The Book of Rannells: Girls: Season 3, Episode 10 – “Role-Play” (2014)

Some diminishing returns on this season – “Beach House” is far and away my favorite so far.  This one is all right, and it features some peak Hannah/Adam oddness, but it’s hard to match the fine execution on that episode.

As Adam gets deeper into rehearsals for his play, Hannah continues to worry about being left behind.  Afraid that their sex life doesn’t interest him anymore, she takes drastic measures to liven things up.  Shoshanna is ready for some drastic measures of her own, with Jessa and her rehab buddy taking over Shoshanna’s apartment.  And Marnie starts to collaborate musically with Desi (it hasn’t come up much in the episodes I’ve reviewed for The Book of Rannells, but Marnie has dreams of a singing career,) though his mixed signals throw her for a loop.

The best plot here is probably the Hannah/Adam stuff.  It’s very believable that Hannah would let her fears and insecurities take over, taking whatever minor problems might be going on and majorly exacerbating them with her attempts to “fix” things.  Her plan for her and Adam is pretty cringey-funny, and it’s interesting to watch Adam by turns being bewildered by it and rolling with it.

The story with Jessa, Shoshanna, and Jasper (Richard E. Grant’s character) is all right, more for the acting than for anything else.  This plot also offers up another guest star:  Felicity Jones, a.k.a. Jyn Erso!  Like Adam Driver, a pre-Star Wars alum, so that’s fun.

Even less Andrew Rannells here than last time.  Elijah is just in one scene, but it’s a cute one, with him and Hannah sitting in bed devouring burritos and commiserating about stale relationships.  My favorite moment is his pitch-perfect, “Is he?” when Hannah calls Adam “one of the best people [she’s] ever known.”  Still, his role in this episode is very “gay bestie,” and he’s mostly just someone for Hannah to have dialogue with, only talking about himself and his own relationship woes a teeny bit.