Season 1, Episode 10, “She Did”

This brings us to the final episode of season 1, and also the end of this blog for now. I hope you have enjoyed reading my posts as much as I have enjoyed writing them! Now, time to get into the season finale…

The episode kicks off with Hannah and Adam helping Marnie to move out of the apartment. Hannah seems upset about her departure and discusses it with Adam. Weirdly enough, Adam responds with wisdom beyond his years, stating, “Don’t waste time on guilt Hannah. Holding onto toxic relationships is what keeps us from growing. You’re forming every time you shed a layer, getting closer to yourself.” Then he offers to move in with her, which throws Hannah for a loop.

While at work, Hannah, and everyone else, receives a mysterious text from Jessa, reading, “Please come to the most important party of my life. 7pm sharp. Dress real nice and come.” Each of the girls, along with Ray and Charlie, dress up in their finest and confusedly make their way to a warehouse, clearly decorated for some type of ceremony. After a bit, Jessa and Thomas-John walk up to the altar and he exclaims, “So in case some of you haven’t already guessed, we’re getting married!”

Jessa and Thomas-John announcing their surprise wedding.

Marnie, Hannah and Shoshanna all look shocked, confused and upset, as the wedding ceremony begins. Thomas-John reads his vows first, which are very bizarre, stating, “Jessa, the first night that we met, truthfully, I thought we were going to have a threesome…with your friend Marnie. Whats up, Marnie?! But we didn’t do that. When you left my house that night, I felt more energized than I had for years. I thought to myself that if I ever saw that crazy bitch again, I would make her my fucking wife.”

His speech is met with confused applause, and then it’s Jessa’s turn. She remarks, “Thomas-John, when you came to my house with flowers, I was prepared to call the special victims unit. Not only did I find you very creepy, I found you also really boring. But for some reason, I agreed to have dinner with you, and you asked to move tables twice, and I was even more revolted. Then you started talking about what you did, about travel and finance, and I thought, ‘This man’s brilliant in a way I have never known.’ I appreciate your adventurous spirit, your desire to learn, and everything you don’t know about…I love you.” The couple beam at each other.

Adam getting emotional

Meanwhile in the audience, Adam looks close to tears and Hannah asks him if he’s okay. He responds, “I’m very moved…people finding each other, taking shelter, I’m very moved.” When Hannah points out that Jessa and Thomas-John only met two weeks ago, Adam emotionally says, “Time is a rubber band.” He kisses her hand and Hannah looks confused.

Thomas-John’s portly friend pronounces them man and wife, by “the power vested in me, by a website that I found on the internet.” The happy couple kisses and weird rap music starts playing. It’s clear the audience is too confused and stunned by the makeshift wedding, as they don’t know what to do at first. Then they just go with it and start dancing, much like the way Jessa lives her life—never stopping to reflect, just pushing forward and winging it.

In the next scene, Hannah is laying on the bathroom floor while Jessa is on the toilet, and she asks her how this all came about. Jessa responds, “Maybe I’m crazy, maybe I am. But fuck Hannah, I have never been this happy. I feel like I’m sleeping in a rose bud. I’m so gone on this man.” Curious Hannah asks, “Like you feel like a real adult now?” And Jessa’s childlike response is, “Mmmm…yeah! Kinda.” The fact that Jessa rushed into a wedding and still does not know what she is doing with her life, leads me to believe her actions are in direct response to Catherine’s speech during the last episode. I think Jessa realized she was right and got scared, rushing towards anything that would provide her comfort and a sense of security…and apparently that was Thomas-John.

Shoshanna was clearly left out of Jessa’s decision-making process and feels very hurt. She mopes around the wedding, leaning against different walls. Ray notices her and asks if everything is okay, pushing her to open up. Their conversation is hilarious, and I cannot even do it justice by trying to narrate it, so I will just transcribe it below.
Shoshanna: “Everyone’s a dumb whore. “
Ray: “I could hardly stop thinking about you since the night we met. You’re the strangest person; you’re just so raw and open.  You vibrate on a very strange frequency.”
Shoshanna: “Are you punking me?”
Ray: “It’s very confusing for me too. I wanna go home with you. Tonight.”
Shoshanna: “Fine…just stay out of my emotional way.”
And just like that, they very matter of factly decide to sleep together. Shoshanna seems so upset and distracted though, that she probably did not even realize what she agreed to.

Ray hitting on Shoshanna.

