When I stopped hate-watching and learned to love Girls

CNN.com

 I was all set to "hate watch" it then something happened.

When I first wrote about Lena Dunham's much blogged about series, Girls, after seeing the pilot episode -- the only one I could watch for free when I was HBO-less last year -- I panned it.  Now, after finally watching the rest of season one I'm starting to dig it, and I'm eagerly awaiting what's in store for season two which premiers this Sunday.

This isn't to minimize the criticism leveled at Dunham or the show: the lack of diversity is still a big problem. (One that is apparently being addressed in season two, but I'm reserving judgement until I see it.) That the experiences of well-connected, well-educated, middle-class white women are being held as the standard is still a big problem, but Girls is extremely well-written and honest, even if that honestly is limited to Dunham's inner circle. The characters are flawed and not in adorable, or "adorkable" ways, Actually, flawed doesn't really describe it: most of them -- nay, all of them -- are pretty damn unlikeable. Everyone exists in their own narcissistic little "me" bubble. If there was ever a stereotype about twenty-somethings, this is it, and Dunham exploits the hell out of it.

Another thing I've come to appreciate, for better or worse, is that the sex scenes are some of the least sexy I've seen, at least compared to the stylized, backlit sex scenes typical of Hollywood. A lot of them are downright uncomfortable to watch. (I should also note that Hannah's middle-aged parents get to have the ugly sex too.) There's grossness to Girls that is really unheard of in a mainstream show, even one on pay cable, as if Duhnam is just daring us to watch. I don't even know if I'd call it "realness," since so many of the criticisms have to do with how unrealistic Girls is.

I'm more than a decade older than its target audience, so it's been some time since I've been in my twenties, before Facebook, YouTube, and having one's entire life cataloged and recorded for future reference. It's easy for me to look at Girls as nothing more than a curiosity, but I'd be lying if I said it wasn't even a little relatable. I'm pretty sure I didn't christen myself "the voice of a generation," but I'm not so old that I can't remember what it's like to think that you know it all only to find out you actually don't. Over the course of the first season, all of the characters have shown some semblance of growth even while they're still getting it wrong. That's enough to keep me watching.