The promotional images for season four of Girls quietly say "nowhere to grow but up" and after watching the first six episodes of this season, that tagline has proven to be quite accurate. Last night's episode "Close Up" got me thinking about how the show has been feeling increasingly more adult. The problems seem more mundane than the warehouse party scenes of the first season. As much as I complained about the blippy-ness of the first episodes, I wonder if the more mature show can compete with its former, more manic self, which wasn't always realistic, but did hold your attention.
Hannah's recent maturation is the most dramatic of the bunch. She's come a long way since moving to Iowa and back again and she does appear to be letting Adam go. (I'm convinced she thought of Adam as the love of her life.) Her therapist basically spelled this out, shortly before Hannah said she wants to "help people." Hannah is usually a black hole of selfishness so this came as a pleasant surprise. Jessa, Shosh, Elijah, Marnie, and I are still skeptical as to her teaching ability, but at least she wants something tangible for herself.
The next most grown-ass people in the Girls universe are Ray and Adam. Ray has always been an older character and a natural curmudgeon, but his life post Shosh and Marnie seems to be more about taking action. I don't love a narrative where women come into men's lives only to make them better while simultaneously having sex with them, but I think people do rub off on each other when they are rubbing all up on each other. Ray is going to run for community board chairperson and accept his destiny: to become Marc Maron.
Adam's always been a weird mix of childish physicality and sporadic wisdom, but when his new relationship with Mimi-Rose hit its first bump this week, he didn't behave like a total piece of crap. It might seem obvious that a relationship where both parties are actively choosing to be together is better than one where people stay because they have to, but I appreciated that Adam had to really think on that concept before he could get down with it. Packing up all his stuff and throwing a hissy fit over Mimi-Rose's abortion wasn't super mature, but he's wearing nicer clothes now, so that's something.
Sadly, not everyone can have the hockey stick growth trajectory we want. If all the characters did, it wouldn't be believable. Hence, Marnie and Jessa seem mainly stuck in their ways. Marnie shows signs that she knows what she needs to change (stop fucking Desi if she's his second choice and DEFINITELY stop fucking him while listening to your own music) but she doesn't actually make those changes. Jessa deserves credit for staying sober, but she hasn't really stopped being a bitch without a cause. Shosh is somewhere in the emotional middle between Marnie and Jessa and Elijah has the emotional depth of a pet.
In some ways, I think Girls is self-aware enough to realize that while stories about deeper issues such as abortions (remember Jessa's?), settling for a job because you need to pay rent, life after rehab, and generally deciding when to pivot your dreams are more practical, they can easily make the show a bit of a downer. The writers are often letting the quick jokes go now, to balance out the relatable but slightly humdrum subjects. While the stories of this season have felt like they've been scaled down, the settings and narratives are more cinematic and meaningful. I've got my fingers crossed that the combination of slightly-funnier-than-real-life quips and more beautiful episodes can sustain me, but I'm not sure for how long.
Images via HBO