Review: Girls, S1, E9 – “Leave Me Alone”

Air date: Sunday, June 10, 2012, 10:30/9:30c on HBO

Rating: ★★★★★

Women have probably been catty to one another ever since the discovery of fire. Hannah (Lena Dunham) isn’t immune to such dynamics; jealousy eats her up when she attends former classmate Tally Schifrin’s (Jenny Slate) book party. Hannah spits out a big dose of disdain when she mentions that Tally’s boyfriend’s suicide was the only way she could write about something meaningful.

“Your boyfriend should kill himself because you deserve it?” Jessa (Jemima Kirke) says and I feel a little guilty for giggling. When Tally brags about how she basically “water-birthed” her book while pointing out how unnatural a task writing is for Hannah, the latter is quick to add she has a boyfriend who is “alive and well.” The claws are out and although I’m enjoining my front row sit to a cat fight, its Tally’s last words which sting Hannah the most. Where is mouthy Jessa when she’s really needed?

Luckily for Hannah, former professor Powell Goldman (Michael Imperiale) is there to console her. “Tally is a shitty writer…and you’re a good writer,” he says to cheer her up and invites her to participate in a weekly reading he hosts.

The tension between Hannah (Dunham) and Marnie (Williams) continues to grow.

Tally’s success and book has an immediate impact on the girls’ lives pushing them to reexamine their existence. Hannah is the first one to succumb as she ponders how “Tally Schifrin took chances” while her life has consisted of a series of mistakes. As a result, she opts to participate in the reading and decides to showcase a piece she wrote based on another fine male specimen she’s been involved with: Phil, the Hoarder.

“Oh that one,” Marnie retorts.

Hannah doesn’t take well to Marnie’s insincerity. “You could be a little more supportive.”

“Do you have any idea of how much I support you, literally? Do you have any idea how much money you owe me?”

Ouch, Marnie! If I had a knife, I still couldn’t cut the tension between Hannah and Marnie. To be honest, I’ve been waiting for her to bring this up as Hannah remains unemployed.

Not surprisingly, Soshanna (Zosia Mamet) is also moved by Tally’s book. It’s left her terrified about how she needs to live it up now as we’re ignorant of the time we have left on Earth. She doesn’t waste time as she announces to Jessa: “I did something crazy, I made an internet dating profile!” Phew, knowing Soshanna joined the most expensive online dating site to free her up from all the ugly Match.com peeps allows me to sleep well through the night.

The conversation between Jessa (Jemima Kirke) and her former employer Katherine (Kathryn Hahn) has to be my favorite one of the episode. Katherine has faced the truth about her marriage and leads an uncomfortable, civilized but brutally honest discussion about Jessa’s supposed attraction to her husband Jeff (James LeGros). What comes next is another example of the genius of Girls’ writing: just when it appears that Katherine needs Jessa’s help, we see instead how lost the typically cool and collected Jessa is. We know Katherine has read Jessa like a book when she kindly points out she can tell how Jessa is not only used to causing trouble but is clueless about why she does it.

After reading Tally Schifrin's book, Soshanna joins an online dating service.

“You’re doing it to distract yourself from becoming the person you’re meant to be…. She might not look like the way you picture her when you were age 16…her job may not be cool, her hair may not be flowing like a mermaid…but she might be a lot happier than you are right now.”

Katherine’s wisdom clearly comes from experience and I suspect Jessa reminds her of herself when she was younger. I truly enjoyed this moment of solidarity and connection between generations in spite of sticky circumstances.

Hannah learns all the weird (and may I say hysterical!) reasons why Adam won’t go to her reading which I think is for the best. However, she has to put up with Ray’s (Alex Karpovsky) empathic disapproval of her reading material choice which he deems too trivial: “How about death? Death is the most real issue that you should write about.”

Yet again, Hannah doubts herself and her abilities as a writer. Being easily influenced by others, she makes a last minute decision, a risk resulting in disaster during the reading.

Tally’s ‘ghost’ annoyingly pops up one last time as Hannah finds out Marnie liked Tally’s book. Weeks of pent up aggression fires up into a huge argument among the two friends. I won’t spoil it for you but my pulse rose as the argument built up. Williams and Dunham’s heightened emotions are captured well in light of the dilemmas their characters face: their struggle to find their adult voice as they’re unable to shed their sheltered, selfish and entitled attitudes.

As the episode came to a close, I couldn’t stop thinking about Hannah’s admission: “No one can ever hate me as much as I hate myself.” I found it sad she not only admits this truth to herself but she actually said it out loud to someone else.

Among the frivolity, jokes, and sarcasm, Girls’ unexpected but meaningful turn builds up exciting momentum towards next week’s season finale.

Tune in to Girls Sundays at 10:30/9:30c on HBO.

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All photos © 2012 HBO Networks, Inc. All Rights Reserved.