Incidentals
Girls | Season 3 | Episode 8

Incidentals

TV-MA | 29 MIN

Written by Lena Dunham & Sarah Heyward
Directed by Richard Shepard

Hannah waits at a restaurant for Patti LuPone, who she is scheduled to interview for an advertorial sponsored by Strenova, a bone density drug. She gets a call from Adam, who is waiting to be called in for his callback audition for the Broadway revival of ‘Major Barbara.' He hangs up when another actor warns him that the casting director has an aversion to cell phones in the waiting room. The man introduces himself as Desi and he and Adam share a quiet moment of male bonding. Back at the restaurant, Hannah is dismayed to learn that Patti LuPone has stood her up.

As Adam finishes up his audition and heads out, the casting director calls him back in and congratulates him on landing the part of Bronterre. Ecstatic, he exits and runs into Desi downstairs, who reveals that he has been cast as Bill Walker before offering to take Adam back to Greenpoint on his motorcycle.

Hannah is able to track down Patti LuPone at a theater where she is rehearsing a one-woman show. Patti reluctantly agrees to give Hannah five minutes for her interview. Her healthy bones leave her with little to say in regard to the benefits of Strenova, but Hannah helps coach her along. Hannah interrupts the interview when she takes another call from Adam, who fills her in on his good news, which Hannah excitedly shares with Patti. "Wow, his first Broadway role," Patti says. "He's going to need you to support him and forgive him, because he's going to be an asshole." Patti goes into detail explaining how the Broadway stage will change Adam. "Your boyfriend, if he's sexual in any way, is going to start f*cking everybody in the building."

While treating herself to some frozen yogurt, Marnie bumps into her artist ex-boyfriend Booth Jonathan's former assistant, Soo Jin. They exchange pleasantries and Soo Jin reveals that she's in the process of opening her own gallery - in NoHo and not, as a seething Marnie suspected, Bushwick. As Soo Jin walks off, Marnie traps her in a historically awful hug and tells her that she's proud of her.

Though she is shaken by Patti's warnings, Hannah enjoys a successful afternoon at GQ. Her boss Janice asks her to spend the night at the Gramercy Park Hotel for a piece she'll be writing. She also receives her first paycheck and is thrilled to be making the kind of money that will allow her to "walk into a store in the Meatpacking District and just be like, ‘Make it rain.'"

Jessa spends another tedious afternoon working at Sweet Emma, playing with mannequins, eating snacks, and attempting to engage in chit-chat with a courier. Her ennui is interrupted by the sudden arrival of Jasper, her old rehab pal, who has tracked her down with help from Shoshanna. "I threw little stones at your window until some teeny-tiny little moppet opened up, looked out, and said, ‘Are you here to rape me?'" Jessa resists Jasper's pleas to run away with him, insisting that she was wearing "rehab goggles" when they met and that she was never attracted to him.

On assignment at the Gramercy Park Hotel, Hannah and Elijah prepare a surprise celebration for Adam. Hannah takes exception to Elijah's pronouncement that Adam is the first of them to fulfill his dream. Shoshanna arrives and fails to assuage Hannah's concerns when she asks if Hannah is worried that Adam might leave her for Sutton Foster.

World-weary Marnie drops by Ray's apartment with pizza. "I'm in a shitty mood," she warns. As she makes herself comfortable, Ray breaks the news that he doesn't want to continue their relationship -- he wants a real girlfriend. Incredulous, Marnie tells him, "You can't break up with me, Ray. I don't care about this. I wouldn't be eating pizza in front of you if I actually liked you!"

Adam finally arrives at the Gramercy, with Desi in tow. The gang offers their congratulations to both. Elijah and Shoshanna recognize Desi from his stint on ‘One Tree Hill' and are immediately enchanted by him. Marnie arrives with her pizza and heads straight for the bathroom. Hannah follows her and tries to get to the bottom of what's troubling her, but Marnie can't say. Her spirits are soon lifted after she emerges to find Desi performing "Roll On, John" on his guitar. She joins in, prompting Desi to ask if he can hear more of Marnie's music. His attention provides her a moment of happiness, though her joy is snuffed out when Desi mentions his girlfriend Clementine is making paella for dinner.

Jessa and Jasper, high on cocaine and life itself, arrive at the hotel, but quickly leave to go buy more drugs. They head to Sweet Emma where Jessa breaks into the shoebox where cash is stored. They head to a hotel room of their own to prolong their night of revelry, though Jessa continues to resist Jasper's sexual advances.

Back at the Gramercy, Adam and Hannah take a bath together. Hannah tells him how proud she is of him but admits she's scared. "I don't want you to get so happy doing the play," she says, "that you don't like our life together anymore." Adam assures her that everything will be okay, and prompted by Hannah, delivers some of his lines in his period-appropriate accent.


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