This
episode feels fairly disjointed to me.
While there are several distinct plots, there are a number of scenes
that just kind of feel there, even if some of them are pretty
entertaining. It makes the episode as a
whole kind of sloppy for me, despite enjoying it for the most part (brief
relationship spoilers.)
Hannah
attempts to correct her missteps from last episode with her fellow writers and,
naturally, only makes it worse. A visit
from her dad has her asking some hard questions and trying to figure out what
she really wants. Marnie and Desi’s
relationship has hit an impasse, which puts a damper on their music. Ray and Shoshanna both feel fed up, Ray over
the noise pollution outside his building and Shoshanna over a disheartening
series of job interviews, and they bond while running errands together.
Hannah’s
grad-school stuff is getting pretty wash-rinse repeat: Hannah thinks she’s clearing the air but is
in fact tone-deaf and wildly immature, her classmates speak in measured tones
about how offended they are without mincing words. Points in this storyline start to get
ridiculous in how thoroughly Hannah fails to do a single thing right. There is, however, some forward momentum in
this episode, and I really like the scenes with Hannah and her dad.
The
Shoshanna-Ray plot is fun. I never
really liked Ray until after those two got together, and even though they’re
not a couple anymore, they still get each other on this offbeat level, and it’s
nice to see them being friends and supporting one another in their respective
crises. “Old Man Ray” standing in the
street shouting at traffic is a great image, and I enjoy Shoshanna’s quest to
solve Ray’s problems through finding the perfect T-shirt (just go with it.)
As usual,
the Marnie/Desi stuff is more “meh,” for me, but I am a big fan of Marnie
pestering both Jessa and Shoshanna to listen to one of their songs on her phone
when they get together at a bar. Marnie’s
just so Marnie about the whole thing, and Shoshanna’s feedback is
hilarious. On a side note, the end of
the episode features the introduction of a new character going into the second
half of the season. I won’t get into
spoilers at the moment, but her name’s Mimi-Rose, and she’s played by Gillian
Jacobs, a.k.a. Britta from Community.
There’s
regrettably little Andrew Rannells in this episode. Elijah is only in one scene, where he’s
amusingly annoyed at Hannah doing nothing (i.e., avoiding writing) while he’s
“working” on an article to accompany some photos he took. The things Elijah consider creative and/or
career pursuits are so wonderfully random, and I get a kick out of his
declaration, “We’re in Iowa. They don’t
know what a fucking release is.” Still,
it’s not enough!
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