This One Line From Girls Plays on a Loop in My Head

It’s twisted that my favorite Girls line reading comes from a guest star who’s barely in just two episodes.

Photo: Screenshot.

I’m always either coming off of a Girls rewatch or approaching a Girls rewatch. They start randomly, usually starting from my favorite episodes, and I just keep watching from there. I can pick and choose single episodes of Veep or Sex and the City to watch at random; with Girls I can start with “One Man’s Trash,” or the episode where Adam Driver dances to Fiona Apple, and just go and go and go. Is it even fair to call it a rewatch? When Hannah takes the stage for a “Moth Radio Hour” at the end of season five I say “This is too stupid” and get insurmountable ick so I’ve never actually finished the show.

But a few days ago I was running late somewhere and looked in my bathroom mirror to put on eyebrow gel or brush out my lashes or something and took the briefest assessment of how I looked. I was rushing, but I didn’t want to look like I left in a rush. It was that quick: my favorite Girls line popped into my head and I’ve been thinking about it ever since: Adam and Hannah run into Adam’s ex Shiri Appleby and Shiri Appleby’s best friend Amy Schumer (their characters have names but, like, whatever) at the coffee shop (which maybe also has a name? I can’t remember). The women confront Adam for ghosting Appleby the previous season, and after he’s taken enough of their criticisms he turns to tell Hannah they should just leave.

“Hannah?” Appleby begins. “This— this is Hannah?”

Schumer, who’s ignored Hannah and Ray (behind the register), for this whole exchange eyes Hannah up and down. “Did you leave in a rush?”