Adam:"If you died, the world would blur. I wouldn't know what a tree was."
Hannah
B
"We in the literary community are left scratching our heads."
David Pressler-Goings, Hannah's "champion," as she refers to him, is dead, leaving a gaping hole in our protagonist's recovery, revealing a hollowness previously left unquestioned. Initially, I was worried that her apathetic response to death would lead to Adam questioning Hannah's bipolar medicines and whether or not she can truly be herself while so heavily dosed. Dear lord, I still pray the story doesn't turn down that road, because I find those story lines to be a bit dangerous and quite honestly, ignorant. It's a chemical imbalance -- medication is a good thing. I digress...
As of right now, it's not Hannah's meds; it's Hannah's uncensored reaction. She simply doesn't know how to feel about it. Plus, now she's back to worrying about the future of her ebook. It almost feels like a challenge from the writers, as they so often seem to push our sense of self by allowing their characters to be so blatantly flawed. Would you not worry about your book in Hannah's place? I mean, it's not even a print book, so how much time and money has the publisher really invested in Hannah? But he died, yes, still sad, though. And Hannah's discussion with Caroline about her inability to match Adam's emotional hierarchy is fair -- the man is unabashedly in touch with his feelings. Am I still a little worried that Adam will recognize his sister's fake-hand-me-down story about poor deceased Margaret pouring out of his girlfriend? Big time. Can you blame the girl for trying?
Jessa
B-
On death: "It's something that happens. It's like jury duty, or you know, floods. They happen."
Marnie
C
"Fancy people want to work with me. So I'm gonna give them that pleasure and I'm gonna go work with them! So fuck you both, have a nice day, enjoy the rest of the video."
Maybe Ray could have shown Marnie more sympathy and waited until her shift ended to watch her YouTube video for what I assume is not his first viewing. Fine. Obviously, Marnie is trying to put the pieces back together after Charlie's departure, but girlfriend is a bag of struggles. Sure, she's working out, taking care of her temple and for a minute there, she was doing a mediocre job as a waitress. But her insides are just as dead as Hannah's, as she so clearly clings to a Marnie of the past. Remember her? She had a decent entry-level job with a dedicated albeit sometimes clingy boyfriend and a gaggle of friends to talk down to. While she still does the latter on the regular, Marnie needs a reality check; a drink splashed in her face, a shouting match with her divorced Mom, or a good cry with the friends she's not so different from. I also feel like if she could just get that damn video down, things could definitely only go uphill, right?
Shoshanna
A+
"I feel like my bandana collection is my most developed collection. I mean my array of bandanas is insane."
Need I say more?
"Dead Inside"
A
Jessa: "Looks like you've got it all figured out with your brownstone, and your baby, and your cool-looking husband."
Extra Credit
- Ray to Hannah: "Why don't you place just one crumb of basic human compassion on this fat-free muffin of sociopathic detachment?"
- Jessa's friend only had to fake the invitation to her funeral because she knew she wouldn't come. Ouch. Tough crowd.
- Caroline: "Just headed out for my afternoon constitutional." The simple life.
Demerits
- Hannah to Adam about her book: "It's an ebook; it's never gonna hit the stands cuz there are no stands, and you know that!"
- How did Laird fit his dead turtle in to that bottle? Seriously, how?
Marnie Michaels YouTubeGate
It's week two and the video remains fully uploaded and available for your viewing pleasure. No one is truly safe...