‘Girls’ season 2, episode 3 review: Life imitates art
Is being artistic really that cool, or are all artists losers for really thinking so to begin with? If Sunday night’s new episode of “Girls” is an example of just what it takes in order to be trendy in this world, then we must admit that we’d much rather the everyman that hipsters make fun of on the subway.
We’re not quite sure that there is a comedy on TV as bold, as witty, or as frustrating as this one. There were some choices this week, after all, that we absolutely loved … including Lena Dunham’s desire to go with a story, and now shove Jessa and Shoshanna down our throats if they are not extremely important to the story of a week.
In addition to that, Marnie’s storyline with Booth showcases almost precisely what the problem with her is: she is so desperate to cling on to something that she will cling onto the kooky and strange, and then try to justify it by proclaiming it to be art. Marnie is the sort of person who would probably be indoctrinated into a cult if she lived in another set of circumstances: she really just wants to fit in with someone, even if that means allowing a man in Booth to lock her in a freaky room with TVs before having sex with her on a bed that seems to be straight out of a creepy 1950s slasher film.
As for the frustrating part, there is a part of us ticked off that Dunham is resorting to drug use for the second time in thirteen episodes to further along a story with one of her characters., However, she did at least provide Hannah with a separate sort of motivation for using in that she wanted to compose some sort of trippy article about her experience. She also slept with her neighbor / middleman Laird, though we don’t know if this will have any implications long-term at all.
At least her drugged-out trip did bring about two very important events that we were bound to see on this show sooner or later: Elijah telling Hannah that he tried to sleep with Marnie, and then her kicking him out of their apartment for the absolutely insane reason that she wanted to be the last woman that she slept with. We really felt for Elijah in this moment, since to us he is one of the show’s best characters: a gay man who still struggles with his sexuality, and is lost and confused despite still having a certain air of kindness about him. Sadly, Andrew Rannells has another job on “The New Normal,” so there was only so long that he could stick around for.
Ultimately, we don’t know if we’ll ever feel more confused than Elijah when it comes to this show. There’s no one that we 100% cheer for all of the time (though we want to root for Marnie with every fabric of our being), and at times some of the jokes just make us angry; nontheless, there is something so shocking and different about “Girls” that we find ourselves stoked to watch it every week. It’s a show about messed-up people in a messed-up world, and the fact that it was not nominated for a SAG Award Sunday is even more messed-up than we can say.
What did you think about this episode? If you want to go back and watch a video clip from it, you can do so over at the link here.
Photo: HBO