TV Recap: Girls - "Sit-In"

Left to right: Lena Dunham and Adam Driver

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.

Coming on the heels of last week's episode is probably Girls' most touching and heartbreaking episode that they have ever done. For three and a half seasons, the Hannah and Adam (Adam Driver dynamic has been a crazy draw of lunacy and love in ways that were unpredictable. However, it all comes to an end this week with an episode that manages to pack almost every major character into one room and force them to come to some terms that haven't been this dramatized since the first season. It is an uncomfortable departure, but one that makes for a quintessential Girls episode.

Left to right: Lena Dunham and Zosia Mamet

As Hannah tries to come to terms with seeing Mimi-Rose (Gillian Jacobs) in Adam's apartment, she decides to hide herself in her room. She refuses to move as Mimi-Rose decides to go out and get drinks. Adam calls over everyone. First up is Shoshanna (Zosia Mamet), who tries to console Hannah by researching online who Adam's girlfriend actually is. It turns out that she has a BFA and gave a lecture on love. Hannah becomes reluctant to spend time with Shoshanna and shoos her away. 

Jessa arrives, but only makes matters worse. She reveals that she knew Mimi-Rose before Adam started dating her. She was essentially responsible for the two hooking up. Jessa claims that it didn't matter because Hannah was going to be away for a few years anyways and it seemed wrong to simply wait. Caroline (Gaby Hoffman) and Laird (Jon Glaser) try to cheer her up as well, but end up infatuated with each other. Ray (Alex Karpovsky) stops by to cook and reveal that he is also frustrated by things and that Hannah shouldn't be worried. In this time, she burns her hand and Ray makes a makeshift bandage.

Marnie (Allison Williams) eventually stops by and gets the cold shoulder. Once things are cleared up, the two talk things out and Hannah understands that Adam may not be right for her after all. With Mimi-Rose gone to her own apartment, Hannah has one last moment with Adam where they talk things over. Adam admits that their relationship maybe wouldn't have worked for much longer. Adam claims that he would move out, but Hannah needed to spend the night in a storage locker, which is where Adam dumped her stuff.

Rating: 5 out of 5

And just like that, the romance is dead. For better or worse, Girls has long been able to play out the romance of Hannah and Adam in all of its tumultuous twists. While they seemed at times incompatible, they still managed to have a charm to them that seemed impossible to break. Throughout all of the fighting and random arrests, they have been together and have managed to make things work. It was charming, especially with Adam becoming more of a self-made man and he managed to turn into the responsible and rational one. It isn't that Hannah has been slouching either. She simply is just aloof in a different manner.

Before diving into the heartbreak, let's argue that this is a plot point developed for an obvious reason. The real life Adam Driver is having a career boost with appearances in the latest Star Wars movie and countless other high profile gigs. It seems like he has outgrown the show. Even if the romance was to work, this feels like an expertly written way to deal with the tough subject and give Mr. Driver more of the freedom to work on other projects that he needs. The question now is if he'll be a lingering background character or if this is in fact the truth. I am leaning towards the latter.

But otherwise, it is quite an episode to finally get the whole gang back together. It still seems like everyone hates Marnie for some reason. Jessa, even when she's trying to help, causes problems that turn people against her. Even the reliable Marnie manages to get to the core of the issue in Hannah's must vulnerable moment in the series' history. She is about to end up alone with her dreams shattered. What is there exactly for her? These are things to consider going forward and it does leave an interesting cliff hanger for next week's episode. Will the rest be about grieving, or the further separation of Hannah and the rest of her friends? I do believe that Hannah and Marnie will be very intertwined as the season continues.

However, I do want to note that somehow the season's MVP has remained Shoshanna. While she has fallen into some pitfalls along the way, she has not only managed to produce the funniest moments, but an impressive growth in confidence. The way that she stands up to Hannah and tries to make her better is a rather phenomenal growth, considering that at the start of last season she was turning to Hannah for career advice. In a way, Shoshanna has usurped Hannah in unexpected ways. That may be the charm of the show.

Still, it is full of memorable moments from each person. If nothing else, it is interesting to hear everyone else's comments because of their past with Hannah. In most cases, they have been the subject of separation or other turmoil. Hannah hasn't really had to deal with too much head on. There's argument that this was evident last season with two major deaths, but those felt brushed aside compared to the dedication to the complicated romances of her friends. Ray's heartfelt speech was especially nice. The symbolism of Adam fixing Hannah's broken cast was a nice touch on why they were compatible and manages to show why they were together for so long. Despite the brokenness, they still fixed each other's problems.

The episode is packed with great moments that highlights each and every character. It is likely why the episode as a whole works. It is the end of the fundamental core of the series. Together, these two hopeless characters had hope. They could overcome almost any struggle thrown at them. Now, they must deal with life on their own. We have seen Adam deal with it, but not Hannah. In fact, the cries from last season in which Hannah's mother told her to not date Adam are finally ringing true. It was inevitable, but you don't want to see it happen. Still, there's nothing more perfectly tragic than the final moments when Hannah falls asleep in a storage facility, unable to go anywhere or do anything after expecting a welcomed homecoming.