The Best Scenes On ‘Girls’ Happen In Bathrooms

As HBO‘s divisive hit Girls comes to a close, we must bid farewell to Hannah (Lena Dunham), Jessa (Jemima Kirke), Marnie (Allison Williams), Shoshanna (Zosia Mamet), and the gang. This weekend’s penultimate episode found the four ladies in the same room for only the twelfth time (yes, that’s right) when Marnie called a group meeting in the bathroom at Shoshanna’s engagement party. The tension between the ladies in the group finally got thrown out into the open, and they came to a mildly sad – albeit necessary – realization about where they truly stand. This bathroom revelation is certainly not the first to happen on the series; Girls frequently finds its characters in these enclosed spaces – for emotional baths, a variety of showers, random hookups, or confrontations. The show’s best scenes have happened in bathrooms, and the first of these can be traced all the way back to the show’s pilot. Here are the best scenes on Girls that have taken place in the loo.

Bath Cupcake 
The first 6 minutes of the pilot finds Hannah retreating to the bathroom with a cupcake while Marnie deals with unwanted affection from her puppy-dog boyfriend. Marnie soon joins Hannah, who laments that she’s never seen Marnie naked, but Marnie stands her ground. Hannah’s enjoyment of her cupcake as the water runs and Marnie moans about her Charlie dilemma is the first time on the show that we really see just how intimate these characters are with one another. It also easily provides a fair amount of exposition without seeming too hokey – which is exactly what a good pilot does.

Golden Shower
In the Season 1, Episode 8, “Weirdos Need Girlfriends Too”, we are gifted with our first glimpse into Hannah and Adam’s life together. They’re definitely in the honeymoon stage here, and Adam’s weirdness comes to a head when he surprises Hannah in the shower and proceeds to pee on her. She’s (understandably) horrified, but the reveal of this bizarre side of Adam and how quickly he’s able to feel comfortable around her really informs the way their relationship plays out.

Snot Rocket/Wonderwall
Season 2, Episode 4, “It’s A Shame About Ray”, finds Jessa’s marriage to man-baby Thomas-John falling apart during a hellish dinner with his parents. Devastated, she heads to Hannah’s apartment, where she finds her singing Oasis’ “Wonderwall” in the bathtub. When Hannah asks if Jessa’s okay, Jessa wordlessly undresses and gets into the bathtub with her, where we see a rare, vulnerable moment from her – she completely breaks down. The two don’t really need to say anything to each other – except when Jessa blows her nose into the hand and washes her hand off in the water, which Hannah proclaims is so gross that even she “wouldn’t do that”. The two dissolve into teary laughter as they splash water on one another and link hands. This scene is a big reason why I’ve always found Jessa and Hannah’s relationship to be one of the most interesting on the show, and why it’s such a shame that the show’s last season has seemingly thrown it away. They don’t need to say anything. They’ve got each other. And Oasis.

Bleak Bar Bathroom Bootycalls 
Jessa generally takes out her emotional turmoil by seeking solace in sex, and she does just that in Season 1, Episode 2, “Vagina Panic”, when she thinks she’s pregnant and skips out on her abortion appointment in favor of a random bar bathroom hookup. Mid-finger, however, she realizes she’s gotten her period, and joyfully continues to make out with her stranger. Contrast that with Season 6, Episode 8, “What Will We Do This Time About Adam?”, when she entices another bar stranger to join her in the bathroom to act as consolation while Adam explores his relationship with Hannah. These scenes were both used to demonstrate important character traits and growth in Jessa; in the first season, she has no issue running away from her problems in this way, because she won’t let herself feel intense emotion anyway. By the sixth season, however, this empty form of therapy no longer serves its former purpose, and because she’s let herself love Adam, she becomes a devastated wreck. It’s a unique way to put Jessa’s emotional issues on display, and the use of a bathroom – traditionally an intimate space that we have an issue sharing with someone – couldn’t be more on the nose.

Wedding Day Disaster 
The Season 5 opener, “Wedding Day”, finds Marnie and Desi’s big day in serious jeopardy as the rain comes down, Desi runs into the woods, and Marnie’s makeup is a complete catastrophe. Devastated by her face and lack of support from her friends, Marnie holes up in the bathroom, where Hannah finds her and attempts to console her. This leads to something of a showdown between the friends about their crumbling friendship, and a rare emotionally genuine moment from Marnie – she wants to know if everyone thinks she’s making a mistake. (She is, and she knows she’s overlooking Desi’s glaring flaws. But that’s beside the point.) Hannah’s willingness to swallow her pride for Marnie’s sake shows a shift in their relationship – and perhaps a resolve to work on it – and while she certainly could have been more open about her opinion on Marnie’s marriage, she still stands by Marnie’s side for this important event, melting mascara and terrible lip liner and all.

Group Meeting
The penultimate episode of the series, “Goodbye Tour”, finds the girls in the bathroom at Shoshanna’s engagement party. Marnie, per usual, has rallied the troops in an attempt to patch up their long-broken friendship, and Shosh can’t help but comment on how futile this is. She’s known for a long time that they just don’t work as a friend group, and she’s come to terms with it. Marnie, lost in the idea of what the gang should be, can’t stop trying to fix it. While they definitely don’t all kiss and make up, the shift that occurs after the meeting concludes is one that’s been necessary for a long time. Hannah and Jessa share a mutual forgiveness, and the group is finally able to accept each other for who they are – even if that’s not friends. They all dance to their own beat, and for the first time, they seem to actually enjoy being in the same room – because all the expectations are gone. It’s a fitting end for the girls (now women?), who will not share anymore screen time as this foursome.

While there are certainly a ton more scenes in the series that are lavatory-located – gossip at Hannah’s workplace about her handsy boss, running lines in the bathtub, fake showers to dodge conversation with Marnie, Elijah and Hannah doing cocaine so that she can gain “experiences” to write about, relationship status chats between Dill Harcourt and Elijah, to name a few – these are some of the most important, impactful scenes that have utilized their setting. The use of a bathroom, a traditionally shielded, solitary place that is generally considered taboo to discuss, for the show’s most intimate (and innocuous) moments has contributed to the show’s authenticity as a whole. Many series shy away from taking a look into the hallowed halls of restrooms, but Girls embraces the inherently private nature of the locale and uses it to tell compelling, emotionally honest, occasionally insane stories. Maybe all anyone really needs is a good group meeting, big snort, or meltdown in a cramped New York City bathroom to sort it all out.