Girls Recap: The Breaking Point

Everything goes wrong in Girls’ latest episode, “Homeward Bound.”

The sixth season of Girls is fast approaching its conclusion, so now is the perfect time for everything to fall apart. You know, in typical Girls fashion. The episode spells the complete dissolution of Hannah’s relationship with Fran, which had been strained for the last several episodes. The episode begins normally enough, but that doesn’t last very long.

First up is a quick scene of Shoshanna returning to America and hating everything about it. She’s dressed in perfect Japanese-Shosh style but is miserable all the same. What happened to Yoshi and her job at the Cat Cafe? Forget about them, because neither of them matter anymore and Girls isn’t interested in dwelling on the details.

Hannah and Fran are going on a summer vacation just the two of them and they have rented a motor home for the occasion. Hannah has a complete meltdown and, quite literally, runs away from her relationship when they stop for a bathroom break. Within the first five minutes or so of the episode, Fran and Hannah are no more and Fran is driving away while cursing Hannah out repeatedly.

Girls has become a show about what crazy thing Hannah is going to do next

This episode is about selfishness and bad behavior. Fran offers to drive Hannah home, but for some reason she can’t stand to be with him a second longer. Earlier he remarks that he is glad to get away from her “need friends.” This episode proves that Fran’s opinion is correct — Hannah and her friends are needy, selfish, and naive.

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Marnie is too busy recording with Desi — who isn’t speaking to her and is now dating Lisa Bonet — to pick Hannah up. Jessa ignores her phone call, so it’s up to Ray to get the job done. Ray has a new coffee truck, which is just about the only thing he has done so far this season. In the truck, Hannah attempts to give Ray oral sex for picking her up because she “isn’t selfish.” They crash.

Girls has become a show about what crazy thing Hannah is going to do next. She feels no remorse for her behavior and generally sees nothing wrong with it. The problem here is that there is no character growth; just shock value. Hannah has become a caricature of herself to a point where it’s just not interesting anymore. She is on a constant self-destructive path with seemingly no real end or goal. Lessons are never learned and behavior is never changed.

Elsewhere, Shosh meets up with Scott again who yells at her for planning to go on welfare. Shosh comes off as needy and naive and Scott is glad to be done with her. There is a definite pattern here, and Scott calls out Shosh for “complaining” the whole time they were together and accuses her of being the worst of her friends. Obviously Scott is not with Hannah at this moment.

Jessa didn’t used to be this needy

Adam gets some screentime as well when he visits Laird only to learn that Caroline, his sister, has run away after suffering from postpartum depression. Jessa visits to help, but she is terrible with kids and can’t stop talking about Hannah. When “Sample” spits up on her she freaks out and begs for Adam’s help. This gives us perhaps the best Adam moment of the season when he says to Jessa: “You’re an adult. She’s a baby. Why do you need more help than a baby?”

Jessa didn’t used to be this needy. She once performed assisted-suicide, even though it didn’t end well. She also took on Caroline’s home-birth with unflinching bravery. Since when does spit-up cause Jessa to collapse? It doesn’t fit, and it reeks of a situation created just to present friction between Jessa and Adam.

Four unflattering portraits are painted this episode, all of them of the female characters. All of the male characters we see this episode act responsibly, minus Ray a bit, and generally have their lives together and their priorities straight. In the end Hannah dishes Ray and hitchhikes a ride back to the city, where it is believed that she’ll find a new start. Another new start.

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Why it’s so hard for Jessa, Shosh, Marnie, and Hannah to grow is a mystery that Girls has been trying to solve for a long time and has doubled down on this season. The problem is that we’re not getting anywhere, and it is wearing to go through the same patterns over and over again.

The season will end next week, but any meaningful resolution feels far off and hazy.

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