'Girls' Just Expects More from Life
We're apparently ending this season where Girls usually ends its seasons: with Hannah on the verge of a breakdown.
.We're apparently ending this season where Girls usually ends its seasons: with Hannah on the verge of a breakdown.
Hannah decided to quit/get fired from her job in spectacular fashion this week. Calling out her colleagues for their lack of passion, she declares: "I just expect more from life." When her boss (a.k.a. J. Crew's Jenna Lyons) eventually fires her, she says, "thank you."
On one hand, Hannah's frustration is understandable. She's working a job that feels like a graveyard for creative people who have given up on their dreams. On the other hand, Hannah's insolence and pure cruelty to her work friends leaves a viewer with little sympathy to her plight. Hannah has always been convinced that hers is an innate talent, declaring in the pilot that she might be "a voice of a generation." But the show never makes it clear whether Hannah is actually a good writer—publishers do seem to be interested—or whether her conception of herself as a "truly authentic person" is just pure delusion. Meanwhile, she's taking her cues from a fictional version of Patti LuPone, who tells her that "the worst thing you can do is subjugate your passion," as her fictional husband talks about how he put aside his dreams. Though we don't see it on display,we know LuPone is someone with an innate talent (those pipes!). As an audience, we don't know if Hannah possesses anything close to that.
Hannah's stagnancy is especially noticeable when everyone else around her seems to be getting his or her shit together. Adam is actually serious about his acting. Even Marnie is rejecting her sad sack status. Yes, Marnie! For once, the show let Allison Williams sound good while singing. Everyone loves Marnie's performance with Adam's colleague Desi, including Elijah, who was gearing up for it to be a "real shit show." Marnie doesn't fall apart when she meets Desi's girlfriend (played by Natalie Morales). Instead she goes to visit Ray, a person she clearly likes despite been ashamed of their hookups.
By the end of the episode, Hannah finally has an attentive Adam, but decides to reject his advances in order investigate Ray's sexual activity. She barges in on him to find Marnie, and storms out saying, "You will never judge me again." Hannah—the person who barged in on two people having sex—is once again characterizing herself as the victim, and it feels like we are falling back into familiar Girls territory.