Girls – Love Stories

By: Ruth Anrep

The episode began with the confrontation and official break up between Fran (Jake Lacy) and Hannah (Lena Dunham). Fran is furious at Hannah, claiming that she’s turned him into a horrible person, but they should still try to work things out. Meanwhile, Hannah packs Fran’s things and repeatedly asks him to leave, choosing to see the logic which is they simply will never work. As a last resort to save their relationship, Fran tells Hannah he loves her and Hannah responds by offering him an Uber to transport him and his belongings back home.

After dumping Fran, Hannah makes another huge life decision to leave her job. She heads to the school and packs up her belongings while the students are away for the summer. While rummaging through her desk, the Principal walks in and Hannah tells him that she’s not coming back. He doesn’t argue with her at all, but rather thanks her for opening his eyes to a lot of things and wishing her the best. Hannah apologizes for the vagina flash incident and she leaves on good terms. It’s quite a sweet scene really.

Moving on and out from this job, Hannah now comes to the realization that she has zero commitments in her life, but also no ambition or general life direction. Mid-realization she runs into her old friend and competitor, Tallie (Jenny Slate). Tallie seems to have accomplished everything in her life that Hannah once wanted to, including becoming a well-known author and essayist. At this stage, I can’t tell if Hannah likes or hates her old friend, but she agrees to hang out with her anyway and the two head off to lunch.

While Hannah is off making life-altering decisions, Marnie (Allison Williams) goes for a walk with Elijah (Andrew Rannells) and confesses about having a “love dream” about Ray (Alex Karpovsky) earlier that day. This dream apparently involved Marnie brush Ray’s long hair and she loved it so much that she woke up and wanted it to be real, which obviously means there’s something unresolved between the two.

Though Marnie has been chewing his ear off about Ray, Elijah is having his own problems with Dill (Corey Stoll). Elijah wants to convince Dill to be in a monogamous relationship with him. After a confidence building outfit change, Elijah shows up at Dill’s newsroom and asks to talk about their relationship. After a really beautiful speech by Elijah about how Dill deserves the best and to be with someone who wants him, not the things he has, Dill agrees with Elijah (but not completely). He believes he deserves someone great, but doesn’t think that person is Elijah. He is seeking someone “less aimless.” It is quite possibly the harshest thing for a person to do to someone.

At Tallie and Hannah’s catch up, Hannah begins to confide in Tallie about all the things that have happened in her life over the past few years. With writing gone, her ex-boyfriend dating her best friend and her life having no direction, Hannah is completely lost. Tallie is a great addition to this episode! Jenny Slate has provided a supportive, understanding and compassionate character, which is exactly what Hannah needs. After lunch, they leave the restaurant and Tallie convinces Hannah to steal a bike that has been left unlocked. She does and the two embark upon a long bike ride through Brooklyn.

After this, Hannah and Tallie go into Hannah’s apartment to smoke a joint and keep this reunion going. Hannah confesses that she’s jealous of Tallie and all her achievements, while Tallie confesses she hates the fame and feels almost paralyzed by how well she’s done. It becomes clear that everyone has their own issues and struggles in life, no matter how successful they seem to be. The deep and meaningful conversation soon turns into a Beyoncé dance party. (Seriously, huge shout out to music supervisor Manish Raval for always delivering such amazing songs all season. They’ve all been placed so well.)

Coming down stairs from Hannah’s place, the two run into Jessa (Jemima Kirke) and Adam (Adam Driver) as they’re heading back into Caroline’s apartment. Tallie responds to this awkward situation by just bursting out laughing, which forces Hannah break out in hysterics. Confused and annoyed, Jessa and Adam go into the apartment while the two are left laughing on the stairs.

Don’t worry; Shoshanna (Zosia Mamet) makes several appearances in this episode as well. She has been trying to help Ray investigate how to take down his competition across the street and, hopefully, get in more customers. She comes up with a new marketing technique to get the place some popularity and she comes up with an idea of an anti-hipster coffee place – a place for people who actually have jobs.

Still in her love dream state, Marnie goes to Ray’s apartment and tells him that she loves him. She doesn’t understand it and knows she wants to be alone right now, but she can’t control herself and the two end up kissing. Though I have always hoped that Ray and Shosh would get back together, I have to admit this is pretty sweet.

So many life-changing decisions have been made in this episode; surely there will be some kind of repercussion.