GIRLS - Recap: Until I Had a Swimming Pool in My Living Room

Episode 9 of Season 3 of GIRLS, “Flo,” opened by setting the stage for the death of Hannah Horvath’s (Lena Dunham) maternal grandmother, Flo (June Squibb). Of course, the woman, who seemed quite wonderful, popped in for just a few moments of screen time this week in order to whisper some words of wisdom to Hannah. Meanwhile, outside of the hospital room, we were witnesses to the turmoil within the relationships between Hannah’s Mother, Loreen (Becky Ann Baker), and her two sisters. Hannah, for what it’s worth, had her hands full with her younger cousin, Rebecca (Sarah Steele), a med school student who’s had it out for Horvath since the moment Hannah outed her uncle as a jailbird. In the end, would a faux engagement come back to bite Hannah and Adam in the ass? Here is the Recap and Review of GIRLS Season 3 Episode 9, “Flo”!

To begin the recap, it’s always important to note with GIRLS, especially when it tackles tough subject matter like the death of a family member, that we’re looking at things through a kind of funhouse mirror because of this show’s particular brand of comedy. Sometimes it’s hard to even imagine that the show truly is, indeed, a comedy at all, then Hannah cracks a joke. It’s definitely slightly difficult to draw up some commentary without sounding a bit insensitive, but I’ll try my best. Eh, who's kiddin'?

Hannah’s grandmother, having suffered through breaking a femur and a subsequent unexpected bout with a killer case of pneumonia, drew the women of Hannah’s family to their matriarch’s bedside. It was so interesting to see where a character like Hannah comes from by watching GIRLS specifically honing in on the women of her family. Hannah prides herself on being a feminist, remember, and though there are a ton of moments where her shamelessness has proven otherwise, you can’t argue that she’s not progressive at all. For example, Hannah’s mother, who was busy coping with the possibility of losing her mother before she ever got the chance to have the serious opportunity to make amends and heal from old childhood wounds, immediately got on Hannah’s back about appeasing her mother’s familial woes by drumming up a fake engagement situation. The idea here was that Hannah’s grandma most certainly had traditional views and hopes for her family, yet Hannah, of course, shares next to none of those. Funny enough, Hannah wasn’t cool with lying to her dying grandma. It’s not like this had anything to do with a book deal, so that was surprisingly believable. Also, when it comes to Hannah’s mother, I think that something everybody deals with is that imaginary hypothetical conversation one would “inevitably” come to have with their mother or father, where the air is entirely cleared and total peace is left in the place of troubles and turmoil. I was glad GIRLS wrote in that small conversation between Hannah and her mother outside the hospital this week.

Loreen has two sisters, Margo (Deirdre Lovejoy) and Sissy (Amy Morton), and all three of these women were in one way, shape or form brought to their most critical and selfish points this week due to the looming death of their mother. Of course, a fight over an engagement ring that inevitably ends up unraveling into a battle over whose husband is better, whose daughter is best, and, well, who has any semblance of a socially proper life whatsoever is not really about the material possession at hand. As death hovers, something like an heirloom feels like a piece of the person, but it is not. Still, nothing makes that clearer than the actual moment of death, and this woman was still very much alive as Episode 9 carried on.

Hannah’s cousin Rebecca has perhaps more animosity built up towards her than any character we’ve met thus far. This dedicated med school student has despised Hannah since the day Horvath revealed her father to be heading to jail for life due to insider trading. Well, according to Hannah, insider trading isn’t sex trafficking, so what was the big deal anyway? Having said that, Hannah totally had a point when she argued with Rebecca’s mother, Hannah’s Aunt Margo. Why tell a 7-year-old something you don’t want her 6-year-old cousin finding out, especially considering the fact that we can assume that Hannah has always been Hannah? We know she doesn’t change. She’s been called a narcissist since forever, and she wears it as a badge of honor. Amidst the numerous barbs shot Hannah’s way, Rebecca let it slip at a local bar that she has a barely-adequate relationship with a boyfriend on most Wednesdays. Basically, much of Episode 9 centered on comparisons and criticisms over Hannah’s stable relationship with Adam (Adam Driver), and this was a particular moment where Hannah’s love life was certainly looking pretty perfect.

Adam, meanwhile, remained absent for most of Episode 9 due to play practice. After Hannah’s cousin decided to text and drive, eventually landing the two in a bit of a fender-bender, he rushed to Hannah’s side at the hospital. Hannah’s text:

Car crash!

Obviously, a bit overdramatic, but there was no way in hell Hannah Horvath would let something like a car accident slip through the cracks of her mind. It’s always about the story, remember.

The pressure to announce a phony engagement to Hannah’s dying grandmother put some pressure on this relationship. These two have been perfectly fine not speaking about this yet. Does Adam seem like the kind of guy who ever thinks about his wedding day? Hannah, meanwhile, isn’t really that kind of girl either, but the idea that maybe that was something she couldn’t have as someone who’s sold herself as entirely progressive scared her. This was in some ways rational and in some ways irrational, of course, as Hannah is a young twenty-something woman with something to achieve. Adam eventually took it upon himself to announce their “engagement” in his private introduction to Hannah’s grandmother. Funny enough, the woman was happy for the couple, but there was little fanfare whatsoever. Mainly, she warned Hannah that a time would come where she loathes her future husband, a brief period that would most likely pass. Sage advice.

After Adam’s pleasant reintroduction to Hannah’s mother, he left for NYC. Hannah and her mom then had a heart-to-heart conversation that stayed true to this pairing’s bittersweet standard. Hannah’s mother sees her as something truly special. We’re used to the people who surround Hannah, save for Adam, finding her to be, well, everything Marnie, Shoshanna, and Jessa claimed her to be during their stay at the beach house a few episodes back. On the other hand, Loreen likes Adam very much, but doesn’t think he’s enough for her daughter. She doesn’t want Hannah to spend her life socializing someone she deemed “odd,” even if he did just do her a tremendous favor. What was interesting was that we know Hannah to be many of the things her mother criticized Adam for being.

As it turned out, Hannah’s grandmother made a miraculous recovery, even going as far as to request two cheese sandwiches. As the fear of her looming death was removed from the situation, the exhausted women of this family seemed to sweep all of their personal issues back under the rug in favor of, say, planning their next Easter together or hypothetically getting to know each other’s daughters. Hannah shared one last personal moment with her grandmother before heading back to New York. At first, her grandmother noted that Hannah wasn’t looking too well, perhaps due to her draining conversation with her mother prior. In the end, however, Horvath received one last piece of advice:

Sometimes people are wrong.

Hannah returned to the city only to receive a phone call from Rebecca asking her to return. Flo died.

What did you think of GIRLS Season 3 Episode 9, “Flo”? Did you like how the show explored the issue of family dynamics during the time of the upcoming death of a matriarch? Where do Hannah and Adam go from here?

Thanks for reading my Recap and Review of GIRLS Season 3 Episode 9, “Flo”!