Making sense of Season Two of HBO’s Girls.
I have a whole group of friends that stopped watching Girls
this season. They said that the
show had lost its punch, and that they weren’t interested in sticking around to
view a who’s dating who soap opera.
I’ve watched season 2 of Girls in its entirety, (two times) and I don’t agree with this
critique.
The show isn’t bad, and it’s certainly not a soap
opera. Season two of Girls wasn’t as
avant-garde as the first season, but I feel like that is tacit anytime you’re
talking about the second season of a show. Certainly there were elements of soap opera in the show,
especially in the all’s well that ends well finale, but Girl’s is still incredibly
gritty, and anything but formulaic.
If I had to pick a word to describe the negative aspects of
the show, I would use indulgent.
The show, especially season two of the show, is indulgent. My adjective refers to Lena Dunham’s
penchant for nude screen appearances, but the descriptor is also important when
understanding how the show is structured.
The first four episodes of season two were very similar to
the first eight episodes of season one.
The storylines followed the lives, love lives, and zany adventures of a
wayward group of recent grads (and Ray) in New York City. Elijah played a bigger role in the
first four episodes of the second season, and to me, he was a welcome addition. Part of Hannah’s appeal in the show is
that she is aloof and selfish; Elijah does what seems impossible by exaggerating
Hanna’s negative qualities- and in the process she made me feel just the
tiniest bit of compassion for her.
Can you imagine Hannah and Elijah dating?
The next three episodes were much less formulaic. Critical reception for these episodes
was mixed, but personally, I didn’t care for One Man’s Trash. As
much as I like Adam and Ray, I was pretty ambivalent about Boys. It wasn’t my
favorite episode, but in Video Games
it was nice to meet Jessa’s father, and Hannah’s dalliance with a weird 19 year
old really set the show back on track.
These three episodes had limited cast participation in
common, One Man’s Trash focused
exclusively on Hannah, (Joshua, the handsy and handsome doctor might as well
have been a coat rack) Boys revolved
around Ray, and Video Games shed a
lot of insight on Jessa’s unique condition. In other shows one episode that features an incomplete cast
can be written off as filler, but Girls racked
off three such episodes in a row.
Something that occupies 30% of a season isn’t filler.
Episodes 5, 6, and 7 of this season are perfect examples of
the shows indulgence. By doing
whatever she wanted to do, Lena Dunham has been very successful in her career
as a television writer/actor/director.
Weather we like it or not, Ms. Dunham is going to keep getter her way;
it doesn’t appear that Girls is in
any danger of being cancelled.
In that sense, the broad focus of this season’s final three
episodes was welcome. In season
two, Shoshanna has been my favorite cast member hands down. I like Ray too, but I have to choose
Shosh in the divorce. During their
breakup, she did a great job explaining to Ray that she wasn’t happy dating a
cynic. Apparently she is happy making out with a hot doorman in a mailroom, or
kissing a parted hair dork in a bar.
Though it was obvious that he adored Shoshanna, I think Ray is too smart
to ever be truly happy. Time will
tell if the underemployed genius will cure the lack of motivation that is his
most glaring flaw.
We’ve always known that Marnie is pretty enough to do
whatever she wants, and this season cemented that point time and time
again. In the “worst year of her
life,” she was making $400 a day in a do nothing job, banging a “insanely
talented” artist, and working to realize her dream of becoming a professional singer. She is going to crush Charlie. Poor Charlie…
A book deal, sudden onset OCD, an absentee best friend,
parents who have just about had it, a TERRIBLE haircut, and a manipulative
roommate are just the start for our protagonist. Postgraduate years are difficult for anyone with artistic
ambitions, but they have been especially hard on Hannah. In all fairness, Girls wouldn’t be much of a show if Hannah had her shit
together. I don’t know where my
rooting interests lie. Actually,
that’s not true- I’m rooting for Adam.
In the final two episodes of this season it was very clear
that Adam is a Sadist, bored by stability, and either really in love with
Hannah or the type of guy who only wants what he can’t have. Apparently I liked his new girlfriend
much more than he did. The worst
part about Adam, and the worst part about Girls
is the more I get to know Adam (at least season 2 Adam) the less I like
him. I hope his apparent
reconciliation with Hannah will shift this dynamic.
When it’s all said and done, I still really like Girls.
I also understand how some people quit on the show. By placing so much emphasis on being
different, Girls lost some of the
hysterical magic that made the show the darling of the 2012 television comedy
roster. Conversely, the emphasis
on staying different has reassured fans of Girls
that the show isn’t going to turn into Friends
any time in the near future.
I’m very excited for season three.
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