Hannah, Marnie, Jessa and Shoshanna have never really been particularly likeable characters. They’re insecure, self-obsessed, naïve, entitled, rude, and often deluded about their own lives. Why, then, do I keep coming back, season after season, to keep watching their misadventures? The answer to this question has eluded me ever since I first started disliking Girls during its second season. However, after watching the season four premiere episode, “Iowa”, I feel like I may have taken a step in the right direction, a step towards understanding just what it is about Lena Dunham’s show that makes me come back for more.
It hit me that it’s the little moments of clarity in Girls that make wading through all of the self-involvement and awkward interactions worth it. Moments such as in season two, when Jessa has just left her husband, and she shares a bath with Hannah, who simply holds her hand and makes her laugh. Or perhaps in season three, when the girls all go on vacation together, only to be confronted with their various foibles by a surprisingly insightful (if spectacularly brutal) Shosh. There were a couple of moments like this in “Iowa” – from Jessa’s goodbye with Beadie to Hannah and Marnie’s silent embrace before Hannah’s departure. In amongst their misadventures, these girls do have moments where everything clicks into place in a touching and insightful way.
The titular girls all seem to be finding at least a minute amount of clarity in their lives after the ups and downs of the past couple of years. Jessa has found a job that she loves – taking care of Beadie (guest star Louise Lasser) – only to have it ripped away from her when Beadie’s daughter (an over-the-top but fantastic cameo by Natasha Lyonne) comes to take her away from New York after her suicide attempt. Beadie has obviously chipped away at Jessa’s tough exterior, giving her some hard truths – “You’re so full of contradictions – you’re so beautiful, and then so ugly” – and then telling her that she loves her more than she loves her own daughter. Jessa, to her credit, genuinely seems to have matured, because even though you’d expect her to fly off the handle, she takes it with grace, and gives Beadie a goodbye hug. Jessa delivers some hard truths to Hannah, too, telling her to break up with Adam and calling her a hypocrite for leaving New York, when she was the one who begged Jessa to come back in the first place.
Hannah finally seems to have some direction in her life as she packs up and prepares to move to Iowa for graduate school. Adam doesn’t seem to be taking it well, calling her move “another step in a series of random steps” and refusing to make a plan for their relationship when she finally moves away. Hannah seems happy, if still self-involved (would she really be Hannah Horvath if she didn’t think of number one?), with an eagerness to start the next phase in her writing career. When Hannah finally leaves, without saying goodbye to Adam, you get the sense that Jessa was probably right about her – in this next phase of her life, with so much changing around her, she seems like she wants to be alone for it, to experience it all without any restrictions.
Shoshanna has finally graduated from NYU, to the delight of her parents Mel and Mel Shapiro – yes, that’s right, her parents are both called Mel (according to Shosh, it was the worst thing that ever happened to her, and it was the first thing to ever happen to her). We see how dysfunctional they are, fighting over every tiny moment in Shosh’s life, and she is fed up. Shosh seems to be handling her move to the real world well, even apologising to Ray for trying to manipulate him into being with her again after he’d slept with Marnie. This scene reminded me of why I loved Shosh and Ray as a couple – both so weird, yet so perfect for each other. Although, the way Ray was looking at Marnie makes me think that maybe he’s feeling more for her than he originally anticipated.
Speaking of poor, misguided Marnie, she seems to be the one with the least amount of clarity. She’s still making music with Desi, but also happens to be sleeping with him…while he’s still in a relationship with Clementine (guest star Natalie Morales). In a cringe-worthy scene that perhaps says a lot about Marnie, Clementine apologises for accusing Marnie of being in love with Desi. Marnie thanks her for her apology, and reiterates that she would never, ever do something so horrible. Oh Marnie, this whole situation is destined for disaster. She has a mini-meltdown when a couple of kids interrupt her set at the jazz brunch, and she is comforted by Elijah, who tells her to toughen up (incidentally, Andrew Rannells is hands-down the best thing about Girls – he steals every scene he’s in). For all her faults, Marnie is the only one of the group to see Hannah off to Iowa properly, which makes you remember that for every negative aspect about her, there’s a lot of good in Marnie Michaels.
This episode of Girls was really great. It was a great set-up for the coming season and reminded me of episodes back in season one, when the show seemed to have a discernible direction and cracking pace. The girls weren’t as insufferably cringing as they have been in the past, and the character development they all went through last season is paying off. It’s a little too early to tell, but if the rest of the season is like “Iowa”, I’ll be happy to eat my words and stop hating on Dunham’s brainchild.
Review Score: FOUR STARS (OUT OF FIVE)
Season 4 of Girls premiered in Australia on Showcase on Tuesday 13th January. It will screen every subsequent Monday. A full schedule can be found HERE
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