Girls: Goodbye Tour
April 11, 2017 12:49 PM - Season 6, Episode 9 - Subscribe
After an important meeting, Hannah reaches out to friends for advice, but has trouble reaching Marnie.
I completely missed that Hannah and Adam did not end up together from the last episode. I thought she was crying in the diner in just a "wow, I can't believe this is really happening after all the shit that's happened" way. Then the way he way patting around for his keys before calling Jessa made me think he was just going back to pick up something from the apartment, and Jessa's little smile meant she thought he was coming back to her but he really wasn't. Then in this episode he was completely MIA and I didn't hear any reference to him when Hannah & Jessa were talking. I was.... so confused? So I went back and watched the end of the last episode again, and it sort of makes sense, I guess. It did seem implausible that they'd suddenly end up together, but I thought they were trying to slap a happy ending on the relationship.
posted by mefireader at 1:17 PM on April 11, 2017
posted by mefireader at 1:17 PM on April 11, 2017
I think they both (Adam especially) wanted to slap the happy ending on it, but it couldn't work.
This episode - I really had to check whether it was the finale or not. It felt like an ending, and I'm really curious as to what happens next.
Shosh isn't wrong about the group being a toxic disaster, but she could have been less harsh about it. She's clearly spinning out on her own, what with the whirlwind marriage, but I hope she ends up well.
I really liked the bits between Jessa and Hannah. I hope they can stay in touch and salvage their old friendship.
posted by vibratory manner of working at 4:24 PM on April 11, 2017
This episode - I really had to check whether it was the finale or not. It felt like an ending, and I'm really curious as to what happens next.
Shosh isn't wrong about the group being a toxic disaster, but she could have been less harsh about it. She's clearly spinning out on her own, what with the whirlwind marriage, but I hope she ends up well.
I really liked the bits between Jessa and Hannah. I hope they can stay in touch and salvage their old friendship.
posted by vibratory manner of working at 4:24 PM on April 11, 2017
This episode - I really had to check whether it was the finale or not. It felt like an ending, and I'm really curious as to what happens next.
Agree! I can't imagine what the finale will be,
which delights me.
(Please no Adam showing up upstate.)
Caroline makes me so stressed out every time she's on screen.
posted by purpleclover at 5:41 PM on April 11, 2017
Agree! I can't imagine what the finale will be,
which delights me.
(Please no Adam showing up upstate.)
Caroline makes me so stressed out every time she's on screen.
posted by purpleclover at 5:41 PM on April 11, 2017
I was also confused watching the last episode, and then watched the post-episode interviews and realized. Rewatching that scene in the diner was really interesting in that context.
I really enjoyed this episode. Everything from the bathroom scene on was classic Girls in the best way.
posted by lunasol at 9:26 PM on April 11, 2017
I really enjoyed this episode. Everything from the bathroom scene on was classic Girls in the best way.
posted by lunasol at 9:26 PM on April 11, 2017
But oh my god at MacGuffin University
This show is, among, other things, a lot of wish fulfillment.
posted by bswinburn at 8:59 AM on April 12, 2017
This show is, among, other things, a lot of wish fulfillment.
posted by bswinburn at 8:59 AM on April 12, 2017
This job is impossible. It’s not just unlikely; it would almost never happen. And even if it did, the future Hannah’s looking at is quite different than what many of the show’s viewers (or the show itself) may be envisioning.posted by ChuraChura at 10:12 AM on April 12, 2017 [4 favorites]
...
It tells us something about how we build stories. In our desire to see Girls have some satisfying arc, or to watch Hannah succeed and fail against an interesting backdrop, something has to be false — Hannah can be real, or the world can be real, but apparently not both.
magically convenient job opportunities
The fact that this is something that the show creators believe is realistic enough to use in this show, and that much of the audience will accept, illustrates something about why we occasionally have posts here about how students feel "lied to" about their prospects. It's also perpetuating that, maybe. Where does this myth come from?
posted by amtho at 10:51 AM on April 12, 2017 [1 favorite]
The fact that this is something that the show creators believe is realistic enough to use in this show, and that much of the audience will accept, illustrates something about why we occasionally have posts here about how students feel "lied to" about their prospects. It's also perpetuating that, maybe. Where does this myth come from?
posted by amtho at 10:51 AM on April 12, 2017 [1 favorite]
This show is, among, other things, a lot of wish fulfillment.
