Girls Season 2 Episode 1
Welcome back, y’all. Season 2 of this little show nobody’s heard about that hasn’t been talked about at all. But I think it’s important, as much as possible, to discuss the show separately from the entire cottage industry of media that has sprung up around it. And I watched this episode before the Golden Globes ever happened, which is good.
So! Season 2. We haven’t been away for that long, judging by how far Adam’s injuries have progressed but somehow, suddenly, we are looking at a whole new Hannah. I think what struck me most is that particular hallbrand of being in your mid-20s: you have entirely different personalities for different people. She’s utterly sweet with new boyfriend Donald Glover, distantly patient with Adam, flirty and slightly deferential with Eli. This is what I remember most about this age – the slight shapeshifting that happens with each new set of people you encounter. At the time, I thought I was maybe completely disingenuous – now I realize that’s how you figure out who you are, what’s common across the board.
So Hannah, reveling in her freedom from Adam even though all she wanted before now was to be close to him, celebrates her life. She is on top of her game. She is feeling way better than Marnie, and oop!, she almost can’t help being smug about how much better she’s doing.
I think the show did a really interesting thing by having the fight not devastate Hannah. Usually the “beta” girl (if you will) would be a ball of nerves and hoping to get back into a comfortable friendship zone but the tables have turned between them and now it’s Marnie who has to ask, searchingly, “are we…okay?” Hannah’s not worried about it, at least on the surface, whereas it’s all Marnie can think about.
I was a little moved by how down Marnie seemed, like the fact that she’d been fired took any fight she had left out of her, but the introduction of her mother took away any guesswork as to why Marnie thinks about things the way she does. Still, watching her this episode was like watching a balloon slowly leaking air. Marnie seemed to run, up to now, on duty and propriety, so given that she has neither of those left – no job to be dutiful to, and certainly not much claim to propriety after the least sexy sexual encounter on Eli and Hannah’s couch (a scene so awkward, but so accurate, and that’s all I’m going to say for fear of incrimination) – we get to see her reinvent herself in a way that is sure to include some of the first stumbles Marnie’s ever had. All hail season 2.
Meanwhile there are amusements to be had because Shoshanna, while maybe not the most depth-filled, is consistently amusing and true to herself -- “I wouldn’t say I miss it, but something’s MissING” -- and I was blissed out because most of the episode did not include Jessa. She’s just not for me.
But mostly I look forward to seeing whether the breaking of the Adam bonds are as easy as Hannah thinks they are, and whether she’s going to continue to be the kind of slightly careless girl this episode makes her out to be -- wouldn’t it be the worst if the behaviour you hated in someone else suddenly becomes the MO that makes the most sense to you?
Attached -- photos of the cast of Girls celebrating their Golden Globe win.
