GIRLS - Recap: Patti LuPone Just Really F***ed With My Head
GIRLS continued Season 3 tonight with an episode that focused on how the incidentals of things sometimes end up defining life and love more so than that which creates them.
HBO "GIRLS"
To begin the recap, it’s important to note that both Hannah and Adam reached career milestones this week, though Adam’s was earned and Hannah’s was more so in line with her incessant need to feed her own (un)healthy sense of self-importance. Adam landed his first role on Broadway in the revival of Shaw’s Major Barbara! Along with impressing the casting directors, Adam managed to make a new friend along the way, Desi, who served as Hannah’s boyfriend’s first step into the social world of the Broadway scene and role model from among his peers.
Hannah, meanwhile, insisted on forcing an interview upon Patti LuPone. Yes, that is correct; Patti LuPone guest starred in this week’s episode in what was probably the most humorous scene of Episode 8. LuPone previously cancelled on Hannah’s advertorial interview that was paid for by an osteoporosis medication. Remember, Hannah recently lost her book, a work that was very close to being published, and she’s currently in a state of refusing to let that dream go. There was no way she was going to let something ridiculous like, say, Patti Lupone cancelling their meeting get in the way of interviewing the Patti LuPone. The interview was hilarious. Hannah and Patti put their heads together to drum up a fake story of how Patti, who is perfectly fine and osteoporosis-free, was diagnosed with the disease. Perhaps more importantly, though, is that Lupone was the one to first plant seeds in Hannah’s head regarding the life of Broadway and what it would mean for her relationship. Before Hannah would even realize, Adam, a freshly minted theater snob, would be banging every understudy to walk his way. It’s funny that Hannah has such a tremendous sense of self-worth, yet it backfired big time here. She became the focus of Adam’s success, and in her mind, there seemed to be no way that her committed partner would not come to hate his life with her as a budding Broadway star.
HBO "GIRLS"
Marnie bumped into an old friend, Soo Jin, at a yogurt shop. Soo Jin had been busy opening her own art gallery in NoHo. Basically, everything about this obnoxious former peer of Marnie’s told us that she was untalented and unqualified, but the mere thought of this girl opening her own accredited gallery grinded Marnie’s gears. Marnie ran straight to Ray to vent, pizza in hand, only to discover that he’s no longer interested in being her only source of strange fulfillment. Marnie claims to be embarrassed of Ray, hence the pizza, yet he’s her only sense of true comfort and honesty at this point. Ray, however, admitted to wanting something entirely real, not simply something that was hidden behind closed doors and away from the real world. Part of Marnie might see herself as the girl Ray could never land in high school, but the other tiny part of Marnie that we sympathize with knows that she needs him right now.
HBO "GIRLS"
Jessa’s days working as a manager(?) for a children’s clothing boutique has sucked the adventure from her life, or so it seems. Without a single customer to tend to, Jessa spent the opening half of Episode 8 wearing hats made for babies and sampling tiny pastries from inside the store. That is, until Jasper (Richard E. Grant) arrived in NYC to drag her back into the realm of addiction. Jessa has been working hard at her sobriety, but that’s sort of the point that Jasper fed upon. It’s not merely the job. Life itself now feels like work to her, and Jessa is that type that can’t be tamed. We know that to be true, but drug addiction is not freedom. That’s simply another form of severely unhealthy self-imprisonment.
The second half of Episode 8 of Season 3 centered on Hannah’s next assignment with GQ. Killing two birds with one suite, Hannah decided to throw Adam a congratulatory party at the Gramercy Hotel courtesy of GQ, inviting all of her friends to celebrate his accomplishment with them. Adam brought Desi, his new Broadway buddy, who quickly entranced Shoshanna (Zosia Mamet) and Elijah (Andrew Rannells) with his guitar-strummin’ ways. Although, it’s Marnie who was eventually decidedly captivated enough with him to invite herself to accompany Adam’s friend on his ridiculous cover of Bob Dylan’s “Roll on John.” Marnie’s email address is MarnFace1988@aol.com, by the way. What’s interesting here is that Desi hinted at having a “clementine” waiting at home for him, something that should have upset Marnie, but it was as though Marnie chose to be attracted to him following Ray’s disapproval of their relationship. She needed the validation of an “artist” to feed her ego. I also think it’s important to point out that Hannah initially comforted a distraught Marnie in the bathroom after her “breakup” with Ray, but Marnie couldn’t actually fill Hannah in on what had happened without choosing to embarrass herself in the process. Meaning, these girls can only actually relate and comfort each other when they don’t say anything at all.
Jessa arrived at the party wasted out of her mind with Jasper, and Hannah immediately admitted to the fact that they probably should not have yanked her out of rehab as “good girlfriends.” A relapse is one thing. That’s a personal tragedy; however, breaking into Jessa’s place of employment to steal more money for cocaine will surely come back to bite her in the ass. I think the most important part of this arc during Episode 8, though, is that Jasper eventually tried to cop the field in the bedroom while the two carried on using, but Jessa brushed off his touch. Remember, this guy is representative of her daddy issues. He hasn’t popped up since the two-episode Season 3 premiere, but he represents the kind of father she thought she wanted. She can’t sleep with him, though, without sacrificing her self-respect, and Jessa knows that.
HBO "GIRLS"
HBO "GIRLS"
I think the fact that Hannah Horvath is her most vulnerable self in the bathtub is a clever bit of symbolism from GIRLS. Who doesn’t look back fondly on the time Jessa cried in Hannah’s tub after her future husband’s parents humiliated her at dinner? Or the time Marnie confided in Hannah regarding all of her woes in her relationship with Charlie while Hannah floated naked in the tub? This week, Hannah shared the bath with Adam after the party and simply confessed her fears. Would Adam lose interest in their life together after experiencing the glamour of Broadway? Well, he denied that this will ever happen, and that was enough. Hannah stressed the entire episode over this, and all it took was a few simple words. I also liked, previously, that Elijah truly only sees Adam’s Broadway opportunity as a means of experiencing the Broadway social scene, as though the art of anything doesn’t matter. Elijah is insufferably talentless, though, and I was happy to see Adam put him in his place, even just ever so slightly.
Episode 8 ended with Adam reciting lines for Hannah in the tub and Hannah experiencing her boyfriend’s talents first hand. Isn’t that what they were supposed to be celebrating this entire time anyway?
What did you think of GIRLS Season 3 Episode 8, “Incidentals”? Will Broadway actually change Adam? Can Hannah ever truly stop obsessing over her boyfriend succeeding in accomplishing his dreams while she struggles with her own? Is this really the end for Marnie and Ray? Will Jessa get back on the straight and narrow?
Thanks for reading my Recap and Review of GIRLS Season 3 Episode 8, “Incidentals”!
Here is an inside look from last week's episode featuring Lena Dunham: