Girls, Episode 7: "Video Games"
This season of Girls has been markedly different in structure than the first season. It has grown a little bit. The buzz the first season generated attracted a lot of attnetion and some big name guest stars like Patrick Wilson a couple of episodes ago and Roseanna Arquette in this episode. It is almost like this season is a series of loosely connected vignettes with Hannah being the commom thread that is tying everything together. This has drawn some criticism from people, but I am fan. I think the episodes have all been really strong and I have a feeling when you sit down and watch the season as a whole it will feel more cohesive.
This episode focused on Jessa and the aftermath of her break up with Thomas John. It was nice to kind of get a peek at who Jessa is and where she came from. No surprise that her dad is just as messed up as she is. He shows up way late to pick up Hannah and Jessa from the train station. His car is filled with old computers because he doesn't want people to get ahold of information. He never cleans his house and Hannah and Jessa find piles of vintage porn in the bedroom they are staying in. Jessa's dad is dating a woman named, Petula, who raises rabbits in the backyard that she then cooks at serves for dinner, much to Hannah's dismay.
Jessa's dad is exactly who you would expect him to be. He is distant. He doesn't seem very concerned with being a father. He regards Jessa as more of a mate than as a daughter. Instead of spending time with Jessa, he leaves to go to some new age style event with Petula. This sends Jessa spiraling. She takes a joy ride with Hannah, Petula's son and one of his friends. There is whiskey drinking, eyes being covered while driving, and a freak out from Hannah. Hannah also has sex with Petula's 19-year-old son, in a graveyard, because she thought Jessa was going to have sex with his friend. She doesn't. I can understand Hannah's confusion.
The most powerful scene in the episode was Jessa's confrontation with her father on the swingset. It was something that most TV/movie viewers had seen before, Jessa's dad trying to justify his terrible parenting by pushing it onto Jessa and Jessa defending herself by reminding him that she is the child and he is the parent. The acting by Jemima Kirke here is what carries the scene. We really don't see much depth from Jessa, but here she kind of devolves into a hurt child, who just wants her dad. It is a remarkable transformation and I didn't realize that she had it in her.
At the end of this emotional conversation, Jessa's dad claims he is going to change and asks Jessa to catch the later train so they can spend the day together. You get the feeling that there is something fishy with this proposal and there is when he drops Jessa and Hannah off at the store... and never comes back.
Once they are back at the house, Hannah emerges from the bathroom to find that Jessa is gone. She has left her a note "See you around my love." Hannah makes her way to the train station and feels compelled to call her own parents and let them know how much she loves them and how grateful she is to have them as her parents. This sort of devolves because Hannah's mom thinks she wants something and gets pissed. I thought this was very funny and very realistic, since I had conversations like this with my parentals before, especially in my early to mid-twenties.
So, is Jessa gone for good? Will you miss her if she is? What do you think of this season so far? Hit me up in the comments and let me know.
This episode focused on Jessa and the aftermath of her break up with Thomas John. It was nice to kind of get a peek at who Jessa is and where she came from. No surprise that her dad is just as messed up as she is. He shows up way late to pick up Hannah and Jessa from the train station. His car is filled with old computers because he doesn't want people to get ahold of information. He never cleans his house and Hannah and Jessa find piles of vintage porn in the bedroom they are staying in. Jessa's dad is dating a woman named, Petula, who raises rabbits in the backyard that she then cooks at serves for dinner, much to Hannah's dismay.
Jessa's dad is exactly who you would expect him to be. He is distant. He doesn't seem very concerned with being a father. He regards Jessa as more of a mate than as a daughter. Instead of spending time with Jessa, he leaves to go to some new age style event with Petula. This sends Jessa spiraling. She takes a joy ride with Hannah, Petula's son and one of his friends. There is whiskey drinking, eyes being covered while driving, and a freak out from Hannah. Hannah also has sex with Petula's 19-year-old son, in a graveyard, because she thought Jessa was going to have sex with his friend. She doesn't. I can understand Hannah's confusion.
The most powerful scene in the episode was Jessa's confrontation with her father on the swingset. It was something that most TV/movie viewers had seen before, Jessa's dad trying to justify his terrible parenting by pushing it onto Jessa and Jessa defending herself by reminding him that she is the child and he is the parent. The acting by Jemima Kirke here is what carries the scene. We really don't see much depth from Jessa, but here she kind of devolves into a hurt child, who just wants her dad. It is a remarkable transformation and I didn't realize that she had it in her.
At the end of this emotional conversation, Jessa's dad claims he is going to change and asks Jessa to catch the later train so they can spend the day together. You get the feeling that there is something fishy with this proposal and there is when he drops Jessa and Hannah off at the store... and never comes back.
Once they are back at the house, Hannah emerges from the bathroom to find that Jessa is gone. She has left her a note "See you around my love." Hannah makes her way to the train station and feels compelled to call her own parents and let them know how much she loves them and how grateful she is to have them as her parents. This sort of devolves because Hannah's mom thinks she wants something and gets pissed. I thought this was very funny and very realistic, since I had conversations like this with my parentals before, especially in my early to mid-twenties.
So, is Jessa gone for good? Will you miss her if she is? What do you think of this season so far? Hit me up in the comments and let me know.
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