Jo Bromilow | On 10, Mar 2015

Mistakes are the portals of discovery, according to James Joyce. His words are emblazoned across the wall of the classroom in which Hannah imparts her own brand of wisdom this week; those being more of the school of mistakes than of discovery. Across New York and across the generations – with Hannah’s parents making an appearance in this week’s episode – we see those mistakes play out and the tentative steps towards discovery that are made as a result.

We also see the potential that Mimi-Rose mentions in the talk Hannah listened to – that artist couples can’t help but stifle each other’s creativity. Marnie and Desi’s creative partnership has been full of conflict in recent episodes, while Hannah had to leave the state to get creative space from Adam. Is the relationship between her supportive, but ultimately competitive, academic parents an omen of things to come?

Well, it is pretty safe to say that the teacher thing is best left to those who can; Hannah isn’t really teacher material, especially given her outrageous bonding methods with her pupils. And after her failed date last week, perhaps mixing work and fun aren’t going to work out for her and Fran, meaning perhaps she might avoid the fate that seems to be in store for her parents.

So what does fate have in store? Her writing dream appears to have taken a semester off and Adam and Mimi-Rose are absent from this episode. With Mimi-Rose’s offer of helping Hannah win Adam back lingering in the air we’re keeping our fingers crossed for another final-episode-shirtless-subway-dash, one of the most touching scenes of the show as a whole.

Elsewhere, Shoshanna and Ray contemplate their past relationships and lost loves, and Shoshanna, like Hannah, comes face to face with what happens when your dream just doesn’t turn out the way you want it to. Thankfully, there appears to be a new face on the scene to cheer her up – that is, if she manages to handle it without heeding Jessa’s personal brand of romantic advice, which seems to be more inspired by the Pre-Raphaelite school of adoration than anything Cosmopolitan wrote. But since Jessa is our golden ticket to seeing more of Zachary Quinto’s hilarious Ace, we’ll let her off. What can we say? All this romantic happiness is making us feel warm and fuzzy inside. With one pretty good date (and a spoiler for the fifth season of The Good Wife into the bargain) and one… well we can’t say any more (but we’re excited) juxtaposed against the more mature troubles of Hannah’s parents’ generation, the final two episodes of Girls Season 4 look set to introduce a whole wave of drama. But it also looks like there could be a party on the horizon to take their minds off their troubles.

 

Girls Season 4 is on Sky Atlantic on Mondays at 10pm. Not got Sky? You can stream it live – or catch up on-demand on NOW, as part of £7.99 monthly subscription, no contract.

 

Photo: Craig Blankenhorn / Girls SM, under licence from Home Box Office, Inc.

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