Girls was always there...

I decided for my first official post to be a review of the second season of one of my favorite shows on television... HBO's Girls. Sure the show has had its criticism, some of which I fully agree with, but this season as a whole to me was good. Not just good but I felt it to be a strong season, one of which showed off the many talents of everyone in the cast. Some great strong scenes between the most unlikely couple on television, Shoshanna (Zosia Mamet) and Ray (Alex Karpovsky), and comic reliefs such as Elijah (Andrew Rannells). But the show isn't all kicks and giggles, it shows true relationships, true friendships, and true life as it is. Raw, unsexy, and most of the time not the way you want it to be. To me, the friendships on the show are genuine. Not just actors acting out a scene, but real women figuring out life one step at a time. Even as the friendships begin to stray, and aren't so heavily featured like they once were in season 1, you still feel for these characters. The rare moments we do get to see these friendships, they are heartbreaking and to me could not be closer to the truth. Hannah (Lena Dunham) and Marnie's (Allison Williams) relationship to me is the most sincere. Even as they fight, you can still see they care for each other. They try to pretend their lives are okay and in doing this makes it relatable for all of us. When one fights with a friend, or anyone they care about, they try to put on a smile and say everything is okay. While in the back of their minds, everything isn't okay. So goes human nature I suppose, but in the end these two characters care for each other, even if the friendship can appear to be one sided, troubled, and even extremely dysfunctional at times.

The relationships in the show are very honest, most of the time, and can show how falling in love can be messy and undeserved sometimes. The relationship between Shoshanna and Ray is one of the most raw ones of the show. It shows first love, in the eyes of Shosh, and responsibility that must be obtained to show true ambition for the one they love, as the case is in Ray. These two find each other, through unlikely odds, and stick with each other through a rocky relationship. Shoshanna's fresh, young outlook on life is refreshing, comical, and genius at times, but Rays cynical views toward everything border on the annoying, yet realistic. The relationship between Marnie and Charlie (Christopher Abbott) is predictable, but sweet. Even though I know how Marnie has treated him in the past, I still find myself rooting for them. It could simply be because of Lena Dunham's skilled writing or the fact that Charlie is so in love with this girl you can't help but root for them just so he can have his happy ending... or the ending he considers happy. In the end, like the real world, sometimes people decide to make less than favorable choices and in relationships this is also the case. With Charlie he chooses to see passed the narcissistic, self involved character that is Marnie, but will he find his happy ending with her...that answer has yet to be seen.

One of the greatest relationships of the show, in my opinion, is Adam (Adam Driver) and Hannah. It shows two characters, both crazy, socially awkward, and in need of a serious reality check. Sure, both characters can be less than likeable at times but when together I feel they balance each other out in this weird way that almost makes sense in a world where sense is usually the first thing to go out the window. Even as the characters split and lose contact from one another, they still linger throughout the others mind. In one episode as Hannah breaks down, Adam puts aside all their differences and runs to her rescue in one of the most beautifully well done scenes of the season. It shows the love and devotion to one another and proves the saying that when separated we are weaker but together we are stronger ..well at least that's the case with Hannah and Adam. 

With life, Girl's seems to handle it with a realistic grace that tugs at the heart strings of even the most cold hearted gal. Rather it be discussing family issues, the hardships of finding work in this economy, finding love or a solid friendship, or just having Hannah walk around in a mesh top with no bra on it still shows the ups and downs of life. Some times it can be shown in a comical life.... mostly these scenes show the fabulous Elijah being the witty voice of reason... or it being serious, in which case the emotional roller coaster that is Girls takes you for a ride, but a light one full of laughs, tears, and the occasional malfunctions that leave you waiting there wishing the story line would hurry up. I must say I do miss the relationships and the solid story lines that made me fall in love with season one, but season two left me wanting more and the last two episodes reminded me something that I all but forgot about. Even though season two was different from season one, it was still the show I fell in love with and the Girls were all still there. As Adam put it in the last minutes of Girls season two, "I was always there..." and so was Girls even if it decided to hide under a rose colored blanket for awhile.        

~P.C.D