And of course, the final part of the episode is devoted to Hannah and Adam’s strange relationship. Hannah talks to Elijah at the party, and they decide to move in together. When Hannah tells Adam this, he gets upset and asks her, “If you didn’t like the idea, why didn’t you say so? …I wasn’t doing it because I wanted to help. No one does anything because they want to help. I was doing it because I love you.” Then he storms out into the street.

Hannah later follows him and they start to fight.  Adam exclaims at her, “You love yourself so much so why is it so crazy that someone else would too? …You’re the fucking worst, you know that? Because you think you’re not pretty, and you’re not a good writer and you’re not a good friend. Well, you are pretty, and you are a good writer, and you are a good friend.” Looking like she is going to cry, Hannah meekly thanks him. This infuriates Adam even more, and he screams, “Is this the game? You chase me like I’m the fucking Beatles for six months and then I finally get comfortable and you shrug?…What the fuck is wrong with you?”

At this point, Hannah opens up like she did to Marnie last week, and is very honest and raw. She responds, “I’m scared, okay? I’m really scared all the time. I’m like very scared all the time… I’m more scared than most people are when they say that they’re scared. I’m like the most scared person who’s alive.” In combination with last week’s confession, it seems Hannah really does have some personal issues that she is trying to express to Adam, without directly saying it. He does not get this though, and tells her that she doesn’t “have the right to be. I told you once I commit to something, I really fucking commit. You asked for this. And now you’re being a fucking bitch.”

Hannah gets even more wound up, following him into the street and shouting, “Adam, come on, I know you’re scared. I look at you and you’re acting like you’re not, but you are. I know you now, we’ve been doing this for a while. I know you.” He furiously spits back, “Stop it, you don’t know me. You don’t know shit about me…You don’t know me and you don’t know yourself. Because you’re what, 11 pounds overweight, you know struggle?” Hannah very emotionally and angrily responds, “I am 14 pounds overweight and it has been awful for me my whole life.” Perhaps she really is trying to tell him something, and is alluding to body issues and emotional problems. But yet again, Adam doesn’t listen. He hollers back at her and walks further in the street, only to get violently hit by a van.

When an ambulance arrives, Adam will not allow Hannah to come with him. Clearly upset, she dejectedly gets on the subway to head home. However, she falls asleep and wakes up at Coney Island. Once she realizes where she is, and that she won’t be able to get back home for a while, Hannah accepts the situation and heads towards the beach. She walks through the sand and sits near the ocean, unwrapping a piece of wedding cake that she had been carrying for Adam all night. Hannah silently eats the cake and seems at peace for the first time in the entire season…and that is the end .

Hannah at the beach eating Adam’s piece of wedding cake.

Maybe this final scene is foreshadowing good things to come in season 2 for Hannah, and she will learn to be more accepting of herself in the future. Unfortunately, I think there is still more heartbreak in store for our heroine, along with the other “Girls.” With each of their story lines remaining emotionally charged and unresolved at the end of the season, I feel the drama to come is inevitable.

Season 1, Episode 9, “Leave Me Alone”

In this week’s installment, there are a lot of emotionally charged conversations and self-realizations, from the somewhat shallow to the very deep. And these words of wisdom come from characters that you would not expect.

The girls at Tally’s book launch party.

The episode begins at the book launch party of Hannah’s college arch nemesis, Tally. All the girls except Hannah are enthralled by Tally’s story, and Shoshanna describes it as “so sad. Her boyfriend killed himself on purpose by crashing a vintage car while on percocet.” Marnie even buys a copy, much to Hannah’s disproval. And then we learn why…because Tally is a huge bitch.

While politely saying hello and congratulations to Tally, she responds to Hannah with quite the condescending tone: “Well, I wish [writing the book] had been more of a labor actually, it just poured out of me…You know someone like you, you’re always really sweating it. You know, you’re really working at it and I really admire that effort to do something that is not maybe…uhm, the most natural to you.” And Hannah just smiled and took it. I know we’ve all been in situations like this, and that is just the polite thing to do when you actually want to punch them in the face, but seriously? Hannah just starting standing up for herself with Adam, why couldn’t she complete the transformation and stick it to Tally too?

Hannah later meets her old writing professor at the party, who supports her hatred of Tally when he overhears her talking to a friend, saying, “I want to be so skinny that people are going to be like, do you have a disease? Are you going to die?” Hannah and her professor share a bemused smirk, and then he invites her to a writer club, where they read their work aloud. Hannah’s unsure of whether or not to attend, and Adam later proves totally unsupportive. (Which I found weird, I don’t know about you.)

