Welcome back to another round of Girls TV Recap. Following the amazing third season, this series will focus on season four and the perils that Hannah (Lena Dunham) and her friends face as she goes to Iowa. What new experiences will she face? What will everyone else do while they wait for her inevitable return? Come back every Friday for the latest recap including thoughts and predictions for each episode. Will it remain one of the best comedies on TV? You'll have to read to find out.
It has been a rocky start getting into season four of Girls. While there have been plenty of high points, the pacing seems to have been a secondary issue. How is the series going to handle Hannah being away from New York? As I have indicated since the "Iowa" recap, I sense that there is decay in the near future for everyone. In the most painfully open sense of the concept, it finally happens this week with an episode so provocative and arresting (literally) that it manages to not only stick to the season's growing theme, but manages to serve as the ultimate thesis to a series in which meandering 20-somethings finally are getting their comeuppance.
The episode opens with Hannah talking to Jessa (Jemima Kirke) via Skype. She is curious about Adam (Adam Driver), who is her AA partner. Jessa is seeming aloof and despite being sober is showing signs of still being irresponsible. Meanwhile Shoshanna (Zosia Mamet) goes on a job interview for a position that she is qualified for, but chooses not to take on the grounds that she was only testing for a job that she actually wants.
Meanwhile, Marnie (Allison Williams) is having conflicts trying to get her music career with Desi (Ebon Moss-Bachrach) off of the ground. Their affair against Clementine is proving to be problematic and overshadowing the music. Ray (Alex Karpovsky) insists that Marnie leaves him, but only because they still harbor feelings for each other. After pitching their music to a record company, Desi and Marnie begin to have growing conflicts, deciding to stay together almost entirely for the music.
Jessa and Adam are hanging out while discussing her upcoming sober anniversary of four months. She plans to celebrate at Chuck E Cheez, but Adam insists that they do something better. After getting the urge to pee, Jessa drops her shorts and goes in the middle of the street right as a police car drives by. They write her a ticket, which she rips up. This gets her arrested. Adam reacts violently. He is also arrested. Ray bails them out, though they now owe him $3,000. Jessa needs Adam more than the other way around.
Hannah decides to go with Elijah (Andrew Rannels) to a get together with the art community. Elijah is taking pictures of people smoking and flashing breasts. When Hannah meets up with her writing group, she gets intoxicated and decides to make open complaints to everyone for not being sincere as writers. They are shocked, but only in a way to consider her a Lindsay Lohan of their group. Hannah is bored in Iowa and has too much free time with nothing to do. She heads home in a Mennonite's carriage when somebody steals her bicycle.
Rating: 4 out of 5
While it could just be that the season is going in the direction that I was expecting, I am really happy with this week's episode. It is starting to get everything into play after two weeks of establishing premise. Sure, it was important to see Hannah getting adjusted to Iowa and her writing group. However, it is also important to see how everyone back in New York is getting along without her. To say the least, it isn't very well. In this episode, it is interesting that for the first time, everyone's lives are falling apart except for Hannah. That is, at least not in the traditional sense.
The easiest target to talk about is Shoshanna. She is more of a joke in this week's episode. She basically exists to suggest that with a degree, Shoshanna has become cocky and believes that she can get anything she wants. The fact that she turned down a job for a jewelry job is a fascinating approach to the whole subject. Still, the future seems bright for her, even if she also feels like she's on the verge of sabotaging her own trajectory by not settling for less than her expectations.
Then there's Marnie and Desi. They have become a toxic yet interesting affair. While Marnie harbors feelings for Ray, it is really Desi who is going to indicate how the future goes for her. Without Desi, Marnie's music career is over. She lingers onto him with desperation and cannot quite quit him even if they lack the chemistry. Yes, they enjoyed the intimacy, but now they are falling apart in ways that may halt her career before it ever gets starter. For better or worse, Marnie is a terrible self starter and thus will have trouble going solo. The cards are in her field now, forced to decide between an awful relationship or no career.
Jessa is the one who finally gets the wake-up call that she has needed. True, she was placed into rehab at the start of last season. However, she hasn't done much to really justify her return. Her character in general has been one of problematic circumstances. Nobody wants to be around her. It's nice for show, though the guise of Adam, finally announces this after she does something that is very barbaric and actually is a little jarring for the show. Yes, Jessa has always been more classified as a wild card, but it always seemed like she was above peeing in the streets and ripping up police tickets.
The question from here is if Jessa will continue to hit a lower rock bottom or if Adam will have to stick around since they are AA buddies. With a $3,000 bill from Ray for their bail, they also have to figure out a way to pay. Even if Adam has good intentions here, he may prove to have trouble breaking it up, lest he decides to post the whole price. It is unclear, but it is sad to see Adam being dragged down. He is a character who always feels one step away from either being the most charming individual on the show or the most tragic. While he has come a long way since his weirdo days in season two, he still occasionally busts out the self-loathing shtick that is a little odd.
Though what is it to say that Adam and Hannah haven't really talked? There's clearly desperation in Hannah's voice between the opening of the past two episodes in regards to her boyfriend. Despite telling an impressionable student at a party in "Triggering" to not be bothered, she clearly is. There is little to suggest that Adam has cheated on her or will likely prove to be gone by the end of the season at this point. Still, I feel like the distance between the two will account for something.
And finally, the speech that Hannah gives to her classmates is on point. While it could just be the writer in me, I have always enjoyed the show when it has gone after its critics in a literal way. By pointing out how the other writers aren't sincere to their voices, it feels like an opening to something more complex and engaging about the characters. Maybe Hannah will become a problem not only because she doesn't believe in the classmates, but she is starting to become jaded and bored of Iowa. Still, she burned a lot of bridges this week and may likely have trouble keeping them in the time to come.
