TV Review: Girls (5×02): “Good Man”

This week was truly one of the better episodes of Girls that we have seen in a long time. “Good Man” explored the relationships between Hannah and her dad, as well as numerous other couples and friendships, and truly showed how far most of the characters have come since the first season.

Last week’s episode of Girls ended with Marnie and Desi’s wedding, one of the most disappointing parts of this entire show for me. Does this mean that’s it for Ray and Marnie? I hope not. But while we wait for that marriage to implode, Girls has given us a new couples to root for, and perhaps growth opportunities for some other couples.

Could Hannah finally be in a healthy relationship?

The minute Hannah chose the life with Fran over Adam in last season’s finale, I immediately thought it was doomed to fail. Where would selfish, toxic Hannah ever be happy with a nice, normal man? But in this week’s episode, we got to see a new, more mature side of Hannah, but not in a way that is unbelievable (she still has her Hannahesque moments) but what is somewhat synonymous with a woman in her 20s growing up.

Hannah’s teaching career might not be on solid ground as she was scolded by both a student and the principal for giving her students inappropiate reading material, but there is a weird kind of feeling like you know Hannah is going to be okay. Out of everyone in the group (yes I’m including Jessa in this) I always found Hannah to be the most unstable. But perhaps after all she’s been through and survived, everything else just feels like stumbling blocks that she can overcome. 

I’m still not 100 percent certain that she and Fran will make it in the long run, but with her friends scattered around the world, her parents’ marriage in shambles and her job not completely stable, perhaps she needs a relationship that is balanced and has low drama.

Gay-mergency

One of the shockers in season four of Girls was when Hannah’s dad, Tad came out of the closet. A man finding his feet as a homosexual in his 50s is extremely difficult and mimicked problems that faced many older people who suppressed their true feelings because they lived in a time that was not accepting of homosexuality.

In this week’s episode, Tad phones Hannah in tears and she is summoned to a motel room where he tells her that he went to go meet a man online and he left his wallet at his home. It was probably Tad’s first sexual encounter with another man, and the tears are probably the result of emotions that came with the experience.

During her scenes with her dad, we truly get to see how far Hannah has come. She listens to him, supports him, lectures him and teaches him about being wary of who he has sex with and using protection. She doesn’t coddle him but she doesn’t make things worse, and in a true testament of her growth, she does not make the situation about her either.

Girls has truly become what it has always claimed to be: a realistic telling of the progression and digression of women in their 20s.

“I would destroy you”

New season, new couples, and while we have said goodbye to some old favorites (Hannah and Adam, Marnie and Ray), we need to talk about this week’s two new additions.

First, Jessa and Adam. They are so wrong that it’s almost right. If anything, we all know that they will be a delight to watch. Whether they are happy or fighting, there will never be a dull moment.

After their little make out session at Marnie’s wedding, Jessa was avoiding Adam, until he approached her at her AA meeting and told her that they need to talk about their situation “for their sobriety.” Jessa agrees and the two spend the day at a carnival, in an adorable The Notebook-esque montage.

However, when Adam confronts her about their obvious feelings for each other, she tells him that even if Hannah wasn’t an issue, “I would destroy you. And you would destroy me. We would destroy each other.” So there was no goodbye kiss after that date, they simply just masturbated next to each other, reminding us that they will 100 percent be one of the most exciting parts of this season.

The second couple features one of my favorite characters, Elijah, and a new character, Dill Harcourt, played by Corey Stoll. Whereas Elijah (like Jessa) was always more of a free spirit when it came to relationships, or like Hannah, and rather self-centered, we got to see the beginning of a growth arc with him in regards to this relationship. Elijah and Dill met at a bar and had a chat, had some laughs and at the end of the night Dill left him with his business card in a suave, debonair manner. There was no immediate sex, no crazy drama, just a promise of something more to come. I’m really looking forward to see how this relationship will progress.

Episode Rating: 7/10

Girls airs Sundays at 10 p.m. on HBO.