The Thinking Machine 35

The pre-credit prologue to the first episode of the final season of Girls in 2017, directed by Lena Dunham and set to “Amsterdam” by Gregory Alan Isakov, achieves many things in less than two minutes. It sums up plot elements; reminds us of all the key, familiar characters in the series; and sets out a new milestone in the life of young adult Hannah Horvath: she has a candid, autobiographical story published prominently in the The New York Times. But as this new video essay by Cristina Álvarez López and Adrian Martin shows, there is so much more than just story information embedded here.