Watch me recap this episode in a sentence: Marnie looks for a job, while Hannah hates on Adam and fights with her new boyfriend for no real reason.
If you saw the preview, you saw the episode. It’s more of the same, but if you watched Girls on Sunday you already knew that. At the end of this episode, I found myself asking the same question as last week “what exactly happened?” The first season had its flaws but at least the girls had stuff to do, something to say.
This season it’s basically asking the audience to watch and be entertained by the mundane realities of the lives of Hannah and co. Thus far, it feels very much a play-by-play: see Hannah wake up with roommate Elijah, see Hannah visit friends, see Hannah and Marnie continue to tiptoe around their broken friendship, see Hannah with her new boyfriend, see more crazy Adam. And, Hannah fake-dialing 911 on Adam doesn’t really count as an eventful episode for me. If that’s the hook to get me to come back next week…
It just feels like a rehash of the previous season. We get it, Marnie is confused, Hannah is supposed to be deep, and Adam is crazy. I was waiting for Dunham to turn it up this season, and thus far what she has handed me is what feels like the scribbles in the diary of a pseudo-intellectual. She may think this stuff sounds funny when she’s writing it in her head, but I’m not buying it this year. Something feels off, and it’s really unfortunate because the first season had direction.
Perhaps I am expecting too much out of it, but I cannot help but draw on comparisons to Sex and the City, also about four single ladies. Unlike Girls, Sex and the City never lacked direction. During every episode, all four of the female characters had a storyline. Thus far we’ve had very little time with Jessa (even in season 1), and Shoshanna is basically just there to walk on screen and mumble something stupid.
It’s just so boring. Obviously it’s rooted in reality as much as possible but come on…the entire 30 minutes basically consists of characters talking back and forth to each other. We learn nothing new about these characters either, so the dialogue is basically pointless. The plots are sorely lacking and nothing is moving forward. As a result, it’s crossing over into Fox Searchlight territory, teetering on the edge of becoming too much hipster for its own good.
It’s time to give these characters something — anything — to do besides walking around acting confused all the time. If season 1 was supposed to set up the conflict, season 2 should follow through on it. Waiting…
My name is Cory Allen. I am a hopeless romantic, media junkie, and animal rights activist. I also watch way to much TV. My current favorites include “True Blood,” “Weeds,” and Food Network shows- “Cupcake Wars,” “Chopped,” and “Food Network Star” are my favorites.