That Run in "Girls"

It all started when my sister asked me to come over to her apartment for the weekend to help her babysit her 7 month old, since my sister's husband was out for the weekend. And that led her to tell me that she had HBO Go. That, plus my roommate having HBO Go, meant that I now have HBO Go. I will now take overtures of friendship (preferably with booze).

So that was how I started watching the rest of "Girls." I'd only watch the pilot and at the time, it didn't seem like a show that I wanted to search the far (and Trojan-filled) Internet to find. But now that I have binged-watch both seasons of "Girls" in five days, I want to hone in on that scene at the end of the second season finale, "Together."

To summarize: Hannah, suffering from an OCD breakdown because she can't meet her book deadline, calls Adam, her boyfriend who she called the cops on in the second episode of the season. He answers the phone, sees her ticks (and her haphazard bowl haircut) and runs to her apartment shirtless (which according to Vulture, would have taken him 30 minutes).

In the Inside the Episodes commentary for the finale, Lena Dunham calls the scene "both the first step for Hannah's recovery and the first time she's actually been there for [Adam], which she couldn't be before" as well as describing Adam in that moment as needing to "get his woman."

And that is the heart of what I find problematic about "Girls." Viscerally, as a single woman who was dumped late last year, the sight of a man running to the rescue made me (literally) giggle madly. It was so grand, so romantic and so unlike anything that ever happens in real life. Because the character of Hannah has been brought so low and was so alone, just seeing a guy she loved race to be with her was heartwarming, in that way that Hollywood likes to tell you is heartwarming, when really it's just reinforcing gender stereotypes.

And in reality, making a guy run to you in the middle of the night shirtless is not a healthy barometer for a relationship. He might just really like running. I'm still trying to figure out if Hannah's OCD spell was written in by Dunham to give sympathy to an unlikeable and self-absorbed character.
See what I just did back there?

Even now I can't figure out how I feel about that scene! On the one hand, it was moving and romantic. But on the other hand, it was manipulative and felt like it was spawned from 50 years worth of romantic comedies (think the ending of "When Harry Met Sally"). But unlike romantic comedies, where you tend to hate-love both of the characters and want them to end up together, I don't feel like what Hannah and Adam have is healthy. And I don't love them as characters.

Adam, in the last episode, was accused by the Internet of being a rapist (or at the very least, being an asshole) for making his new girlfriend Natalia crawl on his wood chip and nails-covered floor and then ejaculating on her chest. How does someone like that turn into Prince Charming in the course of 30 minutes?

Especially because he has never really been much of a Prince Charming, considering he also came on Hannah's chest in the second episode of Season 1 and peed on her without her consent in episode 8 of season 1. In the sex scenes between him and Hannah, it's never been what she wanted, it was always him telling her what to do ("That was so good. I almost came."). Or perhaps there was good sex between them and we, the viewers, just never saw it.

The ending of "Together" also paralleled the Season 1 finale, where Adam was hit by a truck and Hannah didn't go to the hospital with him. Instead, she took the train to Coney Island and had cake on the beach. Granted, he had told her not to go with him, but then again, in "Together," Hannah kept telling Adam that he didn't have to come over.

The difference is, he did it anyway. Because he had always been there. And it's shitty that the only reason Hannah called him in "Together," was because Jessa didn't pick up her phone, and Marnie didn't bother to look under the bed.

Then again, it's also disturbing how he breaks down the door to her apartment and then proceeds to pick her up and cradle her like a baby. Especially when being treated like a baby by her parents is probably how Hannah ended up being so self-centered and immature to begin with, and her infantile displays is what pushed her friends away as well. And also being able to treat his girlfriend like a baby (such as by calling her "kid") is something Adam was not able to do with Natalia, who insisted on being treated as an equal ("I can like your cock and not be a whore."). And he wasn't having much fun the last time he had sex with Natalia, probably because he wasn't able to act out any porn-inspired fantasies on her.

Perhaps that's the genius of "Girls," presenting these unlikeable, deeply flawed and codependent characters. And while you are disgusted at their decisions, and can't see any realistic outcome that will be positive, you still latch in and are invested when they get a small bite of happiness.

Maybe Lena Dunham does know what she's doing...

Of course, I'm going to keep watching "Girls," if only because the Shoshanna and Ray break-up scene in the finale (where she told him, "I can't be the only thing you like!") hit very close to home. It seems that Dunham knows that having a romantic relationship be your only source of happiness is not the best idea. Foreshadow for the next season, perhaps, hopefully?