Girls, Episode 7

As usual, Peter has a very detailed review, and there is a less detailed review from Otis.

This week’s episode was hilarious, the funniest and best episode to date. And it goes to one of the reasons why I like television better than movies. Because television series stretch out over a much longer period of time, you get to know the characters a lot better. One of the reasons why this episode is so funny is because we see how the characters we all know behave at a huge warehouse party in Bushwick. But if I had watched this one episode never having seen the previous episodes in the series, it wouldn’t have been half as funny.

What each character wore to the party is perfectly indicative of their character. At the one extreme, there’s Jessa who always wears outrageous outfits, and she’s wearing some crazy outfit to this Bushwick party. Jessa does whatever she wants, acts crazy, and doesn’t worry about being embarrassed or of the possible consequences (such as what happens when you throw a bottle of wine off of a walkway above people, and then insulting those people you almost hit with the bottle of wine).

At the other extreme is Shoshanna, who is dressed like a JAP and she looks completely out of place, like she belongs on the Upper East Side or Murray Hill and not in Bushwick. Almost as unhip as Shoshana is Marnie, who is just too stuck up to wear a hipster outfit. Hannah is dressed hipster but without Jessa’s outrageous flair.

Charlie already has a new girlfriend, a short, vivacious scantily-clad girl named Audrey who is dressed appropriately hipster. Thus is Charlie revealed as a greater beta. His prominent position in a band, which was playing that night at the Bushwick party, gives him a high status among hipsters. He might be an alpha if he had a more aggressive personality, but he’s too nice of a guy to be a true alpha. Dominance over other men as well as women means you can’t be nice to people all the time.

I think that Audrey is a downgrade as far as looks, but no doubt Audrey has a much prettier personality.

Marnie is incredibly pissed that Charlie has a new girlfriend. Then she goes finds Elijah, who was Hannah’s gay boyfriend from college, and she starts telling him all of her “problems,” as if he’s a cool gay sidekick character like Stanford from Sex and the City. But Elijah wants no part of it, and he tells her how selfish she is and reminds her of how she made out with him while Hannah was sick with mono, pointing out what a crappy friend she is.

Last week I was going to write about why Adam seems beta, and one of the reasons is that he appears to be a shut-in who never leaves his apartment. But tonight, we see him at the party! Another reason I was going to say he is beta is because he has no apparent male friends. And this still holds true tonight, because Adam attends the party with a group of lesbians (who are better looking than most real-world lesbians). Also, we see Adam dancing with abandon and with complete disregard for how dorky he looks dancing. I think that Adam is beta who is too clueless to realize he’s a beta, which tricks Hannah into liking hm.

For comic relief, Shoshanna accidentally smokes crack, and goes running out of the party on a crack high, with Ray (who is revealed as a nice guy like his friend Charlie) following after her because Jessa abandoned Shohanna after promising to be her “crack spirit guide” in order to flirt with her boss (more on Jessa’s boss later). When Ray catches up to Shoshana, she uses her self-defense training on him which appears to effectively knock him into the ground, and then she realizes that he was there to help her, so she makes it up to him by giving him a “non-sexual” groin message which she learned how to do from her “sports therapy class.”

Jessa accidentally invited her boss, Jeff, to the party because she gets a text message from an unknown number asking her if she wants to hang out, and Jessa being the way she is (flirtatious and unconcerned with anyone else’s feeling and beyond embarrassment) invites the uknown texter to the party, and he turns out to be the father of the children she looks after as a nanny. Jessa does hang with him at the party for a while, but by the end of the episode, after the guys she dropped the wine bottle on punch out Jeff, she seems to see him as a creepy old pervert. Is this the end of the Jeff storyline? We never found out about his mysterious non-job.

Also at the end of the episode, Hannah has this big stupid grin on her face riding in the taxicab with Marnie, Adam, and Adam’s bicycle; apparently Hannah thinks she got some sort of boyfriend commitment out of Adam (after a funny conversation with Adam’s lesbian friend Tako and after Hannah leaves with Adam to go “scrapping,” riding in front of Adam on his bicycle). But Marnie’s not happy, she wanted Adam and Hannah to break up because Marnie doesn’t like her new role being the one who’s not part of a happy couple.

