Girls, "Hello Kitty"

In my review of the "Girls" season premiere, I discussed how the show can create great moments on the backs of somewhat shaky storylines.  Let's take a look at a few such moments from "Hello Kitty":

Hannah learns of Adam and Jessa's relationship: For me, the most tiresome aspect of the Adam-Jessa tryst is that we knew this moment was coming.  Hannah was going to find out and have yet another meltdown about how the universe was conspiring against her.

But give the show credit: I had expected this moment to come in the season finale.  Instead, it comes in the seventh episode of the season, moving things along more briskly.  Moreover, the moment when Hannah finds out what's been going on is absolutely masterful, a purely cinematic sequence.  There's no dialogue at all, just Hannah looking at a statue representing a rape and murder, then Jessa mooning at Adam, then Adam coolly smoking a cigarette.  The sudden realization that sweeps over Hannah's face is almost Hitchcockian.  (And Jessa's clumsy "Hello/goodbye" to Hannah at the end of the episode--while unusually awkward for the character--is a great example of how this sort of thing would go in real life.)

Elijah learns of Dill's dalliances: While in line for drinks at a swank party thrown by Dill, Elijah meets another of Dill's lovers.  The guest proceeds to inform Elijah of Dill's many boyfriends with such cold-bloodedness that I almost believed he didn't mean any harm, that he assumed Elijah knew the deal.  But given that this is the "Girls" universe, where, as Elijah says, most of the characters are "mean and poor," this has to go down as one of the most deliciously passive-aggressive moves on a show full of them.

Desi returns to Marnie: Just when she thought she was out...he pulled her back in.  Desi is an excellent example of the "Girls" conundrum.  As a reliably narcissistic idiot, he's comic gold:

"We have to get back together!"
"Yeah...wait, you mean the band, right?"
"...yeah, totally."

Hilarious.  But the two-dimensional nature of the character, which makes him so effective from a comic standpoint, also makes him much less interesting from a dramatic one.  We already know what he's going to do: try to get in Marnie's pants.  Perhaps that will involve a reprise of their relationship.  Perhaps that will involve something darker, possibly a sexual assault.  Either way, it's not a great sign when it's this easy to predict where the writing staff is going.