As Lena Dunham’s Girls returns to our screens for a fourth season, the viewer is left with a definite sense of disappointment after the first episode. Instead of the funny, relatable twenty minutes that viewers are used to, Hannah’s departure to Iowa was dragged out for the duration.
“The plan is there is no plan. That works for me, as a plan.”
Our self-absorbed protagonist is so caught up in this new stage in her life journey that she remains ignorant to her friends’ parallel dilemmas. She can’t fathom that Adam, her boyfriend, will be able to function in her absence. We want to hit her in the face and bring her round to the realisation that the world doesn’t revolve around her, her friends’ lives will go on, despite her absence.
We’re not filled with any sense of hope that the relationship between the oddball actor and Hannah will endure throughout season four. Their goodbye sex is decidedly dull and lack-lustre compared to what we have come to expect, and Adam pretends to be asleep when it is finally time for Hannah to leave. Uh oh. Doesn’t bode well.
Their plan is that there is no plan, a fact which means there will most likely be some major drama between the two as they struggle to work their usual issues out, with the added complication of distance. Whilst we once yearned for Adam to reciprocate Hannah’s feelings, and developed a soft spot for their dysfunctional relationship, we’re now a little sick of it. What’s more, after this episode it feels like Adam is sick of it, too.
“I’m not mad at you, I can’t give a shit.”
Jessa’s character is not known for being nice; she is often so brutally honest that the viewer physically cringes on behalf of the character she is laying into. This episode, instead of feeling sympathy for Jessa’s victim, the viewer wanted to applaud her for saying what we were all thinking. She calls Hannah out for being so self-absorbed and hypocritical: “It’s so typical of you to leave, right after you told me I need to come back to New York and stay for good…”
But the viewer can’t shake the feeling that Jessa is channelling her anger at having lost her close friend and employee, Beadie, as she is moving after her aborted assisted suicide effort in the last series. Everyone close to Jessa seems to have a habit of disappointing her and moving away, therefore it’s not hard to see why she snaps at Hannah in the bathroom of the restaurant at Marnie’s jazz brunch. Jessa needs Hannah, and she isn’t going to be around.
“Marnie this business is not for cissy bitches. If you wanna do this you gotta thicken your skin.”
Marnie, as ever, is seeing the world the way she wants it to be instead of how it actually is. We see her for the first time since Season 3 having passionate sex with Desi; except when he says “I love this” she says she loves him. Sounds like someone’s in trouble…
Performing with him at her first “jazz brunch” (sans actual jazz), she first seems to patch things up with Desi’s girlfriend, Clementine. She manages to lie with ease and plays the serpent masquerading as an innocent flower incredibly well. However, over the next couple of episodes as it becomes clear how Desi really feels about her and their sordid affair, it’s likely Marnie will turn poisonous. When the kids in the restaurant cover their ears as a result of her singing, we can’t help but think she deserves it a little.
“I’m just in the world, trying to get it done. Y’know?”
Shoshanna finally graduates and apologises to Ray for trying to trick him into being with her. Her reaction when he hugs her shows that she’s clearly not over him, so that’s an area for potential development now that Marnie is suitably distracted by Desi. The viewer can’t help but feel for Shosh as she epitomises what Girls is all about. The show follows people in their twenties just trying to get “it” done. Adam’s “it” is his acting; Marnie’s “it” is her singing; Ray’s “it” is the coffee shop; Hannah’s “it” is her writing… but the viewer and Shoshanna herself are yet to learn what her “it” even is.
The episode is over before anything much has happened and the final scene sees Hannah sat in the back of the car, listening to her parents bicker as they drive her to Iowa. When Hannah’s Mum speaks for her, “Hannah might want a snack,” the viewer is filled with trepidation. How on earth will Hannah fare without somebody to hold her hand and give her cookies for being brilliant once she gets there?
I guess we’ll have to wait until next week to see…
Girls airs on HBO on Sunday at 9pm.
Words by Beth Kirkbride