singular) season and that everything that happens in this particular season is about the evolution of Hannah from upstart to downtrodden. Also, I am not entirely sure how the season could possibly end without feeling anticlimactic after this week's events, but we'll find out soon enough.
The episode opens with Adam (Adam Driver) and Hannah having sex. Despite enjoying it, Adam has to get going as he needs to go to rehearsals. It gets Hannah all bummed out, so she goes over to Ray's (Alex Karpovsky) as Adam is practicing. It makes him mad and sends Hannah running away, disappointed with the direction of their romance. Adam insists that he needs the solitude at that moment, claiming that one day Hannah will need her space and that he will provide it for her. Everything is fine, even though it is agreed that they shouldn't see each other too often during this time frame.
Meanwhile, Marnie (Allison Williams) takes over Soojin's (Greta Lee) art gallery when she has to take care of some errands. She ends up getting into a discussion with an elderly woman named Beadie (Louise Lasser) about paintings and her ex-husband. Her big thing is that despite having big arguments with him, she still has artwork featured in his class. As a student, Marnie had Beadie's ex-husband as a teacher and that is where she recognizes her name from.
Hannah meets up with Elijah (Andrew Rannels) while getting prepared to meet up with Patti LuPone for another interview. It gets him excited, as he adores her work and wants to hound her with questions. He wants to touch her Tonys and talk to a fellow performer who actually made it. The meeting goes well as LuPone gives Elijah advice that what he really needs is to have confidence and personality. Stop being the underdog and prove to everyone that you could do it. The rest of the night with LuPone and her husband turns into a wild, frivolous night of excitement.
Meanwhile, Marnie is practicing for a show with Desi (Ebon Moss-Bachrach). The song is coming along and despite sounding good, Marnie is nervous. Desi tries to calm her down and tells her to focus on herself while performing. There is also talk about the Youtube music video that has been floating around. Marnie disowns it, which Desi is fine with, as it made him uncomfortable. Another reason that Marnie is uncomfortable is because she has feelings for Desi. However, he has a girlfriend, which clears some things up.
Hannah, taking LuPone's advice, decides to take action at her job. During a dull meeting, she goes off on the staff for having stupid ideas. She individually critiques everyone and calls them hypocrites for not following their dreams. As the conversation comes to a close, she is fired for this outburst. Despite everyone being nice to her, she leaves angry and convinced that she made the right decision because it was subjugating her career. Also, she was eager to receive those unemployment checks.
After spending the day getting high as Shoshanna's (Zosia Mamet) place, Jessa (Jemima Kirke) decides to stop by Marnie's place of work and talk about the art. She likes it, but also could just be fibbing her way through a conversation. During this time, Beadie decides to offer her a job that would involve cleaning up her house and filing things. Jessa accepts it and insists that she won't steal anything from her for whatever reason. She isn't a thief anymore.
Marnie's performance goes well and she ends up talking to Desi and his friends, including Clementine (Natalie Moralez). Things are going well, even if there is small tension there that causes Marnie to go back to sleep with Ray. Hannah meets Adam's friends, but the conversation quickly gets derailed when she shares her story of quitting her job. She is excited for the unemployment checks. Everyone stares at her, a little baffled.
Adam decides to take Hannah back to Ray's place. In an impromptu decision, they decide to have sex. However, they hear a noise from the other room. It is Ray and Marnie having sex. Hannah goes to investigate, claiming that she is in charge of everything. When she sees them lying naked together, she becomes furious and decides to unleash some vitriol on the two.
Rating: 4.5 out of 5
With only one episode to go, there is only one direction that I feel like things could logically go. Adam and Hannah will repeat the arc of season one and break-up. This time, I feel with Hannah in the wrong for larger, more legitimate reasons, it will be more permanent. It would make sense more than the redundant pattern of them ending back together. Also, with this episode, Hannah manages to come off a little psychopathic. She is losing focus of her life and the good will that has been coming her way. She loses her job and there's a good chance that she just lost good intentions with Marnie and Ray, whom she was starting to despise anyways. Hannah has switched places with Adam and has become the uncomfortable control freak who can't handle that she doesn't have it all.
