TV Talk: GIRLS 2.06 “Boys”
After last week's episode, it's a relief to see the other members of the Girls cast. (HI SHOSHANNA!) It's also nice to see Hannah wearing a cute red polka dot dress instead of an ill-fitting two-piece. But even with these positive developments, I'm not sure how long I'll remain on the the Girls train. We've hit some severe rough patches this season, and unless Lena Dunham has a genius master plan far greater than my common mind can grasp, it's only a matter of time until this train totally derails.
Given the title, you'd think that this episode would focus mainly on the male characters, but sadly, that is not the case. I mean, Elijah didn't even make a CAMEO. WTF, show?!! We did witness some interesting bonding between Adam and Ray, but we also watched Marnie and Hannah's friendship deteriorate to pathetic levels. Where is a basket of puppies when you need one?
When the episode begins, Hannah gets an e-book deal, which is awesome, but she has to write it in a month, which is less awesome. Ray wants his copy of Little Women back, because it was a gift from his godmother, who writes notes in the margin to explain how it relates to his shit. Ray's godmother, LET'S HANG. Hannah unfortunately loaned that book to Adam, which leads to Ray visiting Adam's place and meeting the dog that Adam stole from a nearby coffee shop. Ray's perspective on Adam is priceless, like his observation that Adam's place is "very masculine" and "primal."
Adam convinces Ray to come with him to Staten Island, where the dog's owner lives, and of course they end up dishing about the girls in their lives. Adam claims to be over Hannah, because, as he puts it, dating her would be like winning a giant Tweety Bird at the carnival and having to cart it around for the rest of the night. That analogy is... double true. Adam claims that dating younger women and older ladies is great, but it's the "in-betweens" that are the problem, and now this show seems to be teetering into sitcom territory. (Although I did love it when Ray wondered if their connection stemmed from the fact that he and Adam are both weird looking.) Out of nowhere, Adam flips back to his psycho mode and accuses Ray of sleeping with Hannah. Adam, what happened to that awesome dude at the end of Season One? Come back! COME BACK!!!
Adam peaces out, and Ray is left to deliver the dog back to its owner. But when he encounters the owner's daughter, who is a nasty piece of work, Ray decides not to return the dog. They end up watching the sunset together until Ray bursts into tears, and ok, seriously? What happened?! Are we back to Ray feeling sorry for himself? Because I thought we got over that two weeks ago. Ray, you have an awesome girlfriend named Shoshanna. Go have sexy times with her.
Meanwhile, in girl-land, Marnie and Hannah continue being THE WORST FRIENDS EVER. Hannah leaves Marnie a voicemail about her big e-book news, and Marnie makes fun of it to Booth Jonathan, i.e. Man I Need To Stab Immediately. Booth asks, "Why do you hang out with her still?" and, well, yeah, he has a point. After firing his assistant for taking a spoonful of his ice cream, Booth asks Marnie to serve as his hostess at an art party. Marnie is WAY too excited, but it's cute when she tries on outfits in front of Shosh. Hearing about Marnie's artsy fartsy life, Shosh gushes: "You're like Bella Swan and I'm like her weird friend who doesn't understand how cool things are." You're right, Shosh, because Anna Kendrick is WAY cooler than Kristen Stewart.
Instead of listening to Shoshanna's expert fashion advice, Marnie ends up wearing a dress that's Blade Runner meets Betsey Johnson. Honey, no. She frolics amongst Booth's bohemian hipster friends, and when Hannah shows up, Marnie acts like she's besties with everyone. Trying too hard, much? Hannah's not in the mood to deal with this, because she hasn't been able to write a single word of her e-book. (Jessa made good use of her one minute appearance in the episode by telling Hannah, "This book doesn't matter.") Hannah leaves, and Marnie makes the mistake of calling herself Booth's girlfriend, when, in actuality, he viewed her as an employee (like his former assistant). She starts to cry, which I really, really hate, because Booth Jonathan is NOT WORTH IT. As if to prove my point, he starts whining about how "everyone just uses me for what I represent to them" while breaking wine bottles. It's bad enough when people throw themselves a pity party, but when they waste perfectly good alcohol, that's just BEYOND.
Back at home, Hannah still faces writer's block, so out of habit, she calls Marnie. They both end up lying to each other, with Hannah claiming that she's made great strides with her book and Marnie claiming that she's having the best time at the party (even though she's in the subway, on her way home). The whole thing is just grim, y'all.
So, in terms of character development, did anything really happen? Adam is still licking his wounds, Ray is still paranoid about being a loser, and Hannah is still... Hannah. I am definitely celebrating Marnie's break-up with Booth Jonathan, but it looks like she's facing an uphill battle to reclaim her self-esteem. At least Shoshanna was wearing a super cute pink vintage dress. That's something?
Meredith, where do you think this is all going? And do you care? Because honestly, I'm not sure that I do.
