#adam/hannah

[arabian-bloodstream]

Shoulda ended with Adam/Hannah

My final summation could be completely wrong, total bs. I admit that freely. I am a huge Adam Driver fan, but I didn't plan on watching Girls because I dislike Lena Dunham *that* much, however my adoration and lust for him grew too strong that I couldn't resist. I wound up bingeing the show in a week. Unsurprisingly, I loved Adam Sackler. Very surprisingly, I loved Dunham's character, Hannah, and I loved Hannah/Adam as a couple. I can't say I "enjoyed" watching the ups and downs so much because I wasn't horribly fond of Jessa, but as the final season drew to a close, based on the narrative, I expected some sort of conclusion that promised some kind of path towards Hannah and Adam.

That such didn't happen was very disappointing because that narrative was so there not only throughout the series, but yeah, in that final season quite pronounced. In that final episode, I understood why all four of the girls weren't there because they had grown apart and it was Hannah's journey, but three people accepted/loved and/or grew to love Hannah from the first episode (Hannah herself, Marnie and Adam). Those three should have been there at the end. 

As I wrote above, I was not expecting a happily-ever-after. Girls was not that kind of show, but I really do think that Adam should have been there. And it would have made perfect sense because Adam always came back and the narrative was there ALL SEASON LONG. During the final season several things happened that made an inevitable reunion of sorts between Adam and Hannah, as well as the dissolution of Adam and Jessa. It simply made narrative sense. Including what happened between Adam and Hannah the few episodes prior that did NOT provide closure of any kind. Sorry, not sorry, but it did not. Let's make a list, shall we?

1. We found out that it was Jessa who had pushed Adam towards Mimi Rose while Hannah was away. This A) presented Jessa in a not very good light in that it showed her not respecting Hannah as a friend, and B) not respecting Adam as a person, and C) not respecting Hannah and Adam's relationship.

*That* is likely why Jessa had no problem setting up Adam with Mimi Rose, or getting with him after he'd dated one of her supposed best friends. She clearly never thought that he and Hannah were anything more than fuck buddies who hung out and watched stupid movies occasionally and ate junk food. Jessa had no clue that Adam and Hannah were *actually* in love. Like deeply, truly IN LOVE. That they shared like in depth, down deep stuff together, were there for one another, encouraged one another, became better people with one another and for one another. She had no fucking clue.

2. And that is what we found out in the final season: That Jessa was entirely ignorant as to the depth of Adam and Hannah's relationship. While Adam was filming scenes during his film about said relationship with Hannah we saw twice that Jessa had no idea as to what had actually gone on during that relationship. The first was during the spanking/sex scene. After it was over, Jessa suggested that Adam wasn't playing it right, thinking he should be playing it annoyed with 'Hannah' and not quite enjoying the sexual antics, while Adam blithely assured her that it was totally cool and that it was as he remembered it. 

Later, during a scene when Adam was with 'Hannah' while she was recovering from her OCD and Adam was comforting her during some major insecurities about his love for her, Jessa had quite the issue with that. She didn't understand why this film was playing out like some great Adam/Hannah love story since according to Jessa all Adam and Hannah supposedly did was, yeah, watch stupid movies and eat junk food on the couch. 

What was also interesting--and again, the show made a clear point of this twice--was that Adam did not get or care what Jessa was saying. Adam didn't get that Jessa was upset or why she was upset. He didn't get or care that Jessa was bothered that he was making an ode to his love story with Hannah and that the film wasn't in any way about his supposed love story with Jessa. Nor did he seem to get that Jessa didn't understand his relationship with Hannah, nor did he get that she was bothered that he had remembered having that kind of relationship with her. This showed a complete lack of communication and understanding between Adam and Jessa, not just about Adam and Hannah, but about his film, thus his craft… and the only things that we were shown *ever* that Adam truly cared about were Hannah and his craft. And Adam didn't care that Jessa was clueless about both.

3. Adam needed, desperately needed, Hannah to watch his movie. He said it was about closure. But was it really? They were over and had been over for quite some time. So it wasn't that; it was just Adam once again needing Hannah. Full-stop. Period. Like always. Because Hannah and Adam always go back to one another. And that was clear when Hannah watched the movie. And the moments that Adam chose to write, and film. "Bed's getting cold." His look of love and longing into the camera… to a departing Hannah. And Adam wanted… NEEDED Hannah to watch this. And Hannah was indeed watching and this is how the episode ended, leaving that final impression not only on Hannah, but on the audience as well. And *that* was the impression left *for* the audience in the show too: Adam was looking into the camera, i.e., looking at the person watching him and who was watching him? Hannah. The real Hannah. Just as Adam had begged her to and Adam was telling Hannah in so many words, You are gone and I miss you. That is why Adam needed Hannah to watch his film. He needed her to know that.

4. When Adam and Hannah briefly got back together for one day, he told her when discussing him and Jessa that the two of them would have flamed out in about four months anyway. Where were we at series end? Oh, about four months from that point.

5. Adam and Hannah spent literally ONE DAY trying to get back together. ONE DAY in which they dealt with exactly ZERO of their issues…

Not the fact that Hannah couldn't handle no longer being the only thing that Adam cared about anymore.

Not the fact that Adam moved out on Hannah to practice his craft instead of dealing with Hannah's insecurities.

