Welcome To Our Girls Season 3 Recap

There is a moment when Jessa walks into Laura's room (played by Danielle Brooks, a.k.a Taystee from OITNB) that it becomes immediately clear that Jessa is going to seduce the closeted lesbian. Because that is just what Jessa does. She does free-spirited, devil-may-care things, which is how she has landed in rehab in the first place. But, so far, that's been her only note: Jessa is the modern manic pixie with all the flightiness and failings — except that she's too effed up to just be some guy's fantasy.

But, at least now we know where Jemima Kirke's character has been this whole time — not intentionally or willfully dodging Hannah's ear-poking mania, but going off to better herself and trying to get it together. It seems like that is what all of the Girls are doing this season — bettering themselves and trying to get it together.

Despite initial appearances, all is not kosher in Greenpoint (except for maybe Hannah's kidney stone-infected Puerto Rican-Jewish man). Hannah wakes up in bliss with Adam. She cheerfully takes her medication (and then Adam climbs into her mouth to make sure that it was actually swallowed). And then, when he surprises her at work, she greets him with an enthusiastic and doting kiss that comes along with a slightly annoying baby voice. Here are all the trappings of a happy couple, except, lo, across the way is Natalia, calling out to Adam. Though he pretends to not see her, Natalia is with an irritatingly loyal friend who drags her over. (I can imagine the phone call now. Lena rings Amy Schumer and is like, "Hey Amy! Do you want to come on my show and literally play yourself? You can just come around and hang out, and I'll film you just dropping F-bombs like usual, easy peasy." And, Amy is all, "F*ck yeah, can I say 'd*ck' a lot?") So, Amy Schumer, a "feisty shiksa," has one of the best — and also unnecessarily expository — takedowns in recent memory, calling out Adam for his perverse treatment of her friend.

To his credit, Adam handles it decently — until the "H"-word is mentioned. Once Natalia sees that the reason Adam not-so-metaphorically humped-and-dumped her is because he is back with his ex, she lets loose with a flurry of descriptive expletives. In fact, it is as if Lena Dunham was hoping to hit some sort of ejaculate-referencing quota in this episode, and lord, did she fill it. After dooming Hannah and Adam to a life of baby killing, the two girls leave, without even paying the check. Zing.

Cue Marnie, who is living at home and more than willing to give us an obvious narrative explanation for why Christopher Abbott has so suddenly left the show. Charlie has dumped Marnie, dumped her for good, and now she is back with her mom, a sick-of-Marnie's-crap Rita Wilson. (Anyone else think that women as put together as Marnie and her mom would maybe have slightly better bedding options than Rainbow Brite? Maybe?) At least we know that Marnie now has a job where she is respected! Oh, wait, she just works for Ray.

There are two interesting things about Jessa's appearance in rehab: The first is the authenticity of her reaction to being in rehab, from her perpetual eye rolling to the wounds she touts as badges to her assertion that she "figured her sh*t out" when she was five. The second, however, was her fellow rehabbers' lack of authenticity. The whole scene felt more like a schtick, and when Danielle Brooks admits to blaming other people for her desire to huff paint, it's hard not to snigger a little bit, which is kind of a shame. Each of the two-dimensional portrayals of the people around her — from touchy-feely counselors to overly sensitive patients — felt more like funny rehab clichés than, say, people going through treatment for serious substance-abuse issues. (Although, LOL at Sonic Youth's Kim Gordon playing a woman who "thinks about wearing scrunchies.")

Yet, what is really amazing is that Jessa can't even deal with this type of easily manipulated pandering for 60 days, the exact amount of time required for her grandmother to start paying for her life again. The reason she can't is not because she wants to use, but because she really just always has to be right. (Side note: Her discussion with Doctor Who's Richard E. Grant is particularly affecting when he points out that Jessa has a hard time differentiating when honesty is righteous and when it's a parlor trick. Thomas-John might agree.)

If we could have the rest of the series just be Shoshanna talking aimlessly while the camera pans out on Adam's grimacing face, it would be an absolute success. The comedic foil of the show was sadly missing this episode (though we are to understand that she is having a lot of meaningless sex, albeit in alternation with meaningful study), but it seems like she has embraced her darker, hoodie-wearing side. Just when Adam and Hannah's ill-fated dinner party is about to take a turn for the truly terrible — with Hannah hopelessly offering up chips and Marnie sobbing — Adam decides to tell a story about a time he was dumped by a girl he was in love with, consoling Marnie (and also hitting Dunham's ejaculation-talk quota, apparently.) Cheers to Allison Williams for delicately puking up a depression taco, too.

Readers, I don't want to blow any minds here, but perhaps Jessa's unbending decision to "call it like she sees it" is a way for her to hide her own vulnerability behind a tough and uncaring veneer. What do we think? Is that perhaps what the tinkling, emotive piano music underscoring her storming out of rehab is telling us? We will have to wait until next episode, which inevitably will have Hannah heading out to save her. On a similar note, thank goodness Adam asked for a nice hiatus between friend meetings. Definitely couldn't see him getting stuck in a car for six hours with, say, Shoshanna. Whoops.

Luckily we've got another episode coming up, so get ready for more bouts of Marnie crying and Jessa wearing flowy skirts while tossing her hair about effortlessly. Read our recap here.