The Book of Rannells: Girls: Season 1, Episode 7 – “Welcome to Bushwick a.k.a. The Crackcident” (2012)

This is a solid group episode, in which we see traction on a lot of plots against the hectic backdrop of a Brooklyn warehouse party.  And, of course, we get to see Elijah again, always a plus in my book!

The four girls arrive at “the biggest party in Brooklyn,” with all that entails and more.  There’s forward relationship momentum, awkward relationship drama, accidental drug consumption, fistfights, and over-the-top cab standoffs.  Marnie tries to come to grips with what’s going on with Charlie, and Hannah, after only interacting with Adam when she comes to his apartment for sex, sees him out the “the real world” for the first time.

It’s a fun, funny episode.  The big headline is of course the “crackcident” of the title, with most of the biggest laughs stemming from that plotline.  I also enjoy seeing Adam in a different context and, even better, meeting his friend Tako, who’s an absolute delight (she can tell when people think it’s spelled with a “C.”)  Plus, I just like seeing each of the main characters’ place within a party like this, which begins with the opening shot of how they’re dressed – Marnie like she’s going to a classy formal dinner, Jessa awash in feathers and avantegarde hobo-chic, etc.

My favorite thing about Elijah here is that we see him mostly interacting with a character who isn’t Hannah – not that I don’t like them sharing scenes together, because I absolutely do, but in general on the show, Elijah spends so much screentime with Hannah that it’s always refreshing to see him paired with a different character.  In this case, he and Marnie run into each other at the party and quickly fall into old patterns from college, which involves poking at particular sore spots for each of them.

Elijah, it seems, likes to act as though he’s above Hannah and Marnie’s shenanigans when he’s absolutely not, and I love that.  He makes as though he’s taking the high road, like he’s so over them and their drama, and then he eagerly jumps down to their level and goes head-to-head with them at every step.  In a way, I suppose that’s true of all the characters – that they’re all a lot worse than they think they are – but with Elijah, as someone who’s still mostly on the periphery of the action, it seems to click really well.  I don’t know if it’s my Andrew Rannells bias making allowances for him, if it’s because we don’t see enough of Elijah to get really irritated with him, or if it’s Rannells’s acting talent pulling off this unsympathetic character in a way that some of the less-experienced actors have a hard time with.  Either way, I enjoy Elijah in large part because of how terrible he is, not in spite of it.