The next morning, Hannah has a big light bulb moment of self-realization while talking to Marnie. She was embarrassed for acting like a “freakish bitch” at Tally’s party and for even trying to trip her. She adds, “But then I realized, I’m not mad at her; I’m mad at me. For the fact that my entire life has been one ridiculous mistake after another…Tally took chances and put herself out there [and I never have].” Perhaps this will be a turning point?

Shoshanna’s internet dating profile confession to Jessa.

Next, Shoshanna and Jessa share a cute moment, complete with one of Shosh’s long-winded and incredibly fast-talking monologues, this time about joining a dating site. Here goes: “That paragraph I read in Tally’s book really made me thing. None of us really know how much time we have left…so I have to start living. I did something kind of crazy…I made an internet dating profile. Ok, I know, it sounds kind of nuts. But my nutrition teacher, who’s like so cool, met her boyfriend on Match.com, who’s like super cute and totally perf, and they’re the most happy together. And I joined ElectricHellos.com because it’s the most expensive subscription, and ugly people do Match, and I got this message from this kind of great-sounding guy. His name is Brice, which um hello, good name. He works in product development, which is like perfect for me because I love products! And he’s Jewish…I’m going on a day date.” Nothing more happens with Shoshanna’s online dating in this episode but this is my favorite scene, and Shosh always promises a good laugh.

Finally, one of the most emotional and moving scenes in the series so far takes place. Catherine (wife of Jeff, of the family Jessa used to babysit for) randomly shows up at Jessa’s apartment and asks her to come back to work for them. Jessa looks confused and unsure, and tells her she can’t. Catherine agrees and confesses that she just wishes she could help Jessa and mother her. Jessa points out that she doesn’t need her help, which is honest but kind of awkward. Then here comes the whopper and moment of crystal clear wisdom…Catherine replies, “Fuck it, I’m just going to say this. I bet you get into these dramas all the time, like with Jeff and me. Where you cause all this trouble and you have no idea why. In my opinion, you’re doing it to distract yourself from the person you’re meant to be…she might not look like what you pictured at age 16. Her job might not be cool, her hair might not be flowing like a mermaid, and she might be really serious about something. Or someone. And she might be a lot happier than you are now.”

Catherine talking to Jessa.

Jessa just stares at her, with this look of raw sadness and fear, though you can tell she is emotionally distanced from the situation. Perhaps, Catherine has tapped into the emotional drive behind each of the “Girls,” they are all lost and scared in the search for sense of self. Perhaps that is why everyone who watches this show feels some type of connection to the characters, whether they want to admit it or not; we are all just as confused and unsure as Jessa, Hannah, Marnie and Shoshanna. We continue trying grasp at anything at all, in a search for a sense of security. And when we find this doesn’t exist in the way we desire, we distract ourselves from “the person we’re meant to be,” just like Catherine points out to Jessa. This wisdom must come with age, but it sure would be nice if our generation could tap into it a lot quicker, and avoid all the growing pains and heartbreak of reaching adulthood. This scene made me tear up, and I think Catherine’s words are one of the most honest things portrayed on “Girls.”

While Jessa’s scene with Catherine was the best part of the episode, I’ll quickly wrap up everything else because this post is already too long! So, Hannah goes to the writers’ club and reads a story she made up on the train, because she second guessed herself and her talent, thoroughly embarrassing herself in front of her peers.

When she gets home, Hannah tries to talk about it with Marnie, who doesn’t seem very interested. The two start a fight, and Marnie hits the nail on the head, yelling at Hannah, “You judge everyone and yet you ask them not to judge you.” Then Hannah tries to make us feel bad for her (which doesn’t work, because all she ever does is whine and act pathetic), responding, “That is because no one could ever hate me as much as I hate myself. So any mean things someone’s going to think of to say about me, I’ve already said to me, about me, probably in the last half hour.” Though Hannah admits this in anger, we finally see the driving force behind her crippling lack of self-respect; another big light bulb moment in Hannah’s character development.

Hannah and Marnie in the middle of their fight.

Finally, Marnie continues the fight with Hannah, turning it into the “who is a better friend territory.” But Hannah yells back, stating how being a good friend isn’t important to her right now because she has “bigger concerns.” All the emotion and color drains from Marnie’s face, and she becomes sadly calm, saying, “You know what? Thank you. That is all I needed to hear. I’m done…I do not want to live here anymore, not with you.” The two storm off and slam their doors…and that’s the end of the episode, but hopefully not the end of their friendship too.

