FILM AND TV MANIA

The second episode of Girls Season Two, “I Get Ideas”, plays like a fast-paced soap opera.  The thirty minute episode involves quick cuts from girl to girl and scene to scene.  The drama is heightened and Dunham explores the dynamics of specific relationships.  This second episode didn’t create many laughs and when it ended I said to myself, “That’s it?”

Despite the jumping around from situation to situation, Dunham’s character Hannah steals the limelight for the majority of the episode.  Anxious to have her new boyfriend, Sandy, read an essay she has written, she pressures him until he gives her his opinion.  During this process, it’s revealed that Sandy is a Republican but Hannah is okay with it.  That is, until he tells her he didn’t like her essay because it basically didn’t go anywhere.  Kind of like this episode.  She then declares there is no way she can date a Republican who hates Gays and thinks everyone should have a gun.  I shuddered for a moment at the mention of gun rights.  Obviously it is a hot topic now, both politically and socially, but this episode was written way before the tragic events of Newtown, Connecticut played out.  Kudos to Dunham for being ahead of the curve.  With not much more thought than deciding what to eat for lunch, she decides she and Sandy are over.  I suppose this new character is just a distraction for the audience and not a part of the storyline for Season Two.

Later that evening, Hannah’s ex, Adam, shows up unannounced and refuses to leave.  Hannah dials 911, an obvious overreaction, but then thinks better of it.  But, unfortunately for her, the police show up and arrest Adam.  It is the second scene this season where the viewer feels sorry for Adam.  He didn’t mean any harm nor does he deserve the wrath of Hannah, who dumps men like a line cook in a high school cafeteria swats flies.  I dislike Hannah’s actions, mostly because she doesn’t seem to have any sense of remorse or empathy towards the men she leaves in her wake.  I’m not sure if the character is written this way because she’s supposed to be devoid of emotions or because it’s intended to be funny.  I also will suspend belief that the police in New York City respond to an accidental dial of 911 from a cell phone.  I believe they will call you back right away, but it seems questionable that they would automatically appear at her Brooklyn walk-up two minutes later.

Shoshanna appears in only one scene during this episode.  She’s in bed with Ray and the audience is clued in that they are now pursuing their relationship.  Jessa also has limited screen time, appearing in just two scenes.  In the first, she is painting a portrait of Thomas-John and they are still completely enraptured by one another.  In the second, she tells Hannah that Sandy should want to read her essay right away, thus planting the seed in Hannah’s head that what she and Sandy have is not love, or certainly not as potent as Jessa and Thomas-John’s love.  It’s too bad that Hannah doesn’t realize that unstable Jessa just threw a stick of dynamite into her relationship with Sandy.

Marnie too had limited scenes, but she makes hers count.  After being rejected for a potential art curator position because the hiring manager tells her she just doesn’t look like the type of person who would have that job, she complains to Shoshanna and Ray and tells them she doesn’t want to be around people who like their lives.  Shoshanna comments to Marnie that she’s pretty and should do something like hosting, but not modeling because she’s not that pretty.  Although she turns her nose up at the idea of taking people to their seats in trendy overpriced restaurants, the next scene shows Marnie in a revealing hostess outfit.  She shows up on Hannah’s doorstep where Elijah is the only one home.  He quips, “You look like a slutty Von Trapp child.”  This had to have been the best line of dialogue in the entire episode, and the only time where I laughed out loud.   It’s then revealed that Elijah and Marnie have decided not to tell Hannah of their “almost” sexual encounter and are keeping a secret from her.  Marnie doesn’t like the idea of hiding anything from Hannah, but she agrees to keep mum for Elijah’s sake.  This is an important plot device that will certainly affect some of the upcoming episodes.

Episode Two was not on par with most of the episodes from Girls’ prior season, but I am still hopeful that the current season will not disappoint.  You can almost categorize it as a throw-away episode.  It’s a necessary evil in order to keep the storylines moving forward and set-up situations to come in future episodes, but on its own merits it isn’t very memorable.  The true standout is Allison Williams, who makes the character of Marnie her own and gives her as many layers and as much depth as Dunham’s character, Hannah.  I’m interested to see in which direction Marnie goes.  Will she completely self-destruct or will she make it look like she is the only one who has it together, at least on the outside?  Let’s wait and see.