Is it, though? I mean, it's fiction, and there are a lot of parts of the show that don't feel like the real world. Lack of diversity is a common and valid critique. But wish fulfillment? I don't see any wishes getting fulfilled. I feel like this show is trying to be serious about the issues of self-involved, post-collegiate, white, urban twentysomethings. Nobody's living in a Friends apartment. Nobody is portrayed as a serious business professional but never in the office. Nobody's wearing way-too-expensive shoes on the salary of a weekly sex columnist.
I had Issues with the portrayal of University of Iowa in the season when Hannah went to Iowa Writers' Workshop, but it was the same kind of thing as Elijah's Broadway role pursuit this season- a silly, simplified version of a real thing that exists and is prestigious and Means Something, and we've been told (and shown) that both characters are good enough to be serious contenders. So if it's silly that there's a White Men Can't Jump musical, it's the same kind of silly as Iowa City looking like it's still in the 1930s. This job is a whole other thing to me.
Further, Hannah left Iowa because she didn't like academia. Why would she even pursue this as an opportunity when she's already seen what it's like and refused it?
posted by aabbbiee at 11:11 AM on April 12, 2017
Is it, though? I mean, it's fiction, and there are a lot of parts of the show that don't feel like the real world. Lack of diversity is a common and valid critique. But wish fulfillment? I don't see any wishes getting fulfilled. I feel like this show is trying to be serious about the issues of self-involved, post-collegiate, white, urban twentysomethings. Nobody's living in a Friends apartment. Nobody is portrayed as a serious business professional but never in the office. Nobody's wearing way-too-expensive shoes on the salary of a weekly sex columnist.
I had Issues with the portrayal of University of Iowa in the season when Hannah went to Iowa Writers' Workshop, but it was the same kind of thing as Elijah's Broadway role pursuit this season- a silly, simplified version of a real thing that exists and is prestigious and Means Something, and we've been told (and shown) that both characters are good enough to be serious contenders. So if it's silly that there's a White Men Can't Jump musical, it's the same kind of silly as Iowa City looking like it's still in the 1930s. This job is a whole other thing to me.
Further, Hannah left Iowa because she didn't like academia. Why would she even pursue this as an opportunity when she's already seen what it's like and refused it?
posted by aabbbiee at 11:11 AM on April 12, 2017
I think Shoshanna flew into the quick engagement because she's gutted that Ray fell for Abigail!
posted by drunkonthemoon at 12:07 PM on April 12, 2017 [1 favorite]
posted by drunkonthemoon at 12:07 PM on April 12, 2017 [1 favorite]
Hey, the online therapist Marnie is seeing is working. Probably. At least she noticed something had to be dealt with without making it all about herself.
I don't see any wishes getting fulfilled. I feel like this show is trying to be serious about the issues of self-involved, post-collegiate, white, urban twentysomethings.
I dunno, but I'd guess a lot of "self-involved, post-collegiate, white, urban twentysomethings" would probably love tripping into a good job instead of having to churn thinkpieces and/or Clickbait to some online blog thing at the end of their 20s. Sure, it's not SitC (or the bro-lternative Entourage) kind of "unlimited credit card magically paid every month" wish fulfillment fantasy, but the job Hannah gets smells a bit of Deus Ex Machina.
posted by lmfsilva at 3:05 PM on April 12, 2017
I don't see any wishes getting fulfilled. I feel like this show is trying to be serious about the issues of self-involved, post-collegiate, white, urban twentysomethings.
