Well, we’re finally here: the season finale. A lot happened this season—much of it unexpected, which, I think, is a good thing. Fran and Hannah entered (and exited) a tumultuous relationship. Shoshanna chose her career over a boyfriend and still wound up unhappy for a while. Marnie got married and immediately embarked on divorce. Jessa tested her friendship with Hannah to be with Adam to become one of the most endearing yet self-destructive relationships I’ve ever seen on television.
Season Five had a tall order to live up to—to still be that classic Girls we fell in love with years ago while still managing to grow with its audience. It could have been stilted or boring, but the season was gripping, realistic, and highly relatable. It hit just that right amount of growing pains without making you second guess all of your life choices.
1. Without fail, that guy that’s won your approval for your best friend’s heart will be one of her shorter relationships.
Hannah and Fran have called it quits. While Hannah broke up with him last episode, we opened this week on her gathering up his things and getting him to finally leave. Hannah calls Fran judgmental and passive aggressive. He calls Hannah irrational and immature. The problem is they are both right and they are opposites in that opposites don’t attract kind of way.
2. The people you love will inevitably grow up and evolve.
I don’t know that I would have pegged Shoshanna to be the more successful, most emotionally stable one of the group. There was a while post-Ray that we all worried about her. But in fact, this new version of Shoshanna is totally commanding and direct and confident. Her marketing aptitude even helps Ray with his disappearing coffee business. Still, we’re beginning to see everyone carve out their own niche. Marnie has her music. Hannah, while still a bit lost, is beginning to see her path and follow it a little less recklessly than she has in the past.
3. Of course everything I predicted would happen is wrong.
Just as I should always suspect, my thought that Fran might be the one to help Hannah be more thoughtful was instantly proved wrong. I’m always wrong. It’s nice when a show can still keep you guessing but in a really grounded way. That Hannah had found her calling as a teacher? I was kind of wrong. She has her own teaching philosophy, which is always the sign of a promising teacher, but she lacks of sense of how to act professionally in one of the more jobs where it’s absolutely vital to act professionally at. And then, of course, she quits. Even predictions I made seasons ago are still proving wrong. You know, like Marnie and Ray being a thing again.
4. Marnie, we all over-analyze our dreams.
Sex dreams are the worst of all—especially if they involve Ray. But Marnie wasn’t the only one trying to follow the signs and signals form the universe. It caused Hannah to steal a bike outside a hotdog joint.
5. Getting older doesn’t make putting yourself out there any easier.
Remember when Hannah’s old professor invited her to a reading—her first since graduating—and she second guessed what to read and basically bombed? Well her second attempt at a public reading went a lot better. It seems like she’s really found her voice as a storyteller. Even though her story was solid, as she was walking up to the podium after her name was called, she was nervous of bombing. When I was younger, I thought I’d get in my twenties and I would be able to address a crowd of people without fear that I’d nerve-sweat through my shirt, but that was another wrong prediction of mine.
Oddly enough, it wasn’t until I saw her standing up on that stage at the Moth Story Slam that I remembered she wants to be a writer, or did at least. Her writing used to be such a key part of the show, of her character. It’s funny now to look back on the season and realize I didn’t even notice it was missing. Though, it’s telling how when she let go of her writing, she hit her lowest point. Writing stabilized her.
6. Sometimes you just can’t stay in places where your attire just doesn’t fly.
After breaking up with Fran, Hannah returns to her classroom to retrieve her belongings. Her boss finds her and she tells him that she won’t be returning. He wishes her well and hopes she finds what it is she’s looking for. But I don’t buy that her boss would be sad for losing Hannah. Let’s be honest, she would be a fucking nightmare of an employee. Though she did apologize for flashing him, which is a pretty adult move.
7. When you’re at your lowest point, you will inevitably run into those you’re most jealous of.
Tally, get out of here. No wants to be happy for you and your new book. Please just go away.
8. The person you want to hang out with the least always has the advice you most need to hear.
Of course Tally gives Hannah a new lease on her writing life and gives her the validation she craves when it comes to her jealousy and anger towards Mimi-Rose Howard. Don’t we all wish a one-on-one with the person who drives us to the point of crazy due to jealousy would go as well as the over-share fest that happened with Tally Schifrin and Hannah?
9. This is what you think you look like when you’re running:
But really, it’s more like this:
While the beginning of the season started with a lot of new changes already in progress—dropping us into Marnier’s wedding, Hannah and Fran fully on, and Shoshanna already settled into Japan—the season ended with preparation as Marnie gears up for her clearly doomed tour with Desi to promote their single, and Hannah embarks on a new chapter of her life, a real clean slate.
It’s been confirmed that season six will be Girls last season. It’ll be interesting to see where they all land next season. There weren’t any real cliffhangers, but there’s still a lot of ground to cover for the ending to feel truly satisfying. Many of them are starting over—again.
