The second episode in season four of Lena Dunham’s Girls follows Hannah’s attempts to settle in and make friends upon her arrival at Iowa. Whilst this episode is certainly more captivating than the series’ debut was, the “me me me” theme is unavoidable given the lack of focus on the lives of Hannah’s friends back in New York. We’re given fleeting glimpses into NYC; Jessa and Shosh watch Scandal together, Elijah is sick of seeing sights like a homeless woman fist herself. With no updates on Ray or Adam, it would be nice to see a return to the other characters in upcoming episodes.
A brief Skype session with Marnie suggests that she’s very much still pursuing Desi, refusing to come to terms with the fact what she’s involved in is an affair. As Hannah’s best friend, she refuses to give Hannah – and in turn the viewer – any information about how Adam is coping. Then the connection breaks up and that’s the last we hear from Marnie.
It’s not actually clear to the viewer if Hannah and Adam have broken up. Surprisingly, Adam isn’t Hannah’s first port of call when she phones Shosh and then her parents to ask:
“Is it normal when you get to a new place to think about suicide for the first time ever?”
Hannah seems to have forgotten Adam exists. When she advises a crying undergraduate at a “rager” she attends on the topic of a cheating boyfriend, it’s almost as if Hannah is giving herself a pep talk. “What he doesn’t know won’t hurt him” seems to be her line of argument, therefore it seems like a fair to say that we’re likely to see Hannah involved with a new romantic interest at some point.
Speaking of romantic interests, Hannah’s gay ex and close friend Elijah makes a surprise appearance, lightening the mood as he convinces Hannah to opt for getting blind drunk over revising her notes and meditating on her classmate’s piece of writing. There’s an “I’m not gay” fumble in the bathroom between Elijah and a random college boy, which seems to substantiate that college is a time of experimentation where identity is very much fluid.
The episode has its funny moments; from Hannah’s indignant response to getting no phone reception at her new house, to her panic upon discovering bats in her place of residence. But overall the largest feeling the viewer experiences during this episode is pity. Despite being reassured that no one locks up their bikes in Iowa, of course Hannah’s bike would get stolen. We can’t help but wish for a break for the show’s central character. Hannah is alone and she is struggling – evidenced by her question about suicide to her mother, who doesn’t seem too concerned about her daughter’s mental state. Perhaps this is because she knows how dramatic her daughter is … perhaps such flippancy towards Hannah’s feeling of isolation will have repercussions later in the series. Time will tell.
[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y7jHxC2qXZ0?rel=0&w=740&h=422]
“I mean, the main character is a girl with a lot of tattoos named Anna who needs to eat every two hours or she passes out.”
Our protagonist’s ego gets a royal bruising upon her introductory writing class. Hannah sits eating anxiously as her peers unpick her work; critiquing it as clearly based on her personal experience although the purpose of the class is fiction writing. Many of the students find it difficult to comment on the piece as they would be criticising Hannah’s personal experiences, her “privileged girl” life where she asks to get beaten up by her boyfriend.
Dealing with the topic of abuse in Girls is certainly interesting given the critical response to Dunham’s novel Not That Kind of Girl. Although Dunham claims that the episode was shot before any of the fallout from her book, it’s hard not to see the show’s creator in Hannah’s place.
“By the way, TMI is such an outdated concept. There’s no such thing as too much information, this is the information age!”
When Hannah asks a classmate in the bar what she really thought of her piece, she is shocked to be accused of being insensitive, immediately assuming that the student must have suffered abuse to get so offended by her work. The reality is Hannah’s writing is not as ground-breaking as she believes it to be, and it’s likely her ego will have to take a bit more of a knocking before this sinks in.
The important thing the viewer takes from the episode is that it doesn’t matter if you’re not trying to offend, if people are offended by your work you are obligated to step back and listen to why they feel that way. It’s humbling on the part of Dunham to include this, regardless of whether or not the episode was shot prior to the allegations made in light of her novel.
Dealing with criticism is hard, but this episode shows that it is a necessary part of life if you are to get better as a person.
Girls airs on HBO on Sunday at 9pm.
Words by Beth Kirkbride