Girls ‘It’s Shame About Ray’ early recap and review

The Girls are finally back. By finally back, I mean the show finally feels like it used to. And hey, there were actually plot points, which surprised me throughout.

Hannah: Hannah decides to throw a dinner party at her apartment to celebrate her divorce from Elijah (guest star Andrew Rannells) who finally moves out. She keeps the furniture. Poor Elijah, it sucks to be him to right now. After being told he was a failed attempt for Hannah at “repurposing,” he is thrown out into the streets with no sugar daddy to look after him. At the party, Hannah makes it clear that both Marnie and Charlie (guest star Christopher Abbott) are being total jerks!

Marnie: Speaking of Ms. Marnie, she’s officially won me over with her pretty girl problems. And might I add, the sparks were positively FLYING between Charlie and Marnie, after Marnie fled to the rooftop and Charlie ran after her, leaving his cunt of a girlfriend behind. Of course, Marnie pushes Charlie away, but for the first time in the entire series run, you actually get the sense that something real exists between these two. Before I felt like it was basically just a relationship of convenience, now we are finally starting to see that they might actually still love each other.

Jessa: Jessa meets her husband Thomas-John’s (guest star Chris O’Dowd) parents. Jessa decides to be as blunt as possible, revealing her lack of career focus, life direction, and even her stint in rehab due to heroin addiction. This causes to ask for a divorce and before you know it, Jessa is requesting money, and subsequently ends up in the bath with Hannah. Jessa shows some real emotional depth in this scene, which suggests that are layers to the character, which have barely begun to be pulled away.

Shoshanna: Shosh realizes that boyfriend Ray is actually living her. He’s 35-years-old and homeless, and since they have been spending every night together, Shoshanna didn’t realize that Ray was actually living with her. This brings up the question of why they are in a relationship, as Ray has no prospects or real life goals. Ray admits he is loser, but loves Shoshanna anyway. Shoshanna loves him too. If only Ray was, like, any other guy on the planet because then I could get behind this pairing, but I’m sorry everything about his character screams creep…how convenient they reunited when Ray was “in between” places.

This brings me to…why do all the girls date total losers and creeps? Save for Charlie, the boyfriends on this show are completely childish, immature, weird, losers. None of them have any real depth. They all have horrible taste in men. Hannah dates Adam, who is well…yeah. She follows this up with a lame Republican, and then a ex-cocaine junkie. Marnie is dating a man who belongs in a padded cell. Jessa was married to a loser (she even thought so). And Shoshanna is in a relationship with a 35 year old creeper.

The episode was the best of the season thus far, but it still lacks balance, which is something I will continue to criticize until they figure out they have four characters who need a storyline on every episode. Period.

*You can view the episode with your HBO subscription, currently available on HBO GO.