Throughout television history, we have been privy to some of the greatest fictional love stories. From Carrie and Mr Big to Ross and Rachel if there is anything we have come to learn it’s that these guys like to break up, get back together, break up, get back together over and over again and eventually, they end up together, sort of. Joining the ranks is now Hannah and Adam for whom this episode is solely dedicated to, but this time its real. There is no canned laughter, quips from Chandler or romantic sweeping statements from Ms Bradshaw. This is just two people, evaluating their relationship in what has become one of the entire shows stand out episodes.
At the end of last week’s episode ‘Cubbies’ we saw Hannah returning to NYC with a big smile on her face and a hopeful and expecting glint in her eye. Upon arriving at her flat, not only had her sofa gone, but Adam appeared to be shacked up with a leggy intellect called ‘Mimi Rose’. URGH. Upon learning that Adam has put all of her stuff into storage and the two of them have settled rather nicely into her flat, she barricades herself in her bedroom. Typical Hannah reaction, really. In an effort to coax her out, Adam calls in some favours. Shoshannah comes round and does the best/worst thing in this situation which is to Facebook stalk Mimi-Rose and find out as much as they possibly can about her, only learning that she is in fact quite a perfect person. Sigh. Hannah childishly refuses to leave the apartment and Shosh leaves. Next in is Jessa who we learn is the person responsible for setting Adam and Mimi-Rose up. We all know Jessa has quite a different outlook on life compared to everyone else, so in her rational mind she thought this would be a good thing for Adam and it turns out it is. Jessa leaves after Hannah calls her a ‘fucking bitch’ and gives her the finger. Yet another mature response from Hannah. She’s not taking this too well.
Ray, Marnie, Laird and Caroline all have their turn with Hannah, trying to help her understand what is happening. None of them have much luck, Laird and Caroline just end up making out next to her, Marnie is just way to smug and happy with Desi and Ray is just a tad incapable of empathy.
The latter part of the episode is where it really finds its feet. Hannah is just about to leave the apartment when Adam returns home and he explains that their relationship really didn’t feel like it was going well in the end. She had left, seemingly for two years and moving on always seemed to be on the cards, for both of them. Their relationship, for Adam, had ran its course and was over. They had their highs and were in their lows which was the time to break it off, but it was a break up that never happened, Hannah just left. For Hannah, she was returning to New York to reignite it, hoping to pick up where she left off and her sorrowful words, stifled by tears asks Adam if he loves her (Mimi-Rose). After a long pause, he explains he just needs to see where their new relationship is going to go, because it is so good for him right now. As she leaves he calls her ‘kid’ one last time, to which she begrudgingly tells him not to do any more. She goes to where her furniture has been put into storage and lies down on the couch, surrounded by everything but having nothing.
If she hadn’t lost her way before, she certainly has now. Hannah has been all over the place in this season. She hasn’t at all clicked or settled into her life in Iowa, he original exclamation that all her friends should move there and ‘start the revolution’ was the product of being caught up in the new and exciting life she was about to embark on. In reality, she is bored, she is alone and she can’t write. Even Elijah has direction. Partying with undergrads and starting arguments with her peers only proves that Hannah is not meant to be in Iowa, but if she returns to New York, what will she do? Now that she doesn’t have a life with Adam to go back to, she is pretty much at square one.
Since the beginning there have been a few stand out episodes of GIRLS; The episode with Jessa’s Dad, the episode with Patrick Wilson and the Beach House. This episode is up there with them as being a truly fantastic and real account of how relationships fall apart in the modern world. How making one decision about a part of your life can destroy something else, how breaking up can really hurt for one person and not the other, how breakups like this can come without warning. There are some love stories that don’t work out. Hannah and Adam may be one of them, but that may not be such a bad thing, this time. Hopefully the girls will come together for Hannah here, if Marnie can leave her smugness at the door and Jessa can act like a real human being for once and Shosh can just CHILL OUT then maybe Hannah has a chance of getting back to reality. If not, Elijah will be our only hope.
Don’t worry kid, things will get better. Here’s a preview of next week’s episode:
Here’s episode 4’s review too, if you missed that.
Find Episode 6 here.
