06 Apr 2016

“The Panic in Central Park”

We have to talk about this episode, okay? Since it aired last last Sunday, I’ve already watched it six times. I sort of lost interest in “Girls” a couple of seasons ago – pretty muuuuch since Charlie left. However, in the interest of making a promise to myself that I would finish things I started, I was slowly getting caught up. On Monday after this episode aired, Jennie texted me to ask if I had watched this yet. I told her “no,” but I started becoming curious. Why was this episode so important? Was she saying this because she knows about how much I love Charlie? On my Twitter feed, a girl I knew called this “the best episode in the entire series.”

The friend who was catching up on Girls with me made me promise we would start the last season together so instead I decided to read articles on the episode which led me to bypassing the rest of this series and watching this ENTIRE episode.

So why is “The Panic in Central Park” important?

First off, Charlie. If you don’t want to be spoiled, stop reading here.

In a vulnerable and upsetting state of mind, Marnie finds herself wandering out of her studio apt after a fight with her dumb husband Desi and randomly runs into Charlie. He’s the same person underneath it all, but he’s not at the same time. He’s wearing double denim, has gained some weight, and has a weird accent that he’s trying to play off that he’s had the whole time. When we met Charlie in season 1, he was a complete pushover. His entire life was Marnie and it was one of the reasons why we both loved and hated Charlie because we all knew that she didn’t deserve him and that he could do better.

After the way he broke up with her, she tells him off. And you know what? He deserves it, but then he invites her to this party and because she has nothing better to do and isn’t ready to return home to Desi, she gives in. They go dress shopping and Marnie is her typical spoiled 25.5 year old revealing too much of her life to a salesperson that doesn’t care and Charlie is a maniac and we wonder what’s going on with his erratic personality. Something tells us that we’ll find out soon. And we do.

Together, they go to this party where Marnie pretends to be a hooker and gets paid $600 so they can run off and have a lavish dinner.

This is my favorite scene in the episode by the way.

Charlie and Marnie share a kiss while on a row boat in Central Park, then they get mugged, and end up hooking up. It’s the weirdest day for them and even though everything has changed, nothing has really changed between them. While I wanted this episode to be about Marnie and Charlie and how they end up together, the episode is really about Marnie. It’s a huge character development episode for her and one that was really needed because usually everyone kind of hates her. However, she finds her own two feet again, realizing that she doesn’t need Desi. She also doesn’t need Charlie because he’s actually a heroin addict. Their reunion wasn’t meant to show that they should be together, it was really to open up her eyes that she’d be okay on her own again.

I love Charlie, there’s no denying it, but this episode resonated with me because honestly – who hasn’t had a moment or a date like this?!

Everyone has had that moment where they are reunited with their ex for like a minute and it’s great for what it is at the time…until it comes crashing down at the end. And sometimes when it ends, there doesn’t need to be a lot of questions about what it is and what it meant, you just have to accept it for what it is at that moment. Also, lord – I have had that city date. That date where you don’t know where you’re going and the entire day is spontaneously made up as you go along. Sometimes those are the best dates or sometimes you end up with an erratic Charlie and things don’t go the way that you planned. This episode seemed like deja vu to me and now looking back on it, I wish I had pulled a Marnie and just rolled with it, but instead I cut it off short when I knew it wasn’t everything I had dreamed of. Typical Marnie thing to do…except she didn’t do that this time!

If you haven’t watched this episode, you definitely should – even if you don’t watch any episode in the entire series, just watch this one. It will make your heart melt.

2 Comments

  1. I stopped watching TV when I joined Twitter @MarkGKirshner – it sounds cute though – True Blood is all I miss about Tv

    Posted on 4.6.16 ·

Comments are closed.