Girls – Japan

By: Ruth Anrep

I’m turning Japanese. I think I’m turning Japanese. I really think so. In this episode, we join Shoshanna as “Girls” goes abroad to Japan.

Curiosity has been peaked relating to Shoshanna’s (Zosia Mamet) job overseas and whether it was as great as she was describing in the season premiere episode. This week we finally get insight into her everyday life in Japan and it looks as amazing as she described.

In this Shosh-centric episode, it begins with her morning routine of walking to work with dyed hair and hello kitty style headphones, listening to Japanese pop. We get a quick glimpse of Japanese culture in this opening of the episode and get to experience the fashion sense, colours of the city, Shosh’s new job and her amazing ability to gossip in Japanese. It appears Shosh is finally home.

Back in America, Hannah (Lena Dunham) and Fran (Jake Lacy) are involved in probably one of the weirdest, but truest fights that happen in this generation – the “naked girls on my boyfriend’s phone” fight. What makes it slightly weird is that they’re all Fran’s ex-girlfriends. Hannah can’t understand why Fran doesn’t just have or watch porn like a “normal” human. Fran explains that if Hannah sent him photos he’d use those, but he can’t use the current ones because he’s “not really going to get off” when she’s pulling goofy faces (rush Hannah to the burn unit) Pretty weird, but again, a pretty common fight these days.

As an attempt to fix this, Hannah turns to Ray (Alex Karpovsky) of all people and cue the “Paint me like one of your French girls, Ray.” Yeah, we have a fully nude Hannah laid out on a couch, posing for Ray to take photos, so Hannah can give them to Fran, in order for him to avoid looking at his ex-girlfriend’s nudes. Get your head around that. If that’s not friendship, I don’t know what is.

Jumping back to Japan, we are introduced to Shosh’s crush, Yoshi (Hiro Mizushima). In a cute and awkward conversation involving questions like “Did you have pleasure this weekend,” you can’t help but love the guy – even though we know Shosh has a boyfriend back home.

Shosh and her Japanese friends talk about this situation in a tub. Well, Shoshanna talks in her classically fast way and her friends just try to keep up. They tell her it’s obvious that Yoshi is interested in her and to pretty much go for it already. Meanwhile, Yoshi is in a separate tub with his friends who tell him that if Shosh were interested it would’ve happened by now. Ah, conflicting advice. Got to love it.

After this, we get a small preview into Marnie’s (Allison Williams) honeymoon as she Skype’s Hannah. The honeymoon appears to be going great as Marnie seems to be going through another kind of phase of finding herself while not giving the advice Hannah is looking for. With a quick ending to this conversation, Hannah still doesn’t know what to do. In fact, later in the episode, Hannah takes Fran’s phone and deletes the photos of his ex and puts her own photo as his lock screen. I smell a breakup coming soon for Hannah and Fran.

As we venture back to the amazing Japan, (seriously, I’ve added it to my travel list after this episode) Shoshanna is about to get the worst news. In a video call with her work in America, she is told, “It’s like a very light ending of a relationship and a business partnership and a salary.” If you’re as confused as Sosh was hearing this, it means she’s been fired in an attempt to be polite and not get sued in an unfair dismissal kind of way.

Calling her boyfriend, Scott (Jason Ritter) and telling him the news, he consoles Shoshanna and tells her he’ll pick her up from the airport. After hanging up, she goes on a hunt for her crush Yoshi. This soon leads to a night out at a strange bondage club with Yoshi and his friends. However, after an awkward wiping of one of Yoshi’s friends, the night ended on a sweet note – Yoshi and Sosh kissing on the street.

We also get a small update on the Adam (Adam Driver) and Jessa (Jemima Kirke) situation in this episode. After watching Adam’s recent acting in a television episode, Adam smoothly tries to kiss Jessa again. Jessa though is staying strong on this, “We’re just friends…I’m not doing this ‘will they won’t they’ shit,” stopping him and leaving. Cue Adam fake fainting on the floor.

Scott is stood up at the airport, as it appears Shosh never got on her plane.

This episode of “Girls” has almost every couple heading for splitsville and leaving us with a faint hope of a Jessa and Adam romance. I’m not sure what that will mean for Jessa and Hannah’s friendship. I have high hopes for next week’s episode.