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Girls: “Homeward Bound”

by Andrew Roebuck
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This season of Girls has really showcased the destructive power of the female leads. Each one has achieved something they’ve always wanted, and then completely squandered it. Jessa is finally in a real relationship, preparing to go to school, Soshanna has gone to the country of her dreams, Marnie has gotten married, and Hannah has obtained a good job with a great boyfriend. This is the episode, however, where we see the final nail in the coffin for all of their dreams.

JE NE SAIS BLAH

Episode 8 opens with Soshanna arriving back in America, and almost as soon as she is off the tarmac, she regrets her decision to leave Japan. There is an interesting contrast to make comparing her speech from episode 6 with her displeasure this episode. In episode 6 she laments about how she despises everyone bowing to her, and being polite, whereas in this episode she is distraught with how rude everyone is. She clearly regrets leaving, but at the same time doesn’t want to go back. Apparently in an unseen sequence Shoshanna did in fact break up with Scott and was not seeing Yoshi behind his back. Seemingly she likewise broke it off with Yoshi before moving back home. There is an outstandingly awkward sequence in which Scott runs into Shosh at their old Sushi hangout. The sequence has some truly outstanding dialogue work that perfectly encapsulates how disoriented with life she is.

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Sample

The real emotional, and potentially serious element of the episode involves Adam’s sister who has apparently gone missing due to having suicidal thoughts and fears of hurting the baby which they have named “Sample”. The sequence starts up funny enough, Laird is completely unaware of the severity of Caroline’s absence, which leads to some amazing Laird dialogue. The laughs die down quite a bit when you discover the real situation. Laird leaves Adam with the baby, and it is here you really begin to understand how much Adam has grown. Unlike the titular “Girls” Adam is an adult now. He began the series as an angry boy, and has since got his life together. He is well prepared to look after a child, and he understands the severity of the situation. He truly cares for the well being of both his sister, and his niece. When Jessa comes over to visit him you see just how childish she still is. She didn’t do any research on what was good for the baby, and cannot deal with the responsibility. Their relationship has hit a pivotal point, and it may not survive this season. Jessa cannot remove her problems from any given situation, and Adam is beginning to understand he may have made a mistake.

“I’m cool as a fucking cucumber”

To be fair out of the main cast Marnie has matured the most, but only somewhat recently. This season she has come to realize how ridiculous her relationships, and her choices have been. Yet she is still unable to deal with her worst mistake of marrying Desi. Their relationship is not improving at all, and they are forced to work together to produce music, yet Desi refuses to talk with her at any other point. It gets so awkward Desi has to bring in an anger councilor, for Marnie. Yet if the two can work through this they will have a lucrative song career on their hands. I’ve called Marnie “the human train wreck” in the past, but it seems her life may soon be getting back on the rails.

“It’s just us”

Fran and Hannah had such a nice beginning, last season seemed poised to showcase a lovely relationship with growth and maturity for Hannah. Last year my review pontificated on how the show may not have much time left (we now know there will be one more season) because the main cast has begun to mature. Clearly now, I think that is not the case.  To prove my case, Hannah officially breaks it off with Fran…while she is about to go on vacation with him. At as rest shop she leaves the mobile home Fran rented, and she doesn’t want to go back in. Fran attempts to deal with her in a mature way, but Hannah literally runs into the woods leading to a shouting match that ends in their separation. It is pretty stupid of Hannah to run and refuse to have a ride home. Any scene with Hannah in the woods never ends well. She is forced to bother all of her friends for a ride, until Ray finally agrees to pick her up. This leads to one of the weirdest parts of the episode. Ray shows up with a brand new coffee truck, and suddenly on the ride home Hannah attempts to go down on him. I was almost as surprised at Ray in this sequence. It seems out of left field, and given that it ends in a car crash is clearly another instance of Hannah’s bad decisions. Ray is a real, and kind person to even consider coming out to get her, and in the end she nearly destroys his livelihood. Towing expenses are usually extremely expensive, and with the potential damage to the vehicle it could cost him a lot. Hannah owes him big, but instead of trying to make it up in a real way she attempts to thank him with sex, and when that fails she promptly leaves him alone so she can ride with a stranger. This episode made showcase some of the worst decisions Hannah has ever made. It is questionable if she has even had any character growth. At this point it seems likely she needs to see a real therapist about her constant breakdowns, and insane life style. As bad as the stranger decision was, I was pleasantly surprised to see the apparent creepiness of the guy was all her misjudging him. He was the one in an abusive relationship, and he was the victim. While he tells Hannah his story she seems to laugh at him, which shows even more of the callousness of her character.

Overall this season has been an emotional roller coaster, new characters, old characters returning, love, hate, and drama. All the things we’ve come to expect from our favorite batch of horrible millennials. Next week concludes the season.

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2 comments

fuji April 16, 2016 - 3:38 am

Is this is an official HBO newsletter? The number of grammatical errors is off the chain. Is anyone responsible for proofing + editing newsletter content?

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Jef Dinsmore April 17, 2016 - 6:10 pm

First off this NOT an official website for HBO. We are all fans with different skill sets. I was not assigned this particular post, but upon seeing your comment above I went in and gave it the once-over.

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