And just like that, the third season is over. Like any good finale, this episode leaves us with questions we’ll be dying to have answered all summer. Will Desi and Clementine stay together? Will the paramedics get to Beadie in time? Will Adam garner critical notice for his Broadway debut? What does the future hold for the women, now that they are too complex to be simply girls?
HANNAH
Emotional Age: 25
It’s not that Hannah doesn’t make mistakes tonight. She definitely does. And I’m not just talking about that botched eyeliner attempt. After learning that she’s been accepted to the best writing program in the nation for reasons that remain unclear, she panics in a completely plausible way and considers not going. Her self-involved pre-show bragging to Adam — that predictably throws him off his game when the curtain rises — is regrettable but not surprising. She feels like her life is at a turning point, and she’s not wrong. Go forth, young writer, and learn. Maybe Iowa will teach her not to be such a navel-gazing asshole all the time.
MARNIE
Emotional Age: 22
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Marnie isn’t wildly immature, but she’s also not grown yet. She’s doing all the things she thinks adults would do, but really floundering on the nuance. For instance, her romantic-ish entanglement with Desi is the kind of thing that seems libertine and free but is really just moronic. Don’t screw with other people’s relationships and anchor yourself to an emotionally unavailable man-child simply because you like his smoldering eyes. Her discussion with Shoshanna about Ray is similarly fake-mature: rather than actually working with her friend’s feelings, she just acts all “no biggie” about it. She’s been worse, but she’s also been lots better.
SHOSHANNA
Emotional Age: 5
Poor Shosh! The going gets tough and her whole way of being collapses. Upon learning that she’s three credits shy of graduating, she has several full-on tantrums. After trashing her room and screaming at Marnie, she swings wildly in the other direction, begging for Ray’s affection at intermission and only barely containing her tears when he turns her down. All she wants is to turn back the clock and pretend like none of these bad things ever happened, but there’s no cause for hysterics. Couldn’t she just take a summer course and be done with it? Kindergartners don’t think things like that through, I guess.
JESSA
Emotional Age: Angel of Death
After much deliberation, Jessa decides that she will indeed assist Beadie’s suicide. She then stays by her boss’ bed and holds her hand until the inevitable change of heart, at which point she calls 911. Basically, she has ascended to the level of compassionate demigod, choosing when to give and take life. Good for her, I guess. Few of us ever wield such power.
thenameismatt
Jessa looked gorgeous in this episode. That’s my takeaway. Good for her.
jar
I just caught an episode of this show for the first time. It depressed me. Do people really find this kind of narcissism entertaining? It makes me worry about our future.