I’ve always thought that Adam Sackler was the most adult, responsible character on Girls. How so much can change in just an episode!
While it’s unclear what kind of limitations Hannah and Adam set for their long-distance relationship (all we know is that they only spoke once a month), it’s still pretty disheartening that Adam would just throw her entire apartment into a storage unit and move in with someone else without having a conversation about it. On the other hand, what did Hannah think would happen?
“Sit-In” picks up just moments after the big reveal of last week’s episode (that Adam has been shacking up with another woman, played by Gillian Jacobs). The woman in question, Mimi-Rose Howard, offers to go get a cold-pressed juice or tea for the two of them while they talk through the breakup. After Mimi-Rose leaves, Adam tells Hannah that she’d left the apartment to him, and he put all of her stuff in a storage unit—that he paid for.
“I want you to understand this isn’t about you.” – Adam
“You know what, Adam. I really understand that part.” – Hannah
Hannah retires to her room.
Hannah Goes John & Yoko on Everyone’s Asses
In 1969, John Lennon and Yoko Ono held a two-week “bed-in” for peace against the conflict in Vietnam.
In 2015, Hannah Horvath has done the same thing, only for 24 hours against the Mimi-Rose Howard conflict, a chick with “a woman’s name and a man’s name with a flower stuck in the middle of it.”
“She’ll stay in there until we have a new president,” says Adam. “She’s stubborn as f*** and likes to be in bed a lot.”
Mimi-Rose offers to talk to her because she’s really good in a crisis. “No f***ing way.”
The first to show up is Shoshanna, who helps Hannah discover the room’s tapestry is actually hiding a wall that’s been knocked down and opens up into Marnie’s old room. Hannah laments; she and Adam had always talked about making a master suite with their bare hands.
Shosh understands that Hannah is devastated and she’s going to get her some tea in just a mo, but she needs to know one thing: “Am I the only one who doesn’t know about this?” Classic Shoshanna. But in spite of this superficial question, Shosh actually shows some true girlfriend abilities when she tells Hannah that she, her, Jessa, and/or Marnie are going to get through it together. If they call back, she’ll tell them that Hannah lost 2 and a half pounds, which is a lot.
Then, like any two female friends would do in a similar crisis, they Google Adam’s new girlfriend. She has a B.F.A from Rhode Island School of Design, and she’s a visiting artist, with a speech about her first love (at nine years old??) available on YouTube.
Shosh quickly shuts down the YouTube, and Hannah boobkicks her until she leaves.
Next up is Jessa. “What is going on? Why aren’t you in Idaho?”
When Hannah tells Jessa that Adam is seeing someone else, Jessa is all nonchalant. Didn’t she tell Hannah about it when she talked to her on the phone? Hannah is 100% sure Jessa never mentioned Mimi-Rose Howard.
In fact, not only did Jessa know about “MRH,” but she was actually the one to set them up together!
“What were we supposed to do? Sit around flicking our clits until you got back?” – Jessa
Then, Jessa tells Hannah that Adam has been doing really well in their AA meetings, but of course, she can’t tell Hannah why because that would go against the confidentiality of the group.
Hannah slaps Jessa, and Jessa slaps Hannah back. As Jessa exits Hannah’s room, she tells Adam to call Marnie. But Marnie is still MIA (more on THAT later).
“The Place is Seething with Intruders”
“This is a message for Her Majesty, Marnie Michaels,” says Hannah, as night has fallen and she’s under the covers in her bed, leaving a voicemail. “This is Hannah, and this is the last message you’ll be receiving from me during our friendship, which is now over because you haven’t been here for me.”
She then confesses that she has to piss worse than anyone else in America, but can’t leave her room because she doesn’t want to face Adam and Mimi-Rose. So she relieves herself in what looks like a garbage can.
