Girls

[pg13]

Just watched the season finale OnDemand. Allow me to vent for a second.

GOD DAMN IT, GOD DAMN IT, GOD DAMN IT! WHY DO I KEEP WATCHING "BEHIND THE EPISODE w/LENA DUNHAM"?!?!?! SHE INVALIDATES EVERYTHING I WANT TO GIVE HER CREDIT FOR! EVERY NUANCE I THINK IS THERE, EVERY SECOND LAYER THAT I WANT TO BELIEVE SHE REALLY INTENDED...NOPE!

All right. I'm better now.

I can't believe that I'm as invested in a show that infuriates me so much. I guess I think Lena Dunham failing to do what she intends to be doing is creating something interesting in my mind...it's a grotesque that I can't look away from. There are some great scenes, great moments and jawdroppingly off-key scenarios in every episode.

I look forward to lovehating the next season already.

[smartbunny]

SLAPPY PAPPY WEH WEH!

[shallowgal]

lol.... most of the time I find I'm better off not knowing the behind the scenes stuff ... and I only watched that once with this series. I'm happier making up my own story (with a little clarification from professional critics) for the most part.

[BillBrasky]

SLAPPY PAPPY WEH WEH!

Expected Bobby Moynihan to go "WHAAAAAAAAAATT" and drop his mic during the wedding speech

[Kon Darp]

SHE INVALIDATES EVERYTHING I WANT TO GIVE HER CREDIT FOR! EVERY NUANCE I THINK IS THERE, EVERY SECOND LAYER THAT I WANT TO BELIEVE SHE REALLY INTENDED...NOPE!

Could you be at all specific? I've seen the whole seasons and most of the behind the scenes, including the most recent one. Either you're projecting a ridiculous amount of nuance into every episode, or I'm not understanding the behind-the-scenes. I really don't get where your hopes are being dashes.

The Behind-the-scenes seem like brief, shallow summaries of the episode with an occasional comment from Lena where she explains what questions she asked herself during the writing process. Very little is declarative or insightful beyond the basic plot. Just because she doesn't comment on nuance doesn't mean there isn't any.

[isoS]

I thought this episode was great. The writing really impressed me. If it turns out Dunham meant to wipe her ass with a laser printer and accidentally wrote this episode instead, I will be crushed!

[Fritz Zwicky]

This show has grown on me. That moment when Hannah tells Adam to get out of the street felt too much like deja vu to me. I've had/witnessed dumb bullshit fights that end up in the street with one person begging the other to get out, and the histrionics involved in that kind of fight were totally present in this episode.

Ultimately, I feel like I'm beginning to reconcile the way that I feel about the characters with the way I feel about the show. I'm starting to understand Lena's vision a little more (though I still worry, at times, that she's coming about it from the wrong end [on account of her being too similar to her characters]). Also, I know that people started out disliking Shoshanna, because of that early SATC scene, but I've found her to be the only open, honest, relatable person. Ever since that abandoned sexual encounter with her old camp buddy, I've found her to be really endearing.

Anyway looking forward to the next season blah blah blah blah.

[MikeMcCawley]

Alan Sepinwall did an expansive (re: very very long) interview with Lena Dunham and co-producer Jenni Konner about the finale and the season as a whole. It's long, but a really good read. Dunham and Konner are a little too self-congratulatory for my tastes but there is definitely some good insight into what they were aiming for with the show and how they developed certain characters and how they reacted to some of the backlash.

[Umlaut]

Alan Sepinwall did an expansive (re: very very long) interview with Lena Dunham and co-producer Jenni Konner about the finale and the season as a whole. It's long, but a really good read. Dunham and Konner are a little too self-congratulatory for my tastes but there is definitely some good insight into what they were aiming for with the show and how they developed certain characters and how they reacted to some of the backlash.

I'm usually not one to complain about this sort of thing, but holy cow is that interview riddled with typos. I'm catching a glaring one every other paragraph.

[MikeMcCawley]

I noticed that too. I think it was mostly due to him transcribing a 9000 word interview in a rush to get it up in a timely fashion after the finale. He has typos occasionally in his reviews but especially in the interview posts.

[smartbunny]

Adam Driver is probably the best actor on the show, IMO, out of the regulars. I feel like he's really mad at me.

[Kon Darp]

He has typos occasionally in his reviews but especially in the interview posts.

Isn't that the editor's fault? I know nothing about internet journalism.

I'd be willing to bet that Jessa will be divorced by the beginning of next season. Her husband doesn't seem like the guy to get a pre-nup, and she mentioned that he was rich a few times. She's totally gold digging.

Adam Driver has been the best character since the beginning. He really does seem like a fully realized, fleshed out person. The opening scene with him helping Marnie move was perfect.

[dorothy mantooth]

I'm usually not one to complain about this sort of thing, but holy cow is that interview riddled with typos. I'm catching a glaring one every other paragraph.

And only later did I become of the sort like having her cake and eating, too, or eating your cake and no longer having it resonance.

