Season three of Girls begins like a mirrored version of season two’s first act: instead of Hannah taking care of Adam, Adam’s taking care of Hannah, making sure she takes her pills and continuously delivering his “dementedly helpful” advice (Shosh’s words, not mine). Marnie might be depressed over a break-up with Charlie again, but this time she’s appears to be moving forward with her life, even if her emotions are still caught in the past. And Shoshanna’s fully embracing her “renaissance”, refusing to date anyone seriously (when last year, she was still recovering from Ray saying he didn’t want to date her).
In a way, it’s almost a reset for the series, backing away from the melodramatics of season two’s closing to re-establish its tone and direction moving forward. The back half of Girls‘ second season got bogged down in romanticized resolutions, and “Females Only” quickly goes to work pushing itself away from the events of “Together”, putting the self-delusions of its characters front and center once again. Lest we forget, the characters of Girls are very self-involved people in relentless, almost caricaturist pursuit of “my own truth”, as Hannah shouts to Adam in the woods during “Truth or Dare”. In the first two episodes, there is a lot more reference to that journey (even more than usual), often in juxtaposition with the needs of those we call ‘friends’, which Hannah considers both the most vapid and important part of adult life
It’s an interesting dichotomy the first two episodes explore in interesting ways: what does it mean for something to be “good for us”, or “good for [insert person’s name here]”? Nobody even understands why Jessa is in rehab, and even though nobody denies her needing some sort of help, Hannah’s willing to go and pick her up before she’s ready, if only because it will make for good e-book material (which is still happening, thanks to a forgiving editor at Nerve.com). And once she does pick Jessa up, she warns her not to leave again, because of how difficult it is for Hannah when she does that. As always, each character of Girls is in the center of their own universe – but unlike the end of last season, “Females Only” and “Truth or Dare” aren’t as willing to forgive such selfish behavior.
As the show’s seer, Adam continues to provide the delusional-sounding insight that will undoubtedly appear later on this season: his insistence on not interrupting someone else’s journey with his own is less vilified than the script might appear to suggest. Everyone from Shoshanna to Hannah are ignoring the consequences of their actions on others: although it appears Jessa doesn’t belong in rehab, Hannah’s story about Jessa’s fear of being alone, compounded with her lying to Hannah to get her to pick her up, shows that her deep sadness remains after being abandoned by her father once again (notice how she gets pissed at her rehab friend when he doesn’t know his own daughter’s age) hasn’t done anything but damage her further. By the same token, Hannah picking up Jessa to fill a void that Adam isn’t able to fill as a boyfriend is prioritized above Jessa’s emotional health, which Adam (a former addict himself) reminds is probably not a good thing to do.
For fuck’s sake, Hannah tells her therapist at one point that she “holds the keys to the prison that is her own mind” – and says it un-ironically, one of those moments where Hannah’s “I just said something that sounds smart!” light bulb wears off. But her quote is as empty as Adam’s song lyric in the car: it’s a cliche, something we can manifest to try and make ourselves feel more enlightened. But all these people are still walking around in the dark: Adam tells Shoshanna that Hannah’s his best friend, but what is a ‘friend’ even? “Nobody wants to hear what their friends have to say”, Hannah tells him in “Females Only”; “that’s not the point.”
Ultimately, what “Females Only” and “Truth or Dare” are about is that dissonance between being an individual, and being part of a relationship, be it platonic, parental, or sexual: it’s easy for us to project our wants and needs onto other people, and then assume that creates some kind of human connection (or using them to actively seek false empathy, as Jessa accuses the others in her support group). Like Jessa says, we’ve all got our shit to work out, so who cares about someone’s else problems – can seeking for answers and reconciliation from others actually work, when there hasn’t been a reconciliation of self? It’s a marked return to the more contemplative nature of season one and early season two of Girls – and although it still has its share of small problems, the emotional honesty and intelligence that drew me into Girls in the first place appears to have returned, at least in the short-term.
“Females Only” – B+
“Truth or Dare” – B+
Other thoughts/observations:
– Shoshanna describes in detail her plan to alternatively sleep around and study hard, a plan that shouts the episode’s other theme from the mountaintops: you can’t design a life experience (like a road trip, or the assumption one will be fun and meaningful), without being disappointed and regretful in the end. Shosh might be happy now, but there’s already signs it’s a very superficial, distracting happiness in the wake of her break-up with Ray.
– speaking of Ray, he shows up for one great quote: “Everything dies.”
– Marnie’s middle name is Marie. Ha!
– nobody wants to be around for Adam’s “cum parade” – I don’t think even Hannah wants any part of that, after hearing Natalya’s reaction to seeing Adam in the coffee shop.
– Shoshanna smoking a cigarette will probably be my favorite .gif of 2014.
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I actually just started watching S2 of the show last week. So far, I’m enjoying it. I don’t even find Adam’s sudden neediness all that jarring, since I always interpreted his outburst in the S1 finale as momentary anger rather than an actual breakup. I assumed he was going to forgive her at some point.