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Worldly Distractions: Girls 3.7 - Beach House


crazyforkate

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blog-beachhouse.jpg 

beachhouse

So, Hannah's career, Marnie's life in general, Shoshana's romantic possibilities and Jessa's ability to relate to other humans are all in the toilet. How will our girls possibly get out of this? Sounds like a vacation is in order.

Previously on: Hannah takes a sell-out job, Shoshana goes on a journey of sex, Ray and Marnie love-hate each other, Hannah whines about being a sell-out and almost quits.

Cut to Marnie in a pretty countryside setting meticulously arranging flowers. I assume this is the titular beach house? She even places individualized place cards on all the beds, just like the Martha Stewart refugee that she is. She stands on the balcony, the wind blowing through her hair, while hoity-toity music plays. I think it might even be the same location as HIMYM's Farhampton Inn - or at least a good look-alike. Opening titles, and I've got to say, the show's been pretty saucy with these lately.

Hannah shows up with a ridiculous pajama-like outfit and some kind of sombrero. Shoshana twitters about the Hamptons, though Marnie snobbily informs her that this is North Fork - the Hamptons are tacky, dontcha know? Jessa has miraculously agreed to come along, and invited some weird people from the bus to hang out on a whim. The old people are gotten rid of, and the girls go home to fight over the rooms, ignoring Marnie's place cards like champions. Marnie sets them all straight. Things are still pretty awkward between Marnie and Hannh, though. Nothing that a romp in the pool can't clear up.

Eventually, they make it to the actual beach, where Hannah tears up her feet on the rocks and complains about everything, Jessa is weird and Marnie is determined to prove to everyone on Instagram that they're still good friends. Jessa offers to teach them some rehab communication games. Marnie keeps bitching about healing - only they have to heal on her schedule.

Hannah, put some damn pants on. Seriously, just because it's a beach town does not mean you have to bike around in a bikini. She gets her comeuppance when the stores won't let her in - they end up shopping by listening to Hannah's shouts through the door, though her requests are ignored in favor of Marnie's ridiculous lists.

Some guys walk by making fun of Hannah's attire, and it turns out Elijah's one of them. And seriously, is Andrew Rannells on every show this season? How I Met Your Mother, Modern Family, Girls...dude is riding high. Anyway, they try to cover it, but Hannah still knows they were laughing at her, and she's still pissed at Elijah for many reasons, so it's a tad tense. They make small talk, wind up apologizing to each other, and admit they still want to be friends. They share some Marnie complaints that include "mean, skinny Miss Hannigan". Hannah unwisely invites Elijah and his friends over. They hug it out.

The guys do wind up coming over, much to Marnie's rage. She flips out on Hannah, getting promoted over her to Most Unlikable Person On the Show in the process. Heaven forbid the boys interrupt their bonding for one evening. Seriously, who gets this involved in friend groups after high school? Marnie's mollified when Hannah tells her they're all theatre people. They all wind up having cocktails and enjoying themselves, except for Bitter Marnie, who hides in the kitchen with some vegetables. Elijah tries to talk to her, but she's still angry. He tells her all about his new boyfriend, with whom he thinks he's in love. However, a conversation between Hannah and the boyfriend a little later reveals that this relationship might not be as intense as Elijah thinks.

Marnie tells Elijah the story of her breakup with Charlie, which was super sudden and written to coincide with the actor's departure  devastated Marnie. Charlie is apparently now unsuccessful and alone. Elijah admits he's always thought Charlie was gay, which has presumably never occurred to Marnie before. They chat about Ray, which leads to a long discussion between Elijah and one of his friends about who's fucking who. Jessa gets Hannah to drink more by threatening relapse. Elijah's choreographer friend teaches them a hot new dance.

Hannah and Marnie manage to sneak away for some healing, where Marnie talks about her abandonment issues and Hannah talks about her need for space. They hash out some longstanding issues and generally work it out like old buddies.

By evening, everyone's drunk in the pool and I wonder who will drown first. Jessa's naked, of course. They're having a fantastic time, but Marnie ruins it by telling Hannah that it's dinnertime - for just the four of them. The boys get the boot. Marnie insists that they have to heal as a foursome, which sounds ridiculous. Hannah tells her so, then invites everyone to join them for dinner.

