Girls has certainly taken a more serious turn this season but never did I imagine it would get this dark. In what was probably the most cringe-inducing episode of the series, Hannah and friends each fought with their own uncontrollable urge to self-sabotage with little success. While Girls has gone through a myriad of moods and formats this season, the quality has never suffered and ‘On All Fours’ follows suit. While sometimes hard to watch, it was a gripping half hour nonetheless.

Before the darkness set in, we were treated to a nice and normal version of Adam as he played the dutiful boyfriend to Natalia and even humoured her thoughts on a romantic comedy. You can see the appeal the very organized and direct Nat holds for Adam, as he most recently remembers the difficulties and abnormalities of being with Hannah. Yet, the facade didn’t last for long as Adam quickly began to see the downsides of a normal life with a normal girl, something that was instantly exacerbated by his sudden run-in Hannah. He practically ran away from the temptation and dove headlong back into the drink and his new woman’s arms. As if that wasn’t enough, he took his downward spiral much too far as we had to sit through a very uncomfortable and rough sex scene—a very dark version of his sex life with Hannah, if you will. Though Natalia humoured him at first, she clearly wasn’t into it and tearfully told him as much afterwards. While he clearly intended to try and push her away with his own twisted sexual quirks, it was still sad to watch the wreck he once again became because of Hannah.

While Hannah certainly helped spur on Adam’s breakdown, she ended up in almost as dark a place by episode’s end. She was obviously still bursting at the seams as she made her way to meet her editor David, who was full of bad news and brutally honest but funny criticisms. Though the low quality of her pages could easily be attributed to her recent mental state, she clearly wasn’t ready to take such a tongue-lashing. “Where’s the sexual failure? Where’s the pudgy face slick with semen and sadness?” he asked, missing the usual flair in her writing. Yet, she somehow ended up leaving with a new concept for her book, making trash of the two-hundred or so pages she’d already written (“Oh, I can’t wait to not read those.”). The pressure was already piled on and her new lows with butt wounds and Q-Tips certainly didn’t help. It was depressing to watch as she begged her doctor to clean her other ear for fear of repeating her mistake. I couldn’t help but think that her mental breakdown and her life as of late should be the focus of her story. That’s exactly the kind of story David was looking for, but I suppose then she’d basically be writing a book version of the show. And that just lends itself to some sort of multi-layered complexity, so maybe not… Moving on. Of course, by the end of her gloomy day, she could no longer fight the pressure and gave in to her strange compulsion. Q-Tips: 2. Hannah: 0.

On the slighlty less depressing side of things, Shoshanna, Marnie and Ray had a night out at Charlie’s company party yet all ended up in unexpected situations by last call. Let’s start with Shosh, who’s completely transparent guilt was severely misread by Ray. Charlie pointed out to her that Ray’s sometimes difficult behaviour isn’t going anywhere as Shoshanna started to realize the kind of man she shacked up with. I couldn’t help but feel for poor Ray, who was nothing but sweet and apologetic, when he couldn’t see the truth behind Shosh’s eyes as she only partially confessed to her recent tryst with a doorman. I was honestly shocked she had that in her, yet she’ll obviously crack sooner or later. She clearly proved she’s not the kind of girl that holds in a secret very well.

Then, we have Marnie, who’s sudden new musical direction hit a pot hole with her embarrassing surprise, and unwelcome, performance at the party. While an almost a capella version of Kanye West’s ‘Stronger’ was probably not the best choice to make a good first impression, it definitely made an impact on Charlie, who took it as a cry for help. The poor guy just can’t get away from his feelings for Marnie and got sucked right back in, even if it was of his own free will. We already know this is probably not going to end well, but at the very least this may help pull Marnie out of her funk.

On the whole, this was a hard one to get through. Despite making for great television, watching the characters you care about destroy themselves to such a degree isn’t always easy—Adam’s self-destructive montage at the bar was especially heart-wrenching for me. Regardless, ‘On All Fours’ was an enthralling look into the dark side of series as they pushed their boundaries possibly more than ever. If this will all turn around for the best by the end of next week’s finale remains to be seen, but judging by last year’s downbeat ‘She Did’, it probably won’t be pretty.