Fucking HELL, HitFix. That article was hard to slog through, but it did reconfirm my burning love/hate for James Franco. That fantastic bastard.

Great finale. What they've done with the Hannah/Adam relationship is phenomenal and seeing Hannah get called out TWICE -- by BOTH of the most important people in her life -- for using her self-hatred/pity as a defense mechanism, was fucking BRILLIANT. (And a little personally painful, I'm embarrassed to admit.)

I'm wary of what will happen in Season 2, given the vast outside influences that will inevitably creep in. But, to me, this entire season has been pretty close to perfect. Almost makes me feel sorry for all the dumb pieces of shit who chose to hate it right out the gate. Almost.

Time is a rubber band. I'm very moved.

[PFTsweden]

I loved the first nine episodes but did not enjoy the season finale.
It almost felt like the show skipped ahead 1 year without showing any characters evolve.

Isn't Marnie supposed to be the uptight and responsible one, but she's completely ok with Jessa getting married on a whim? Then she gets drunk and makes out with the lamest guy at the wedding? (sorry Bobby, you're great).

Jessa getting married felt really stupid and forced, Chris O'dowd's character was such an asshole in that threeway-scene that I could never see how someone like Jessa could possibly accept to have dinner with him.
Ok, the character is written as a bit unpredictable, but if you wanna throw in a unpredictable wedding YOU HAVE TO SHOW US JESSA WARMING UP TO CHRIS O'DOUCHE.

All the stuff that Adam yelled at Hannah at the end of the episode was exactly was I wanted to yell at her all through the episode. Maybe some of you can explain this, but it doesn't make sense for Hannah to suddenly push Adam away. First of all we've already seen that from Marnie, doing it again is just sloppy. Second of all, Hannah has basically said "I love you" to Adam (not literally) in a bunch of episodes.

I hope this was just a case of a producer meddling with Lena's work since the writing has been super all season up until now.
This was the worst way to end a season.

[Kentock]

Isn't Marnie supposed to be the uptight and responsible one, but she's completely ok with Jessa getting married on a whim? Then she gets drunk and makes out with the lamest guy at the wedding? (sorry Bobby, you're great).

I think you're ignoring Marnie's development all season. She went through an intense breakup and clearly wanted to randomly hook up with Mr. Finance a couple of episodes prior. She's actively trying on a new personality to see if it fits. It won't, eventually, but for now she's trying. I see no problem with that.

All the stuff that Adam yelled at Hannah at the end of the episode was exactly was I wanted to yell at her all through the episode. Maybe some of you can explain this, but it doesn't make sense for Hannah to suddenly push Adam away. First of all we've already seen that from Marnie, doing it again is just sloppy. Second of all, Hannah has basically said "I love you" to Adam (not literally) in a bunch of episodes.

Isn't the fact that Adam yelled all that stuff at Hannah an indication that the writers know and share your feeling of frustration with Hannah's choices? Why is this a mark against the episode?

Hannah pursued Adam because she wanted to be wanted. Now that she finally has his commitment, she realizes that she never really considered the implications of being in a committed relationship, so she gets cold feet. She is so narcissistic that she only cares about what her relationship says about her, and Adam as a person is almost an afterthought. Hence, Adam's anger.

To me, that was a wonderful way to end the season, pushing Hannah to confront habits and attitudes she has possessed since the pilot and, almost certainly, long before.

[smartbunny]

Hannah has gone for how ever many months with Adam being Mr. I-Don't-Return-Texts-For-Weeks and sending pix of his dong to other girls, and now that he is Wonderful Boyfriend, she is supposed to just let him move in and not have ANY trepidation? She should have discussed it though, instead of announcing that Elijah is moving in. But still.

Also, Marnie should have kept the apartment and Hannah should have to vacate.

[Kentock]

I never thought that dong text was actually for another girl. I think that was an Adam power move to make Hannah feel vulnerable.

Not that this makes it any less troubling, but still.

[DiscoInferiorityComplex]

Jessa getting married felt really stupid and forced, Chris O'dowd's character was such an asshole in that threeway-scene that I could never see how someone like Jessa could possibly accept to have dinner with him.
Ok, the character is written as a bit unpredictable, but if you wanna throw in a unpredictable wedding YOU HAVE TO SHOW US JESSA WARMING UP TO CHRIS O'DOUCHE.

The idea is that she took Katheryn Hahn's heart-to-heart talk from last week and totally course-corrected her life in the worst way possible. She just took the last warm-blooded man with job security she had met and got hitched. It WAS stupid and forced (by Jessa). And if we had actually seen them fall for each other, THAT would have seemed stupid and forced as well. I think it only could have worked for the viewer as a surprise (she disappeared for a week and THIS was what she was up to?!?)

[smartbunny]

Jessa didn't wash her hands after peeing.

[BillBrasky]

Jessa didn't wash her hands after peeing.

Maybe Adam should be her boyfriend.