There's not enough food to go around, and everyone laughs at Marnie for not cooking enough while she looks like she swallowed a lemon (which, to be fair, is her usual look this season). She then hides in her room and refuses to join the after-dinner activities. Finally, she's coaxed out, and can this four-person dance do their damned healing already? Marnie insists they do it again, just to make it perfect, and criticizes everyone around her. This blows up into a huge argument. Shoshana, possibly stoned, calls Hannah out on her endless narcissism. She also tells Marnie she's ridiculously controlling. The issues all get thrown out, culminating in a rant that where she calls them all "nothings". Nice.

Hannah points out that they've really done nothing together in the past couple of years, and wonders what's connecting them. Marnie says they would have reconnected, had it not been for the ruined plans this weekend. (The guys, by the way, have all run off, sensibly so.) Shoshana says more mean things, leaving the girls to conclude that she's a mean drunk, and Hannah to add that she's stupid. Everyone is against her on that one. The arguments continue and get lower and lower. Some unforgivable things are said.

Meanwhile, Elijah and his boyfriend are arguing out their own issues. When he mentions he had advice from Hannah, the boyfriend disparages his old friend like nothing. The "ILY" phrase comes out. The boyfriend thinks they're moving too fast. Elijah backtracks fast. They forget about it - kinda - with sex.

The girls wake up in their separate rooms the next day, heading to the kitchen to clean up and make breakfast. Marnie silently joins them. No apologies yet. They go down to the dock and sit there in silence. However, soon they get into some sort of strange hand motion, and that's enough for now, I guess. End credits.

Yeah, this episode sounds really weird, and that's because it was. It was nice to see the four girls together again, and the return of Elijah. The ambiguous ending was quite interesting - maybe their friendship really will torpedo, like so many do post-college - and the argument was incredibly well-written. However, DAMMIT these people are unpleasant to be around. Maybe these girls can't be redeemed. Maybe that's the point of the show. Whatever happens, though, they'll continue to bounce around this weird, sad life - held together by the connections we force. How many people we know do just that?

 

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  • Posts

    • Xan

      Posted

      The egg apron is a deal breaker for me.  That was just an insult.  "You think you deserve a gift?  I'll show you your place!"

      And I'm a little bit tired of the social media scolds.  If they didn't put their lives on the internet, we wouldn't have opinions.  They did so we do.  If most of us think that he's a bully, he probably is.  I guess it's another case of the husband being so full of himself that he was sure the interview would show him in a good light.  It didn't.

      • Upvote 1
    • Xan

      Posted

      I always find these Trump fantasy worlds very bizarre.  He's never in a nice suit meeting a world leader or even in a fireman's suit saving a child from a burning building.  It's always some fake macho outfit and, in this case, driving a car with a Confederate flag on it.  Their heroes don't seem that heroic.

    • JDuggs

      Posted

      On 12/22/2023 at 11:51 PM, JDuggs said:

      It looks like Micah is in a relationship, or very good friends, with this Florida realtor Veronica Peters. I’ve seen photos of them together on Micah’s IG, but I always thought she kind of looked too old for him. Maybe not.

      This was on Moriah’s IG:

        Hide contents

      image.thumb.jpeg.e5583f82734714ccb023fc889e4f0f90.jpeg

      And this was on Veronica’s personal IG and professional IG:

        Hide contents

      image.thumb.jpeg.e637a588be2f14fc379935962e743f47.jpeg

        Hide contentsimage.thumb.png.bfaa9a4a2ac77388067acef5c5afb81c.png

       

      Quoting myself from six months ago. I think this really is Micah’s girlfriend. She doesn’t seem quite as public about their relationship as she did back then.

      This photo of Veronica didn’t get copied over from my old post.

      Spoiler

      image.thumb.jpeg.0ae44da117d43f1db49868c42924ea03.jpeg

       

      • Upvote 1
    • JermajestyDuggar

      Posted

      There was a post on social media talking about this recent interview with Ballerina Farm and asking what people think about some of the things in it. So many commenters were like, “it’s her business! It’s not your life so why do you care?” This is the type of thing that bugs me to no end. Ballerina Farm posts their lives willingly! They post their children’s lives! Of course people will speculate and care! If they didn’t put their lives all over social media none of us would know anything about them. 

