Hannah Horvath is anything but perfect. As Laird so kindly pointed out to her, she’s one of the most self-involved people he knows, and that’s really saying something. Yet, regardless of her many problems and sometimes frustrating quirks, you can’t help but feel for this wayward twenty-something who’s desperately trying to find her place in the world. And after much soul-searching, many screw-ups, and her constant escalation into the full-blown hypochondriac OCD-afflicted mess she’s become, she has seemingly taken the first step back towards where she belongs: the arms of Adam Sackler.

It hasn’t been an easy year for many of the characters and ‘Together’ brought each of their season-long arcs full-circle to a satisfying close. Though it was obvious that Hannah and Adam would end up back together at some point, Adam’s heroic run through the streets culminating in a wonderful moment right out of a romantic comedy—or even a harlequin romance novel—was the perfect point to leave us hanging.

With Hannah exhausting every outlet and option she had for comfort—even going so far as leaving a hilariously spiteful yet loving message for the missing Jessa—she turned to the only person she had left. While her father once again scolded her for her manipulative ways, her unhappy editor threatened to sue, and Laird’s speech caused her to face her inherent selfishness, she and her horrible new haircut FaceTimed (“Is this this fuckin’ FaceSpace?”) an equally depressed Adam as a last resort. Though she was unwilling or incapable of physically asking him for help, the blubbering and tick-filled mess she’d become easily spelled it out for her. Clearly, Adam is the only other person besides Marnie that she felt comfortable enough around to actually divulge her past and recently recurring illness to as he picked up on it instantly. It’s enough to send him running bare-chested into the night, sprinting towards the woman he loves while periodically reassuring her with the help of technology. Though I can see some feeling the whole scene was a little cliché, my heart swelled as Adam kicked down the door and leapt over the couch to uncover the sickly lump that was Hannah beneath the blankets. “You’re here,” she stated, surprised that someone finally came to her rescue. “Well, I’m always here,” he answered, picking her up into his arms as they embraced. Excuse me, there’s something in my eye…

While Hannah and Adam’s side of things ended on the sweeter end of the spectrum, the same can’t be said for Ray and Shoshanna who’s relationship finally imploded after much humming and hawing. You have to feel for poor Ray who was willing to go back to school and do what needed to be done to keep his increasingly disinterested girlfriend around. He still doesn’t even know the full scope of Shosh’s betrayal even if he did suspect it in the relationship’s dying moments. In the end, both he and Shosh end up pretty much where they were a season ago, but not without a few differences. Where as Ray now has a bit of drive and soon will have his own Grumpy’s to run—something I expect will carry into next season—Shoshanna ends up as unhappily single as she was before, but with a newfound confidence and aggression that seemed impossible for her just a few months ago. You kind of get the feeling that Shosh still doesn’t fully understand what love is—then again, who does—but was simply holding on to something she thought she wanted before she realized everything else that came along with it. Yet, as the youngest of the characters on Girls, she has the most room and time to grow and, should you look for a silver lining, could easily chalk-up her time with Ray as a growing experience.

This kind of life experience is the very thing Marnie seemed to be happy to put behind her as she was more than ready to settle down with Charlie after a season’s worth of will-they or won’t-they shenanigans. Though at first it seemed as if Marnie was walking right into another Booth Jonathan situation, Charlie admitted that, despite his better judgements, he does want to be with Marnie. I can’t say I ever expected these two to come out of the season with the most promising future and I almost feel as if Marnie doesn’t really deserve this happy ending. Granted, she is coming off the worst year of her life, as she said, but her happiness doesn’t really feel fully earned. Where as Charlie used his heartbreak to turn himself into a successful business owner, the only thing Marnie’s realized is that she wants to sing, even if she has no idea how to go about it. While I suppose Charlie knows exactly what he’s gotten himself into, I can’t help but think that he might develop buyer’s remorse come season three. After all, happiness and fulfilment are never that easy in the world of Girls.

“Life can be scary. Life is much intense. And you kind of just have to like, ride it like a pony or get a haircut, so…”

While that absurd and thought-provoking line certainly made me laugh, you could also see it as a kind of mantra for the show. In the twenty episodes we’ve seen so far, Girls has been scary, it’s been intense, it’s been hilarious, it’s been heartbreaking, but most of all it’s been real. Sure, we can’t all be so lucky as to experience our own rom-com inspired happy ending, but the ups and downs of Hannah and friends have always felt like a peek into very tangible world that few get to actually experience. It might be exaggerated and a bit far-fetched at times and understated and down to earth in others, but it’s consistently entertaining and emotionally involving. It’s not a typical half-hour comedy nor is it a serialized gritty drama. It’s just a damn good show.