‘Girls’ Review: Hannah Finally Confronts Her Future While Erasing Her Past

LAST WEEK’S REVIEW: Adam Makes His Movie As Hannah’s Life Goes Off Script

[Spoilers follow for “Girls” Season 6, Episode 6, “Full Disclosure.”]

Love Her or Hate Her

Love, with one mild caveat. While it’s been fresh to see so much sudden character growth and maturity from Hannah this season, the reveal that she has no interest in even trying to contact her unborn child’s father is a controversial one. Yes, Paul-Louis has a girlfriend. But does he have the right to know that the girl he had a fling with is having his baby? There are certainly two opinions on the subject, and almost everyone that Hannah shared her news with on Sunday night fell into the camp of the father having the right to know. The only advocate for Hannah’s decision to exclude Paul-Louis was her father, but then again Tad has always been something of a pushover for his daughter and hates rocking the boat.

In Hannah’s mind it’s her body, her decision, and her baby. And legally that may all be true. But the storyline certainly opens up a moral debate in an interesting way, which was probably Lena Dunham’s original intent. So far as the viewer can tell, it seems like deep down Hannah knows that telling Paul-Louis is the right thing to do, which is why she picked up the phone and tried to get ahold of him. Sure, she chickened out when reaching him proved more difficult than she anticipated, but the thought is at least in her mind.

One Step Forward, Two Steps Back

The fact that Adam and Jessa made a film in such a short period of time is commendable, but naturally the film itself now comes with problems. For Jessa, watching the scenes that recreated the deep and damaging love that Adam and Hannah shared was obviously painful, as it caused her to wonder what kind of connection she and Adam now shared. For Adam, it brought back some of the good memories and may or may not have given him some closure. For now, it seems like the whole project actually opened up his feelings for Hannah again, which is why he was so desperate for her to watch it. In the end, Hannah did sit down to watch the final cut, and judging by the reaction on her face it affected her a lot more than she thought it would. So points to Adam for creating something “real,” as he had hoped. But does this mean those two could be on a road to reconciliation? Please, please, let’s hope not. While their love may have been deep, it was anything but healthy.

Something to Cringe About

Let’s give this entire category to Marnie this week. It seems like that character continues to grow more and more narcissistic, and just when you thought she’d tapped out her self-interest, she tops herself even more. From the beginning of the episode. when she claimed that Ray breaking up with her was going to top Hannah’s news, to the end in which she was so self-absorbed about her mother’s show that she couldn’t realize Desi was high as a kite, to her musings about needing to become the Godmother she was destined to be, Marnie still thinks everything is about her. And it makes her one of the worst characters on television, which is really too bad for Allison Williams, who plays her entirely too well.

Erasing the Past

We’ve been waiting for a Jessa-Hannah showdown for a while now, and it finally came Sunday night. It wasn’t nearly as explosive as we would have thought it would be, though, since Hannah is beyond the point of caring. She rightfully pointed out that Jessa was going to make a terrible therapist if she couldn’t confront her own feelings and understand the situation, while shrugging off her old bestie like a discarded shoe. After everything Hannah did for Jessa in the past, her dismissal makes complete sense; you can only give to a person for so long before you need to take care of yourself. And that’s what Hannah is doing, especially with a baby on the way. Jessa may be in denial about their relationship, but girlfriends break up the same way romantic couples do. Despite the history sometimes you just need to make a clean break and move on. That’s not erasing something, as Jessa sees it, but it’s moving on and recognizing when someone is toxic. Jessa’s problem is that everyone in her life seems to be doing that to her lately, and she’s not sure where it’s left her.

READ MORE: ‘Girls’ Pregnancy Foreshadowed Way Back in the Season 3 Premiere

Making Up

Thankfully one relationship that has been salvaged is the one between Elijah and Hannah. After the terrible things Elijah said last week, he owed Hannah a huge apology, which she certainly got this week. It’s cute to think that they’ll raise a baby together, although given Elijah’s self-interested personality, reality and projected reality probably won’t align once the baby is actually born. But isn’t it nice to think that it could?

Where’s the HBO Love?

What does Hannah have against “The Wire,” anyhow? And does the fact that she finally sat down to watch Adam’s movie mean that she may give Omar and co. a chance down the line too?

Department Store Theatre

Elijah actually may be onto something with this acting thing. As he ran lines with a co-worker it was hard to tell whether people were stopping and staring because he was yelling about a hit-and-run, or because they thought he was good — either way, he was convincing. Also, we would kill for some of his killer self-confidence.

Breaking Up the Band

Is this the official end for Marnie and Desi, or are those two doomed to stay in each other’s lives forever? Desi’s speech about pretending to be a musician should have hit home a little harder for Marnie, who was forced to take the stage with her scatting mother in the most embarrassing way possible. Either Marnie needs to move on from this little band they’ve created or give it up all together, because it’s obvious that Desi is entirely too messed up to continue with the status quo. We will admit we were relieved that his bike fell over, and he was relegated to saying farewell to his “amour” on foot. We want him to get better, not end tragically.

Preparing For the End

Now that everyone is in the know about the pregnancy it seems like things will progress pretty quickly throughout the remainder of the season. What was interesting about this week’s episode was watching everyone else’s reactions to Hannah’s decision. Some, like Marnie’s mother, may feel like Hannah having a baby is a bad idea, but everyone else seems genuinely shocked at how serious she’s taking it all. For someone like Adam, that may ignite a lost attraction, but for someone like Marnie that may cause serious self-reflection. And for someone like Jessa, it just reminds her of how much she’s lost. Now if only we could get a full-out Shoshanna reaction to the whole thing, too.

Grade: B

Next week: Elijah attends an open call audition and Hannah reconnects with her fling.

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