By Bryan Hood, Craig Hubert, and Chloe Wyma | This week “Girls” got dark. Like real dark. To the point where we started to wonder whether or not Lena Dunham’s show can even be considered a comedy anymore (our conclusion: nope). To rundown last night’s episode: Hannah punctures her eardrum with a Q-Tip, Shoshanna lies to Ray, and Marnie performs possibly the most embarrassing musical number ever seen on TV. And none of that even compared to what we think was the end of Adam’s short-lived relationship with Natalia. Here’s what we had to say, over GChat, about the latest episode of HBO’s “Girls.”

“I Don’t Think I Liked That”

Bryan: Where to begin?
Craig: ‪How about with “get down on all fours?”
Bryan: So, Adam’s narrative. First of all, him immediately falling into a relationship seemed odd to me.
Chloe: ‪Well, it was only a weeklong thing.
Bryan: ‪No, I know. But, like, he seems into it. I just feel like as crazy and impulsive as he can be, a relationship this intense is something he would question.
Craig: ‪This was a dark episode, and sort of put into focus something I brought up a few weeks ago, about people not being able to change.
Chloe: ‪So dark.
Craig: Adam wants to change, or likes to think he can change, but he can’t.
Bryan: ‪Yeah. Natalia’s friends were the worst. The whole thing was just bad. I did like that her friend said he looked like an old fashioned robber or something though.
Chloe: ‪Yeah, that was hilarious. “Old-timey criminal,” which is absolutely true. Did you guys find it believable that running into Hannah would send Adam into an alcoholic tailspin?
Craig: ‪I was just going to ask that. I found it weird, considering that he didn’t tailspin before like that earlier in the season.
Chloe: ‪I do too, but I guess his alcoholism was kind of a smoking gun they were going to do something with eventually. I found it really unbelievable that Natalia would let him drink, since her mom’s in AA.
Bryan: ‪Wait, what if him drinking wasn’t part of it, would it have still have been weird to you? Because he’s sort of been in a long tailspin anyway.
Craig: ‪Hold on, we should clarify what we found weird.
Chloe: You mean the sex thing?
Craig: Yeah, “the sex thing.”
Chloe: I mean, that was just about trying to relive some kind of raunchy Hannah sexy times, right?
Bryan: It’s a mirror of what they did in the first episode, but, like, in his bed instead of on the mustard yellow couch.
Chloe: ‪Did she get on all fours?
Bryan: ‪Yup, and said something like, “I’m not sure I like where this is going.”
Craig: ‪But Adam seemed much more, I don’t know, violent? Part of it had to do with how they shot the scene and how they always show Adam’s apartment as dirty and dark. It was scary – his face, more than the actual sex.
Bryan: ‪Yeah, he doesn’t really seem present.
Chloe: ‪Dark and scary and rape-y.
Craig: ‪I imagine I know the answer, but I’m going to ask it anyway: Do you think she’ll stay with Adam?
Chloe: ‪No. Adam and Hannah are going to get back together next episode. I’m sure of it.
Bryan: ‪I agree, but also, Natalia just looked really uncomfortable about the whole thing, whereas Hannah never did.
Chloe: ‪I think this is end of Natalia. If someone made you crawl around on a floor littered with carpenter’s detritus and splinters, wouldn’t you be outta there?
Craig: ‪I suppose.
Chloe: ‪Nobody except for Hannah would be into that.
Bryan: ‪It’s what makes them perfect for each other.
Chloe: ‪How do you think viewers are supposed to respond to Adam now?
Craig: ‪Yeah, I was wondering the same thing. Are we supposed to be cool with him getting back with Hannah?
Bryan: ‪It wasn’t so dark before, because Hannah was into it.
Chloe: ‪Exactly.
Bryan: He’s not changed.
Chloe: ‪Well, I think he has in a way. He’s just gotten worse, falling off the wagon.
Bryan: ‪I think an interesting thing will be if it’s Hannah or falling off the wagon that tortures him more.
Chloe: ‪Imposing his misogynist sexual shit on someone who wants no part in it.

“Entering the ear canal could cause injury. Keep out of reach of children”

