‘Girls’: Hannah Is Going To Be A Terrible Mother
Last week’s revelation on Girls that Lena Dunham’s Hannah Horvath is pregnant felt like an almost-typical final-season surprise: Of course Dunham could bless her character with child now — whether she sees the pregnancy through or terminates it, there are now only five episodes left of the 10-episode final season, so following through on the repercussions of either decision will be brief, right?
But as Sunday night’s episode, titled “Gummies,” proved, Dunham is nothing if not thorough in exploring even the most uncomfortable — make that especially interested in exploring the uncomfortable — issues surrounding this character and this pregnancy. Early in the episode, we see Hannah making a list of “Reasons It’s Insane To Have a Baby.” On the list: “I am only 27” and “I act even younger than that.” Those were the two that jumped out at me (trust me, Hannah, being “not good at sports” does not prevent you from parenting enthusiastically), and Hannah is nothing if not self-aware. Not that it does her much good — she’s still extravagantly, sometimes destructively, self-absorbed.
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Being 27 isn’t particularly young to have a baby; 27 is only an “only 27” when what you’re really saying is, “I’m scared and clinging to my already-delayed-adolescence.” And for sure, the way Hannah “act[s] even younger than that” is the way she allows her spontaneous emotions to override her deeper instincts, often as a kind of feminist principle. The opening shot of the half-hour showed Hannah balancing a lentil bean on the tip of her finger — the internet told her that this was the size of her six-week-old fetus — as a suggestion that she’s still weighing the keeping-versus-ending the pregnancy question. Soon Hannah is saying to her visiting mother, Loreen (Becky Ann Baker in a terrific, lengthier-than-usual appearance), that she’s going to keep the baby, and that’s not really a spoiler, since Hannah is well known to change her mind in a flash.
There were other subplots this week — Ray dealing with last week’s death of his pal Hermie, and Adam and Jessa are already up and running in the filming of that autobiographical movie that they hatched only last week. But really, everything significant revolved around Hannah. Mom Loreen brought a baggie of marijuana-laced gummy bears with her on her visit; gobbled down a few too many; confided that when she thinks of being a grandparent, she thinks of death; and then disappeared into the wilds of Manhattan, leading to a long-ish, funny-ish search-party scene with Hannah and Andrew Rannells’ Elijah.
And it was an exchange Hannah had with Elijah that provided the essence of this episode. He heard of the pregnancy for the first time and was appalled that his friend was thinking of keeping the baby. He said he thought this was an awful idea, “like cutting your own hair, or cyber-bullying that girl you met in Barnes & Noble.” Hannah tried to defend herself, noting that she “could be a really cool mother, like Lorelai Gilmore.”
Then Elijah laid in on the line. He said no one else was going to say this to her face, so he would: “You’re going to be a terrible mother.” Based on everything we know about his character, it’s true, isn’t it? I would worry about that baby when it comes into the world — worry that Hannah, given her previous whims and utterly unfounded sense of certainty and distraction, will misplace the baby in some hipster noodle shop, worry that she’ll decide the kid should watch her have sex or take peyote as some sort of progressive educational experience, worry that she’ll do what her own mother did this week and get so high she orders too much food and then barfs on the table. If the final season of Girls is about growing up and moving on (and mind you, I’m not sure it is — Dunham loves to throw curve balls), Hannah-as-budding-mom will leave at least one viewer thoroughly unnerved.
Girls airs Sunday nights at 10 p.m. on HBO.
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