The Music of “Girls”

Like the soundtrack of “Girls”? Well you’re in luck! I just located a website that lists every song played during every episode of “Girls”–both season 1 and 2…you’re welcome.

Check out these links to TuneFind.com to hear some of your favorite music featured on “Girls.”
Season 1 Soundtrack (10 episodes, 64 songs)
Season 2 Soundtrack (10 episodes, 86 songs)

If you prefer to go the more traditional route, the official “Girls” Season 1 soundtrack is available for purchase at major retailers nationwide, and also on HBO’s online store.

 

Craigslist Ad Offers “HBO Girls Living Experience”

According to an article on The Huffington Post and E! Online, some creative roommate-seekers on Craiglist tried appealing to “Girls” fans, promising an authentic “‘HBO Girls’ Living Experience.”

Could you be real-life Hannah’s newest “Marnie” or “Shosh”?

The $1,500 rent covers a room in an originally 2 bedroom but flexed to 3 Williamsburg apartment. In true prententious 20-somethings style, it’s advertised as “livable and trendy but trashy-enough-to complain-about-apartment.”  And according to the posting’s authors, “living with us is essentially the real life version of the TV show,” complete with “one roommate named Hannah (for reals) with the fashion sense of a homeless kindergartener” and a “gay roommate, with a penchant for backhanded compliments.” Could you picture these as your two potential roomies? Sounds like they would definitely prove interesting…

Wondering about their description of your soon-to-be bedroom? According to the post, “it’s a room. There’s a window. What more are you looking for?” And if you want to see a picture, don’t stress because “they’re going to be instagramed.”

Also, it’s important to note that they are only looking for “Shoshanna”s or “Marnies,” and obviously “bonus points if you’re related to Brian Williams.”

Obviously this Craiglist ad must be a joke, but don’t worry…they cover that too. “You may be asking yourself ‘is this post ironic?’ Yes, yes it is.” And in true Lena Dunham writing style they throw in a funny kicker at the end, stating, “But no not really, we actually do need someone for that spare room.”

Are these Craigslist hopefuls hilarious or duds? Would you move in with them? Share your thoughts in the comment section, seriously curious to hear what “Girls” fans think of this stunt…

And last, but not least, here is a copy of the ad:

“Girls” on Storify

While searching on Google for more information about the show, I randomly stumbled upon the “Girls” Season 3 Production Diary on Storify.

A screenshot of the “Girls” Storify page.

I thought you all might be interested too! It is built on the Storify platform, which I had never heard of before. According to Storify’s website, “users tell stories by collecting updates from social networks, amplifying the voices that matter to create a new story format that is interactive, dynamic and social. Discover meaningful social media from the best storytellers online, including journalists, bloggers, editors and people like you, too.”

It is possible that this “Girls”-centered newsfeed is not created by HBO or anyone related with the show’s production, but it is still a cool thing to check out. Basically the site aggregates anything related to “Girls” that is posted on social media and posts it accordingly on its special webpage. The show has a main page, which you can access here, and also individual production diaries for two and three season. So glad I stumbled upon this cool new social media newsfeed platform/website!

Christopher Abbott (aka “Charlie”) Quits “Girls”

Christopher Abbott who plays Marnie’s love interest, Charlie, on “Girls” is reportedly leaving the show.

On Thursday, April 4, The New York Post (followed shortly by Rolling Stone Magazine) broke the news that Christopher Abbott, who plays Charlie, will be leaving the cast of “Girls.” Apparently he was at odds with Lena Dunham and did notlike the direction she was taking the show. According to the article, “Abbott’s rep confirmed his departure, telling us: ‘[Chris] is grateful for the experience of collaborating with Lena, Judd [Apatow], and the entire ‘Girls’ cast and crew, but right now he’s working on numerous other projects and has decided not to return to the show.’ Abbott appeared in indie movie “Burma” at SXSW last month. And Dunham’s shaken up the writing staff for the new season.”

Viewers have reacted en-mass on Twitter, as Rolling Stone reports in a follow-up article, because *SPOILER ALERTS* at the end of season two Marnie and Charlie get back together. Now that Dunham has begun production for season three, how can she possibly write Charlie off of the show smoothly? The plot just won’t make sense, which presents Dunham with a rather large challenge; either she will flop and “Girls” will go downhill with the discontinuity, or Lena will somehow pull it off and continue in her golden path towards television series greatness. Only time will tell.