* * *

The address, “45 Bushwick Place,” is actually in Williamsburg and not Bushwick, although that’s the bad part of Williamsburg near the Bushwick border, and near the housing project where my mother lived when she was a girl. However, I think this is just a fake address the writers made up because it sounds like it’s in Bushwick.

* * *

There were no non-white people at this party that I noticed. The whiteness crisis continues! Tako, despite the Japanese sounding name, might be a white Hispanic, but it's hard to tell. I also have the suspicion that the character who plays Adam might be a small part American Indian. But the point is, here we are in one of the blackest neighborhoods in Brooklyn, and there's this big party where everyone is white. I presume there are real parties just like that in Bushwick, but I'm not hip enough or young enough to attend.

OK, I lied. Re-viewing the party scenes, there were a handful of obviously black extras. But there must be hundreds of extras at the party and the vast majority were white. I didn't see a single Asian extra. Realistically, there would probably be one or two Asian girls at a party like this. I think the elite white writers and casting directors don't like Asians very much. The only three Asian people we encountered so far have been the know-it-all girl who worked at Hannah's internship, the unseen girl that artist was sleeping with, and one of the nannies at the park.

Comments

[Anonymous]

Best episode yet. Last week's was very disappointing. I really liked Adam's 'you never asked' line. It pointed out that Hannah is pretty much 100% to blame for her own misery, but since she apparently got commitment from Adam, I doubt that she will actually realize this herself.

Marnie really is a total bitch. The faggot said it perfectly, she and Hannah are cut from the same cloth. I guess its probably not very hard for the actors in a show like this, but she did a great job portraying the extreme rage of a woman who sees the guy whose nuts she thought she owned living a very happy life without her and with a better girl.

>Jessa does hang with [Jeff] at the party for a while, but by the end of the episode, after the guys she dropped the wine bottle on punch out Jeff, she seems to see him as a creepy old pervert.

This isn't exactly a mystery.
1. He gets physically beaten, which instantly makes a girl lose vagina tingles
2. He breaks down and cries with his head on her leg
3. He pleads with her "lets spend the night together, we dont have to do anything"

Pretty hard not to look like a huge beta creep after that. Plus, she already knew he is not the man of his own house.

[Anonymous]

Also, do not listen to the people who are saying "this girls stuff is boring" and questioning why you are writing about it. They are stupid and don't get that HBO/Showtime original content in general is very important because it is what the SWPL elites watch, and Girls in particular is very important because Dunham is actually portraying the reality of post-college life for upper-middle-class people like me in a realistic way.

Final note: I overheard my parents' neighbors, two extreme SWPLs (a shrink and a democrat political consultant), excitedly describing the show to a group of people at a party, they found the part in ep 1 about Hannah getting cut off by her parents to be laugh out loud hysterical.

[Matt in RTP]

HE IS REVEALED AS A GREATER BETA! You are witnessing a great becoming!

The juxtaposition of obsessively detailed re-caps of Girls with stories of SWPL-hating Asian strivers is the reason I keep coming back to this site. Please never change, Half Sigma (and I mean that sincerely).

[Peter]

"There were no non-white people at this party that I noticed. The whiteness crisis continues! Tako, despite the Japanese sounding name, might be a white Hispanic, but it's hard to tell. I also have the suspicion that the character who plays Adam might be a small part American Indian."

Nothing in the online bios of Adam Driver (who plays Adam) says anything about American Indian ancestry. It's the sort of thing that probably would be mentioned if it existed, given the slightly exotic aura it would add. One interesting thing is that he's a former Marine.

Marnie scornfully describes Audrey, Charlie's new girlfriend, as a "tiny little Navajo." I don't know whether that's because Audrey is wearing an Indian-style headband or because she's supposed to be Indian-looking. Probably the former.

"Re-viewing the party scenes, there were a handful of obviously black extras. But there must be hundreds of extras at the party and the vast majority were white. I didn't see a single Asian extra. Realistically, there would probably be one or two Asian girls at a party like this."

I have re-watched the episode online, pausing when necessary. There are quite a few blacks at the party. In the scene where Jessa first speaks to Jeff, there's a very nerdy-looking young white man talking to a tall black woman, the sort of pairing that would be highly unlikely in real life.

