The Book of Rannells: Girls: Season 4, Episode 6 – “Close Up” (2015)

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.