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‘Girls’ Series Finale Recap: Here’s Everything That Happened as Hannah Moved Forward

Girlhood is over! The series finale of HBO’s Girls aired on Sunday, April 16, as Hannah (Lena Dunham) dealt with a new set of obstacles following her swift move to upstate New York.

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The Hannah and Marnie Show

Picking up briefly from where the penultimate episode left off, Girls‘ finale focused entirely on the dynamic between Hannah, Marnie (Allison Williams) and Hannah’s mother, Loreen (Becky Ann Baker). The episode opened with Marnie snuggling up to Hannah, providing a callback to the pilot, which showed the two cuddling. But the finale’s version carried a much different tone, with Hannah saying, “Marnie, what the f–k?! When did you get here?”

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Marnie responded, “You’re about to go through an incredibly intense, emotional, tough, miraculous transition, and I would like to be here to help and support.” And so began the Marnie and Hannah show.

Welcome Home, Baby Grover

The finale flashed forward five months, and Grover — Hannah’s baby with one-night-stand Paul-Louis — had entered the world and was causing his mom a fair amount of stress. The basic plot of the episode: Grover refused to latch onto Hannah and breastfeed. 

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After an unhelpful doctor’s appointment, Hannah lamented, “What if there’s a student I want to f–k?” Hannah’s frustration with Grover’s lack of interest in breastfeeding led her to yell at Marnie to stop singing Tracy Chapman’s “Fast Car” on their drive home. Marnie responded, “You yelled at me for loving music.” 

The Oddest Couple

Both Hannah and Marnie were equally frustrated with the other, but they each refused to say so and instead passive-aggressively — or just plain aggressively — made pointed comments at one another, whether it was about Hannah’s inability to properly swaddle Grover or make an “envelope with her nipple,” or Marnie’s desire to attend a jazz night at a wine bar and eat local cheeses. One of the best lines of the episode was Hannah’s retort to Marnie’s jazz-night idea: “A live jazz trio? Marnie, that’s the most disgusting thing I’ve ever heard.”

Later, Marnie proceeded to take awkward underwear selfies in the bathroom to Beyonce‘s “Partition,” and Hannah tearfully semi-abandoned Grover. “The guy in the Shop Rite is more interested in my boobs,” Hannah said of her newborn. “He hates me — I can’t do anything.” And that apparently led Marnie to call Loreen for backup.

Lena Dunham in series finale of Girls.

Mommy’s Home

Loreen arrived and promptly scolded Hannah for still being asleep after Grover had been awake for an hour. Hannah then took her anger out on Marnie after Marnie said Hannah wasn’t being mature. “It’s not matching up to what you imagined, like a Lauren Ashley catalogue or like a fun, zany sitcom starring Brittany Snow and the rest of Pitch Perfect, just carrying a cute little baby. I’m sorry we didn’t make any jam,” Hannah told Marnie. “You’re doing a bad job, so check that out!”

Loreen scolded Hannah, telling her this is the one decision she can’t run from, which pushed Hannah to hit her mom where it hurts: Hannah blamed her current situation on her parents’ dysfunctional marriage before storming out of the house.

Girls then offered one final, awkward sexual encounter for Marnie: She was video-chatting and exploring a pilot fantasy with a random man using a phony British voice. Loreen walked in, later asking Marnie about her “beating off.” Loreen then wanted to chat with Marnie about Hannah. “Has it ever occurred to you that the best thing for your friendship is to be happy, too?” Loreen asked Marnie.

Teenage Runaway

Upon encountering a teenage runaway who was without pants or shoes, Hannah disrobed and offered up her clothing, only to angrily ask for it back upon learning that the teen ran away after her mother told her to do her homework. Hannah was clearly starting to realize that motherhood is difficult but worthwhile. Then a cop weirdly followed a pants-less Hannah to her home.

Hannah returned to find Marnie and Loreen smoking and swigging red wine on the front porch. Hannah brushed off any question of why she was lacking shoes and pants, and as if on cue, Grover started crying. Hannah headed in to tend to him, and the lights went down as Hannah finally breastfed her son.

Tell Us: What did you think of the Girls finale?

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