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<em>GIRLS</em> Recap: "Female Author," Or How To Lose Friends & Alienate People
By
Rebecca Fishbein
Published Jan 26, 2015
Modified Jan 26, 2015
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By
Rebecca Fishbein
Published Jan 26, 2015
Modified Jan 26, 2015
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GIRLS likes making the viewer cringe—Marnie channeling Kanye West, Hannah hitting on her boss, and the Q-Tip incident are just a few moments that come to mind and immediately beg to be repressed. This week's episode had a couple shudder-worthy incidents we'll discuss below, including an awkward MFA candidate smackdown and a truly terrible job interview.
First, let's check in with our fair heroine in the New York-less, Adam-less Midwest. Hannah seems to be struggling a bit with grad school life, where ample free time that would be best spent writing a story people don't hate is instead wasted on Skype and Teen Nick television shows. Meanwhile, while Hannah's trying to master the art of procrastination, Elijah's turned into the social butterfly of the University of Iowa, which makes perfect sense since Elijah's one of only two main GIRLS characters I'd want to be friends with.
But Hannah's having some trouble fitting in, and for some reason, decides to ingratiate herself to the rest of the MFA crew by "pigeonholing" each one of them, after a few of the males claim her "50 Shades of Grey"-esque story has no artistic merit. It's a brutal scene, one in which you watch Hannah sink herself deeper and deeper into a sad, friendless hole while she slaps some faux realness on her compatriots. We haven't had time to get to know these characters Hannah's crapping all over—much in the way that she repeatedly accused her former GQ coworkers of selling out last season—but she's making it harder and harder for us to side with her, a move that's purposeful on the show's part but still seems off-putting for the viewer. How will Ms. Horvath make it all the way through her program with only a Mennonite cabbie as an ally, and how long will the rest of us suffer through it?
And now, for Shosh. Dear, sweet, stupid Shosh. She aces an interview for a position at Ann Taylor LOFT—a place full of similarly bubbly, well-coiffed people—then admits, in the most obtuse way possible, that she has no intention of taking such a job but wanted to test her own skills as an interviewee. Just as watching Hannah smack-talk her peers induces serious jaw-clenching, Shosh telling her interviewer she felt she could be "totally honest" with her before admitting she wasted her time makes you want to punch your television. At least she didn't show up with Mama or Papa Mel like all those other Millennials are allegedly doing.
As for the rest of the crew, Marnie elicits some rare viewer empathy by laying down the law with Desi, who continues to support my mother's conviction that one should never trust a "sensitive" man in torn denim. Meanwhile, we find out what's going on with Hannah and Adam (they've decided to limit phone calls to once-a-month) and are blessed with a gratifying friendship pairing in Adam and Jessa, who've found common ground at AA meetings and get carted off by the cops after Jessa defiantly urinates in the street. White people resisting arrest over a broken windows infraction seems like a weird thing to highlight right now, but Adam's refusal to put up with Jessa's lost-girl bullshit is appropriately stoic, even though we know Jessa really is quite lost.
A few notes:
- Elijah calls Hannah out on her procrastination habit. This is not a problem specific to Hannah but is in fact The Writer's Curse, a topic covered in many a Slate article. I have had this episode for two weeks, and I am writing this recap on Sunday night. The Curse is real.
- "Do you think Dakota Fanning WANTS to be Dakota Fanning?" Elijah should have his own show.
- Marnie and Desi's music is disgusting.
- "He's got a bungalow on Easy Street where he has his cake and eats it too. He's a Casanova who counts cards secretly while he's got four Queens up his sleeve." Ray is the other GIRLS character I would willingly befriend, though points off for thinking Marnie is anything other than useless.
- None of the four GIRLS had intersecting stories this week, save for a quick Skype session between Hannah and Jessa. It's fine to see them navigating the world on their own, but each separate storyline feels a bit truncated in a 22-minute episode. Will this continue all season, or will the gang surprise Hannah in Iowa, a la Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants 2?
Next week: Hannah's "honesty" session earns some backlash, surprise. But Shosh hangs out with Ray, a rare treat post-Season 2 breakup. Hooray!
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Rebecca Fishbein
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