I am curious to see where the show will go from here. It may end up panning out that Hannah tones for her misbegotten ways. Maybe she will make friends after all. Still, In a world where everyone in the series, save for maybe Ray, had their poorly planned lives handed to them this week, it opens a lot of doors and questions as to what will happen next. I am excited and am sad to notice that I won't find out for another two weeks.
It has been a rocky start getting into season four of Girls. While there have been plenty of high points, the pacing seems to have been a secondary issue. How is the series going to handle Hannah being away from New York? As I have indicated since the "Iowa" recap, I sense that there is decay in the near future for everyone. In the most painfully open sense of the concept, it finally happens this week with an episode so provocative and arresting (literally) that it manages to not only stick to the season's growing theme, but manages to serve as the ultimate thesis to a series in which meandering 20-somethings finally are getting their comeuppance.
The episode opens with Hannah talking to Jessa (Jemima Kirke) via Skype. She is curious about Adam (Adam Driver), who is her AA partner. Jessa is seeming aloof and despite being sober is showing signs of still being irresponsible. Meanwhile Shoshanna (Zosia Mamet) goes on a job interview for a position that she is qualified for, but chooses not to take on the grounds that she was only testing for a job that she actually wants.
Meanwhile, Marnie (Allison Williams) is having conflicts trying to get her music career with Desi (Ebon Moss-Bachrach) off of the ground. Their affair against Clementine is proving to be problematic and overshadowing the music. Ray (Alex Karpovsky) insists that Marnie leaves him, but only because they still harbor feelings for each other. After pitching their music to a record company, Desi and Marnie begin to have growing conflicts, deciding to stay together almost entirely for the music.
Jessa and Adam are hanging out while discussing her upcoming sober anniversary of four months. She plans to celebrate at Chuck E Cheez, but Adam insists that they do something better. After getting the urge to pee, Jessa drops her shorts and goes in the middle of the street right as a police car drives by. They write her a ticket, which she rips up. This gets her arrested. Adam reacts violently. He is also arrested. Ray bails them out, though they now owe him $3,000. Jessa needs Adam more than the other way around.
Hannah decides to go with Elijah (Andrew Rannels) to a get together with the art community. Elijah is taking pictures of people smoking and flashing breasts. When Hannah meets up with her writing group, she gets intoxicated and decides to make open complaints to everyone for not being sincere as writers. They are shocked, but only in a way to consider her a Lindsay Lohan of their group. Hannah is bored in Iowa and has too much free time with nothing to do. She heads home in a Mennonite's carriage when somebody steals her bicycle.
Rating: 4 out of 5
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| Left to right: Adam Driver and Jemima Kirke |
The easiest target to talk about is Shoshanna. She is more of a joke in this week's episode. She basically exists to suggest that with a degree, Shoshanna has become cocky and believes that she can get anything she wants. The fact that she turned down a job for a jewelry job is a fascinating approach to the whole subject. Still, the future seems bright for her, even if she also feels like she's on the verge of sabotaging her own trajectory by not settling for less than her expectations.
Then there's Marnie and Desi. They have become a toxic yet interesting affair. While Marnie harbors feelings for Ray, it is really Desi who is going to indicate how the future goes for her. Without Desi, Marnie's music career is over. She lingers onto him with desperation and cannot quite quit him even if they lack the chemistry. Yes, they enjoyed the intimacy, but now they are falling apart in ways that may halt her career before it ever gets starter. For better or worse, Marnie is a terrible self starter and thus will have trouble going solo. The cards are in her field now, forced to decide between an awful relationship or no career.
Jessa is the one who finally gets the wake-up call that she has needed. True, she was placed into rehab at the start of last season. However, she hasn't done much to really justify her return. Her character in general has been one of problematic circumstances. Nobody wants to be around her. It's nice for show, though the guise of Adam, finally announces this after she does something that is very barbaric and actually is a little jarring for the show. Yes, Jessa has always been more classified as a wild card, but it always seemed like she was above peeing in the streets and ripping up police tickets.
The question from here is if Jessa will continue to hit a lower rock bottom or if Adam will have to stick around since they are AA buddies. With a $3,000 bill from Ray for their bail, they also have to figure out a way to pay. Even if Adam has good intentions here, he may prove to have trouble breaking it up, lest he decides to post the whole price. It is unclear, but it is sad to see Adam being dragged down. He is a character who always feels one step away from either being the most charming individual on the show or the most tragic. While he has come a long way since his weirdo days in season two, he still occasionally busts out the self-loathing shtick that is a little odd.
Though what is it to say that Adam and Hannah haven't really talked? There's clearly desperation in Hannah's voice between the opening of the past two episodes in regards to her boyfriend. Despite telling an impressionable student at a party in "Triggering" to not be bothered, she clearly is. There is little to suggest that Adam has cheated on her or will likely prove to be gone by the end of the season at this point. Still, I feel like the distance between the two will account for something.
And finally, the speech that Hannah gives to her classmates is on point. While it could just be the writer in me, I have always enjoyed the show when it has gone after its critics in a literal way. By pointing out how the other writers aren't sincere to their voices, it feels like an opening to something more complex and engaging about the characters. Maybe Hannah will become a problem not only because she doesn't believe in the classmates, but she is starting to become jaded and bored of Iowa. Still, she burned a lot of bridges this week and may likely have trouble keeping them in the time to come.
I am curious to see where the show will go from here. It may end up panning out that Hannah tones for her misbegotten ways. Maybe she will make friends after all. Still, In a world where everyone in the series, save for maybe Ray, had their poorly planned lives handed to them this week, it opens a lot of doors and questions as to what will happen next. I am excited and am sad to notice that I won't find out for another two weeks.
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