GIRLS - Season One

 I've had a week to reflect on my thoughts about season one of Lena Dunham's GIRLS. I enjoy the show for the same reason I enjoy TREME; there's not another show like it on TV. But, unfortunately, GIRLS doesn't have enough going for it to make it loveable.

When the show was announced, it received comparisons to SEX AND THE CITY, only younger and more realistic. Um, okay. Yes, I know Carrie Bradshaw lived in an apartment way above her paygrade and had a Manolo Blahnik addiction that would've saddled her with credit card debt for the rest of her life. However, was her living situation so much different from Hannah and Marnie, who live in a sizeable Brooklyn two-bedroom on a lovely, quiet residential street? And they keep spouting off about how they live in Brooklyn all the time, like Brooklyn is the ghetto or cheap or something. No way Marnie could afford that place on an art gallery assistant's salary (ahem, Charlotte). So, financially realistic? Not so much.

The thing that worked about SATC was that those characters loved each other and, as different as they were, the audience believed that they would actually be friends. No matter how crazy their personal lives got, the show was still rooted in the women's relationships with each other, and that tethered everything to reality. GIRLS doesn't have that. I don't know why any of those girls like each other. I don't buy any of them as friends. Yes, they're all extremely self-centered, but that doesn't mean they'll be friends. And also, the best character on the show is Adam. When the best character on a show called GIRLS is the crazy, semi-a-hole, sort-of boyfriend of the lead character, that says a lot. The girls on GIRLS are not nearly as compelling as they should be.

I think the most interesting thing the show has done is appeal to men. I watch the show with Hubs (who hates SATC), and he likes GIRLS more than I do. He appreciates the raw feeling the show has, and I agree. It seems like every episode of GIRLS originates from an idea of an awkward scene or moment and then the show is formed around that. It's a formula that creates some funny moments, but doesn't make for the strongest episodes.

The season finale was a complete misstep for me. Yes, characters need to have arcs. The definition of a character arc does not mean that each of your characters has to end up 180 degrees from where they started, but that's exactly what GIRLS did. It was like they made a list:

-Shoshanna. She's a virgin. By the end of the finale, she won't be. (Okay, I'll give them that one. That actually is a realistic progression that makes sense).

-Marnie. She's an uptight control freak. (I know this not because she acts uptight [she masterbates in public restrooms, so I guess it's all semantics], I know Marnie is uptight because every character on the show constantly tells us that she's uptight). So in the finale, we'll have her pick out the most annoying wedding guest and bang him. Nothing less uptight than slumming. (And, really, it was much more in her character to just hook up with her ex in the bathroom, because we know she's cool with public bathroom sexual activity. We also know she still wants to feel like she has the upper hand in that "relationship".)

-Jessa. She started out as the free-spirited chick who will do anything just to have done it. So we'll have some minor character give her a wierd and inappropriate motherly talking to, and an episode later she'll MARRY a dude that tried to have a threesome with her and Marnie and yelled at them when they spilled wine on his rug. Naturally.

-Adam. At the beginning of the season, he doesn't want to be in a relationship. By the finale, we'll have him practically bathing Hannah's feet and begging her to let him move in. And then he'll violently scream at her about it. But he's crazy, so it makes sense. Mmm-hmm.

-Hannah. She seems secure. But she'll admit that she's the most scaredest scaredy-cat person in the whole widest world. What is she so scared of? She doesn't say. Nothing honest will come out of her mouth, but she'll talk about how she's insecure about her body. A body that she hasn't been afraid to bare in every single episode. A body that in the season finale will be wearing a dress with a hemline six inches shorter than anyone with body issues would wear.

Needless to say, I didn't like this list all that much.

Yes, characters need to have arcs, preferably in the 45-90 degree range. When a character turns 180 degrees, they aren't the same character anymore. Movie characters may be able to do a complete turnaround (though I doubt it would feel realistic) because the film will end soonafter. A TV show can't sustain character flip-flopping. It just makes the viewer ask, who the hell are these people? And why am I watching them?