Girls: Season 2 Premiere

It’s not perfect. So for all of you Girls haters out there, yes, I see you and I get you. And the cliché quip would be, “But that’s the point! These women aren’t perfect and they lead delusional, self-destructive, I f*** without a condom lives!” But that would be the easy way out.

So I won’t go there. But I will say, when you’re wading through the trash that has become television and your fingers are sadly and slowly forming carpal tunnel syndrome, Girls should be a place to pause. Perhaps solely because there are multiple moments in every episode where you stop and think, “Yup, I’ve been there. I know how that feels,” and it’s nice, maybe even pleasant, to know someone else feels it too.

Call me sappy, but it’s true.

We’re back where we left off. Hannah (Lena Dunham) lives with her gay-ex-renewed-buddy Elijah (Andrew Rannells). They love being roomies. They want to plan soirees and Japanese snack parties and salon shindigs. It’s swell. Marnie (Allison Williams) has been fired. She’s too skinny, needs to get laid and is undeservedly lonely. Shoshanna (Zosia Mamet) is still on edge about breaking her hymen. What a prude.

Side note: the above paragraph was directly taken from my freshman year notebook. It just so happens to pertain identically plot-wise to the first episode of Girls.

Oh, and let’s not forget about Adam (Adam Driver). Poor guy. His leg is in a massive cast and Hannah has taken on the role of caretaker. He asks her to fetch water and she’s at his command. Their relationship has always remained perplexing, and for this reason, shamefully relatable. She doesn’t want to be with him, but she’ll abandon her own party to bring him painkillers.

And then there’s the tease of Jessa (Jemima Kirke) and her new hubby Thomas (Chris O’Dowd). Looks as if they’ve had quite a honeymoon (evidence can be attested to half a head of corn rows).

It’s hard to decipher what exactly Girls is trying to be. Because Dunham is such a new voice and she happens to be a young female, there’s a pressure to acknowledge a certain importance. Is she making a statement about feminism? What does her nudity mean? Why doesn’t she execute a multi-racial cast? Oh, wait…is that Donald Glover in episode one?

Dunham has always possessed certain modesty. Judd Apatow likes her.  She’s grateful and amazed. She’s handed a golden ticket and by golly, she makes the most of it. She’s doing what she knows. And she’s always been very open about that. If Girls happens to make statements about politics, gender roles, economical circumstances for young Americans with a college degree…that was never the point, but the subsequential effect. The truth about a specific circumstance usually illuminates a greater, more universal truth. It’s why the Beatles can write a song about “Anna” or “Julia” or “Michelle” and we find them magical. We have our own ladies but by a different name.

Girls is never short of shockers. Some may find one particular sexual scene distasteful. We may not have all been in that strange circumstance, but the feelings of rejection and confusion and hilarity are boldly familiar.

Through the specificity of her characters, Dunham connects to these universal truths. If viewers can throw the gender and circumstance of her main subjects out the window, there’s an opportunity to really connect with them.

But that’s not to say Girls doesn’t have flaws. It can be slow and whiny and Shoshannah can be wildly obnoxious. It has serious growing to do. But in the hands of Dunham and Apatow, it’s most assuredly possible.