Okay, so
a lot of big things happened in episode 4 and were further developed in the
Andrew Rannells-less following episode that I didn’t rewatch or review. So, in talking about this episode, I have to
spoil the various things that went down there – consider your warned.
Remember
my mention last week of the character Mimi-Rose, played by Gillian Jacobs? She is in fact Adam’s new girlfriend,
something Hannah discovers after returning to New York, having quit her grad
school program in Iowa. That’s several
shakeups in a row, and this episode finds Adam newly moved in with Mimi-Rose,
where a conflict between them makes him question her commitment to him, and
Hannah trying to figure out a new path for her life, as she has decided to no
longer pursue writing as a career. The
other big news is that Desi has left his girlfriend and officially gotten
together with Marnie, who’s experiencing a bit of buyer’s remorse. Meanwhile, Shoshanna unloads during an
interview, and Ray survives a city council meeting.
Quite a
few plots going on here, and overall, I think they mostly work. Hannah went through most of her shock and
horror at the Adam situation in episode 5, and now she’s working on moving
forward while still obviously feeling hurt by what went down. Her quest to find her new path reflects an
unsurprisingly lack of self-understanding on her part, seemingly fueled largely
by the suggestions of her therapist (he’s a recurring character – played by Bob
Balaban! – but this is the first Book of Rannells episode he’s appeared in.)
Mimi-Rose
is a tricky character to get to know.
Part of that is the fact that she’s often filtered through the
perspective of other characters, mostly Hannah and to a lesser extent
Adam. As a function of the story, that
makes sense, but in understanding who she is, that keeps her at arm’s
length. This episode does provide a bit
more of a dive into her, as it gives her and Adam a plot separate from the rest
of the characters. What we get, though,
is still a little perplexing. It’s hard
for me to get a read on her, and I can’t tell to what extent she’s herself vs.
the idea the plot has of her. That said,
I really like her speech near the end about the difference between needing and
wanting someone.
Most of
the other characters’ stuff feels in line for them. I laughed out loud at Marnie and Desi having
sex to the sound of their own music, because of course they do, and Ray’s ultimate reaction to the city council
meeting is equally believable. As for
Shoshanna, it’s fun to see her in nothing-to-lose mode, and her subplot
provides the episode’s third guest star, Jason Ritter.
Not a ton
for Andrew Rannells to do here, but he makes the most of it. Elijah is back from Iowa (and living with
Hannah again) without ceremony, and he’s back in the swing of things. After being on the receiving end of a teary
monologue from Hannah about cereal, he later joins the girls at brunch, where
he has most of the best lines. Not only
does he wonderfully describe the sweet set-up he had in Iowa – among other
things, he was “dating a guy who was the frontrunner in the mayoral race” and
“just put a bid in on 16 acres” – he also busks on Hannah’s career prospects
based on her outfit, and his suggestions include “Mayim Bialik’s stunt
double.” At any given moment, the most
absurd things come out of his mouth, and I find it endlessly funny.
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