As for Asians:

1. When Hannah starts talking to Adam there is an Asian girl standing right behind him. She is wearing a floral-print dress and glasses with red plastic frames.
2. A chubby Asian girl can be seen in the background when a distraught Marnie looks at the dance floor and sees Jessa dancing with Jeff and Hannah dancing with Adam.
3. An Asian girl wearing a shirt with horizontal stripes crosses in front of Adam and Hannah just as Adam tells Hannah about going on a scrap metal search at the Brooklyn Navy Yard.*
4 (possible). When Shoshanna starts running away from Ray in the hallway, there is a couple right behind them (Shoshanna pushes the man aside when running) that's either South Asian or Hispanic, I can't tell for sure.

There are a couple other possible Asians in the crowd at different points.

Some of the people discussing the episode at Slate are uncertain as to whether Shoshanna was bottomless when she kicked Ray in the groin. Although she has lost her skirt somewhere along the way, at one point she can be glimpsed carrying it while running, she is clearly wearing panty hose when she kicks Ray.

* = the script writers clearly didn't do their research. Although there is no longer a U.S. Navy presence at the Brooklyn Navy Yard, the facility is notorious for maintaining DEFCON-5 security levels. Adam would certainly know that his chances of breaking into the Brooklyn Navy Yard are less than zero.

[shawn]

Maybe the female writers don't like Asian girls because they are worthy sexual competitors.

[Peter]

"by the end of the episode, after the guys she dropped the wine bottle on punch out Jeff, she seems to see him as a creepy old pervert"

More than that, she sees what a silly lifestyle she's been leading. My prediction is that we'll be seeing a much more mature side of Jessa from now on.

"But there must be hundreds of extras at the party"

The actual number of extras used in filming the party scenes probably wasn't anywhere near as high as might be thought. HBO's filming budget is not unlimited. If I had enough free time and enough patience I'd watch the party scenes a few times online and try to see how many faces pop up again and again.

[Otis the Sweaty]

I agree with anonymous that anybody who doesn't get why this show is so important and we need to talk about it obsessively is a retard who should be ignored

[Matt in RTP]

"Maybe the female writers don't like Asian girls because they are worthy sexual competitors."

I don't know why white nerds have an Asian fetish. They are sweet and submissive until they lock down a man, and then BAM! it's rage of the Dragon Lady.

One of my best friends was doing fine for himself as a recreational therapist aide -- he only made like $30k a year, but he put in 35 hours a week, playing games with disabled children and adults, hardly working at all, really. Had a fairly useless BA in psychology.

Until he started dating a second-generation Chinese-American. She demanded that he start taking his pre-med requirements at night, volunteer, and put together a research portfolio...he was going to go to medical school, no matter what (he can certainly handle it, very smart, just a slacker).

Now he doesn't home-brew beer anymore, or go mountain biking, or play rec league basketball...he just studies, volunteers, and does research. She has trained him to become A STRIVER MEDICAL SCHOOL WANNABE!

One of the benefits of being with a prole (ish) girl: my fiancee's family thinks I'm a great success because I work in an OFFICE, not as a security guard or truck driver, have never been to prison, and don't have neck tattoos. Heavenly blessed low expectations!

[Peter]

I have one more observation with respect to Jessa. TV shows obviously don't write themselves, every scene and every word of dialogue is there because the writers are making a point. When Jessa and Jeff were in the hospital waiting room, my first impression was that the pathetic white female addict demanding drugs was in the scene as a way of showing us that Brooklyn hospital waiting rooms late at night are pretty grim places. It later occurred to me that the addict was there as a way of cautioning Jessa of what her future might hold if she doesn't change her hedonistic ways. It's not long after that you can literally see a much more serious expression come over Jessa's face.

[Lexus Liberal]

This episode proved that Caucasians, especially the hipster/SWPL crowd don't know how to dance because of limited physical capability.

@Shawn

Yes, Asian women are probably the most despised minority to SWPL Caucasian women, since they are naturally more skinnier, feminine and "exotic/cultured".

Many Asian women tend to take the quality Caucasian males away from the regular American female, who in turn has to lose weight and study to compete. American females prefer a monopoly over the sexual market, hence they are quick to sign the marriage contract. It warms my cockles that billionaires like Zuckerberg is marrying Asian.