      • Upvote 1
    • LongTimeLurkerOG

      Posted

      On 7/25/2024 at 6:47 PM, LilMissMetaphor said:

      Just FYI in case someone missed it the first time round, this is what Art wrote on Reddit a year ago addressing some of the concerns that were brought up.  It's very telling if you read between some of the lines.

      "I don’t lie or make fraudulent claims to get money. That’s what a grifter is. I’ve closed all previous fundraisers and not all of them were successfully funded – for instance my legal name change and wedding fund did not get funded, so I still haven’t had a chance to do those things.

      I’m unable to work for a variety of medically supported reasons. It’s not okay to ask disabled people for proof of their disability simply because it’s medical information. To entertain the question is to concede that it’s okay to go ask other disabled people for their private medical history. It’s a common misconception that people pretend to be disabled for benefits or monetary gain, but it’s rare and doesn’t really make sense to do because benefits and fundraising add up to so little.

      I have been going to Seattle to look at possible places to live because it’s literally unavoidable, and I’ve been in severe pain because of it. That doesn’t mean I could do manual labor on a consistent basis. I don’t even drive, so I’ve had to cover gas and ask friends for help with rides.

      Have you ever tried working at a call center? I have. They’re severely strict and demanding, and incredibly demoralizing without paying much. They’re not an accessible alternative for people who can’t do more demanding manual labor. “Get a job like the rest of us” is ableist and is a fundamental misunderstanding of how accessible jobs are. It’s no better than yelling it at someone panhandling on the street. The supposedly “easy” or “low-skill” jobs are still difficult to do.

      I do use what resources I can, but it’s a total myth that there’s a robust social welfare system anywhere in the United States. If there was, we wouldn’t have so many hundreds of thousands of homeless people here, with millions more just a few missed paychecks away from joining them.

      The toxic mold was confirmed. My partner is literally terminally ill from it. If you read the actual updates, the name of the illness and the research surrounding it have been detailed. We have a letter from the pulmonologist that we sent to the landlord explaining that the environment my partner was in was causing the illness. Again, you’re demanding medical proof that you have no reason to ask about. Some things can’t just be washed out.

      I am as clear as I can possibly be about specific needs so that people know what they’re helping to support. I have said again and again that people shouldn’t give unless they can spare it and want to help. I even said that in the post linked to in this comment thread. My patreon is explicitly to support my writing.

      So why am I still fundraising and making money off telling my story? Because I literally have no other real options. I’ve been formally diagnosed with PTSD, it’s not “alleged trauma.” If it was working all that well, I wouldn’t have to keep detailing my needs.

      The real grifters in our society are billionaires, not poor disabled people. You sound like you just hate us for trying to exist."

      I remember reading this before. Well, they can take all their reasons and Stop. Grifting. Plenty of people with disabilities work and /or receive assistance (as I mentioned previously, my exPOS, who has disabilities so I'm familiar with a number of options and money). Some family, have / had disabilities. I've been an advocate for services and staff training (and provided training) for Years with previous positions - because it matters to me. So, yea, Artemis get. a. job. 

      57 minutes ago, Ozlsn said:

      Art lists manual labour and call centres. And that's it. Not any jobs they could look at involving writing, from editing to writing student essays for money (yes it's dodgy but people do it). Not even playing video games for money (get character to a level where they have cool stuff for someone.)  Nothing about remote work, which there is more of now, and not even entry level white collar work.

      On the one hand I agree with them that the social support is inadequate, and that detailing your medical needs shouldn't have to happen - but they just grifted nearly $5000 to move and for a holiday, and with the amount of effort that took they probably could have held down employment of some description and to be honest would probably be better off.

      So many WFH/remote legit jobs now. Hell, you can play games on your phone and earn gift cards; donate blood and get gift cards. I knew a homeless couple that donated plasma for higher amount g.c.

      Absolutely! The amount of money; it's disgusting. And that amount of effort... At some point, even we don't want to or circumstances we don't want to deal with and adult, because... We're adults! Plenty of things I want to ignore or not deal with, just have go away but persevere because the alternative... not an option.

      2 hours ago, Bookworm1564 said:

      My all-time favourite Art post is the one where they say “Just for today, you can double the impact of your support with this opportunity” as if this was the moment we were all waiting for.

      Like a sale for limited-time-only 🤣



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