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.
Now that we're in the back half of the season of Girls, it seems like it's time to assess just how far things have come. How has Hannah changed as a person and are her former friends any better? Well, "Queen for Two Days" answers part of the question as to how Hannah sees her parents (Becky Ann Baker and Peter Scolari) and how despite admitting that it hasn't ruined her life that it has in fact done so. During a retreat, things get revealed that are heartbreaking and most likely going to mess anyone up. It's not the happiest of episodes, but things are definitely looking to change.
Hannah and her Mother go on a trip to a resort strictly for women in order to get in touch with themselves. Hannah is reluctant for a variety reasons - most notably because she isn't allowed to use her phone. While everyone else bonds, Hannah finds herself alone and forced to do the activities by herself. When she meets the Yoga Instructor (Lena Hall), things begin to heat up. The Yoga Instructor encourages Hannah to use certain physical exercises to relieve herself, which end up leading to Hannah's first dive into a lesbian sex sequence. When Hannah backs out, she finishes watching The Yoga Instructor pleasure herself before crying.
Meanwhile, Hannah is confronted with her Mother's past. After calling her Father, she learns that Mother isn't quite as on board with the romance as initially seen. While she is bound for a sexless life, she isn't attached to having her gay husband (which is very similar) around. Hannah eventually discovers that Mother may not have ever loved Father, which causes Hannah to feel some repressed urges. Considering that she admits to disliking Fran, Hannah ends the episode not by feeling better about herself, but possibly more conflicted about her entire personality.
Meanwhile, Jessa (Jemima Kirke) and Adam (Adam Driver) are passionately having sex. They are more adventurous than Hannah ever was, and things are looking up for the strange duo. However, Jessa's sister reveals a certain dark truth. Since she is from Britain, she needs to start taking school seriously. The issue here is that maybe she can't afford it. Adam, jumping at the opportunity, says that he will cover the costs using the money he made from a series of acting gigs.
Meanwhile, Shoshana (Zosia Mamet) is found in Japan working at a cat cafe and in love with Yoshi (Hiro Mizushima). She runs into Abigail (Aidy Bryant), who wonders what she's doing there. The afternoon looks to be a lot of fun and Japan is seen as a land of wonder. It isn't until the closing that Shoshana breaks down and admits that she is secretly miserable by the culture clash. She hates how nice everyone is and wants there to be some sort of conflict to fill her life with purpose. She ends the episode stuck in Japan, alone and forced to wonder what she's doing with her life.
Rating: 4 out of 5
What a weird episode of Girls. Following last week's exploration of love and its many conflicts, this feels like the conclusion that tears everything about it apart. For starters, we get confirmation that Hannah hates Fran and that maybe they won't be lasting much longer. Is Hannah going to become a lesbian? In all honesty, the conflict regarding her Father was a little much last season, though it has paid off nicely this season. There's an inherent loneliness to being alone as an adult. It is something that everyone tries to escape here, but will inevitably come across the issue at some point of their life.
It could best be summarized by Shoshana's plot, in which she tells Abigail her true feelings of Japan. Somehow being nice to each other is an awful thing to do. All you want to do is have a sense of purpose and be allowed to make mistakes, but you are surrounded by people who expect the best out of you. Sure, she loves Hiro. But what else does she have there? It's painful to fake emotion for so long. Everything else seems to reciprocate from this idea. Though the episode ending on Shoshana walking away miserably into the colorful city in Japan is a beautiful, ominous image.
The only ones who seem to be happy this week are Jessa and Adam, who have had an uphill battle all season. How do they remain platonic friends when there's clearly sexual tension there? The show is full of sex scenes in this episode, and it may be some of the most risque stuff they have done possibly in a few seasons (not counting the home birth). There's nudity galore and the sex between Jessa and Adam seems oddly playful and awkward in equal measures. They may have a base relationship, but there is something there that makes you want to believe that maybe, unlike Hannah, that Jessa will make it a little longer. Though it is quite possible that things will fall apart anyways, especially when Adam realizes that Jessa is using him.
But Hannah is the strange center piece of the episode. She tries to enlighten herself through some strange measurements. She does the exercises and tries to feel free. However, she is possibly even more miserable for having certain revelations come about her. Her parents never loved each other. Maybe Hannah is gay, or in fact lonely and doesn't know pleasure. There's so much that is conflicted within her that comes to the surface for the first time. Sure, it has been strange to see her give up writing as a hobby; but it's even more tragic to see her fail as an adult so frequently. She isn't perfect nor is she alert to all of the rules of her age, but she does manage to pick up the pieces slowly.