Not the fact that Hannah left Adam to go to another state to study her writing despite his emotional issues and inability to handle such a thing.

Not the fact that Adam began dating someone else without telling Hannah and moved her into Hannah's apartment.

Not the fact that Adam dated one of her best "friends."

Without trying to deal with any of these they couldn't truly even begin to enjoy the positives of why they were together again, the growth they'd both experienced. Because they KEEP COMING BACK TO ONE ANOTHER through the years, because they completely get one another. Because, no matter what, they have each other's backs. Because they love one another, are in love one another, sure, they fall out of love, but yet, they keep falling back in love with one another. 

6. Jessa and Adam worked better as friends. When featured in a romantic or sexual situation, they were not good. Their first sexual encounter was plain bad. They had rampaging, horrible, violent, sexually-tinged fights. They were only presented two times romantically in a good light and neither were *for* Adam and Jessa as a couple. The first was when meeting Jessa's sister; that was all about Jessa's character, revealing a bit of her history, telling us who and why she was. The other was during Adam's play (with Jessa watching from across the apartment) and that was all about Hannah figuring out that Jessa and Adam were fucking. OK, to be fair, there was one romantic interlude that was about them. The day they went to the fair, but they were still friends who were teetering on the edge of becoming lovers... and Adam was the ex of one of Jessa’s best friends, which, again, *is* problematic! 

Other than that we saw Jessa and Adam as friends who fucked or as combatants who fucked. That was pretty much it. There was no actual love story there. Jessa and Adam didn't have any semblance of an actual romantic love story. No, neither were the main character, but we saw more of that kind of romance for Jessa and her husband (their wedding really was beautiful, Adam was right), and Marnie, and Shoshana with various guys they were involved with than we ever did with Jessa and Adam–one of the main four "Girls" and arguably the main "guy" of the series. Yes, yes, they were more "popular" than this couple or that couple, but honestly, can we not say that a potentially big part of that isn't because of Adam Driver/Sackler's popularity and Lena Dunham/Hannah's lack thereof and the desire to see one without the other?

So what changed? I don't know. Because the narrative was freaking THERE! It. Was. There! Maybe Adam Driver wasn't available at all for the final episode. Maybe Lena Dunham really is as petty as she's come across time and time again and Adam Driver's success made her decide, 'Fuck it! He has all this success now, I'm not giving him the girl too in *my* show!' Maybe I’m just thinking it’s that because I'm still pissed off by her calling him out in that speech she gave at SXSW in 2014 because she missed a fairly important detail, I feel.

"People are ready to see Adam play a million different guys in one year – from lotharios to villains to nerds. Meanwhile Allison Williams, Jemima Kirke and Zosia Mamet are still waiting for parts they can get interested in." 

That quote would have a lot more girl-power and feel less like an attack on Adam Driver and 'Wah! Why does Hollywood keep casting HIM?!!' if she hadn't had another male series regular in her cast (Alex Karpovsky, Ray) at the time and another who was recurring (Andrew Rannells, Elijah), but currently or just about to begin filming the next season in which he too would be *another* male series regular in her cast. So... three male series regulars in her cast opposed to four female series regulars and she mentioned (aside from herself) only the other three female regulars which makes it a fair ratio and only one of the male series regulars was getting roles.

However, that one actor out of three getting roles is an attack on feminism because the three females on her show are not? What about the two other males who weren't getting roles? Were they chopped liver? No, Lena, Adam Driver was/is just THAT FUCKING GOOD. Remember, his role was supposed to just be the "handsome carpenter" in the Pilot episode, but he was THAT FUCKING GOOD to you too that you wound up expanding his role to that of essentially the show's male lead… *that* is why "people are ready to see Adam play a million different guys in one year." Pfft!

Of course (see disclaimer at the top of the post), I could be wrong. Dunham could have just decided that a miserable Hannah, unable to breast-feed her child, alone with only Marnie--triumphant as THE ultimate best friend--was the way to go while Adam was stuck in a problematic relationship with Jessa, despite all narrative signs pointing to an eventual reunion of some sorts with Hannah. I don't know.

Whatever.

As far as I'm concerned the series didn't end where it did. I tack on an additional 30 seconds. Cut to that final scene of Hannah trying to breastfeed Grover and she hears a noise. She looks up and there's Adam walking towards her. She has a WTF? look on her face. He stops, says 'Hey, Kid.' There's one final shot of Hannah, and this time there's a slight smile on her face, slightly confused, slightly hopeful. End scene. End series. Boom. That's my ending.

[wyomingnot]

I’m open to names for this. Most of the time, I just name vids after the song, but this one just doesn’t work for me (Krafty by New Order). 

I was going to abandon Five Years Time and do this song instead, but I was too attached to that one, so I did this. Yeah, mostly the same clips, shuffled around a littlle. Hopefully feels a little different.

.... edited to add that I eventually came up with a title. :)

[kimkimberhelen]

It’s also too bad that Adam Sackler has basically been reduced to a prop these past couple of seasons. He really should have been written off the show after season 4.

[wyomingnot]

Posting even though I’m not sure of the watchability. 

I had the idea for this before the last season even aired. I started actually working on it shortly before the series ended.

This pairing is so totally not my usual thing - het *and* canon (at least for some of the series). But I just. *sigh*