Girls failed to find a harmony in its storytelling in season 4, but was renewed for a fifth before it even began.

HBO executives knew what they were renewing before the curtain went up on Girls season 4. Most writers knew at least the first five episodes worth of what they were renewing as well. However, the series’ backend and whole package failed to deliver a neat narrative of storytelling for the four leading ladies.

A strong season opener brought Hannah, Shoshanna, Marnie, and Jessa together to support one friend while sending another off. It set four story lines in motion. but those four stories were misplaced, squeezed in, and portrayed more as a favor to those actors for screen time than caring about where they are going. In a way, Girls season 5 should drop the “s” and rebrand itself, Girl.

After forcing story lines on Shoshanna and Jessa, and throwing Marnie into an even more insufferable guy drama than she was in season 1, the series has regrouped and turned the focus inward to Hannah. The first half of the season sent Hannah away Iowa where there was no one to coddle her when the heavy criticism set in. Instead of only having to convince one person, namely Adam, Marnie, or Jessa, that what she believed was right, Hannah was faced with an entire room of people coming at her.

Sticking her fingers in her ears until the naysayers finally moved on because the argument was exhausting them does not work in a grad level writing program. Watching Hannah struggle not only with her writing, but with the writer identity she tries so hard to shove herself into, made for compelling story telling. This was not about Hannah and Adam; it was about Hannah and Hannah. As much as Hannah is always about Hannah, it was refreshing to see her with nowhere to turn. What would she do? A visit from her dad sent her into unexplored territory, a place where she was not trying to be the cutting edge writer, but a coming of age woman.

In a sense, season 4 worked well not having an extended break. Life doesn’t give you weeks off after a huge move, and neither does Girls throwing Hannah right back into New York. Without Adam, without a job, without any friends truly in her corner for the second half of the season, Hannah found a way to get up, get a job, and find some meaning in her daily life. She succumbed to the black hole of despair, if only for 30 hours or so.

It’s time for Girls to move on from the supporting characters unless they share time with Hannah on screen. For example, Ray decided to run for community board mid-season 4, but his story seemed forced every week. For two weeks, they didn’t even try to subtly remind viewers that it was happening. In a way the penultimate episode served as a testament to that. When Marnie usurps Ray’s party to announce her engagement, she might as well just say, “Sorry, Ray, but your story was boring and did not advance Hannah’s, or let’s be real, my plot. I’m taking it from here!”

The slogan for season 4 of Girls was, “No place to grow but up.” Marnie took control of her career without a man defining it, Shoshanna took a chance on a job in Tokyo, and Jessa finally figured out a sensible next move for her life. All the B characters landed on two slightly unstable feet and their stories have nearly plateued. If HBO were to grant a Looking-style send off for the three ladies (and Ray), the series would be in a better place.

All save one that is. Adam Driver, who is off swinging light sabers and starring in Scorcese films, is likely to return to season 5 as a central character. He is a central part of Hannah’s life, whether they are intimately involved or not. To tell Hannah’s story, Adam’s must also unfold. His is the second most complicated and compelling story the series has told over the last four years.

Girls needs to stop adding filler and stop saying the show is about anything more than Hannah and how other people affect her day to day. The show has evolved, and if season 5 tries to squeeze in too many plot lines and characters, it is going to fall from something great, to a television show that was simply on too long for its own good.

Season 5 is coming; there is no stopping it. Let’s just hope that it tells us a new, more compelling story with Hannah at the center.

Girls season 5 returns January 2016.