What we thought about the Girls of HBO in episode 3. Words by Kate Brown

In last week’s post, we talked about how Girls is full of questions, but not so full of answers. This week’s episode, titled “All Adventurous Women Do,” leaves us still feeling blank, kind of like a mad lib. All adventurous women do…what, exactly? Apparently, they go to their pseudo-boyfriends apartments and get the fat on their bellies groped and gathered. In this episode, Adam, who doesn’t take his relationship with Hannah seriously, also finds her body a joke. “I think it’s funny,” he tells her as he makes animal sounds squeezing her stomach like it’s a juice box.

Meanwhile, Hannah gets the call. She has an STD–HPV. Now, had she taken the time to Google this one (like she did last week when she looked up “the stuff that gets up around the sides” of condoms), she’d know what most of us know: it’s one of the more common STDs and men can’t get tested for it. But she doesn’t do that. Instead she believes Adam about getting tested, and his claim that he doesn’t “have that shit.” And instead, Hannah is sure it’s her college ex who gave it to her. According to Shoshanna, (who heard it from Jessa) it’s okay to have HPV–even several strains of it–because “all adventurous women do.”

Hannah gets in touch with her ex, Elijah, to confront him about giving it her HPV and instead finds out that he’s gay. After dropping the bomb, Elijah goes on to give Hannah a series of reality checks: her dad is probably gay, she is choosing to be blind about her life, and that Adam definitely lied to her. It looks like some adventurous women get the cold, hard truth from their now-gay ex-boyfriends (the ones you thought were still in love with you this whole time). “This exploration was very much inspired by you,” Elijah reassures Hannah.

Jessa who, as we found out last week, is not with-child, ironically gets a job babysitting. Her reality check comes in the form of a four year-old, who tells her she won’t become homeless, because “you make choices to get there.” In a display of how un-ready this 20-something would have been for child rearing, Jessa takes on her first day of eating stringed cheese out of someone else’s fridge, and trying (barely) to entertain the kids. She passes out on the couch, and wakes up to “Dad,” who offers to smoke a joint with her. Sexual tension ensues.

And what else do adventurous women do? Well, they get all hot and bothered by successful arrogant artists. Marnie gets carried away flirting with Jonathan (aforementioned successful/arrogant artist) at an opening. So bothered Marnie practically runs to the gallery bathroom to masturbate. Between awkward sexual encounters with Marnie and Charlie and the horrible sex between Adam and Hannah, this bathroom moment comes with hope that these girls might be on the verge of figuring out what they really want.

The final scene of the episode is one anyone with a Twitter account can relate to–so basically our entire generation. After a bad date with a now gay-ex, Hannah opens her computer to talk about her feelings in 140 characters or less. “You lose some, you lose some,” she starts to tweet. Then backspaces. “My life has been a lie, my ex boyfriend dates a guy.” She tries again. “All adventurous women do.” It’s a perfectly current moment. Sharing your feelings with the internet versus calling a friend, but being sure to self-edit for maximum effect first.

Like this moment, the show itself could almost be compared to an overactive Twitter account. It talks about everything, is overwhelming at times and usually has some quick punchy jokes. Even just the screen grab of Hannah’s Twitter page overwhelmingly addresses a bunch of issues. 8 hours before, Hannah had tweeted that she “just poured water on some perfectly good bread to stop myself from eating it. ate it anyway. BECAUSE I AM AN ANIMAL.” Did she tweet this after Adam was making roaring jungle sounds while squeezing her belly fat? Does she realize how self-deprecating that is? Should she be writing this shit online? Does it bother her that she has 26 followers, while following 902 others? Girls is fast paced–like our internet generation–but if you pay close enough attention, these are the kinds of things that “get up around the sides.”