I watched Season 1 in one sitting. It felt representative of my generation, the quarter-lifers. It felt real, very unSex and the City like. The posters of which pop up in the background reminding us how different this is from SatC. It was a novel and authentic take on the this generation, the angst, the uncertainty, the aimless wandering that we feel.
***SPOILER ALERT***
The scene of the first episode set the tone so perfectly with Hannah getting cut off. It's just such a perfect expression of the sentiment of the times. Our baby boomer parents must be feeling the financial drag and the emotional strain of nursing us from afar. The endless articles have documented this blight ad nauseum, the lost generation. And us children are left to float on, with the full confidence that our upbringing has afforded us, but the lack of focus, determination and put-togetherness to afford us the opportunity to prove our worth.
Most of this is our own fault, and we know it. Episode 2 gives that excellent and cringeworthy interview scene that we've all experienced like watching our own car wreck in slow motion.
All these characters are instantly relatable. There is nary a college weary urbanite that can't identify or have friends and acquaintances who aren't the less obnoxious versions of any characters on this show.
These characters and the absurdly funny Apatow-esque plots drew me in and kept me interested through the first season.
My favourite was Episode 9. It has so many memorable scenes: when Jess has that conversation with Kathryn Hahn's character, we really see her character challenged; similarly with Hannah's reading; and the fight with Marnie.
I couldn't wait to follow these characters into the next season! I couldn't wait to see what this scrappy upstart of Lena Dunham could offer the world and show what our generation can do if only given the opportunity.
And then Season 2 happened, and made me question Lena Dunham's abilities. It almost seems like what happened to Hannah on the show happened in real life to the writers. It felt like after the show gained attention (just as Hannah got her book deal), the pressure of it all got to Ms. Dunham as well. Season 2 hemorrhaged dialogue, plot twists, and detours that was not in the spirit of what Season 1 set this show out to be. WHAT HAPPENED?
Season 2 felt like the boring set of pages Hannah sent in to the editor. In fact, everything that George says about Hannah's writing can be said about this season: "I didn't know who was writing them", "Where's the sexual failure?"
When referring to her having sex with a teenager, George says that it's the stuff we need. Ironically, that episode when Jess goes to see her father, and also the episode previous where Adam and Ray go return the dog... THAT was the show I fell in love with.
The drama with Elijah, the Marnie/Charlie will-they-won't-they bullshit ("You won't get any of this" WTF?! This is so inconsistent with the Charlie we know from season 1), the sudden onset OCD (feels like an unnecessary and desperate attempt to add some drama and depth to Hannah but not too much), the doctor plot detour (a smoking hot 40 year old recently separated doctor... this just sounds like a writer's wet dream, not from an authentic show like Girls), Charlie starting his own company plot twist (seriously? a musician writes and app without any technical help, no co-owners/co-founders?). All of this just wreaks of Sex and the City, which is not why I wanted to watch this show in the first place!
It feels like Season 2 came from a newly successful writer that felt the crushing pressure recreate a best seller. And now we have a work that's just pedestrian.
I really hope season 3 improves or that's when I'll give up on this show.
***SPOILER ALERT***
The scene of the first episode set the tone so perfectly with Hannah getting cut off. It's just such a perfect expression of the sentiment of the times. Our baby boomer parents must be feeling the financial drag and the emotional strain of nursing us from afar. The endless articles have documented this blight ad nauseum, the lost generation. And us children are left to float on, with the full confidence that our upbringing has afforded us, but the lack of focus, determination and put-togetherness to afford us the opportunity to prove our worth.
Most of this is our own fault, and we know it. Episode 2 gives that excellent and cringeworthy interview scene that we've all experienced like watching our own car wreck in slow motion.
All these characters are instantly relatable. There is nary a college weary urbanite that can't identify or have friends and acquaintances who aren't the less obnoxious versions of any characters on this show.
These characters and the absurdly funny Apatow-esque plots drew me in and kept me interested through the first season.
My favourite was Episode 9. It has so many memorable scenes: when Jess has that conversation with Kathryn Hahn's character, we really see her character challenged; similarly with Hannah's reading; and the fight with Marnie.
I couldn't wait to follow these characters into the next season! I couldn't wait to see what this scrappy upstart of Lena Dunham could offer the world and show what our generation can do if only given the opportunity.
And then Season 2 happened, and made me question Lena Dunham's abilities. It almost seems like what happened to Hannah on the show happened in real life to the writers. It felt like after the show gained attention (just as Hannah got her book deal), the pressure of it all got to Ms. Dunham as well. Season 2 hemorrhaged dialogue, plot twists, and detours that was not in the spirit of what Season 1 set this show out to be. WHAT HAPPENED?
Season 2 felt like the boring set of pages Hannah sent in to the editor. In fact, everything that George says about Hannah's writing can be said about this season: "I didn't know who was writing them", "Where's the sexual failure?"
When referring to her having sex with a teenager, George says that it's the stuff we need. Ironically, that episode when Jess goes to see her father, and also the episode previous where Adam and Ray go return the dog... THAT was the show I fell in love with.
The drama with Elijah, the Marnie/Charlie will-they-won't-they bullshit ("You won't get any of this" WTF?! This is so inconsistent with the Charlie we know from season 1), the sudden onset OCD (feels like an unnecessary and desperate attempt to add some drama and depth to Hannah but not too much), the doctor plot detour (a smoking hot 40 year old recently separated doctor... this just sounds like a writer's wet dream, not from an authentic show like Girls), Charlie starting his own company plot twist (seriously? a musician writes and app without any technical help, no co-owners/co-founders?). All of this just wreaks of Sex and the City, which is not why I wanted to watch this show in the first place!
It feels like Season 2 came from a newly successful writer that felt the crushing pressure recreate a best seller. And now we have a work that's just pedestrian.
I really hope season 3 improves or that's when I'll give up on this show.