Girls Recap: “What Will We Do This Time About Adam?” – Season 6 Episode 8
By Emily Scott
This week’s episode of Girls features broken air conditioners, Aidy Bryant, Dunham/Driver chemistry, and a Russian cartoon about a fatherless cup of borscht.
Well, that was a real emotional roller coaster – for the characters and the audience. I knew, based on the HBO synopsis, that this week was going to be about some kind of Hannah and Adam closure. I was really looking forward to seeing how things would end. But as I watched the episode, it turns out that I didn’t want things to end at all. And it became one of my favorite episodes of Girls ever.
Hannah and Adam
Hannah and Adam had unfinished business. We all knew that. And as previous episodes hinted, there was to be some kind of formal ending between the two. But I didn’t anticipate it to be at all as intense as it was.
It was all set up so perfectly. Adam swoops in just as Hannah is contemplating Paul-Louis and his lack of involvement. He insists that he wants to help Hannah raise the baby as his own. He even calls it “our kid.” And then that chemistry between Lena Dunham and Adam Driver! Is it just me, or has it gotten even stronger since their characters were together? They are both such incredible actors who bounce off each other so well. They spend the day goofing off, buying things for the baby, talking about the future. And then, as they talk about apartments and marriage, Hannah wordlessly realizes that their time is over. In an incredibly moving sequence, both characters silently mourn their relationship.
Episode 58 (season 6, episode 6), debut 3/19/17: Lena Dunham, Adam Driver.
photo: Mark Schafer
I am going to keep it real with you guys. I made it all the way through this episode without much of an emotional reaction. I didn’t react much when Adam revealed that he wanted to raise Hannah’s baby with her. I didn’t react when it ended. Truthfully, my only conscious thought throughout the storyline was, ‘Oh wow, how could they possibly think that this is going to work?’ And yet, the second the episode ended, I burst into sobs.
Why did I cry when I knew they weren’t going to work out? I think I wanted to believe in them. I wanted to think the chance to imagine that this ridiculous couple, wrong for each other from the start, could be good. That for these two goofy, selfish, grown-up people, just wanting to be together could be enough.
I am not the kind of person who looks for happy endings in art and entertainment. Really, I am the kind of person who scoffs at happy endings when they aren’t genuine. And this one wouldn’t have been genuine. It would have been forced and messy and I would have been angry with Lena Dunham and Co. for letting it happen. But apparently, I really wanted one. For them.
Jessa
Jessa plays off Adam’s admission that he’s planning to go back to Hannah. “Do what you gotta do,” she tells him. And if this were old, season one Jessa, we might have believed her nonchalance. That Jessa had sex with a taken ex hanging out a window, just because she could. She invited random phone numbers to come out to party with her. But do you remember what her old employer Katherine (played by Kathryn Hahn) said to her, way back in season one?
"“In my opinion, you’re [causing trouble] to distract yourself from becoming the person you’re meant to be…She might not look like what you pictured when you were age 16. Her job might not be cool. Her hair might not be flowing like a mermaid. And she might really be serious about something. Or someone. And she might be a lot happier than you are right now.”"
Is there anything more accurate to where Jessa is right now? She even tried to do the same things she used to. She went to a bar. She hooked up with a random guy in the bathroom. The whole sequence specifically mimicked the scene in season one, when she’s avoiding getting an abortion – intentionally, I found out in the HBO post-episode featurette.
But it doesn’t work for her anymore. After all that has happened, she can’t use the same old tricks to make herself numb anymore. And you can see it in her face when Adam comes home to her. This man left her on a dime to raise another woman’s child. But she’s not angry. She’s grateful that he’s back.
That’s the new Jessa.
Episode 57 (season 6, episode 5), debut 3/12/17: Jemima Kirke.
photo: Mark Schafer
Ray and Shosh
I’ve wondered the past few episodes if the show was going to try to get Shoshanna and Ray back together. I saw the potential, but I hoped they wouldn’t. It would be too neat, too much bow-on-top presentation and not enough real work on what damaged their relationship in the first place.
But as it turns out, that’s not where it was going at all. In fact, it’s Aidy Bryant as Abigail who comes in and shakes it all up. Shoshanna’s hyper-positive former boss runs into the two of them on the street, and Ray ends up completely smitten with her.
I love this storyline for a few reasons. First, Aidy Bryant is amazing. Second, setting a woman with her body type as a love interest is endlessly exciting and awesome. But mostly, I felt like this is a great way to start wrapping up Ray. The thing that sticks with me constantly about Ray is when Shoshanna once criticized him for hating everything. “I can’t be the only thing you like,” she told him once.
Well, now she’s not. He gained enough self-worth to end things with Marnie. And now, when Shosh suggests that he just chill out and do the coffee shop thing instead of the audio project, Ray is appalled. In the past, going through the motions would have been great for Ray. But now it’s not enough. And when he tells Abigail that, she helps him do it. She enables him to do the thing he’s passionate about. That’s why he fell for her. And that’s why it’s so great that he did.
Next: Girls Recap: “The Bounce” – Season 6, Episode 7
Best Girl: Hannah, for not falling into the Adam trap (even if I wanted her to).
Most Improved: Ray, for taking control of his own life and opening himself up to love. Big steps, dude!
Best Line: “I’m not getting an abortion, Elijah, I’m having feelings. It’s different.” – Hannah, putting Elijah’s mind at ease