Shoulda ended with Adam/Hannah
My final summation could be completely wrong, total bs. I admit that freely. I am a huge Adam Driver fan, but I didnāt plan on watching Girls because I dislike Lena Dunham *that* much, however my adoration and lust for him grew too strong that I couldnāt resist. I wound up bingeing the show in a week. Unsurprisingly, I loved Adam Sackler. Very surprisingly, I loved Dunhamās character, Hannah, and I loved Hannah/Adam as a couple. I canāt say I āenjoyedā watching the ups and downs so much because I wasnāt horribly fond of Jessa, but as the final season drew to a close, based on the narrative, I expected some sort of conclusion that promised some kind of path towards Hannah and Adam.
That such didnāt happen was very disappointing because that narrative was so there not only throughout the series, but yeah, in that final season quite pronounced. In that final episode, I understood why all four of the girls werenāt there because they had grown apart and it was Hannahās journey, but three people accepted/loved and/or grew to love Hannah from the first episode (Hannah herself, Marnie and Adam). Those three should have been there at the end.Ā
As I wrote above, I was not expecting a happily-ever-after. Girls was not that kind of show, but I really do think that Adam should have been there. And it would have made perfect sense because Adam always came back and the narrative was there ALL SEASON LONG. During the final season several things happened that made an inevitable reunion of sorts between Adam and Hannah, as well as the dissolution of Adam and Jessa. It simply made narrative sense. Including what happened between Adam and Hannah the few episodes prior that did NOT provide closure of any kind. Sorry, not sorry, but it did not. Letās make a list, shall we?
1. We found out that it was Jessa who had pushed Adam towards Mimi Rose while Hannah was away. This A) presented Jessa in a not very good light in that it showed her not respecting Hannah as a friend, and B) not respecting Adam as a person, and C) not respecting Hannah and Adamās relationship.
*That* is likely why Jessa had no problem setting up Adam with Mimi Rose, or getting with him after heād dated one of her supposed best friends. She clearly never thought that he and Hannah were anything more than fuck buddies who hung out and watched stupid movies occasionally and ate junk food. Jessa had no clue that Adam and Hannah were *actually* in love. Like deeply, truly IN LOVE. That they shared like in depth, down deep stuff together, were there for one another, encouraged one another, became better people with one another and for one another. She had no fucking clue.
2. And that is what we found out in the final season: That Jessa was entirely ignorant as to the depth of Adam and Hannahās relationship. While Adam was filming scenes during his film about said relationship with Hannah we saw twice that Jessa had no idea as to what had actually gone on during that relationship. The first was during the spanking/sex scene. After it was over, Jessa suggested that Adam wasnāt playing it right, thinking he should be playing it annoyed with āHannahā and not quite enjoying the sexual antics, while Adam blithely assured her that it was totally cool and that it was as he remembered it.Ā
Later, during a scene when Adam was with 'Hannahā while she was recovering from her OCD and Adam was comforting her during some major insecurities about his love for her, Jessa had quite the issue with that. She didnāt understand why this film was playing out like some great Adam/Hannah love story since according to Jessa all Adam and Hannah supposedly did was, yeah, watch stupid movies and eat junk food on the couch.Ā
What was also interestingāand again, the show made a clear point of this twiceāwas that Adam did not get or care what Jessa was saying. Adam didnāt get that Jessa was upset or why she was upset. He didnāt get or care that Jessa was bothered that he was making an ode to his love story with Hannah and that the film wasnāt in any way about his supposed love story with Jessa. Nor did he seem to get that Jessa didnāt understand his relationship with Hannah, nor did he get that she was bothered that he had remembered having that kind of relationship with her. This showed a complete lack of communication and understanding between Adam and Jessa, not just about Adam and Hannah, but about his film, thus his craft⦠and the only things that we were shown *ever* that Adam truly cared about were Hannah and his craft. And Adam didnāt care that Jessa was clueless about both.
3. Adam needed, desperately needed, Hannah to watch his movie. He said it was about closure. But was it really? They were over and had been over for quite some time. So it wasnāt that; it was just Adam once again needing Hannah. Full-stop. Period. Like always. Because Hannah and Adam always go back to one another. And that was clear when Hannah watched the movie. And the moments that Adam chose to write, and film. āBedās getting cold.ā His look of love and longing into the camera⦠to a departing Hannah. And Adam wanted⦠NEEDED Hannah to watch this. And Hannah was indeed watching and this is how the episode ended, leaving that final impression not only on Hannah, but on the audience as well. And *that* was the impression left *for* the audience in the show too: Adam was looking into the camera, i.e., looking at the person watching him and who was watching him? Hannah. The real Hannah. Just as Adam had begged her to and Adam was telling Hannah in so many words, You are gone and I miss you. That is why Adam needed Hannah to watch his film. He needed her to know that.
4. When Adam and Hannah briefly got back together for one day, he told her when discussing him and Jessa that the two of them would have flamed out in about four months anyway. Where were we at series end? Oh, about four months from that point.
