Just like every other party featured on Girls, Hannah’s 25th birthday celebration brought out all of the misfits and socially desperate — only this time it’s the ones that Hannah unfortunately knows.
The episode began with Hannah giving Adam a haircut-which she swears she is much better at doing while not having a nervous breakdown. When Adam gets a call from his sister Caroline, played by Gaby Hoffmann, the darling of cult classics “Uncle Buck” and “Sleepless in Seattle.” She is destitute as her abusive boyfriend has just abandoned her on the side of the road. Add in that she has lost her job as a teacher because she is not old enough (though I think we are all grateful she is no longer teaching the next generation) and we have Adam’s sobbing mess of a sister. However, Adam is not having any of it as he tells her to wipe her nose and get lost. Though Hannah tries to intervene saying they have an extra room, Adam pushes back saying he actually knows Caroline and that she leaves disaster in her wake. Granted, who else would want to deal with the relative that tried to euthanize their grandmother? The issue is put to rest for now as Hannah invites Caroline to her party.
Meanwhile, Marnie is still dealing with the fallout of her relationship with Charlie, who has just posted a music video of her rendition of Edie Brickell’s “What I Am.” Not only are we treated to the music video itself, but Marnie yelling at who’s presumably a YouTube employee (seriously, can you really just call YouTube?) about how she cannot just ask for the password to take it down because she cannot talk to the guy that has broken her heart.
Jump to Hannah’s birthday party hosted by Marnie and paid for by Marnie’s parents, who do not seem too happy about paying for all of the alcohol untill 10 o’clock. While there were some sweet moments, like Hannah’s parents dancing adorably in the way only a married couple can and then Hannah and Adam jumping in, the whole evening was undercut by the oddest of situations. First, Hannah’s editor, David, shows up (though he would have anyway, had he been invited. Ouch.) because he has been jilted by his date for the evening and proceeds to use Grindr on Marnie’s phone for the night. Caroline tries to dance with the solemn Ray (who has just realized that Shoshanna is moving on much quicker than he is) and when he declines, bites him. Yes, she bites him on the shoulder. And then there is Marnie. It appears that Marnie is only using Hannah’s entire birthday party for the purpose of self-promotion. When Hannah thanks her for putting the party together, considering everything she is going through with Charlie, Marnie says it is the perfect distraction for her, especially because she will have a “bunch of party pics” to post to Instagram, which she is adamant he will check. As it turns out, Hannah’s birthday is the perfect excuse for a performance. Marnie publicly invites Hannah to the stage to sing with her and, unable to say no, the two launch into a pathetic version of Rent’s “Take Me Or Leave Me” almost as a reminder of Hannah’s 21st birthday party. When a fight breaks out between Ray and David because he had the audacity to ask another song to be played in favor of Ray’s (and in the middle of the song, no less), Hannah quickly jumps off the stage to investigate the situation and Marnie asks everyone to please stay and continue to listen to her sing.
The night ends with Hannah and Adam in their apartment about to have birthday sex after Adam has romantically given Hannah a necklace with one of his baby teeth attached (He just knows it is his genetic material). The night is ending well until Hannah finds Caroline half-naked in the bathroom. She crushes a glass in her hand, cutting herself to the point where it needs to be wrapped up and the night is ruined as it is clear that Adam was right, and Caroline has some serious mental problems.
Hannah was definitely right at the beginning, when she gave the foreshadowing that she has never had a good birthday. Between the presence of Caroline and David and the noticeable absence of Jessa, the party did not seem to have any really positive weight to it. Even Shoshanna was pushed to the back though she did have the great opportunity of pointing out that the other three girls have not done much since they graduated as she herself is on that very life-changing cusp between college and adulthood and being caught off-guard as Ray finally came to terms with the fact that they just cannot be friends like before. Even Marnie is caught between the awkward place of letting go of Charlie and the past and trying to cling to the picture-perfect image she once was. It is safe to say that the honeymoon period that all of the girls are in or have been in is close to shattering.
Girls airs Sunday nights at 8 p.m. on HBO.
