The “Girls” Finale
I may have been unsure after the first episode, but by the end of the second episode I believed it was genius TV. The finale last night was of the sort that I had to keep pausing just to let the dialogue rest for a minute. Like a really great “30 Rock” episode, I felt like I was being spoiled rotten with the smart and the funny and I didn’t want any of it to be lost.
The fight in the street between Hannah and Adam was the centerpiece of the show. It led you to ask, “Is she unable to accept love from anyone or is this more Adam-specific?” He has basically been a ridiculous joke/jerk of a pseudo-boyfriend for the whole season. So I can forgive her for being confused about his new declarations of love. But the fight was at its core an attack on her security blanket of self-loathing that she holds so dear and expresses so loudly to anyone who’ll listen.
Adam: You’re eleven pounds overweight, you don’t know struggle!
Hannah: I’m thirteen pounds overweight and it’s been hell my whole life!
Hannah: I’m the most afraid person in the world!
Adam: You don’t get to be!
It was a continuation of the fight between Hannah and Marnie last week and is clearly the question Lena Dunham (as the writer and creator) is getting to as the core theme of the show: How much of the pain and struggle and anxiety that young adults feel right now is legitimate and how much is self-indulgent bullshit?
The actual plot of the episode was Jessa’s surprise wedding. Clearly this was her reaction to her boss telling her to grow up and find things to care about. Sadly, I don’t care enough about Jessa to question this decision. Thankfully the guy (wonderfully named Thomas-John) is just as awful, so the two of them screwing each other over (which is probably days away) doesn’t really bother me.
For me, the fault in the show is always found in the ancillary characters. Lena writes Hannah’s story so brilliantly. Her interactions with all of the characters are funny and relationship-specific (I especially like her interactions with Ray, the coffee shop manager.) But when the characters are acting independently from Hannah, the scenes often feel like filler until Hannah comes back. I’m still uninterested in anyone on the show outside of their relationship to her.
Regardless of what happens to the show next season, Lena Dunham did an amazing thing. She wrote 10 episodes of HBO that were entertaining, filled with unforgettable moments**, containing hilarious and smart dialogue and she in fact, to quote Hannah in Episode #1, might be the voice of her generation.
- Jen
**Adam coaching Hannah through her jog, the scene at the women’s clinic, the HPV confrontation with her ex-boyfriend, the job interview that went south after she brought up date rape, and, of course, Peter Scolari’s penis.
June 18th, 2012 at 10:44 pm
One of my new favorite shows for sure! Adored it. I agree about the great dialogue and one-liners. And I agree about it representing the narcissistic leanings of many people today (not just young adults). But I disagree that Adam was a joke/jerk the whole season. I thought he became humanized during the episode where we learn he’s in AA. And he tells Hannah he never brought it up because she never asked or cared. From that ep on I thought he was still odd, but lovable and kind. I think Hannah is by far the bigger jerk, though that doesn’t make me enjoy her any less. But I couldn’t care less about Jessa. If she disappeared I wouldn’t notice, but I LOVE Shoshana. That girl cracks me up =]
BTW, Lena Dunham is interviewed on one of the new B.S. Reports (Bill Simmons’ podcast) and it’s a great conversation.
June 19th, 2012 at 7:26 am
I have to say Jen, I really enjoyed Girls & I’m a grown ass 47 year old woman, who doesn’t understand this 20 something generation, now I sound like my mother. I also agree, I too adore Hannah, I think because she is unlike the 20 year olds I know, except for getting money from her parents, so glad she turned her mom down the last time. I like that she’s a little overweight, unlike her friends. Lena is a great writer. I have not heard what the critics have said, have you?
June 19th, 2012 at 7:40 am
Jen! Great write-up. I agree with you on just about everything, and I also love Hannah. Her sense of entitlement when dealing with just about EVERYONE is maddening but also somehow doesn’t make me hate her. “Excuse me! Where am I?” shouts the white girl in a party dress to the people of color on rooftop who, you know, LIVE there. She’s SO self-aware/conscious, but at the same time lacking any sort of shame.
Also, I have a friend who fell asleep on the F train and ended up in Coney Island, a la Hannah. Someone had actually cut his wallet out of his pocket with a knife. Don’t fall asleep on the train, people!
I can’t wait for next season!
June 19th, 2012 at 11:31 am
Agree with all says this 57yo woman. Love Hannah. I would like to have lunch with her. Adam became a human to me during the “I’m sorry” episode. When he says he will do the play it makes you realize he listens to Hannah even when you think he doesn’t. Him getting emotional at the wedding was priecless. I am jonesing for next season already!