TV Recap: Girls - "Japan"

Zosia Mamet

Welcome back to another round of Girls TV Recap. This year, we will follow season five and the perils that Hannah (Lena Dunham) and her friends face as they grow up and learn how to be mature... hopefully. What new experiences will they face? 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.

With season five showing a more diverse group of stories than ever before, it seems important to ask if anyone would ever leave the shores of America. While not important to the show's quality, things such as Shoshana's (Zosia Mamet) job offer from the end of the previous season feels like it would be necessary to show in some capacity. Thankfully, the answer came during this episode with a heavily Shoshana-centric episode that showed what life abroad would mean for her as well as the petty jealousy that Hannah (Lena Dunham) faces back home with boyfriend Fran (Jake Lacy). It may not be an entirely effective episode in terms of growth, but it shows that sometimes it's impossible to let go of something comfortable.

The episode begins with Shoshana walking the streets of Japan. She is comfortable in her new environment. She has a job for Abigail (Aidy Bryant) that allows her to be in close contact with Japanese business associates. She is also falling in love with Hiro (Yoshi Kadokura), whom she constantly winks at as she does her job. One day, she gets a call from Abigail claiming that her job has been discontinued. In a quest to make the most of her last days in the country, she decides to go out with friends to various places, including an S&M bar where Shoshana participates in awkward fetish behavior.

Meanwhile, Hannah is growing worried when she discovers that Fran has pictures of naked women on his phone. Most of them are ex-girlfriends, which causes her to raise questions as to why he just doesn't use the internet. His reason? Because all of those girls are drugged up and losers. Hannah decides to seek revenge by having Ray (Alex Karpovsky) and Elijah (Andrew Rannels) take naked pictures of her. Fran receives them and is unsure as to why she is doing this. In a last ditch effort, Hannah steals Fran's phone and deletes every naked picture that is not her. 

Meanwhile, Adam (Adam Driver) shows Jessa (Jemima Kirke) an episode of a TV series starring Lucy Liu that he appeared on as a homeless man. It is a goofy role, and one where he's not a very good actor. Jessa ends up loving it anyways, choosing to hound him on the hypothetical future of his character. Still, their quest to remain platonic interferes most conversation, which causes the remaining evening to go awkwardly. She also reveals that she isn't concerned about Hannah as much anymore due to her fickle behavior.

Meanwhile, Shoshana makes arrangements with Scott (Jason Ritter) to return to America. As she packs, she remembers the one thing that keeps her happy. There's Hiro, who she finally has made some moves on. As Shoshana's flight is supposed to arrive at the airport, Scott awaits with flowers in hand, excited to see the love of his life. As things wind down and the last passenger exits, he becomes disgruntled, noticing that she is in fact still in Japan - or some other status that remains unknown at the end of the episode.

Rating: 3.5 out of 5

Jemima Kirke

It seems like this season will do something that seems implausible. Hannah and Fran will break up in record time. After only four episodes on the show, Fran strikes most of the attitude of the show as a wet blanket. It is true that he's supposed to be the mature one, and it only seems right for Hannah to want to be in a mature relationship. However, there's something unstable and disconnecting about the new couple that in some ways mirrors the incompatibility of Jessa and Adam being platonic friends. Basically, they don't agree on a fundamental level. Fran is conservative and doesn't have any report with her friends, male or female. Hannah is too demanding, causing one of the more dickish plots that she has been involved with in recent seasons. As much as she's grown, she still no good at this thing called love.

To put it bluntly, she is unwilling to compromise over petty things. When Fran is insistent on using pictures of naked women to masturbate, Hannah's issue is more that it isn't the typical garden variety of internet porn. She is annoyed to the point of sabotaging his deep sexual urges without a lot of conversation. Maybe it's the reality that the women are a little familiar to Fran, but even that suggests a certain insecurity about her own appearance, or possibly some unexplored feelings that she still has for Adam. She is fine with his actions, but not how he does it. Considering that her sabotaging plot goes on for a ridiculously long time, there's a sense that buttoned-up Fran is not long for Hannah; and that the girl who was supposedly growing up as of last season's finale is now more immature than ever before.

Which makes for an interesting parallel with Shoshana, who has hinted at the value of her time in Japan. Based on the premiere episode of this season, she claims that it has made her a better person. It is only here that we finally see what "better" means. To some degree, it is hard to really disagree with her. Compared to four seasons of Girls with the main cast, she seems to be hitting things off with a lot more ease. She is participating in wild behavior and being more open with her feelings. There's a certain enthusiasm that she conveys while doing very trivial tasks that makes her firing all the more tragic. What would she do in New York that will make her halfway as excited? As evident by the past season, the girls of Girls are hardly the close friends that they once were.

What is prevalent is that maybe Shoshana will have a far more interesting side story, or a reduced role in the overall show. Considering that the show shot in Japan, it is also likely that she isn't long for overseas shooting (you know, to save on budget). However, it does make for a compelling point. She's happier thinking of Hiro than being with Scott to the point that she failed to show up to the airport. While it could be a mislead and she does return home next week, it would be hard to wonder what her motivation (outside of finances) ends up being. This is the most interesting and pure that Shoshana has been in the show's entire run. Without any cliques or hang-ups, she conveys an enthusiasm that only comes out through desperation. In a sense, I don't know that I'd want her to come back. She'd only be miserable.

The episode itself is a mix of two plots with varying degrees of success. Shoshana remained an exciting plot until the very end showing both a rich tapestry of Japanese culture as well as how enlightened an otherwise closeted character is. However, there's Hannah's story that seems to be a little redundant and regressive to her overall character. There's already a battle between the two, even if Fran seems to be far more submissive about it. The relationship doesn't feel like it will last long. That is, unless Fran is more like Adam than one could imagine. But that doesn't seem like the case. He's merely there most of the time, and the happiest that he has been in these four episodes is undermined by a jealous girlfriend. What does he need to stick around? I hope this show does something interesting with it, much like how they used college last semester. We'll just have to see.