I don’t know about you, but this whole stint sure makesme want to catch up to the end of season two and see what happens. Perhaps it is a pr stunt? According to HBO’s published schedule, “Girls” is definitely renewed for a third season and will be filming soon. The premiere date still remains TBA, but it sure will be an interesting episode to kick off season three.

Season 1, Episode 8, “Weirdos Need Girlfriends Too”

Episode 8, “Weirdos Need Girlfriends Too” uncovers deeper information about each character on the show, but mainly Adam.  Though he is undoubtedly very weird (hence the episode’s title, I suppose), Adam becomes more of a three-dimensional character and starts to seem like a pretty nice guy. We also begin to see a bit of Marnie’s wilder side and the frustrations of businessmen living in Williamsburg. Prepare yourself, because shit gets real.

Adam talking to Marnie about her break up, uncovering his surprisingly empathetic side.

The very beginning of the episode shows Adam and Hannah lounging in bed and acting very couple-y, much to Marnie’s frustration. When all three are sitting at the kitchen table, Marnie announces how she upset and “dealing with the deeply painful fact that [she is] probably not going to end up” with Charlie. While Hannah is the first to point out how Marnie never wanted to end up with him in the first place, Adam chastises her, saying, “Hannah, don’t minimize. Shit’s really hard…When I broke up with my girlfriend from college…so sad. I lost 30 pounds and I couldn’t move or talk or get my dick hard. But it also made me go, “who am I and what do I want?” It was like boom, I know who I am. I wanted to switch majors and buy a circular saw and I promised myself that I’d follow my gut, no matter what. And I do what makes me feel good.” So apparently Adam does have feelings after all, despite the fact that he previously treated Hannah so horribly. But now it seems that he is emotional and he gets it; relationships can be hard.

Hannah accompanies Adam to his play rehearsal. It is an avant-garde two-man show, also featuring monologues performed by Adam. In one scene while Adam and his fellow actor are rowing a canoe down a river, his friend changes his lines in an attempt to be more comical (though he is painfully not). Adam gets frustrated with him for trying to sell out and passive-aggressively states, “Gavin there is a lot of complex stuff being expressed in what you wrote, a lot of pathos. Give people a chance to process that. Don’t be afraid that if they’re not laughing [then] they’re not feeling. Look, you owe it to yourself to try stripping that thing down.” His friend thinks about it for a few seconds, and calls him a hero and thanks him for “keeping him honest.” Geez, Adam is a deep thinker and quite an artist in his own right. Who knew?!

But, the immature Adam we know so well makes a return when he decides to quit the play, simply because he is frustrated with the other actor (who happened to invest $2,000 in the project, while Adam contributed nothing). Hannah seems a little taken aback and scurries off to follow Adam after he stormed out. While they are walking home, they are almost hit by a car. Adam goes ballistic and hits the hood of the car repeatedly. Hannah is even more worried and confused.

Meanwhile Marnie bonds with Jessa over Hannah’s flaky tendencies, and a whole other plot line unravels. Jessa tries to make Marnie feel better, as she has been moping around the apartment. Marnie admits that she doesn’t like being so uptight  and “sometimes being inside my own head makes [her] want to cry,” so Jessa suggests that she “get out of there for a bit.”

The two go out for drinks, where they meet a new businessman in town, who invites them over to his apartment to share some wine. Marnie is enthralled and drags Jessa along, who looks bored to tears and is outright rude to the man (who we learn is a venture-capitalist by the name of Thomas-John).

Marnie tapping into her more “free” side, with Thomas-John creeping behind them and trying to get in on the action.

When they first arrive, he seems to be just a very odd, lonely guy…but then he gets really creepy. Marnie and Jessa lay down on his carpet to listen to the music he is deejaying (Thomas-John has a hobby of creating bizarre mash-ups) and he lies next to them, beginning to touch them a bit inappropriately. Jessa quickly sits up and states this is their cue to leave, to which Marnie says no and begins kissing her, in an attempt to break out from her uptight ways. Thomas-John can’t believe this is happening to him and keeps trying to get in on the action, but they keep swatting him away. Eventually he tries to awkwardly touch Marnie’s breast, which startles her and causes her to spill her glass of red wine on the carpet. Then Thomas-John goes absolutely ballistic and launches into a rant about how they are entitled and he is basically unhappy with the world. It’s too good not to include, so here is a transcript of his angry speech in response to the spilled wine:

“Are you fucking serious? It’s a $10,000 rug. It’s a very fucking expensive rug. If you’re gonna spill on it you better look more sorry than that. You know what if you’re “very” sorry, then you better be planning to make this a very special night for all of us. Not just you and fucking “Missy Maloo,” all of us. And not just me watching you girls go at it for a bit and getting a little bit turned on. I want balls deep in something, I don’t even fucking care what it is. No more excluding me “Mary Poppins,” its not fair. I want to be part of the group…[And]do you even really know what its like to work hard? I’ve been under a lot of pressure, my whole life, to succeed. Daddy didn’t buy me this rug or this apt or this nose.  That’s not your nose, there’s no way that’s your fucking nose. There’s no cartilage in the world that exquisite. So it kind of ticks me off when I come to Williamsburg, after working hard all fucking day in the real world, and I see all these all these stupid little daddy’s girls with fucking bowler hats, what are you doing in a fucking bowler hat? It’s stupid. And then you come over and you flirt and flirt and flirt and kiss and kiss and listen to my music tunes and drink my beautiful wine and spill all over my gorgeous rug and laugh about it.”

Although some of his complaints about entitled daddy’s girls are valid (which is basically the premise of the entire show), the man had clearly lost it so the two girls made a beeline for the door.

Hannah, happy to see Adam’s return to maturity.

Finishing up the episode, Adam wakes Hannah up in the middle of the night and makes her follow him to the corner where they were almost hit by the car. A building wall is covered with sheets of paper, with “sorry” spray-painted on each. Adam explains, “Sorry I yelled at the car. I wish I could apologize but I don’t know the driver, so I guess I’m going to have to just feel bad about it unless he drives by again…[And] I’m gonna do that fucking play. I’m gonna do it so you can watch it.” Hannah seems proud of Adam’s 180 degree-turn back towards maturity, and kisses him.

Season 1, Episode 7, “Welcome to Bushwick a.k.a. the Crackcident”

Shoshanna is by far the best character on “Girls,” and if you don’t agree, you sure will after watching this episode. Zosia Mamet’s portrayal of hilariously innocent Shosh is spot on. Though she is not the star of this week’s installment, she undoubtedly shines brighter than ever, securing Shoshanna’s placement within the series as a necessary and more flushed out character.

Shoshanna’s plot line in this episode is the most funny and interesting, but other also developing with the ladies. All of the girls attend a party in Bushwick, which turns out to be quite a rager.

Marnie picking a fight with Charlie and his new girlfriend.

As soon as Marnie hears that Charlie’s band is playing, she rushes off to say an “obligatory” hello. Once his band finishes their set, she greets him and acts extremely patronizing during their conversation. When Marnie realizes things aren’t going the way she wanted, she tells Charlie that “all [she] ever wanted for [him] was to find satisfaction outside of [their] relationship.” You can see Charlie reacting to her statement emotionally and angrily through his expressions, though he remains silent. But he breaks into a smile when his new girlfriend comes running over and jumps into his arms. Marnie then tries to pick a fight with him over the fact that he has moved on so quickly, even trying to drag the new girlfriend into it, angrily asking her, “You’ve never heard of me?” The girl is obviously innocently happy-go-lucky and genuinely asks her, “No, should I have? Are you one of those Real Housewives?” Marnie screams at both of them and storms off, into the party’s cloak of anonymity. The interesting thing about their encounter is the obvious contrast between overly serious, calculating and boring Marnie, and how genuine and happy the new girl seems to be. I think Charlie deserves to be happy too, and Marnie shouldn’t be trying to drag him down to her miserable level. During the rest of the episode, Marnie is shown complaining about this to anyone who will listen (or happens to be passed out and she thinks is listening).

Hannah’s plot line is a little deeper and more meaningful, though. She spots Adam at the party from afar, remarking to Shoshanna and Jessa, “I’ve never seen him outside of his house. I’ve never seen him with a shirt on…he hasn’t returned one of my texts in two weeks, and I was just coming to terms with that he was dead.” She seems jealous, upset and sad all at the same time. When Adam sees and calls out to her, she walks away, pretending she didn’t hear him. A little later, Hannah meets one of Adam’s lesbian friends, Tako, at the bar, who asks her if she met him through AA. Hannah is obviously stunned and doesn’t answer. The girl nervously fills the silence, saying, “I just blew his anonymous, oh shit…Don’t tell him…I just assumed that everyone that knew [Adam], like really knew him, knew that. It’s like the main defining thing about him, isn’t it? Well that and his love of books.” Hannah remains quiet and looks like she is going to cry.

