Girls (HBO)

Not sure what motivated me to watch the first two episodes of this controversial HBO comedy, but this morning I did and, frankly, the committee is still out on this one. On the surface this appears to be an attempt to take Sex and the City to a more shocking level, if you can imagine that, but shock value is the only thing I'm seeing two episodes in. The story of three twenty-somethings navigating the dangerous worlds of career and relationship in Manhattan is nothing special, but writer/creator Lena Dunham has thus far provided us with characters that it's pretty hard to empathize with. In the opening scene, we see learn that Hannah, Dunham's character, is being cut off by her parents (Peter Scolari, Becky Ann Baker), after financially supporting her for two years. She goes to her friends Marnie (Allison Williams) and Jessa (Jemima Kirk) that the solution to her problem is to go back to her parents and ask for two more years of support, backed by five or six pages of a book she's writing. We also learn that Hannah is in a relationship with a man named Adam (Adam Driver) who has no feelings for her, is just using her for sex, and could possibly be lying to her about using condoms during sex, which leads to a scene where Hannah is actually observed googling the results of what could happen with semen that drips out of the side of the condom. We also see a pregnant character ask her BFF's to support her when she decides to have an abortion and they all get there before she does. Not sure exactly what Dunham is trying to say here but not sure yet if it's worth wading through six seasons to find out.

I loved Lena Dunham at first. Tiny Furniture is very good.

I watched quite a bit of Girls & enjoyed it until I didn’t. Fun to see Adam Driver.

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I’m here only on Mondays, Wednesdays & Fridays. That’s why I’m here now.

Yeah, I already have a feeling I'm not going to make it through six seasons.

I can’t even imagine what they would be about.

Dunham was so fresh & different at the beginning of her career, yet relatable. Like Susie in Curb, Lena became a caricature of herself.

There's nothing fresh about Susie on Curb Your Enthusiasm that woman is nails on a chalkboard.

Wow surprised to see there wasn't a thread about this already. I remember watching this with my girl when it came out...pretty good but a lot of wasted fluff episodes if I remember correctly.

Watched ep 3 last night which featured a dumb as a box of rocks Hannah refusing to believe that her scummy boyfriend Adam (Adam Driver) might have given her an STD. Andrew Rannells was excellent as Hannah's ex, who she wanted to blame for the STD until she learned that he's now gay.

Watched two more episodes this morning and I'm finding Lena Dunham's character to be a bit of a moron. They began a sexual harassment story with Hannah with her boss (Richard Masur) that played out way too quickly with Hannah making all the wrong moves and eventually losing a job she didn't have to and really needed. I'm not thrilled with her addiction to Adam (Adam Driver). No matter how horribly he treats her, the guy is in her loins and she can't stay away from him. That scene in the park where all those nannies lost the kids they were caring for was kind of disturbing and the girl who plays Shoshanna talks to fast, I can barely understand anything she's saying. I also just figured out where I've seen Christopher Abbott who plays Charlie before. He was in a terrific movie with Jerrod Carmichael I saw a couple of years ago called On the Count of Three. He has the prettiest eyes since Cillian Murphy.

Am now eight episodes in on season one and the committee is still out on this one. I was impressed that when Hannah went home to visit her parents, she did not accept Mom's offer of financial help, which I didn't see coming since her parents cut her off in the pilot. Though we really didn't need full frontal Peter Scolari. I could have lived without that. The scene where Shoshanna freaks out after smoking crack proved that Dunham has never smoked crack and doesn't have a clue as to its effects. It should be noted that ep 7 was the first episode where Adam Driver wore a shirt. Though Driver is the only truly entertaining aspect of this show, playing a character who has no redeeming qualities whatsoever. Still not sure if I will be watching this entire show, but the minute Driver is out , so am I.

Watched episodes 9 and 10 yesterday, which marked the conclusion of season 1 .I'm growing quite tired of this Hannah character, an uncanny combination of self hatred and self absorbed that is really hard to cling to. Seriously wanted to slap her during that fight with Marnie when all she wanted to do is talk about herself when Marnie, just once, wanted to talk about her problems with Charlie. Marnie was pretty much supporting Hannah at this point and Hannah should be kissing her ass. I didn't understand why Marnie moved out instead of Hannah since Marnie is paying the rent. That former classmate of Hannah's who was having the book signing party was such a bitch, I hope that was a one time appearance. It was fantastic seeing Michael Imperioli as Hannah's former professor. Didn't understand Hannah's impulse not to read the story Powell wanted her to read, another example of her being so completely full of herself. The confrontation between Jessa and Katherine (played by the always watchable Kathryn Hahn) was absolutely superb, maybe the highlight of the episode. Bobby Moynihan was very funny as the officiate of Jessa's wedding, which I thought was really strange...why would she marry that guy? I'm done with Shoshanna, next to Hannah, the show's most annoying character and it's exhausting trying to understand everything she says she talks so fast. Adam Driver easily walked off with ep 10 with his despicable treatment of Hannah, which made the hair on the back of neck stand up. I don't know if I'm going to make it through all six seasons, but I'm going to give season 2 a shot.