For starters, there is the question of where Hannah could be going in the finale. With the next episode being "Two Plane Rides," I do feel like there's some significance to someone doing a permanent move. With my money on Jessa being shoved back into rehab, my money is on Hannah moving out of New York, possibly even back with her parents. It is a stretch, speaking that we might sacrifice a lot of the cast, but I don't exactly know who Hannah is possibly friends with by the end of this episode. She has lost it all. Either that, or she is ending up in some sort of psych ward. It isn't that unpredictable of a move, considering that she is a little delusional.
The most obvious sign is that she has admitted to paying all or most of the rent to the apartment. She may have money in reserves to make it awhile, but she isn't the most logically minded person to handle it. There's a good chance that unemployment won't last long, if at all. With unemployment checks being based around the idea that one was fired for legitimate harassment issues, there's probability that this is the end to her dream. Also, I do feel like at some point, she will sell her writing in a form of desperation that contradicts her previous contract. I feel it is only right, especially when considering that she has become a control freak and she has been known to do crazy things under stress.
I feel like Adam is the hero of the season, as he has been noble the entire time. His career is probably going to take off and he will outgrow Hannah. They may admit to being kindred spirits all up till this point, but I don't buy that they are long to be together now that Adam is seeing the abuse instead of reversed as it has been most of this run. Also, I do believe in some ways that Elijah is an instigator of bad behavior on the show. He may not actually be directly a harasser, but he does seem to cause Hannah to be mean. Consider that if Elijah had not asked LuPone about his career, Hannah probably wouldn't have gotten the idea to "take control" and quit her job. It is just one of the many strings in which the show has gone.
Of the subplots, I do feel like Shoshanna's only natural conclusion to the season is to graduate. It would seem tragic if she didn't. If she doesn't, then she may as well lose contact with everyone. She has been too wound up with studying to really have any conflict this season. It may be boring, but I am convinced that she has to be building to something. Also, Jessa is aware that she is an addict and is even losing her mind because of it. While I do feel like having a job for Beadie could work in some ways, it was never explained why she lost her last job. Presumably, there will be shenanigans that get her fired again. And thus, rehab.
I also do feel bad because Marnie was starting to have a good story arc this season. She didn't do much for the first half and then to see it blindsided by Hannah's ego is a little much. Things can never work out for her, unfortunately. Her music career is starting to sound good, but even Marnie could get sidetracked by lust and go after Desi for unjust reasons. It seems unfair, as she has gotten a taste of performing. It is only one of the many loose ends that I hope get wrapped up nicely next week. The only problem is that the series never wraps things up nicely and instead puts a cap on a theme. This year's theme was communication, or lack thereof. I feel like that will come into effect greatly in the finale.
The episode opens with Adam (Adam Driver) and Hannah having sex. Despite enjoying it, Adam has to get going as he needs to go to rehearsals. It gets Hannah all bummed out, so she goes over to Ray's (Alex Karpovsky) as Adam is practicing. It makes him mad and sends Hannah running away, disappointed with the direction of their romance. Adam insists that he needs the solitude at that moment, claiming that one day Hannah will need her space and that he will provide it for her. Everything is fine, even though it is agreed that they shouldn't see each other too often during this time frame.
Meanwhile, Marnie (Allison Williams) takes over Soojin's (Greta Lee) art gallery when she has to take care of some errands. She ends up getting into a discussion with an elderly woman named Beadie (Louise Lasser) about paintings and her ex-husband. Her big thing is that despite having big arguments with him, she still has artwork featured in his class. As a student, Marnie had Beadie's ex-husband as a teacher and that is where she recognizes her name from.
Hannah meets up with Elijah (Andrew Rannels) while getting prepared to meet up with Patti LuPone for another interview. It gets him excited, as he adores her work and wants to hound her with questions. He wants to touch her Tonys and talk to a fellow performer who actually made it. The meeting goes well as LuPone gives Elijah advice that what he really needs is to have confidence and personality. Stop being the underdog and prove to everyone that you could do it. The rest of the night with LuPone and her husband turns into a wild, frivolous night of excitement.
Meanwhile, Marnie is practicing for a show with Desi (Ebon Moss-Bachrach). The song is coming along and despite sounding good, Marnie is nervous. Desi tries to calm her down and tells her to focus on herself while performing. There is also talk about the Youtube music video that has been floating around. Marnie disowns it, which Desi is fine with, as it made him uncomfortable. Another reason that Marnie is uncomfortable is because she has feelings for Desi. However, he has a girlfriend, which clears some things up.