My favorite part of the entire series so far, Shoshanna finds Jessa in a hallway chatting with Ray, and immediately starts rambling about kickboxing and how she smoked weed while in line for the bathroom. (Click on the photo to the left to see a clip of this scene! So hilarious.) Little did she know, but Shoshanna accidentally smoked crack. Her response to this realization is THE BEST. After Jessa breaks the news to her, Shoshanna says, “Oh my God, don’t tell my mom. Don’t even tell me. I’m matriculated at NYU and I just smoked crack, what is going to happen?” Jessa assures her that she will be her “crack spirit guide,” but then recognizes Jeff, the father of the family she babysits for, and runs off to damage control, passing along the “crack spirit guide” duties to poor Ray. Shoshanna pauses for a second after Jessa leaves, and then just turns around and bolts off. For the entire rest of the episode, all Ray does is chase her all over creation to make sure she “doesn’t jump off a roof or get fingered by a beat boxer,” as Jessa put it.

Jessa talking with Jeff at the party.

Jessa’s portion of the episode is not as interesting or funny. Basically she had responded to an unknown number in a text message, telling them to come to the “best party ever.” It turns out, it was Jeff who had sent her the initial message. She talks to him about why he came, tells him that he should tell the truth to his wife and stop pretending to have a job, and then winds up in the emergency room with him, because he got punched in the face. Now back to the more entertaining characters.

The episode wraps up fairly quickly after this part. Eventually Ray catches up to Shoshanna, who has not pants on anymore for some reason. Thinking the “man in plaid” was chasing her so he could rape her, she does some kickboxing moves on him and knocks Ray to the ground. Snapping back to reality and realizing what happened, she tried to help him by massaging him “in a nonsexual way” since she “took sports therapy last semester to meet jocks, but it was mostly Indian girls.” They seem to share a moment but Shoshanna is awkward and will look anywhere except at Ray while she massages his groin area.

At the same time, Adam drives Hannah home by allowing her to sit on the front of his bike. She yells at him to slow down and stop because she is getting scared, but he jams on the breaks and she flys onto the ground. They start to fight when Hannah asks why he never told her about AA, which is finally broken up when Marnie arrives in a cab to bring Hannah home.

Hannah finally happy for once, during the cab ride home.

Hannah lingers and Adam shouts at her, “Look kid, I don’t know what you f*cking want from me. Do you want me to be your boyfriend? You want me to be your f*cking boyfriend, is that it?” The next scene is the cab ride home, with an angry Marnie bitterly staring out the window on Hannah’s left and an exhausted and frustrated Adam stuffed into the backseat with his bike on her right. And for the first time ever, Hannah is happily smiling.

Lena Dunham’s “A Box of Puppies” published in The New Yorker

REVIEW of: “A Box of Puppies: Lifelong Canine Cravings” by Lena Dunham, featured in the March 25, 2013 New Yorker. (Read the full article here.)

Lamby, Dunham’s dog, is a mutt who came from a rescue shelter in Brooklyn. Newyorker.com, Photograph by Robin Schwartz.

Lena Dunham has been a darling of the press lately, and her newest installment is an article in “The New Yorker” about her dog, Lamby.The piece reads more like a personal essay, which is undoubtedly Dunham’s forte, but it seems out of place in a magazine. Nevertheless she is successful; you actually want to keep reading.

In her candid style, Dunham narrates readers through her wonky childhood obsession with dogs and her journey to get one of her own. As a misfit, she felt the need for a companion, leading her to ride in some man’s sketchy van to rescue newborn pit bull puppies from a cardboard box. (Spoiler alert: she didn’t get to keep them.)

Continuing through her adolescence, we learn that Lena finally does get a family dog, but it became more of her mother’s pet than her own. Flash-forward to the present, and Lamby, her new rescue mutt, enters the picture. This portion of the article made me smile. Any dog owner can relate to the growing pains of a new furry friend entering the family, from dealing with significant others who are allergic, to “siren” barking and even having the dog follow you around constantly, as it does not like to be alone, which Dunham details.

My one caveat with the article was the ending; Dunham gets artsy and it is annoying. I enjoyed reading her canine life story and hearing about her trials and tribulations with Lamby, but why go and ruin the whole article with a dumb, dramatic ending? So cliché; I’m over it. The finale of her piece reads as follows:

“‘I’m not going anywhere,’ I tell Lamby. He wakes up only one more time in the night, with a single bark that trails into silence. I kiss his little mouth, his ears that smell like corn chips and old water. ‘Sh-h-h . . . I love you. I love you. I love you so much.’ There is no one to call for help. We don’t need any help. He is mine, and I am old enough to have him. We are all adults here.”