Anyways, this "tribal" mentality is observed often among African American women who are envious of Hispanic women for "stealing" their socioeconomically valuable prized men.

[DaveinHackensack]

"It later occurred to me that the addict was there as a way of cautioning Jessa of what her future might hold if she doesn't change her hedonistic ways. It's not long after that you can literally see a much more serious expression come over Jessa's face."

That's a stretch. Jessa doesn't seem like the type to become an addict. She doesn't seem stupid or insecure enough to get sucked in, and she seemed stone sober at the party, taking care of her cousin, and then her boss. The crying in her lap was what changed her expression.

Up until that point, the boss could have still been considered semi-cool -- yeah, texting her was inappropriate, but at least he was self-aware enough at the party to realize that and feel mildly humiliated about it. Jessa respected that enough to dance with him, a gesture that said let's put this bit of embarrassment behind us. But once he asks her to sleep over and cries in her lap, that all evaporated.

[Peter]

"Although there is no longer a U.S. Navy presence at the Brooklyn Navy Yard, the facility is notorious for maintaining DEFCON-5 security levels."

My mistake. DEFCON-5 is the lowest state of readiness. Brooklyn Navy Yard is permanently at DEFCON-1, the highest state of readiness, used when nuclear war is imminent.

[Peter]

[It later occurred to me that the addict was there as a way of cautioning Jessa of what her future might hold if she doesn't change her hedonistic ways.]

"That's a stretch. Jessa doesn't seem like the type to become an addict. She doesn't seem stupid or insecure enough to get sucked in, and she seemed stone sober at the party, taking care of her cousin, and then her boss."

Well, maybe. Though I'm still wondering why the pathetic addict was a blonde white female.

[Jon]

There were definitely Asian girls at the party. I noticed at least 2.

[The Undiscovered Jew]

"Final note: I overheard my parents' neighbors, two extreme SWPLs (a shrink and a democrat political consultant), excitedly describing the show to a group of people at a party, they found the part in ep 1 about Hannah getting cut off by her parents to be laugh out loud hysterical."

What else did they say about it?

[The Undiscovered Jew]

"I don't know why white nerds have an Asian fetish."

I think this is more a thing with bitter Omega male game website commenters than white nerds. White nerds still prefer to marry white women. The glories of Asian women are largely being promoted by Omega male gamers. If it weren't for Roissy, the gameosphere would be a total lost cause.

[superdestroyer]

Peter,

The term is force protection condition, not Defcon.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Force_Protection_Condition

[superdestroyer]

Any one who belives Girls in important must be a New Yorker. The rest of the country does not care about the culture of 20-something whites in NYC with liberal arts degrees and low paying jobs.

To me, the most important aspect is that liberal arts types in NYC do not want to understand that the economy is dependent of high paying finance jobs and the trickle down to everyone else. NYC without high paying finance jobs would be called Pittsburgh or Kansas City.

[asdf]

Matt's comments are spot on. Asian girls are great to rent, not to buy. They become dragon ladies once the ring in on their finger. Asian males will tell you this, but they have limited mating options.

The biggest thing Asian women have going for them is being thin. It's hard for Asians to get fat. American women's waistline crisis is pretty much the major reason for Asian girls rise.

Also, since Asian girls have fewer bitch shields because thier own men are naturally beta. They won't shit test as much (or more accurately their shit tests take the form of making money rather then a test of physical or social dominance).

[HS: Insightful comment about how Asian girls attitudes towards men reflects living in a more beta culture, so they need to more assertive in moving the relationship along.]

[DaveinHackensack]

"Well, maybe. Though I'm still wondering why the pathetic addict was a blonde white female."

Part of Dunham's response to criticisms about the show being too white, most likely. Watch Danny Glover's character next season be the most together of the male characters.

[Anonymous]

@peter
>Well, maybe. Though I'm still wondering why the pathetic addict was a blonde white female.

Because showing a pathetic addict who was black would be racist

@Undiscovered Jew

I didn't keep listening after that, but they were enthusiastically recommending the show

[HS: The addict should have been a black woman, given the racial makeup of that neighborhood. I think this was inentional political correctness at work.]

