Hannah has been moving through her life quite well in “Girls”, or at least that’s how it looks on the outside – she’s an adult, she’s holding down a job, and everything is going smoothly. However, according to her, she’s faking everything, just like everyone else around her – Marnie, Shoshanna, Jessa and everyone else. Her situation is a bit different from those of the others though, as it quickly becomes evident in the latest episode.
The problem for Hannah is that while the others are relatively good at hiding their true situations, she’s not like that, and she’s quite obvious to those around her, especially people like her boss who actually calls her out on her fake attitude at some point.
Principal Toby directly tells Hannah that she’s not a kid anymore, and she has to act like the adult that she is. Additionally, the Principal claims that Hannah has a problem with boundaries, and that she has to learn to not only set them, but also respect those that others have set. This is something that has been a recurring theme through the development of Hannah’s character, so it’s not really all that surprising that other characters are pointing it out directly.
Hannah herself insist that she’s fine, but she doesn’t seem to be taking the recent news quite that well. She’s always been a character who suffers deeply when faced with emotional problems, and she always has trouble trying to wrap her head around her own emotions, especially under more difficult circumstances, so seeing her acting like that is not really that surprising.
It seems like Hannah is making some progress in any case, as she has been at least trying to set some boundaries, in particular during her conversation with her father and Elijah. Hannah was quick to let the new pair know that she’s not comfortable with having other people’s sex lives discussed around her, and she seems quite firm in setting that specific boundary. Whether or not this change will be a permanent one in her character, or simply a passing stage that she’ll get over eventually, we don’t know.
Ever since Tad came out, his own character has been changing quite a bit. He’s now much more assertive and knows how to get what he wants, instead of always submitting to others in every argument that he has. It’s a refreshing change, although some fans claim that it’s been coming on a bit too fast. However, the show can definitely benefit from some more rapid character development here and there if it wants to avoid becoming too stale, but thankfully its producers seem to be well aware of that.