The Book of Rannells: Girls: Season 3, Episode 12 – “Two Plane Rides” (2014)

Season 3 finale, with most everything that a season finale entails:  surprising declarations, romantic shakeups, and the prospect of big life changes.  That, and it all culminates at the opening night of a Broadway show, so you can’t go too wrong there.

Basically, nearly everyone is receiving big news.  Hannah learns of a new opportunity that could be life-changing for her, Jessa’s new boss asks her to do something shocking, and Shoshanna gets some serious news, which is made even worse when Marnie drops by with some news of her own.  It doesn’t necessarily feel like it on the surface of things, but when you take a step back, you realize that most of the episode revolves around who knows what when, and most especially, when characters share what they have to say with other characters.

Some good scenes here.  Shoshanna has a terrific flip-out scene, and as I said, Marnie puts her particular talent to use in not making it better – way to read a room, Marn.  Shoshanna just has good scenes all around; she has some great stuff with Ray as well.  As for Hannah and Adam, it’s interesting to see the turn they take here.  While it doesn’t quite follow the trajectory they’ve been taking for the last few episodes, what happens is certainly informed by what’s preceded it, and although the potential growth Hannah could gain through this new opportunity isn’t to be counted out (she has a lovely scene on the phone with her parents about it,) she manages to unintentionally-weaponize that news in a way I don’t think anyone but Hannah could.

Not much Elijah today – he joins the rest of the group to see Adam’s opening night, but he’s pretty much the only one who comes to the show without more pressing personal baggage going on, so he doesn’t have any sort of plot.  Instead, he’s mostly someone for other characters to bounce off of.  However, he gets to interact with most of the regular cast, so that’s nice.

Highlights include a very funny exchange with Shoshanna at the start of the play, an intermission conversation with Marnie in which he reveals a heretofore-unmentioned “talent” of his, and a brief scene with Ray that features a Falsettos shoutout several years before Andrew Rannells was in it; I love moments like that.  Best of all, though, is a hilarious sight gag toward the end of the episode that is just perfectly Elijah.