I dunno, but I'd guess a lot of "self-involved, post-collegiate, white, urban twentysomethings" would probably love tripping into a good job instead of having to churn thinkpieces and/or Clickbait to some online blog thing at the end of their 20s. Sure, it's not SitC (or the bro-lternative Entourage) kind of "unlimited credit card magically paid every month" wish fulfillment fantasy, but the job Hannah gets smells a bit of Deus Ex Machina.
posted by lmfsilva at 3:05 PM on April 12, 2017
However, I'll add that the situation in the real world being so bad an escape is considered "wish fulfillment" is incredibly depressing.
Over a decade we've went from wishing dream lives to just getting out of an hole.
posted by lmfsilva at 3:20 PM on April 12, 2017 [1 favorite]
Over a decade we've went from wishing dream lives to just getting out of an hole.
posted by lmfsilva at 3:20 PM on April 12, 2017 [1 favorite]
I think Shoshanna flew into the quick engagement because she's gutted that Ray fell for Abigail!
Agreed.
posted by vibratory manner of working at 3:37 PM on April 12, 2017
Agreed.
posted by vibratory manner of working at 3:37 PM on April 12, 2017
So: Is it really any more outlandish for Hannah to have gotten this teaching job than for Lena Dunham, 23-year-old, to have gotten the deal to make this series with HBO?
(Yes, I know she made Tiny Furniture, which I watched last year and thought was shockingly good, period. Not just shockingly good for something made on credit cards by a recent college grad.)
I understand—as well as someone not in academia, but whose friends are struggling in it—that this path is not available to everyone, but lightning does sometimes strike, and we are to understand that Hannah is more extraordinary in some way than we realized. (Maybe? I am losing steam with this line of thought even as I type it)
This interview with Glamour was pretty interesting: The Cast of Girls Looks Back on Six Years of Friendship and Fights in the Ultimate Exit Interview
posted by purpleclover at 4:28 PM on April 12, 2017
(Yes, I know she made Tiny Furniture, which I watched last year and thought was shockingly good, period. Not just shockingly good for something made on credit cards by a recent college grad.)
I understand—as well as someone not in academia, but whose friends are struggling in it—that this path is not available to everyone, but lightning does sometimes strike, and we are to understand that Hannah is more extraordinary in some way than we realized. (Maybe? I am losing steam with this line of thought even as I type it)
This interview with Glamour was pretty interesting: The Cast of Girls Looks Back on Six Years of Friendship and Fights in the Ultimate Exit Interview
posted by purpleclover at 4:28 PM on April 12, 2017
I guess if we're to draw a comparison between Hannah getting a teaching position at some college or school based on writing good on the internets and Dunham, it would be Dunham getting to do Girls after an not-terrible YouTube series and without Apatow putting his weight behind the project.
But I don't know. Maybe that's the problem - academia is not showbiz, but the writers think someone talented and with some connections can also just waltz in to a deus-ex job (unless her "health plan" is a cabinet with aspirin).
posted by lmfsilva at 5:34 AM on April 13, 2017
But I don't know. Maybe that's the problem - academia is not showbiz, but the writers think someone talented and with some connections can also just waltz in to a deus-ex job (unless her "health plan" is a cabinet with aspirin).
posted by lmfsilva at 5:34 AM on April 13, 2017
So: Is it really any more outlandish for Hannah to have gotten this teaching job than for Lena Dunham, 23-year-old, to have gotten the deal to make this series with HBO?
Yes, because Hannah Horvath isn't anywhere near as talented as Lena Dunham is. Dunham is immensely talented. This show has been amazing. The central question around its pilot was "But why does she think she should even get a TV show when she's not even hot?" And now the world has shifted, and there are multiple TV shows where the attractiveness of the female lead is not the most important part of her character. We don't have to give all of the credit for that to Girls, no, but Dunham sure as hell has taken a lot of shit for not getting at least a little bit of the credit.
Also, beyond talent, Lena Dunham is the daughter of people who are New-York-Arts-Scene-Famous, while Hannah Horvath is the daughter of central Michigan academics. That is relevant. (Relatedly, one thing that ties all the main Girls actresses together is that they all have famous or semi-famous parents.)
posted by aabbbiee at 2:46 PM on April 13, 2017 [6 favorites]
Yes, because Hannah Horvath isn't anywhere near as talented as Lena Dunham is. Dunham is immensely talented. This show has been amazing. The central question around its pilot was "But why does she think she should even get a TV show when she's not even hot?" And now the world has shifted, and there are multiple TV shows where the attractiveness of the female lead is not the most important part of her character. We don't have to give all of the credit for that to Girls, no, but Dunham sure as hell has taken a lot of shit for not getting at least a little bit of the credit.