Bryan: Hannah got a splinter in her butt, yeah?
Craig: ‪Yep. That’s what happens when you slide around in your underwear.
Chloe: ‪I thought that was a nice touch, because Natalia could have easily gotten a splinter from crawling around on Adam’s gross floor. It seemed like this weird way of tying them together, or is that a total stretch?
Craig: That’s an ‪interesting connection. I never even thought of that.
Chloe: ‪Also, Adam was messing with his ear a lot throughout the episode.
Bryan: Doesn’t he do that a lot though?
Craig: I think there was connections all over the place this episode – about sex, humiliation, etc. Charlie having sex with Marine out in the open in his office, Marnie embarrassing herself by singing Kanye West in front of all those strangers.
Bryan: ‪Hannah walking around the city with no pants.
Craig: ‪Right. Did you think the doctor at the ER was kind of an asshole?
Bryan: ‪No. He’s got to deal with 100s of people a day, and in walks this adult woman who’s stuck a fucking Q-Tip in her ear.
Chloe: Typical ER scenario, actually.
Bryan: ‪Plus he wasn’t particularly mean, just not warm.
Chloe: ‪ER doctors never are.
Bryan: ‪I think someone (Craig) has awfully high expectations of ER doctors.
Chloe: ‪Yeah Craig, check your privilege, man.
Craig: ‪Maybe I’m just feeling bad for Hannah?
Bryan: ‪I mean, the last shot is painful.
Chloe: Hannah’s neuroses aren’t cute anymore. They began as this cute little white girl Woody Allen thing and it’s metastasized into something completely different and much more disturbing.
Craig: ‪Same for all the characters, in a way.
Chloe: ‪Yeah. I don’t know if you can really call this show a comedy anymore.
Bryan: ‪It hasn’t been since the coke episode.
Chloe: I wonder if they’re going to alienate their audience?
Bryan: ‪It’s been a drama with occasional flashes of levity, but never more than glimpses.
Chloe: ‪The friends who I watch it with are frustrated with the show.
Bryan: ‪Yeah, but they keep watching and talking about it. I feel like “Girls” is always going to frustrate a portion of its audience. It revels in that, and despite it doing that we don’t stop watching. ‪(We, not actually meaning us, since we all have to watch it.) I think a lot of people like it more, actually.
Craig: I’ve made my problems with the show clear here, and I think I like it more now. It’s turning into the show I always wanted it to be.

“What’s with all the Geisha shit?”

Chloe: ‪So there’s Shoshanna’s half-confession.
Craig: ‪Holding his hand!
Chloe: ‪There’s no way Ray would buy that.
Bryan: ‪But exactly what she would do. I don’t know, he pictures her as this pure being, even as he’s accusing her of being all over that boy at the party.
Chloe: ‪He would at least follow up on the scenario.
Bryan: ‪He will, but not there. It’ll start to eat at him.
Craig: ‪He’s as innocent as her.
Bryan: ‪When he finds out what actually happened he’s going to be gutted.
Chloe: ‪If he finds out.
Craig: ‪This is a television show, he’ll find out.
Bryan: Also, just look at her. She cannot keep it in.
Chloe: ‪I guess, but then why bother with the whole half-confession?
Bryan: ‪Because she’s like a child who’s been caught. You need to say something, you say a little bit, admit you did wrong, it helps a little bit, but it’s only a band aid, not enough to actually absolve yourself of guilt.
Chloe: ‪She’s going to break his heart. Can we talk about how she hit on Charlie?
Craig: ‪With almost the same pickup line as the doorman?
Chloe: ‪Yeah she needs to work on her game.

Harder, Better, Faster, Stronger

Bryan: ‪That is one of the most cringe-inducing moments I’ve ever watched. Worse than anything on “The Office” UK.
Craig: ‪I was telling Bryan before that I actually paused the episode and started doing something else for a few minutes because I felt so awkward watching it. It was a very David Brent moment.
Bryan: ‪What was she hoping to gain from it?
Chloe: ‪I guess she got what she wanted, right? Somehow that pathetic display managed to turn Charlie on?
Craig: ‪That was strange. I think what turned him on was seeing her so desperate. Which makes him look worse than her in the end.
Chloe: ‪Yeah, I agree. She got what she wanted, but for exactly the opposite reason than what she intended.
Craig: She thinks her “creativity,” her “following her dream,” like he is following his app dreams, impresses him.
Chloe: ‪Can we talk about the lyrics of “Stronger? ” What exactly was she trying to communicate with that?
Bryan: ‪Whatever it was, I’m sure it’s superficial. She’d ignore context, who the song was from, etc.
Craig: ‪”I won’t wait much longer.”
Chloe: ‪Was it supposed to be a “fuck you” to Charlie?
Craig: ‪I think it came off that way at first, but also weirdly obsessive.
Chloe: There’s this part where she sings, “play secretary I’m the boss tonight,” and kind of winks at him. I couldn’t tell if she was being ironic or not. I guess Marnie doesn’t really have an ironic bone in her body.
Craig: ‪Yeah, I think she really thought she was sending him a direct, clear message. What that message was, I have no clue.
Chloe: I thought for a second she was allying herself with Ray and the song was supposed to be a populist “fuck you.” Like, you think you’re such a big kid now, but I think it actually was like a desperate “Happy Birthday Mr. President” kind of thing or some sad ambivalent hybrid.
Craig: ‪They are focusing on a lot of scenes between Marnie and Ray. Do you think Marine and Ray are a possible future couple? A pairing of self-hatred and hope?
Bryan: ‪Nope.
Chloe: ‪Yes. I think that was set up from season one, when he hated her so much.
Craig: ‪Me too. The way he stuck up for her at the end of her song was oddly sweet.
Bryan: ‪He hates everyone though.
Chloe: ‪No, he particularly hated Marnie.

Image by Jessica Miglio

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