Tag Archives: Recaps

Many a critique of Girls starts with the phrase, "What's up with Lena Dunham and…" usually followed by some kind of fetish or hang-up accusation. Usually, I think it's unfair the way critics and viewers hold Dunham responsible for the thoughts and actions of her characters, but seriously, what's up with this chick and hazy memories of possible childhood sexual trauma? With the opening of "Video Games" we have two possible molestations so far this season (remembered by two different characters, no less). Sh!t is getting a little weird.

Of course, the number one charge levied against Dunham remains her supposed casting prejudice. Jemima Kirke (thought by many to the one exception to Dunham's pro-privilege hiring policy) is the daughter of Bad Company drummer Simon Kirke, a fact that may or may not have formed the foundation of this week's episode. After all, it could be a total coincidence that Jessa's dad is is portrayed as a burned out British bumpkin.

With the backdrop of rural upstate New York, Dunahm has, once again written Hannah into a situation in which she's even more of an outsider than usual. The situation on the Johansson family farm is reminiscent of The Return -  the fantastic season one episode in which Hannah revisits her own past, but this time we're getting insight into a far less readily accessible character. Jessa shares none of Hannah's rambling, open-book tendencies, making a visit to her dim-witted dad an eye-opening experience for Hannah and the audience alike.

In-depth discussions of 70s pubic hair aside, much is left to the imagination in "Video Games." Yes, Jessa's parents eat their pets and her dad seems to have lost track of his rehab stints, but ultimately all we learn about Jessa is that her relationship with her father is seriously strained (as we probably could've guessed) and both parties are at least partially to blame.

Naturally, Hannah finds occasion to have an awkward, inappropriate sexual encounter, but the focus of the episode remains on Jemima Kirke who gets the chance to show off some serious acting chops for the first time in the series' run.

One goal of Girls' second season seems to be fleshing out the shows' most ancillary characters and Jessa has existed on the fringes more than any other member of the series' core four. Thus far, Kirke's character has remained largely enigmatic not only to the audience, but to her closest friends (Hannah knows her best and is repeatedly rebuffed in her attempts to get closer), but "Video Games" reveals that despite her detached hipster tendencies, Jessa hides enough emotional depth to anchor a series of her own.

Side note: I don't if anyone else was disappointed that this episode didn't feature Lana Del Rey's zeitgeisty YouTube hit "Video Games," but deep cuts from Rilo Kiley and Aimee Mann provided more than adequate consolation.

Before its first episode debuted, Girls drew criticism for the fact that Lena Dunham and her three primary co-stars all came from privileged, show business upbringings. This may have never been an issue were it not for the fact that the show purports to be a realistic portrayal of the lives of struggling recent college grads leading paycheck-to-paycheck existences. How could four women who were all born with a foot in the door ever understand the struggles of the hostesses and baristas of Brooklyn?

You might think the critics would have been silenced when the first season of Girls revealed that Dunham has a far better understanding of the neuroses and desires of modern women than anyone involved with the production of Sex and the City (a show whose stars never had to answer for their childhoods). Instead, the idea that Dunham and her cast are too out of touch for their roles on the show (and, subsequently, in society) persists, and the series probably addressed this notion as directly it ever will with "One Man's Trash."

While the details of Dunham's background are irrelevant to the show's continued creative success, I doubt even the most stalwart Girls fans would say that the struggles faced by Hannah and her friends accurately reflect those of actual modern-day working stiffs. This week's episode, for example, begins with Hannah walking out of a job for the third time in a season and a half. Not the kind of habit that young people struggling to cover the rent usually fall into.

Fortunately, the remainder of the episode finds Hannah behaving in a far more relatable fashion. Aside from a strange fetish for illegally using other people's dumpsters (tres-trashing?) and some bizarre pop cultural references (Did anyone else have to Google Nancy Meyers?), Hannah reveals herself to be a semi-normal, confused girl with occasional picket-fence dreams this week. A nice break from the laugh-a-minute ball of quirks she's occasionally morphed into during season two.

Think about it: she apologizes for her inappropriate actions, falls for a seemingly normal, traditionally attractive guy and actually plays it cool and sticks around after the intercourse (no "sexit" this time). Joshua (professional handsome dude Patrick Wilson) is a recently separated doctor whom Hannah naturally bangs minutes after meeting, and she proceeds to actually charm him in a manner that's wholly out of character.

Not only do Hannah and Joshua share a lovely evening together (that, naturally, involves plenty of Lena Dunham nudity), they continue to enjoy each other's company the next day. Then, finally, comes the inevitable Hannah breakdown – this time, though, the weirdness may be all too relatable to much of Girls' target audience.

Simply put, Hannah is sick of "absorbing experiences" as a sexually adventurous, self-consciously bohemian struggling writer. She wants the kind of quiet, modestly affluent life that Joshua has built for himself. When she begins her strange, post-crying-jag rant in Joshua's bedroom it seems she's speaking for the millions of girls living Hannah-like existences in various hipster enclaves throughout the country.

Then, of course, she goes off the rails in the typical, egotistical fashion we've come to expect. After listening to Hanna declare herself "too smart and too sensitive" Joshua becomes visibly fed-up, realizing that his romance with Hannah was an ill-advised fling and she's stuck in the same self-obsessed mindset as his obnoxious hipster neighbors.

And like that, Hannah's attempt at playing house is over. The most Hannah-centric episode of the series thus far is also the most melancholy and possibly the most revealing of Dunham personally, as it seems the thought circulating through Joshua's mind during Hannah's breakdown is the same Dunham fears she inspires in her critics: who does this girl think she is?

More importantly, however, "One Man's Trash" also suggests that even if she was born with a leg-up in New York society, Lena Dunham knows what it means to yearn for a life you secretly suspect you don't deserve.