Also, beyond talent, Lena Dunham is the daughter of people who are New-York-Arts-Scene-Famous, while Hannah Horvath is the daughter of central Michigan academics. That is relevant. (Relatedly, one thing that ties all the main Girls actresses together is that they all have famous or semi-famous parents.)
posted by aabbbiee at 2:46 PM on April 13, 2017 [6 favorites]
I'm not surprised that Lena Dunham wouldn't be able to write convincingly about work or pregnancy or whatever; if I had had her life, I would have become emotionally/intellectually frozen at the age I was during senior year of college as well. What is surprising is that everyone else on the writing team is at the same place she is. Watching genuinely great actors stumble through the motions of playing characters that act about 10-15 years younger than they actually are is a vertiginous experience: like, I know that these people are grownups, and I know they know how grownups relate to the world, and I know they know that no matter how much they act their hearts out, these characters will never pass for grownups. I'm not saying they act like failed or abortive grownups; that would be fine. I'm saying that they seem like they're written by someone with Vincent Adultman's idea of how the grownup world works.
I mean I hate saying this. I loved Tiny Furniture, I loved the first few seasons of Girls, but for the last long while I've been watching it from almost an anthropological point of view; I am simply surprised that in this foul year 2017 there exists a significant number of people with the idea of how the world is espoused in this show. My only guess is that money really does make people clueless.
I don't think I've ever seen a media production start off as such a perfect expression of a place and a time, and end up so completely disconnected from any real place or time.
(also Shosh was right about everything, despite how she's kind of become an awful person. I've been shouting "ALL OF YOU PEOPLE SHOULD STOP TALKING TO ALL THE REST OF YOU PEOPLE" about the core four for at least three seasons now. There is nothing positive or happy about their relationships with each other; whatever connection they had in college has spoiled and curdled over the years, undone by both life and by their desperation to deny life and cling to the college-era version of their relationship long after that was untenable.)
posted by You Can't Tip a Buick at 5:57 PM on April 16, 2017 [1 favorite]
I mean I hate saying this. I loved Tiny Furniture, I loved the first few seasons of Girls, but for the last long while I've been watching it from almost an anthropological point of view; I am simply surprised that in this foul year 2017 there exists a significant number of people with the idea of how the world is espoused in this show. My only guess is that money really does make people clueless.
I don't think I've ever seen a media production start off as such a perfect expression of a place and a time, and end up so completely disconnected from any real place or time.
(also Shosh was right about everything, despite how she's kind of become an awful person. I've been shouting "ALL OF YOU PEOPLE SHOULD STOP TALKING TO ALL THE REST OF YOU PEOPLE" about the core four for at least three seasons now. There is nothing positive or happy about their relationships with each other; whatever connection they had in college has spoiled and curdled over the years, undone by both life and by their desperation to deny life and cling to the college-era version of their relationship long after that was untenable.)
posted by You Can't Tip a Buick at 5:57 PM on April 16, 2017 [1 favorite]
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But oh my god at MacGuffin University where they apparently hire Internet Writers to teach Colloquial Internet 101, no qualifications necessary, no degrees necessary, plus they're paid full-time salaries with benefits (not adjunct salaries of pennies per class), enough that they can afford beautiful houses with fireplaces and babies? Nobody writing this show is acquainted with the last 50 years of academic history in this country.
Also, I don't believe that Pregnant Hannah would spend the day on her feet walking around endlessly, absently caressing her belly, walking into stinky incense stores, with no time spent looking for public restrooms. Nobody writing this show has ever been pregnant.
I do love this show. I like Shoshanna's arc even if it came out of nowhere.
posted by aabbbiee at 1:01 PM on April 11, 2017 [4 favorites]