‘Girls’ Season 3 Episode 6 Review: ‘Free Snacks’
This week’s theme: We’re all adults (kinda)! Hannah and Jessa both have new jobs, Marnie and Ray are acting sort of adult-ish in their relationship, and Shoshanna has decided to stop fooling around and find a real relationship.
Hannah tells Ray that she’s quitting the coffee shop, to which he cavalierly replies, “I’ll see you in a week when you quit whatever bullshit gig you’re leaving for and come back here begging for your old job.” Ouch. She tells him she’s working for GQ magazine, and he immediately calls her out as a writer for the advertorial section by asking “Who’s the sponsor?” She begrudgingly admits it’s for Neiman Marcus, and he rubs salt in the wound by calling advertorials “morally and creatively bankrupt.”
‘Girls’ Season 3, Episode 5 Review: ‘Only Child’
Quickly his snarky bravado fades when he calls Marnie, who is sitting at home watching reality television, because jobs are for peasants without art history degrees and rent money falls from the sky. (On the reals, though, how is it possible Marnie sits around all day playing with kittens and watching the Real Housewives – and currently doesn’t live with her mom?). He bumbles through his opening joke and says he is calling to “check in.” She bites his head off, but he trudges on to say he doesn’t want their tryst to affect their friendship (or lack thereof). Despite the fact that she is being a huge bitch, he accepts her invitation to come over and watch shitty TV.
Meanwhile, Hannah has made a new friend at GQ. He shows her around the office, but she really only cares about the snack room because OMG FOOD GUYZ AMIRITE? (Actually though, the snack room is awesome). They head to a meeting where Hannah meets her co-workers and they start brainstorming “The Field Guide to the Urban Man *cough*sponsored by Neiman Marcus*cough*”
Jessa, who evidently got the children’s store job by some act of God, is clearly too busy not giving a shit. She sells a woman a black Christening dress (it’s “chic.”) and it’s also too small (“not unless your child is morbidly obese.”) but whatever. Shoshanna is hanging out there, and has evidently decided that it’s time for her to buckle down, quit her sexual adventures, and find a real relationship. She decides on Parker, despite the fact that he is “literally so dumb, I worry that, like, our children wouldn’t even get into preschool.”
Meanwhile, Marnie lets Ray into her apartment, makes him take his shoes off, then snarks at the muffins and coffee he’s brought as a gesture of kindness. Ray is a saint, apparently, because he tells her that he knows she’s going through a tough time lately, and she won’t admit it, but they should just sit down and watch some shitty TV.
…Naturally, they have sex.
Hannah goes to talk to Kevin, one of her co-workers who she is convinced doesn’t like her. He cops to it, saying “I just don’t like your face.” Karen and Joe enter the snack room, and Karen tries to give Hannah a compliment by telling her she’s doing great, and could conceivably take Janice’s job someday. Hannah, of course, insists that she’s a “writer-writer” not like “a corporate advertising writer.” The trio all says that they’re writer-writers too, who had pieces published in literary magazines and won creative awards. Hannah nervously asks if they all do their own spiritually-fufilling writing still, and the response is lukewarm.
Confronted with the reality of adult life – sometimes your calling can’t realistically be your day job – Hannah runs to tell Janice that she doesn’t want to be here in 10 years and realize that her delicate writer’s soul has been corrupted by corporate advertising. Janice is like OK bye, then Hannah comes back 10 seconds later when she remembers rent and food and financial security are things that are good to have.
Ray and Marnie go out to lunch, which quickly devolves into an argument about western aid to Africa, how spiritually dumb Marnie is, how Ray is “too wise” for grad school, and why Marnie wears diamond bracelets to the gym. Ray apologizes, and asks Marnie to sit back down because neither of them have anyone else to eat lunch with. Aw.
Hannah is crying in her cubicle because she thinks she has to sell her soul to be a successful working adult. Joe calls her from 4 cubicles away to tell her she can still be a writer and do this job, she just has to write on nights and weekends and such.
She goes home to Adam, who got a callback for an audition (finally). He’s ecstatic and wants to celebrate, but Hannah has to write for three hours apparently. JK she falls asleep on the couch immediately.
Photo: HBO / Craig Blankenship