Watched the first two episodes of season two this morning. Hannah's karaoke housewarming party was oddly riveting. I was a little disappointed that they had a karaoke party and didn't allow Andrew Rannells to sing. The attempted coupling of Elijah and Marnie was an epic fail. LOVED the appearance of Rita Wilson as Marnie's mother. She looked fantastic. Shoshanna continues to be the show's nails on a chalkboard character. Ray's attraction to her is almost as big a mystery as Hannah's attraction is to Adam. This whole thing of Hannah telling Adam she wants nothing to do with him in one scene and running to him whenever he calls her name is getting a little played, only because for some reason she really loves this guy and is in serious denial about it because she knows he's a douche. And can we talk about those scenes with Donald Glover? Wow, what the hell was going on there? I actually googled about it after watching and apparently there was a whole lot of tension between Glover and Dunham during his brief time on the show and it definitely showed onscreen. Their scenes together were literally uncomfortable to watch. My guess is it had something to do with the fact that Glover was already in the middle of Atlanta and was not feeling being under someone else's creative control, which doesn't surprise me at all. Their final scene together literally had me squirming.

I think I watched all of Girls when broadcast but remember very little. Kind of how I feel about a lot of the last 10-15 years dramady, which is why I don't care about much of it. From memory, hated Adam (and failed to see the ability or hotness of said actor so was completely lost on me though the following years have led me to believe that I'm quite alone in that), Hannah is that girl who picks at weeds in your garden while her own life is a bombsite she fails to recognise her part in. You can feel for her, but her lack of insight or ability to 'do what's necessary' even when she accepts it's to her detriment means you have to love her to stick with her and I never did. Marnie was hot and I liked Shosh, but then, I could understand her.

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5-time MoFo Award winner.

Watched eps 3 and 4 of season two this morning, and Adam Driver was really missed in these two eps. Didn't understand why Elijah (Andrew Rannells) felt it was so necessary to tell Hannah that he and sex with Marnie, because if I recall that scene, they didn't really have sex. They started too, but they stopped themselves. Hannah and Elijah's cocaine-fueled trip to the club was kind of silly. BTW, was that Nick Kroll playing Laird, the guy who gave Hannah the cocaine? Jessa's marriage lasted longer than I thought it would, their fight scene was excellent. That was weird when she showed up at Hannah's apartment and got in the bathtub with her though...ewww. Loved the fight between Marnie and Charlie's new girlfriend too. Everything she said to Marnie was pretty much on the money.

If I ever watched this, it would be for Allison Williams and Jemima Kirk, who I think are both criminally underrated in the industry. Sadly, though, I can’t stand Gerwig, so doubt I’ll get around to it.

Watched eps 5 and 6 last night of season two. Ep 5 was absolutely bonkers thanks to Hannah's behavior with the hunky Patrick Wilson. First of all, she should have told Ray, in front of Wilson, that she was the one who dumped the garbage in the doctor's can. Her going over there on the pretense of confessing when all she wanted to do was have sex with the guy made her look like a whore, period. And when she told the guy that she wanted him to beg her stay, I think I threw up in my mouth a little. When she woke up and he had gone to work, i really got the impression that she had no intention on leaving this guy's house ever. Really creepy episode that did nothing to endear me to Hannah. At least with episode six, we got the return of Adam Driver and his surprise bonding with Ray might have been the episode's highlight. And Marnie's new boyfriend, Booth, is an a**hole.

Wasn’t that the scene when Hannah actually DREAMT what she & Patrick did? It wasn’t real at all.

Watched eps 7 and 8 this morning. Jenna's reunion with her father was only made more awkward by Hannah there. The highlight of ep 8 was Adam's share at the AA meeting, even though I have a hard time believing that he's been sober since he was 17. Was that Carol Kane playing Natalia's mother? If it wasn't, it was someone who looked and sounded exactly like her. We definitely saw in ep 8 that Adam and Charlie are both moving on with their lives even if Hannah and Marnie aren't. I knew the second Charlie described his app that Marnie inspired it.

If that whole thing was a dream, I missed it or it hasn't been revealed yet.

Finished season two this morning. Eps 9 and 10 brought us a lot of weird stuff. As this show progresses, I'm finding it really hard to sympathize with Hannah, who seems to be her own worst enemy. She gets off the phone with her publisher who is threatening to sue her because she hasn't provided him with anything publishable yet. She then spends the rest of the episode cutting her hair and once again reconnecting with the toxic Adam. And that whole thing with the Q-tip in her ear was just gross. Speaking of Adam, I can't lie, when he told his new girlfriend to get on all fours and crawl into his bedroom, that was kind of hot. I couldn't believe it when he ran all the way to Hannah's apartment without putting on a shirt. What Marnie did at Charlie's party was completely inappropriate even it did work initially. Charlie and Marnie seems to be as healthy for each other as Hannah and Adam are. I felt bad for Ray, getting a big promotion and being dumped by Shoshanna the same day. Who is she to be dumping anyone? Not sure why, but I'm going to give season three a shot.

I didn’t know it was a dream until I started reading viewer comments. Not here, but other online places. It seemed odd to me that Wilson would be attracted to her so the dream made sense.