After a couple of great episodes, Girls will be back next Sunday on HBO with an all new episode, titled "American Bitch", written by Lena Dunham and directed by Richard Shepard. This third installment of the sixth and final will be quite an intense half hour, which at first left me totally perplexed.
"American Bitch" will only focus on Hannah and Chuck Palmer (Matthew Rhys), a famous writer she once admired, and there won’t be any other character (just one at the very end). But, more than the story being told in one place with two characters, what will make "American Bitch" such a special episode is the dialogue between Hannah and Chuck. Lena Dunham is an amazing writer, funny and smart, and Matthew Rhys is one of the best actor, his work on The Americans and even Brothers & Sisters before, just prove it. ; and pairing those two for 30 minutes will be quite an experience. They both will be terrific, and their tête à tête will be unforgettable.
Dunham has personally expressed herself on the rape, forced sex issue raising in the US, and in the world, and even about her own personal experience, so it was expected she would dealt with that in her show but as usual, she is a surprising artist. She has chosen a smart, surprising and interesting way to discuss the issue and to present it. The episode will tackle the serious questions of sexual consent, the power a teacher can have over its students, what can be considered as hearsay, the importance of internet and the credibility of what we can read on it, the differences between a journalist and a writer…
"American Bitch" will be the confrontation of two writers, a female and a male, both having a bias, (as Hannah wrote an article about Chuck and the allegations on her blog), strong different opinions, and their dialogue will be fascinating, very entertaining. It’s a difficult exercise to write an episode dedicated to two characters, who don’t know each other previously and only have one major topic of conversation, but Dunham will totally pull it off.
And there will be one scene, near the end of the episode that personally left me perplexed and unsure. I’m actually not sure I got the point of the episode, I need to rewatch it. It's one of the great thing about Girls, it never gives you a clear answer, it's never afraid to represent the complexity of reality.
Anyways, I’m sure about one thing : twitter and internet will go crazy after that scene. It’ll be very surprising, might be shocking, definitely disturbing.
So, are you intrigued by "American Bitch" ? Don’t miss it next Sunday on HBO ! Are you excited to see Matthew Rhys in Girls ? Hit the comments !
