Girls Review: “Incidentals” (Season 3, Episode 8)

The polar opposite of Desi would be Jessa’s paternal stand-in junkie creep from rehab (played with gusto by Withnail & I‘s Richard E. Grant), who shows up unexpectedly at her workplace just as she reaches her apex of boredom. This is a dangerous combination, because what better way is there for a recovering drug addict to alleviate boredom than some hard drugs? Sure enough, Jessa robs her place employment for cash, and soon she and her enabler/father figure are coked out. It’s a tremendous step backward for Jessa, but also one that just about anyone could have seen coming from about a mile away.

Speaking of mismatched couples brought together by desperation, the writers of Girls have finally given up pretending that Ray and Marnie’s relationship was going to go anywhere.  This is another instance where a conventional sitcom would have drawn out a story arc over a season or two, but Girls spares us the will-they-or-won’t-they back-and-forth and gets right to “They won’t.” The twist, at least as far as Marnie is concerned, is that it’s Ray who dumps her and not the other way around. As one might imagine, this sort of thing does not go over well with someone as conceited as Marnie is.

In the throes of rejection, Marnie finds solace in a duet with Desi. Will this lead to future romance? Perhaps. But Marnie sure has a fair amount of competition from Elijah, whose appearance in two consecutive episodes might just signal that he’s back as a series regular, and that would be perfectly OK by me. Unfortunately for Elijah and Marnie, Desi appears to already have a girlfriend named Clementine, and she makes paella.

While last week’s episode took a break from this season’s continuity to offer a glimpse at the possibility of the circle of friends at the center of Girls falling apart, “Incidentals” throws us back into the thick of things as if “Beach House” never happened (except for Elijah’s addition back into the fray). That wasn’t entirely unexpected, and it’s not entirely unwelcome. Season three has most definitely found its groove, and it is significantly more confident and consistent than the previous two seasons. With Jessa falling back on some very bad habits, Marnie once again a jilted lover, and Hannah and Adam’s relationship threatened by Adam’s newfound success, there are a lot of plates spinning in the air that could easily come crashing down. That promise of harder times to come makes for some compelling TV, and if the writers of Girls have proven anything this season it’s that they’re not going to spend too much time dawdling before they get to the good stuff.

Random Quotes:

• “The Elephant Man got laid a lot.”
• “I’m just going to walk into a store in the meatpacking district and be like ‘Make it rain.'”
• “Your voice is really… I’m trying to summon the right adjective here.” “Grating?”
• “The closest I’ve ever gotten is a handjob from a guy from Pippin.”
• “My Clementine’s making paella tonight.” “Is that a song?” “No, that’s like a Valencian rice, seafood dish.”