WARNING: Spoilerz ahead!!!
When “Girls” premiered last year, I was immediately on board. From the first preview of the show, I knew I needed to see it and that I was going to fall in love with it. I was correct; I did love the show and watched all of the episodes multiple times. Obviously, the show drew connections to “Sex and the City” before it even premiered, as they are both based around four white women in New York. However, as someone who loves “Sex and the City” but gets extremely angry whenever Carrie’s lifestyle isn’t explained and she’s somehow not always on the brink of bankruptcy, I was interested in seeing how “Girls” would tackle living in New York more realistically.
Sorry, totally irrelevant, but I just need to remind people that Carrie Bradshaw once wore this outfit.
The show did not disappoint in the first season. Aside from one or two episodes (aka when Hannah went home, I just didn’t get it or like it, and then the entire season finale which just didn’t make sense to me), I was hooked and dying for January so the show would come back for the second season. I wanted to know what was going to happen with these four women who were surely going to be going through a myriad of changes in their lives.
The good ol’ days.
Well, I had high hopes for the second season, but they all went to shit. I found myself increasingly angry with Hannah as a character, wondering where Jessa was, wanting Marnie to stop existing because everything she did made me uncomfortable, and wishing that more had happened in the episodes, because seriously, not much was happening in these episodes. There were only a total of two out of the ten episodes this past season of “Girls” that I actually liked, and I feel that’s never a good thing. Where last season I found Hannah funnier and more relatable, I found myself thinking that Lena Dunham was making it her personal mission to make Hannah as unlikable as possible. The episode where Hannah stayed with that doctor she had just met for the entire weekend solidified my hatred for her. I just did not want the show to revolve around his character, but I knew that I was stuck having to deal with that. I hate that they decided to give Hannah OCD with three episodes left in the season. I understand that OCD can go away and come back depending on life stress situations, but really? No mention of it AT ALL? And then all of a sudden, it’s this huge deal? Like, no. That just made Hannah more annoying. Add another annoying quirk to her already loathsome character. Also, Hannah puncturing her eardrum with the q-tip and then doing it again knowingly to the other ear made me physically ill, I just hated every moment of that experience.
Season 1 Hannah: totally relatable
What bothers me also is that Hannah went from being relatable to just being flat out pathetic. You can tell that Hannah thinks she is incredible, despite what she had said about herself in the first season, and it’s just frustrating. I did not need to see her yelling at Marnie that Marnie is the bad friend because she had sex with Hannah’s gay ex-boyfriend. Like excuse me? Your gay ex-boyfriend? Really? (Also, I hated that storyline in general because that just does not happen in real life, gay men do not just randomly hook up with straight women because they’re both attractive). That was pathetic of her. Hannah is no prized friend herself. And when she told that doctor man that she is “too sensitive” and “too not crazy”, I wanted to tear my eyes out. Hannah does this thing where she is pathetic and annoying and so extraordinarily needy, and then when she is finally called out, such as in the last episode in which that junkie downstairs yelled at her for having terrible insides and being a horrible person, it didn’t matter and she didn’t need to learn anything from his words, because she ultimately got what she wanted. And the show became a Meg Ryan movie for like five minutes, which was just not up my alley.
What also bothered me this season is that every man Hannah came across just wanted to make out with her or have sex with her. I am aware that Lena Dunham faces a lot of criticism about the way she looks, and that is not what I am commenting on here. I don’t have an issue with the way Hannah looks, aside from thinking that she dresses very unflatteringly. My problem here is that not every guy you meet is just going to want to have sex with your or make out with you. That just does not happen. Sometimes, a guy will just say “no, I would not like to make out with you”, and that is that. Life moves on. It’s just so frustrating to me, and it literally happened like four or five episodes in a row for Hannah. That is just not life.
My favorite characters on the show are Shoshana and Jessa, because I find them both hilarious. However, Jessa was almost non-existent this season. I understand that Jemima Kirke was pregnant, but I really just missed her. Also, we finally got an episode where Jessa shows her vulnerability, after breaking up with her husband, and then that is taken away from us. If anything, I would love an episode devoted to Jessa that looks into her further. And I’m not talking about the episode where she visits her father and Hannah randomly fucks her 19 year old step-brother or whatever relation he is to Jessa (for no reason whatsoever. But why wouldn’t that happen?). I mean a real episode, where we learn more about Jessa. We got an episode this season revolved around one character, but that was unfortunately Hannah. And it was my least favorite half hour of television to ever exist. Lena Dunham owes me back 28 minutes of my life.
This is what Jessa’s step-brother or whatever he is looks like. Who wouldn’t fuck him because of that turtleneck alone?
I love Shoshana but her hairstyles were just making me upset the entire season. However, ignoring her hairstyles, I loved the development of hers and Ray’s relationship; their admittance of “I love you” to one another was tear-jerkingly adorable. However, that was taken away from us when Shoshana made out with a doorman for essentially no reason. I understand people cheat, but this was just out of line and out of character for Shoshana. It’s like Lena Dunham knows that Shoshana is a fan favorite, so she has to go out of her way to make Shoshana dislikable, as she did with Hannah. It’s just extremely frustrating to watch.
No.
Stop.
Why?
I don’t even want to get started on Marnie because I think she is legitimately insane. Also, she had some funky hair this season that I wasn’t too keen of and Allison Williams’ acting abilities are questionable. I don’t even understand if Marnie and Hannah know each other anymore, they don’t even interact. That bothers me, I want to watch the show to see the interactions between the four girls, and this season just didn’t allow that. Luckily, I gained a new appreciation for the men on the show, so that’s at least one positive. But mostly, the second season of “Girls” was, for me, underwhelming and left a lot to be desired.
But I will say that Hannah’s bangs in the last episode were ridiculous, so at least we got to witness that.
Vindication.
alainpennylaine 