5. Adam and Hannah spent literally ONE DAY trying to get back together. ONE DAY in which they dealt with exactly ZERO of their issuesā¦
Not the fact that Hannah couldnāt handle no longer being the only thing that Adam cared about anymore.
Not the fact that Adam moved out on Hannah to practice his craft instead of dealing with Hannahās insecurities.
Not the fact that Hannah left Adam to go to another state to study her writing despite his emotional issues and inability to handle such a thing.
Not the fact that Adam began dating someone else without telling Hannah and moved her into Hannahās apartment.
Not the fact that Adam dated one of her best āfriends.ā
Without trying to deal with any of these they couldnāt truly even begin to enjoy the positives of why they were together again, the growth theyād both experienced. Because they KEEP COMING BACK TO ONE ANOTHER through the years, because they completely get one another. Because, no matter what, they have each otherās backs. Because they love one another, are in love one another, sure, they fall out of love, but yet, they keep falling back in love with one another.Ā
6. Jessa and Adam worked better as friends. When featured in a romantic or sexual situation, they were not good. Their first sexual encounter was plain bad. They had rampaging, horrible, violent, sexually-tinged fights. They were only presented two times romantically in a good light and neither were *for* Adam and Jessa as a couple. The first was when meeting Jessaās sister; that was all about Jessaās character, revealing a bit of her history, telling us who and why she was. The other was during Adamās play (with Jessa watching from across the apartment) and that was all about Hannah figuring out that Jessa and Adam were fucking. OK, to be fair, there was one romantic interlude that was about them. The day they went to the fair, but they were still friends who were teetering on the edge of becoming lovers⦠and Adam was the ex of one of Jessaās best friends, which, again, *is* problematic!Ā
Other than that we saw Jessa and Adam as friends who fucked or as combatants who fucked. That was pretty much it. There was no actual love story there. Jessa and Adam didnāt have any semblance of an actual romantic love story. No, neither were the main character, but we saw more of that kind of romance for Jessa and her husband (their wedding really was beautiful, Adam was right), and Marnie, and Shoshana with various guys they were involved with than we ever did with Jessa and Adamāone of the main four āGirlsā and arguably the main āguyā of the series. Yes, yes, they were more āpopularā than this couple or that couple, but honestly, can we not say that a potentially big part of that isnāt because of Adam Driver/Sacklerās popularity and Lena Dunham/Hannahās lack thereof and the desire to see one without the other?
So what changed? I donāt know. Because the narrative was freaking THERE! It. Was. There! Maybe Adam Driver wasnāt available at all for the final episode. Maybe Lena Dunham really is as petty as sheās come across time and time again and Adam Driverās success made her decide, 'Fuck it! He has all this success now, Iām not giving him the girl too in *my* show!ā Maybe Iām just thinking itās that because Iām still pissed off by her calling him out in that speech she gave at SXSW in 2014 because she missed a fairly important detail, I feel.
āPeople are ready to see Adam play a million different guys in one year ā from lotharios to villains to nerds. Meanwhile Allison Williams, Jemima Kirke and Zosia Mamet are still waiting for parts they can get interested in."Ā
That quote would have a lot more girl-power and feel less like an attack on Adam Driver and 'Wah! Why does Hollywood keep casting HIM?!!ā if she hadnāt had another male series regular in her cast (Alex Karpovsky, Ray) at the time and another who was recurring (Andrew Rannells, Elijah), but currently or just about to begin filming the next season in which he too would be *another* male series regular in her cast. So⦠three male series regulars in her cast opposed to four female series regulars and she mentioned (aside from herself) only the other three female regulars which makes it a fair ratio and only one of the male series regulars was getting roles.
However, that one actor out of three getting roles is an attack on feminism because the three females on her show are not? What about the two other males who werenāt getting roles? Were they chopped liver? No, Lena, Adam Driver was/is just THAT FUCKING GOOD. Remember, his role was supposed to just be the "handsome carpenterā in the Pilot episode, but he was THAT FUCKING GOOD to you too that you wound up expanding his role to that of essentially the showās male lead⦠*that* is why āpeople are ready to see Adam play a million different guys in one year.ā Pfft!
Of course (see disclaimer at the top of the post), I could be wrong. Dunham could have just decided that a miserable Hannah, unable to breast-feed her child, alone with only Marnieātriumphant as THE ultimate best friendāwas the way to go while Adam was stuck in a problematic relationship with Jessa, despite all narrative signs pointing to an eventual reunion of some sorts with Hannah. I donāt know.
As far as Iām concerned the series didnāt end where it did. I tack on an additional 30 seconds. Cut to that final scene of Hannah trying to breastfeed Grover and she hears a noise. She looks up and thereās Adam walking towards her. She has a WTF? look on her face. He stops, says 'Hey, Kid.ā Thereās one final shot of Hannah, and this time thereās a slight smile on her face, slightly confused, slightly hopeful. End scene. End series. Boom. Thatās my ending.