It’s miraculous what a good script can do. After "Ask Me My Name", last week’s wishy-washy episode of Lena Dunham’s Girls where characters either failed to progress or grew in all the wrong directions, this week’s “Tad & Loreen & Avi & Shanaz” is refreshing in how old school it feels.
Filled with vibrancy and a natural wit, “Tad & Loreen & Avi and Shanaz,” written by Dunham and Jenni Konner, revives the spirit of the old, classic episodes. Like I said last week, to have a firm opinion on Girls is a fool’s errand. Just when you want to give up on the HBO show for a lack of honesty and originality, here comes an installment like this which, while a tad forceful in some manners in which it develops the plot (no pun intended), has the urgency yet attention to character which was so vital in the first season.
Tad (Peter Scolari) and Loreen (Becky Ann Baker), a.k.a. Hannah’s (Dunham) parents, walk out of their marriage counselor appointment only for the former to drop the bombshell: he’s gay. Naturally, Loreen refuses to believe it. After all, they’ve been together for how many years already and share a 20-something-year-old daughter. She assumes this is Tad jealous of her recent tenor position. But Tad doesn’t back down, and as the tensions sweep in, so too does the drama.
While this is just a mere portion of the episode, this mature, more grounded character look is something Girls has need desperately, especially after last week’s rough patch. While having Tad go in this 180-direction may seem like a Hail Mary pass towards crafting plot-driving drama, at the very least it creates deeply felt emotions and supremely gifted work from two mature actors many considered past their prime.
It’s deeply felt, and when it comes time for guest stars Fred Melamed and Jackie Hoffman to do wonderful work as always as the titular Avi and Shanaz, respectively, “Tad & Loreen & Avi & Shanaz” grows only wiser and more heartfelt in its still-nuanced approach. Director Jamie Babbit, who helmed last season’s “Free Snacks” but best known for making But I’m a Cheerleader, gives her episode a gracefully subdued approach. She sets aside what heavy emotions started to come from the recent episodes to past and focuses on the raw heartbreaks and revelations of the moment.
It’s a softer, sweeter episode, which then makes the emotions hit harder. Of course, there’s more here than just some late-quarter marriage troubles. In truth, “Tad & Loreen & Avi & Shanaz” becomes something of a scattershot episode, with focus brought upon various characters and subplots introduced before. While it keeps the drama pulsating, it does sadly continue this season’s uneven narrative approaches and unfocused direction in story. Thankfully, the warm, witty writing also softens this but Girls still needs to fix this if they want truly to be great again.
Hannah tries to confront her mixed emotions with Fran (Jake Lacy) and their awkward date last week, while she still finds time to go get tongue piercings with middle-school student Cleo (guest star Maude Apatow, producer Judd Apatow’s daughter) which sadly doesn’t go anywhere past the halfway mark. Meanwhile, Shoshanna (Zosia Mamet) takes that date with her almost boss, Ray (Alex Karpovsky) still wants a government position and Marnie (Allison Williams) takes a dramatic step forward in her relationship with Desi (Ebon Moss-Bachrach). The latter finally makes their relationship feel honest and gives them some earned emotions in a genuinely sweet moment three-quarters into the episode.
It’s not healthy to think these signs of progression and maturity last in Girls, even if the unresolved plotlines and end cliffhanger suggests more drama to come. At the very least, though, “Tad & Loreen & Avi & Shanaz” should be celebrated for finally letting its characters grow in exciting and dynamic new ways. Even if the road’s still rough and the journey should end sooner than later, Dunham proves there’s mileage still in her vehicle, no matter how wobbly some episodes become.
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