Despite the ending, Dunham’s piece in The New Yorker is an enjoyable and fun read. Be sure to check it out here, or in the magazine’s March 25, 2013 issue.

Season 1, Episode 6, “The Return”

Episode 6, “The Return,” is particularly interesting because we finally catch a glimpse of Hannah’s childhood in Michigan, as the episode just follows her during her trip home for a weekend. Her relationship with her parents is explored in more detail, which is great since they were only featured for a few minutes during the first episode. Also, we are able to see the difference between how Hannah is treated by her friends from home, versus her New York crew.

Hannah’s parents driving her home from the airport.

While at home, Hannah bickers with her parents and broods in her room. Clearly not much has changed since we last saw her in New York; she is whiney and entitled. But the next day, we begin to see her unwind and act more confident…perhaps her lack of self-esteem has something to do with living in the city, and is not a personality flaw after all.

While running an errand for her mother, Hannah stops by to say hello to an old girlfriend from high school. She is bubbly and friendly, which leads us to believe Hannah used to be that way too. Apparently the city has hardened her. While catching up with her friend, Hannah learns that another girl from their graduating class (Carrie) went missing while on vacation, and is believed to be dead. The town is throwing a benefit to raise money for Carrie’s parents, so they can afford to hire a private investigator. Clearly this is a close-knit town, where people care about and want to help one another. Again, basically it is the complete opposite of Hannah’s dog-eat-dog life in New York.

Later, Hannah heads to the local pharmacy to pick up medication for her mother. The handsome pharmacist behind the counter recognizes her from their high school class and tries to start a conversation. At first it seems Hannah is caught off guard (someone actually being nice to her for once??), but quickly warms up to him. He is a genuinely nice guy, which is a good thing for her. To both Hannah’s and the viewer’s surprise, he asks her to be his date for the Carrie benefit that evening.

Hannah giving herself a pre-date pep talk.

My favorite scene of the episode (and possibly of the whole series thus far) is when Hannah tells her parents about her upcoming date. As she was visiting them for their anniversary, Hannah’s parents are upset since they already all had celebratory dinner plans. Hannah responds, “I don’t really think that you guys are understanding the severity of this situation. I have been dating someone who treats my heart like it’s monkey meat. I feel like a delusional, invisible person half the time. So I need to learn what it’s like to be treated well, before it’s too late for me.” Finally admitting her unhappiness with her relationship with Adam, it seems Hannah is making great strides. She is finally honest with herself how cruelly Adam treats her and that she deserves better. I wanted to jump up and down in my living room during this scene; Hannah is finally seeing clearly, it’s a miracle!

While getting ready for her date, Hannah gives herself a pep talk. While her self-esteem has seemingly soared since she has traveled home, her confidence is still slightly lagging behind. Looking in her mirror, Hannah tells herself, “You are from New York; therefore, you are just naturally interesting, ok? It is not up to you to fill all the awkward pauses. You are not in danger of mortifying yourself. The worst stuff that you say sounds better than the best stuff that other people say.”

Hannah awkwardly reacting to the pharmacist putting his arm around her

It appears that Hannah is a bit nervous and on edge, but thankfully she loosens up while eating pizza with the pharmacy guy. However, her awkwardness comes out in full force at the benefit, when he puts his arm around her shoulders. Poor Hannah looks shocked, horrified and like she going to cry all at the same time, which I found confusing. Shouldn’t she be happy someone is finally treating her well and respects her? Hannah ends up sleeping with him at the end of their evening out, but she is too forward and needy. It is awkward and uncomfortable to watch.

While she is sleeping in her bed after returning home, Hannah receives a call from Adam. She pretends to be nonchalant about it, but it’s obvious that she is excited…especially after he says that he misses her and wishes she were there with him. Oh no, here we go again…Hannah is going to get sucked back in. Nevertheless, the rest of their conversation is interesting. Hannah tells Adam how everyone is different in Michigan and how nice it would be to live there. “It’s like why doesn’t everyone struggling in New York move here and start the revolution,” she says. “It’s like we’re all slaves to this place that doesn’t even want us.” Prophetic words indeed; hopefully she still feels the same way upon returning to the city, and doesn’t lose the sense of self that she has gained from her time at home.