Tuesday, March 19, 2013

Girls Watch: "Together"

Sunday's finale felt a little flat, at least compared to the build up from last week's disconcerting sex scene with Adam and Natalia, and Hannah's self-injurious behavior. Season finales are, by nature, underwhelming, especially for those who've devoted an hour of their lives each week. I liked the parody "rom-com" ending, with Adam running shirtless through the streets to "save" Hannah, over a montage of the other characters' live unraveling, also. Although that plays heavily (if cheekily) into some tired old tropes about women needing salvation, it's subverted, too, with not only Hannah and Adam back to where they started, but the rest of the cast regressing as well.

One of the best quotes I've about this season came from Velvetpark 's Marcie Blanco in a post for AfterEllen : "I think the show's brilliant because there is no teleology, no morality, no endgame. we're getting exposure of a particular Gen Millen culture without the judgement (except that, as Dunham knows, we as humans always judge, hence our frustration with the characters...)" I think this perfectly sums up Girls appeal, as well as the frustration viewers feel wanting to root for these characters. They're almost too real. And too real doesn't always translate very well on TV.

I know Girls, and Lena Dunham in general, is pretty polarizing among women, but there's still a lot I like about it -- and her -- flaws and all. Dunham's film, Tiny Furniture, a sort of proto-Girls, has been airing intermittently on Sundance. It's a good pickup, if anything, to see how Dunham has grown as a writer and filmmaker.

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