[Mild Speculation]

What is the difference between a beta and a nice guy? I agree that there is one but I can't articulate it. Maybe someone could explain the various combinations: beta+nice, beta+not nice, etc.

[asdf]

Mild Speculation,

Beta isn't a personality type, but a measure of success. For instance Charlie's personality didn't change at all, but his scoring a new girl upgraded him to greater beta according to HS. Alpha, beta, and omega are descriptions of level of success with the other sex. It doesn't matter how that success comes.

When people say, "a beta is like this," what they mean is, "men with a level of success described as beta tend to have characteristics XYZ." The characteristics themselves aren't beta, they are *correlated* with the state of being beta (the state being how successful you are with women).

[Turambar]

HBO interview with Leah Dunham (who looks pretty good with makeup and flattering clothes colors) confirms that HS is right about the clothes the characters are wearing:

http://www.hbo.com/#/girls/episodes/01/07-welcome-to-bushwick-aka-the-crackcident/video/inside-the-episode.html

-------

Didnt really love this episode.

First off- this was supposed to be the epic party? It looked like a party at the Peach Pit circa 1994.

Everything screamed to me "this is 2pm on a sound stage". There is no one who appears to be drinking let alone drunk. The air isnt thick with pot smoke. Look at the conversation with Elijah and whats-her-nose- they are both cleared eyed and can address each other from 3 feet away. If this was a real party they have to have their heads together to make themselves heard. A real party would have a mix of people speeding and some nearly passed out. And prefect lighting and no one is sweating even thought they are dancing in a warehouse with no HVAC and a million people.

The good:
- Adam's dancing. And Hannah's. Loved that suspenders thing she was doing and how he thought her forearm grab was a dance move.
- the "tits out for Christmas. Join the trend" girl at the beginning
- Jessa's fight talk. Especially the "Oi!" at the end.
- Hannah stalking up to Adam on the dance floor
- Charlie having a band groupie. I was just thinking how ridiculous it would be for the good looking Questionable Goods front man not to have and bunch of girls in the front trying to vibe on him. At least they acknowledge it.
- Shoshanna's crack freakout where she says she "matriculated"
- Jessa handing off her crack spirit guide duties- (English accent)"make sure she doesnt jump off a roof or get fingered by a beat boxer"
- the way Hannah dresses.

The Bad:
- Jeff- I dont understand the point. And why does he have this "look" if he isnt a sleezeball.
- the "crusty punks". I think they were give a chance to ad-lib and it came off very stilted.
- most of Shoshanna's crack freakout. The comedy was too broad for a series where Leah Dunham underplays everything.

The Meh:
- Every person who appears on screen doesnt need to be explored in depth. Just because you have a character named Ray doesnt mean I need to see him involved every week with a main character. Everything cant be the focal point- there needs to be background too. And the background should stay in the background.
- No more Taco. See above.
- This Adam development stuff. He was already a classic tv character when he was "that animal she has disgusting sex with". A cypher who comes on screen, does outre things and no one else sees. Now they want to explore and humanize him. This could go either way. Sure every tv "villain" eventually gets humanized, but this is only the 7th episode. Did John Laroquette get the softy treatment before season 4? Charles Winchester? Deslock didnt become a good guy until the Comet Empire in Series 2. Look to your source material people!

[Otis the Sweaty]

"Any one who belives Girls in important must be a New Yorker."

I'm not from New York and I hate New York.

Do you hate SWPLs? Do you want to see women portrayed negatively on TV? If the answer to those questions is "Yes" than Girls is the show for you.

[Syon]

asdf:"The biggest thing Asian women have going for them is being thin. It's hard for Asians to get fat. American women's waistline crisis is pretty much the major reason for Asian girls rise."

I hear this thin East Asian stuff all the time, but I have yet to see any data.Growing up in California, I knew/saw quite a few fat East Asians.Perhaps more importantly, most of the East Asian girls that I have known have had, vis-a-vis White girls, remarkably little muscle tone.

White women tend to dislike East Asian women for the same reason that Black women dislike White women;they view White men as their exclusive preserve.Black women are not perceived as a threat, but East Asian women are viewed as potential competitors.

[DaveinHackensack]

Being attracted to women, whether Asian or otherwise, isn't a fetish.

