‘Girls’ Recap (Season 1, Episode 7): Hipster Helms Deep

“Jaded as I am, I still hold out hope that the next party will be the best party ever” Jessa enthusiastically tells her friends Hannah and Marnie as they cross the threshold hand in hand to the biggest party in New York. They’re going in as battle-hardened warriors of sorts. Hannah has been having her fair share of issues with her parents since the financial cut off and with her pseudo-boyfriend Adam since she discovered he sleeps around. Marnie has decided recently to break up with her (I still say gay) boyfriend. Even Jessa has had a few issues with her babysitting jobs. After on the same night of television Game of Thrones delivered the epic battle of Blackwater, Girls presents its own equivalent with an episode that takes place entirely in the confines of a gigantic party where everyone is expected to get laid. It’s a Hipster Helms Deep if you will.

As soon as they arrive in the massive semi/outdoor warehouse party (the setting of which is never entirely clear), the titular girls spy their other, less-prominent (and less-believable) friend, Shoshanna. Shosh’ has been at the party smiling at boys awkwardly for the last couple hours before they take her under their wings. But the past doesn’t die easily and pretty soon, they’ve brought the drama to the party when Marnie starts arguing with her ex (who has already surprisingly gotten himself a new girlfriend). Hannah spies Adam picking up girls and twirling them over his shoulder but instead of accosting him, she tries to hide from him. Shosh’ accidentally “smokes crack” and Jessa declares that she is her “crack spirit guide.” Jessa is then surprised at the party by the much-older-than-her, father of the child she babysits.

Things go haywire when Shoshanna starts running around like a crazy person, meets Marnie’s ex’s best friend and runs off to most-likely have sex with him. Jessa yells at some “crusty” hipsters and they beat up the guy she babysits for (which lands him in the hospital) where he calls Jessa a tease. Marnie tries to rant to Hannah’s gay ex-boyfriend and he slaps her in the face after she calls him a bad singer. Hannah is dumped off the front of the handlebars of Adam’s bike outside the party and Marnie comes up hanging out the window of a cab yelling at him and threatening to press charges. In the climax of the episode, Adam demands of Hannah “What do you want from me? Do you want me to be your boyfriend?” The episode ends with Adam, Marnie and Hannah-smiling in the middle of them in the back of a cab. I assume this means that Adam has agreed to settle down and actually be her boyfriend.

Another great episode of Girls. Not only do I like this show, but I’ve come to look forward to it every week. The characters are not ones you necessarily feel bad for (at least not yet) but they’re ones that are interesting to watch. This episode felt a little different than most due to the contained atmosphere of the party. Last week’s episode when Hannah went home felt different as well. I like that the show is willing to “break” format and do things a little bit differently each week from the setting to the title card itself, which always flashes on the screen after a cold-open to some recent pop music. The show is about the characters themselves, and while the hipster-slums of New York are very much a character of their own, Girls doesn’t rely on that to sell the story, thankfully, and it remains focused on the characters.

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