Girls recap – 1×03: ‘All Adventurous Women Do’

Well the controversy has subsided somewhat, so let’s get back to taking a closer look at the show and what it has offered us so far. This week, the show had some laugh out loud moments and tackled a topic not many shows have, and did it in it’s own unique way.

Let’s get into it.

Last week while everyone was supporting Jessa’s (Jemima Kirke)  planned abortion, Hannah’s (Lena Dunham) mind was elsewhere as she struggled with the possibility of STDs. Well the lights came crashing in this week when Hannah found out that she had contracted HPV, better known as genital warts. First off, I have to applaud the show for dealing with topics that most shows, and movies for that matter, never deal with. Last week we were talking about abortion, this week we have HPV. Not only is Dunham taking on these issues, but she has done so without ever having it feel like a movie of the week or an after school special. Best of all, the show appreciates the gravity of the situation, but Dunham still finds a way to mine humour from the topic. Hannah’s reaction to the news and her subsequent conversations felt very real.

The scene with ex-boyfriend Elijah (the fabulous and Tony nominated Andrew Scott Rannells) – when he announces that he’s gay – was easily the funniest scene this show has had. When the news of his homosexuality prompts her to start crying,  she explains it away as an “inappropriate reaction to my joy for you.” The conversation quickly turns to how he was gay the whole time they were dating, which doesn’t sit well with Hannah. I do have to be honest, I think part of the reason why I enjoyed this scene so much is because at the end Hannah didn’t get the last word. Someone actually called her out on her shit and she couldn’t respond. Granted, he did call her father gay, but still at least he got through to her and made her realize how silly she was being.

Meanwhile, Marnie (Allison Williams) is still stuck with her sweet boyfriend who has shaved his head (to her horror). Of course this was in support of a woman he works with who has cervical cancer, which makes Marnie feel like an asshole. And let’s face it, she kinda is – at least towards her boyfriend. Later on she is introduced to an artist who has terrible manners and exudes machismo. This obviously excites her and she runs to the toilet to masturbate. Ahh the appeal of the bad boy, I know it well.

Meanwhile  someone has foolishly left their kids in Jessa’s care. The husband comes home late and of course there is some flirtation. To me, Jessa is the least interesting character. It may be because I don’t recognize her in my circle of friends, or perhaps it’s that I don’t buy her as a solid character. Either way, this cliched storyline is not helping her case.

Which brings me to one of the problems that I have with this show. Dunham is a great writer, and the character of Hannah is very well written. She knows who Hannah is, and because of this Hannah is a fully formed character that Dunham brings to life. But when it comes to her friends, she seems to be missing some depth. So far in three episodes Jessa, Marnie, and especially Soshanna (Zosia Mamet) are mostly two dimensional cut-outs. Don’t get me wrong, there is more depth to these girls than all of the characters on Two and a Half Men combined, but compared to Hannah, they seem poorly fleshed out. I get that this is a half hour show and it’s on it’s third episode, but so far I feel like the show should be called, ‘Hannah and the Girls.’

On the whole ‘All Adventurous Women Do’ was the most enjoyable episode to date. The highlight, of course, being the meeting between Hannah and her Elijah. The last scene of Hannah dancing away the night with Marnie to Robyn’s epic ‘Dancing on my Own,’ and laughing about the fact that they kind of always knew Elijah was gay, was seriously a genius way to close the episode.

What are you thinking about Girls now that a few more episodes have passed? Are you relating to Hannah more than the other girls? Am I way-off in my assessment of Jessa? Is Soshanna even worth mentioning until she does something more relevant? Let me know below.

Girls airs Sundays at 10:30pm EST on HBO