[JimB]

Haa. Thats what black guys are probably thinking about white girls.

[Peter]

"Everything screamed to me "this is 2pm on a sound stage". There is no one who appears to be drinking let alone drunk. The air isnt thick with pot smoke. Look at the conversation with Elijah and whats-her-nose- they are both cleared eyed and can address each other from 3 feet away. If this was a real party they have to have their heads together to make themselves heard. A real party would have a mix of people speeding and some nearly passed out. And prefect lighting and no one is sweating even thought they are dancing in a warehouse with no HVAC and a million people."

I would put most of this in the realm of perfectly acceptable artistic license. If the noise level were so loud that Elijah and Marnie had to put their heads together and shout it would change the whole dynamics of the scene. Having some of the party attendees act drunk or stoned, in a non-slapstick manner, would be asking too much of anonymous extras.

[Bill]

"Do you hate SWPLs? Do you want to see women portrayed negatively on TV? If the answer to those questions is "Yes" than Girls is the show for you."

-

That's your prerogative. Many who like this show (including me, an HS reader) aren't watching out of burning contempt. Again the idea keeps coming up that the showrunner is somehow tuned into the alt-right and making this show "edgy and subversive" in an anti-SWPL way... but the show is clearly putting comedy and characters ahead of the biting satire the alt-right desperately wants it to be.

Think of it this way. As subversive and popular as Seinfeld was in the 90s, do people look back on it as a take-down of "those" narcissistic, yuppie New York Jews? Not really. People liked Jerry, Elaine, George and Kramer as hopelessly flawed but mostly likeable characters. They liked the mythos the show built up over the seasons.

If Girls plans to stick around as entertaining television it has one option: The characters and story lines must become more complex in an attempt to avoid the low-hanging fruit. Otherwise it will become overly broad and self-referential like any long running TV series in decline. Either way all these alt-right bloggers now giving rave reviews will be wailing and gnashing teeth when the satirical component dies down in favor of something more sustainable. They're going to blame Durham for "caving" to the MSM critics when really change was inevitable.

Fine by me. Then again I like un-ironically enjoying things and not vastly inflating the sociological importance of some Judd Apatow-style premium cable dramedy. So maybe my opinion is moot. Anyway that's the first and last thing I'm ever going to say about Girls, so one less retard in the mix.

[asdf]

http://blog.zap2it.com/frominsidethebox/2012/05/lena-dunham-confirms-community-star-donald-glover-is-heading-to-hbos-girls-for-season-2.html

Black star to be added to cast in season 2.

[Otis the Sweaty]

Fine by me. Then again I like un-ironically enjoying things and not vastly inflating the sociological importance of some Judd Apatow-style premium cable dramedy.

No, no and 1000 times no. I am not overestimating this shows importance, you are underestimating it. This is the first show in my lifetime to portray women negatively. In Russia or Japan this show wouldn't be a big deal because the inferiority of women is a social axiom, but in America, the capital of "Grrl Power" feminism? This show is truly revolutionary.

Women are ALWAYS portrayed on TV as strong, independent and interesting. Anybody who has any real world experience with women knows that women (especially young women) are weak, dependent on male approval and boring. This show is basically a giant middle finger to western feminism.

Either way all these alt-right bloggers now giving rave reviews will be wailing and gnashing teeth when the satirical component dies down in favor of something more sustainable.

No they won't because that won't happen. The only way Durham could really sell out is by taking the show in a pro woman direction, and she would never do that because it isn't in her DNA. She created this show because she wanted a show that would reflect the lives of the females in her generation. The source of this shows misogyny is it's accuracy.

[Steve Austin]

Does Ray have an upper row of teeth? Be it "Girls" or "Tiny Furniture," he always looks like he's sucking on a lemon.

[Tanizaki]

An element of this episode that I have not yet seen discussed is Jessa's interaction with the men below the catwalk. This was a fine portrayal of the dangerous habit women have of starting fights for the men in their company. This is a very real and common phenomenon.

Note how Jessa escalates the confrontation by yelling insults while the father tries to defuse it. Why? Because he knows damn well that if it comes to blows, he will be the one taking them. Jessa also knows this, which allows her to keep running her mouth.