Then, she finally decides to open the door and finds Adam’s sister Caroline (Gaby Hoffman) and lover Laird (Jon Glaser). The whole room is filled with candles, as a very pregnant Caroline strokes her belly. Caroline thinks Hannah needs a cup of tea. Hannah thinks everyone needs to quit pretending tea is a magic elixir that will make her forget Adam has a new girlfriend. Laird quits stroking Caroline’s feet to fix up some tea.
“Adam’s really at his best when he’s nurturing the poor, lost, and damaged,” says Caroline. “Which is why you were so perfect for him.” Way to kick Hannah when she’s down.
Even worse, Laird and Caroline offer to help her feel better via a three-way.
The next morning, Hannah awakes (alone, thankfully) to find Ray cooking bacon for her, with some jazz playing.
“This whole thing feels like a puzzle with no solution like a Rubik’s cube.” – Hannah
“Those things actually do have solutions.” – Ray
Of course, Ray turns Hannah’s problems into his own, by talking about his neighborhood issues involving last week’s noise violations. While Ray spouts off gibberish, Hannah burns herself when she tries to flip the bacon. Although Ray is making it all about himself, his incessant talking is probably a welcome distraction to Hannah, who just wants to forget about the last 24 hours.
As Ray patches up puts an oven mitt on her burned hand, Hannah asks if Ray has heard from Marnie, and he says that she’s with some Mumford or Son now. Ray reveals his own self-esteem issues here, telling Hannah he’s no Patrick Dempsey and that he was just Marnie’s whore. Hannah thinks the root of their problem was the age difference, which Ray counters as null and void since he had dated Shoshanna (“Someday you’ll be 34, too”).
Presenting. . .Queen Marnie
Finally, just when Hannah is about at her lowest (watching the YouTube video of Mimi-Rose Howard’s speech while holding her oven-mitted hand in the air), Marnie shows up, bringing food, and then spouts off the most pretentious thing ever uttered on the show.
“I’m so sorry,” she says. “Sometimes when Desi and I are woodshedding, we go on a cell-phone diet.”
Hannah excuses herself to go take a shower, which really means she turns on the water and sits on the toilet watching the Mimi-Rose video on her phone.
Marnie calls her on her fake shower and walks in. She confesses she’s been juggling a lot. Desi has moved in. Plus, she’s also has been struggling with what she’s about to say.
“You need to let Adam go,” she says. “If you don’t give him this space to at least see where this goes, he’s going to hate you forever.”
This is the first moment where Marnie is not only a voice of reason, but she also seems to be a good friend. However, this moment is tainted when her next sentence comes out:
“Did you really think you and Adam were going to be a forever couple?”
THIS coming from the woman who’s in a relationship that started with her role as the mistress.
“I guess we’re not like some great, artistic love story,” says Hannah.
“Maybe we are,” says Marnie to her friend that she loves.
“Fine. I’ll take it.”
Hannah’s New (Temporary) Digs
On her way out of the apartment (finally), Hannah runs into Adam, who offers to help fix up her burned hand before she leaves. Hannah apologizes for her behavior yesterday. Adam tells her that he was sort of relieved when she left to pursue her dream.
“We tried this all different kinds of ways,” he says, of their not-working relationship. “I don’t know any other ways. Do you?”
During this scene, Lena Dunham is especially good, her tears genuine. And despite the idea of Adam hastily putting all of her shit into a storage unit feeling somewhat contrived for the series, this moment doesn’t feel that way.
“Thanks for stopping by, kid,” says Adam, as he leaves her at the door.
“Thank you for stopping by,” says Hannah. “But maybe don’t call me ‘kid’ anymore.”
Hannah leaves, with shots of her carrying her suitcase up the steps of the subway station. Then, there’s a wonderful shot of her traveling alone down a seafoam hallway toward her storage unit. She opens up the door to find all of her furniture. She moves some things around before laying down on her couch.
What did you think of “Sit-In”? Do you think this was out of Adam’s character to behave this way? Was Hannah too rash to quit her dream so quickly? Do you think Adam and Hannah can ever get back together?