Girls, Episode 7: Welcome to Bushwick aka The Crackcident

Sunday's episode of "Girls" allowed the audience to go even deeper into the psyche of our neurotic and often hilarious protagonists. The episode was sprayed with themes that all our characters dealt with on one level or another. Although Hannah & Co. arrived at the warehouse party as a cohesive group (aside for Shoshana, who always seems like an outcast of sorts), they quickly fragmented into their own subplots within the vastly eclectic crowd.

As the characters break off into their own adventures so do their stories, albeit with common themes. Everyone gets hurt in this episode, some people dust themselves off and become better for it and some wallow in the misery of it.

Hannah finally sees Adam outside of his apartment and lo and behold he is wearing a shirt. This is the first appearance in seven episodes in which we see Adam in this capacity. Our perception of him is changing, and this is just the beginning. Hannah meets a friend of Adam's and learns that she doesn't know the main things about him which everyone who really knows him are aware of. Eventually Hannah and Adam do the same metaphorical (and literal) "awkward dance" they always do and try to make sense out of their mutual dysfunction. They head off to the junkyard to go "scrapping" for Adam's junk boat even after Hannah realizes she shouldn't go because she came with her friends to the party, and shouldn't leave without them, but predictably she gives in because it's what she wants to do.

Marnie is caught in a tough situation when she goes over to Charlie to say hello and finds that Charlie has found another girl. What starts out as a mature exchange between them turns into an awkward and loud discussion, culminating in Marnie calling Charlie a sociopath for not even waiting two weeks to find another girl to date. Marnie continues to reel all night at this revelation, "kidnapping" strangers into a soliloquy about how she should be hard to get over, and even finding Elijah, Hannah's gay ex from college to confide in. The conversation with Marnie and Elijah ends with Marnie being slapped by him for making rude comments, Marnie finally has enough of Bushwick.

Jessa is her typical self when it comes to wreaking havoc without even trying too hard. Everything she does seems effortless. She begins the evening texting a mystery man to come and join the party. After agreeing to be Shoshana's "crack spirit guide" she realizes the mystery man is Jeff, the father of the girls she babysits for, and promptly leaves Ray responsible for Shoshana during her time of need. Unfortunately for Ray, Shoshana takes off running through the streets of Brooklyn and a chase ensues. Meanwhile Jessa hilariously insults two "crusty punks" only to have them reappear later to beat up Jeff. While being treated in the hospital Jessa realizes the fragile state Jeff is in and what she has put him through. She tries to remain amicable, obviously feeling badly, while Jeff wants nothing to do with her anymore and takes off.

Eventually Ray catches up with Shoshana, only to be beaten up thanks to her self-defense skills and the courage she has from smoking crack. She feels badly about beating Ray up and offers a truce by giving him a massage. In true Shoshana fashion she makes an awkward event even weirder without even trying.

At the end of the episode, Hannah realizes that she is as much to blame for not having a real relationship with Adam as he is. Adam has the same needs and wants that she does, to be appreciated and noticed, but unfortunately for him Hannah has not taken the time to get to know him either, often concentrating on herself and her own frustrations. With this realization at hand Hannah seems to make a silent vow to herself to commit to getting to know Adam in a real way. In this convoluted fashion they begin their "official" relationship.

Hannah's party experience started out with her asking Marnie to stay with her, Jessa elected to be Shoshana's "crack spirit guide", and Ray reluctantly agreed to be Shoshana's "crack spirit guide" in Jessa's absence. All these pleas for companionship were reneged upon either by the one who needed company or the one who agreed to it. This narrative itself of abandonment is essential to our characters because they are all so self consumed that they cannot concentrate on others unless there is something in it for themselves.

Within the episode, Hannah, Marnie, Jeff and Ray are all hurt in different ways but it all stems from self involvement and the fact that they are all looking after their own interests. Hannah and Ray feel the satisfaction of getting up and addressing their wounds maturely but Marnie and Jeff are stuck in their own frustrations of what they want but can't have (for Marnie it's the upper hand on Charlie, and for Jeff it's a relationship with Jessa).

In the end all these characters are going to have to come to terms with who they are, not only individually but in relation to others. With so much self seeking, people are bound to be hurt and disappointed but it's those who pick themselves up and are willing to make an effort to be selfless that enable them to get the results they are after.