Hannah, taking LuPone's advice, decides to take action at her job. During a dull meeting, she goes off on the staff for having stupid ideas. She individually critiques everyone and calls them hypocrites for not following their dreams. As the conversation comes to a close, she is fired for this outburst. Despite everyone being nice to her, she leaves angry and convinced that she made the right decision because it was subjugating her career. Also, she was eager to receive those unemployment checks.
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| Left to right: Adam Driver and Dunham |
After spending the day getting high as Shoshanna's (Zosia Mamet) place, Jessa (Jemima Kirke) decides to stop by Marnie's place of work and talk about the art. She likes it, but also could just be fibbing her way through a conversation. During this time, Beadie decides to offer her a job that would involve cleaning up her house and filing things. Jessa accepts it and insists that she won't steal anything from her for whatever reason. She isn't a thief anymore.
Marnie's performance goes well and she ends up talking to Desi and his friends, including Clementine (Natalie Moralez). Things are going well, even if there is small tension there that causes Marnie to go back to sleep with Ray. Hannah meets Adam's friends, but the conversation quickly gets derailed when she shares her story of quitting her job. She is excited for the unemployment checks. Everyone stares at her, a little baffled.
Adam decides to take Hannah back to Ray's place. In an impromptu decision, they decide to have sex. However, they hear a noise from the other room. It is Ray and Marnie having sex. Hannah goes to investigate, claiming that she is in charge of everything. When she sees them lying naked together, she becomes furious and decides to unleash some vitriol on the two.
Rating: 4.5 out of 5
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| Left to right: Dunham and Alex Karpovsky |
For starters, there is the question of where Hannah could be going in the finale. With the next episode being "Two Plane Rides," I do feel like there's some significance to someone doing a permanent move. With my money on Jessa being shoved back into rehab, my money is on Hannah moving out of New York, possibly even back with her parents. It is a stretch, speaking that we might sacrifice a lot of the cast, but I don't exactly know who Hannah is possibly friends with by the end of this episode. She has lost it all. Either that, or she is ending up in some sort of psych ward. It isn't that unpredictable of a move, considering that she is a little delusional.
The most obvious sign is that she has admitted to paying all or most of the rent to the apartment. She may have money in reserves to make it awhile, but she isn't the most logically minded person to handle it. There's a good chance that unemployment won't last long, if at all. With unemployment checks being based around the idea that one was fired for legitimate harassment issues, there's probability that this is the end to her dream. Also, I do feel like at some point, she will sell her writing in a form of desperation that contradicts her previous contract. I feel it is only right, especially when considering that she has become a control freak and she has been known to do crazy things under stress.
I feel like Adam is the hero of the season, as he has been noble the entire time. His career is probably going to take off and he will outgrow Hannah. They may admit to being kindred spirits all up till this point, but I don't buy that they are long to be together now that Adam is seeing the abuse instead of reversed as it has been most of this run. Also, I do believe in some ways that Elijah is an instigator of bad behavior on the show. He may not actually be directly a harasser, but he does seem to cause Hannah to be mean. Consider that if Elijah had not asked LuPone about his career, Hannah probably wouldn't have gotten the idea to "take control" and quit her job. It is just one of the many strings in which the show has gone.
Of the subplots, I do feel like Shoshanna's only natural conclusion to the season is to graduate. It would seem tragic if she didn't. If she doesn't, then she may as well lose contact with everyone. She has been too wound up with studying to really have any conflict this season. It may be boring, but I am convinced that she has to be building to something. Also, Jessa is aware that she is an addict and is even losing her mind because of it. While I do feel like having a job for Beadie could work in some ways, it was never explained why she lost her last job. Presumably, there will be shenanigans that get her fired again. And thus, rehab.
I also do feel bad because Marnie was starting to have a good story arc this season. She didn't do much for the first half and then to see it blindsided by Hannah's ego is a little much. Things can never work out for her, unfortunately. Her music career is starting to sound good, but even Marnie could get sidetracked by lust and go after Desi for unjust reasons. It seems unfair, as she has gotten a taste of performing. It is only one of the many loose ends that I hope get wrapped up nicely next week. The only problem is that the series never wraps things up nicely and instead puts a cap on a theme. This year's theme was communication, or lack thereof. I feel like that will come into effect greatly in the finale.
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