Pick of the Month: GIRLS - TV Series

 
Comedy/Drama
Rated – M
Duration – 5 Seasons
Release – 2012-2016
Creator –Lena Dunham
Cast –Lena Dunham, Allison Williams, Jemima Kirke, Zosia Mamet, Adam Driver, Alex Karpovsky

Mr Knight and I are taking it in turns to share with you a “Pick of the Month”. Mr Knight previously did Jurassic World and for my first one I have chosen the TV Series Girls. I warn you, there may be a couple of spoilers.

I have so many opinions on this show that I don’t know where to start. I was very reluctant to watch it, as I heard it was like Sex & the City, but for women in their 20’s. I’m immediately sceptical when someone tries to compare something to one of my favourite TV Series, but with that aside, I thought I would give it a go.

Girls introduces us to four very different female friends, living in New York. The funny and quirky one, pretty one, nerdy one, and the hippy one. This is a very brief desciption of theIr personalities, there is of course more layers, but I just want to give you the idea. The show gives us an insight into their lives from love, friendship, careers and family. From my summary, you probably wouldn’t expect it, but this show actually goes against every cliché you would imagine. So much so, that it made me feel uncomfortable that nothing was ever in their favour or going how I expected. I found this quite depressing.

In the first episode we see Hannah; who is played by the writer/creator Lena Dunham seeking attention from her sort of boyfriend Adam (Adam Shakler). I initially thought, “There is no way this guy will be a central character. What a loser!” SPOILER ALERT. He is the central boyfriend character throughout the entire season! This was when I realised, every single character was unlikeable. Including the story line.

Another thing which annoyed me was that I didn’t understand why Hannah needed to be naked in every single episode. I understand many women found this empowering as she’s not the typical image of a ‘perfect’ body (not a size 6). But I didn’t find this empowering at all. I really didn’t need to see her topless every single episode. This is only one example of something that made me cringe.

These girls live their lives around drama and I found this tedious to watch. While one major thing happened each season, I didn’t feel like anything happened in an episode – does that make sense? The stupid thing is, I continued to watch it. Actually, I binged on it, by watching the whole series in about a month. This doesn’t mean I didn’t complain the entire time.

While everything that Hannah (and all of them) did annoyed me, by the end of Season 4, I liked her. And Adam, and Jessa. Well… I at least want to see what happens to them. Which is why I continued watching and I’m looking forward to Season 5. I think I’m just used to seeing polished characters, who have highs and lows. I feel Girls has raw characters with lows and lows… It is definitely not Sex & the City (how dare you even suggest that!) but I think it is worth watching. You will know from the first episode if you want to watch more. You may not like it. But you will want to watch more.