Girls' Final Bottle Episode: Matthew Rhys, a Penis and Lots of Debate

Think pieces are upon us

By Chris Harnick Feb 24, 2017 10:30 PMTags
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One of the traditions of Girls has been to take one of the girls, in this case Hannah Horvath, and transplant them into a situation, usually a single one, for an entire episode. In "American Bitch," Hannah (Lena Dunham) was summoned to the apartment of famous writer Chuck Palmer (Matthew Rhys) and the two spent the day together discussing sexual assault and fame after Hannah penned an essay about the writer based on another girl's Tumblr post about her time with him.

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The tension between Hannah and Chuck was palpable from the moment she stepped into his eye line. What followed was a sometimes thought-provoking, sometimes eye roll-inducing episode where it felt like anything could happen. And it did. As the two seemed to work out their differences, Chuck asked if Hannah would lay next to him, to help him feel close to another person. She did. And then he took out his penis. Unsure of what to do with the male genitalia presented in front of her, Hannah went for it and held it, but soon realized what she was doing and freaked out, questioning him why he pulled his penis out. The conversation was then interrupted by Chuck's daughter arriving home.

Did Chuck ultimately prove his point about consent and unwanted sexual advances with Hannah's reaction? The think pieces are coming. But Girls wasn't made to invite think pieces.

"No," Jenni Konner told E! News at the Girls premiere when asked if they knew the storm of think pieces the show would generate was on the horizon when they launched. "We would be psychopaths. What a great world to live in if you're like, ‘I'm launching this little show on HBO with the smallest budget ever, but it's going to make people talk for six years.'"

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However, executive producer Judd Apatow told us he knew Girls was going to be a lightning rod. "Well, I hoped it'd be popular because I just loved [Dunham's] movie Tiny Furniture and I thought, ‘I wonder if everyone would love this as much as I as much as I loved this,'" Apatow said at the premiere. "I didn't realize it would be that controversial, but I did have a sense that people would debate it and have issues with parts of it because she's breaking down some boundaries, she's talking about things people don't normally talk about and some people can't handle when things change."

Director Richard Shepard told The Daily Beast he knew this episode and penis scene in particular would get a reaction.

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"Well, I mean, it's going to get some reaction because, you know, Lena wrote it to get some sort of reaction. I'm excited for it, to be quite frank," he said. "The timing of it—considering what's going on in our country—is particularly perfect, and I think one of the great things about Lena as a writer is that she would still manage to make it feel like a Girls episode, even when it's different in so many ways. It was one of those scripts where I read it and I was like, ‘Wow.'"

While shooting the episode, there was a back and forth about whether or not Hannah should touch Chuck's penis.

"I wanted her to do it, just for a moment—as if that is what is expected. I think that speaks to the power dynamic: you're in my bedroom, I've got you on my bed, this is expected of you," Shepard told The Daily Beast. "That, to me, was very interesting. What was challenging, of course, was that it's also funny, also odd. I wanted people to laugh and be uncomfortable. There are takes that are broader, obviously."

And now the question you've been wondering: No, that wasn't Matthew Rhys' penis. "It's prosthetic," director Shepard told The Daily Beast.  It came from a medical supply company.

Girls airs Sundays, 10 p.m. on HBO. "American Bitch" is available on HBO Go and HBO Now early.