What I’m Watching: Girls

Girls: Season 3, Episode 4 “Dead Inside” (B-)

It’s a bit bizarre to have David die, especially after he started becoming a more major part of the story last week. I hadn’t realized that he was portrayed by indie actor and director John Cameron Mitchell, who gave him a certain edge and made him an intriguing part of the show. His death serves as an intense catalyst for Hannah to let her selfishness show, and for Adam to demonstrate that he’s actually a relatively substantial person. His concern with Hannah’s focus on herself and her inability to even react to the news that someone she knew was dead was legitimate, and the most startling response from her was when she repurposed Caroline’s made-up story about a cousin with muscular dystrophy and told it to Adam as if it was about her. There are times at which Hannah seems less emotionally manipulative than others, but she was firing fully in this hour, trying to transform her e-book’s new fate into everyone else’s sympathy. It also meant seeing more of Laird, who I now put together is Jon Glaser, better known as the hilarious Councilman Jamm on “Parks and Recreation,” and who seemed to like Caroline and fit in with her more than most. On the Jessa front, we got to meet the supposedly dead Season, played by Melonie Diaz from “Fruitvale Station,” a plotline that didn’t seem to have much relevance. Marnie storming out on Ray after catching him watching the video was rather entertaining, and probably the episode’s strongest moment.