Has Girls evolved and matured over the course of these six episodes? That's up for debate. Everyone is definitely in a different position than they were. However, there's a certain missing piece that causes everyone to feel their own form of melancholy. They try finding happiness in new places, and all it does is bring them back to their old holes of misery. Maybe that is the real revelation, especially as the girls seem to not even be talking to each other anymore. Will there be some catharsis at season's end, or will things just get more and more depressing? I'm unsure, but at least the season has moved on to a compelling chapter in the series.
Hannah and her Mother go on a trip to a resort strictly for women in order to get in touch with themselves. Hannah is reluctant for a variety reasons - most notably because she isn't allowed to use her phone. While everyone else bonds, Hannah finds herself alone and forced to do the activities by herself. When she meets the Yoga Instructor (Lena Hall), things begin to heat up. The Yoga Instructor encourages Hannah to use certain physical exercises to relieve herself, which end up leading to Hannah's first dive into a lesbian sex sequence. When Hannah backs out, she finishes watching The Yoga Instructor pleasure herself before crying.
Meanwhile, Hannah is confronted with her Mother's past. After calling her Father, she learns that Mother isn't quite as on board with the romance as initially seen. While she is bound for a sexless life, she isn't attached to having her gay husband (which is very similar) around. Hannah eventually discovers that Mother may not have ever loved Father, which causes Hannah to feel some repressed urges. Considering that she admits to disliking Fran, Hannah ends the episode not by feeling better about herself, but possibly more conflicted about her entire personality.
Meanwhile, Jessa (Jemima Kirke) and Adam (Adam Driver) are passionately having sex. They are more adventurous than Hannah ever was, and things are looking up for the strange duo. However, Jessa's sister reveals a certain dark truth. Since she is from Britain, she needs to start taking school seriously. The issue here is that maybe she can't afford it. Adam, jumping at the opportunity, says that he will cover the costs using the money he made from a series of acting gigs.
Meanwhile, Shoshana (Zosia Mamet) is found in Japan working at a cat cafe and in love with Yoshi (Hiro Mizushima). She runs into Abigail (Aidy Bryant), who wonders what she's doing there. The afternoon looks to be a lot of fun and Japan is seen as a land of wonder. It isn't until the closing that Shoshana breaks down and admits that she is secretly miserable by the culture clash. She hates how nice everyone is and wants there to be some sort of conflict to fill her life with purpose. She ends the episode stuck in Japan, alone and forced to wonder what she's doing with her life.
Rating: 4 out of 5
What a weird episode of Girls. Following last week's exploration of love and its many conflicts, this feels like the conclusion that tears everything about it apart. For starters, we get confirmation that Hannah hates Fran and that maybe they won't be lasting much longer. Is Hannah going to become a lesbian? In all honesty, the conflict regarding her Father was a little much last season, though it has paid off nicely this season. There's an inherent loneliness to being alone as an adult. It is something that everyone tries to escape here, but will inevitably come across the issue at some point of their life.
It could best be summarized by Shoshana's plot, in which she tells Abigail her true feelings of Japan. Somehow being nice to each other is an awful thing to do. All you want to do is have a sense of purpose and be allowed to make mistakes, but you are surrounded by people who expect the best out of you. Sure, she loves Hiro. But what else does she have there? It's painful to fake emotion for so long. Everything else seems to reciprocate from this idea. Though the episode ending on Shoshana walking away miserably into the colorful city in Japan is a beautiful, ominous image.
The only ones who seem to be happy this week are Jessa and Adam, who have had an uphill battle all season. How do they remain platonic friends when there's clearly sexual tension there? The show is full of sex scenes in this episode, and it may be some of the most risque stuff they have done possibly in a few seasons (not counting the home birth). There's nudity galore and the sex between Jessa and Adam seems oddly playful and awkward in equal measures. They may have a base relationship, but there is something there that makes you want to believe that maybe, unlike Hannah, that Jessa will make it a little longer. Though it is quite possible that things will fall apart anyways, especially when Adam realizes that Jessa is using him.
But Hannah is the strange center piece of the episode. She tries to enlighten herself through some strange measurements. She does the exercises and tries to feel free. However, she is possibly even more miserable for having certain revelations come about her. Her parents never loved each other. Maybe Hannah is gay, or in fact lonely and doesn't know pleasure. There's so much that is conflicted within her that comes to the surface for the first time. Sure, it has been strange to see her give up writing as a hobby; but it's even more tragic to see her fail as an adult so frequently. She isn't perfect nor is she alert to all of the rules of her age, but she does manage to pick up the pieces slowly.
Has Girls evolved and matured over the course of these six episodes? That's up for debate. Everyone is definitely in a different position than they were. However, there's a certain missing piece that causes everyone to feel their own form of melancholy. They try finding happiness in new places, and all it does is bring them back to their old holes of misery. Maybe that is the real revelation, especially as the girls seem to not even be talking to each other anymore. Will there be some catharsis at season's end, or will things just get more and more depressing? I'm unsure, but at least the season has moved on to a compelling chapter in the series.
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