Review: Girls ‘It’s a Shame About Ray’ – Nothing Bundt Trouble

It’s funny how backwards-thinking we can be as humans: as children, we just want to grow up and be adults. Once we’re in our mid-20’s and adulthood infiltrates our mentality, we cling on to the edge of our formative college years… and by the time we’re 60, we’re begging for the days of high school, when responsibilities are left to the grown-ups.

It happens for good reason: being a child means losing yourself in ideas and adventures, and being an adult is all about being realistic and settled in, both in lifestyle and ideology. ‘It’s a Shame About Ray’ – arguably the best episode of Girls so far- is all about the conflict that comes when trying to both embrace and reject maturity: whether it’s a phony marriage, a lost love, or just trying to have a peaceful dinner party like adults.

Two of those dinners are the focus of ‘It’s a Shame About Ray’, all of which are merely the catalyst for terrific individual scenes in the episode’s second half. The first of these is between Marnie and Charlie, after her and Audrey (Charlie’s new girlfriend) share some catty moments over Hannah’s pad thai. It’s arguably the weakest of them all – Marnie’s reinforcing that she’s searching for direction, and Charlie storms off when she tells him she’s dating Booth (“that little Ewok in fuckin’ capri pants?” Charlie asks). Hannah makes a good (if hypocritical) point when Marnie storms out that she’s too self-involved – and if anything, her scenes make that point very well. Being insecure and self-involved is a terrible combination, and Marnie’s ruining her ex-boyfriend’s relationship in her selfish crusade for definition.

In a way, it parallels Jessa quite well, whose marriage with Thomas John predictably implodes after a dinner with TJ’s parents. Jessa’s a bit of a firebug when it comes to people and relationships – behavior we saw a lot of in season one, when she provoked people for entertainment. Thomas John finally calls her out for spending his money and having no work ethic, baring just about everything Jessa avoids traveling around the world in front of her face. She’s just a long list of “experiences”, moments in her life where her delusional tendencies had real world effects on people (one thing she didn’t talk about was nearly teasing a grown man out of his marriage while baby sitting their children). Like Marnie, Jessa has no idea what she wants from life – or who she really is beyond some faux bohemian persona (Thomas John calls her out, accusing her of putting Buddha statues all over the place).

The best part of the episode, however, was down in the subway with Ray and Shoshanna.  While all the other relationships on the show have gone to shit (the episode opens with Hannah’s ‘divorce’ from Elijah… thanks a lot, The New Normal), Shoshanna and Ray’s honesty with each other has brought them closer together. Shoshanna’s innocence has always been a fun topic – including tonight, when Hannah has to explain what a butt plug and prostate gland are – and the stripping of that by Ray (“We’re late because we had sex… you can tell them” he says after Shosh’s long-winded explanation about losing her earring) always makes for great material. But it’s not a one-way relationship: she’s trying to push him into a more meaningful life (“you should have more interests and passions… like, to do”).

In that scene – and all throughout ‘It’s a Shame’, characters butt up against a lot of adult ideas – so it makes sense that the episode closes on a light note, with Jessa and Hannah sharing a bath together. Some might think its an instance of unnecessary nudity, but there’s an important symbolism there: they’re sharing a bath like two child siblings would, stripped down to their most bare selves, healing themselves by escaping for a moment back into drama-free childhood, flinging a snot rocket back and forth in the bath tub.

Grade: A

Other thoughts/observations:

– Thomas John used to date a woman named Fern.

– when Charlie calls Marnie a cunt, Hannah jumps down his throat. She may be pissed at her, but they’re like sisters (“she’s a jerk, too” Hannah says while scarfing down a bundt cake).

– Jessa only eats meat when she’s menstruating?

– Thomas John: “I’m a miracle… I’m a unicorn!”