GIRLS: Season Six

I have followed this HBO show for the past few years and have enjoyed almost every moment of it. The last season of the series tries to put everything back together that season five tore apart. Does it do it in style and grace? Not at all, but that’s truly the core of the show and what makes everything beautiful about it.

The season begins with Hannah being hired as a writer to cover a secret sex surf camp in the Hamptons, where she meets a down-to-earth instructor and quickly does the business with him. Beyond her romp, she learns along the way what she wants in life and what she doesn’t. Hannah departs from the Hampton surf location and begins to extend herself more as a writer with greater accolades along the way (though, slow and steady with those accolades). She also prepares her return to the hectic life of New York City, as well as her friends and their own muddled lives.

The first few episodes of season six set the tone for Hannah’s journey, while she grows more focused on what she wants in life and tries shedding those things, and people, around her that try to interrupt that focus and flow. The writing at the beginning of the season is solid and shows its hands on what direction Hannah is going. More importantly, it also creates a more cohesive and carefully crafted main storyline, which the previous season had a hard time doing.

As the journey continues throughout the first part of the season, and as Hannah gets further into her writing while trying to keep on the right track that best suites her, the side stories set up in the previous seasons, such as Marnie and Ray getting together, Adam and Jessa continuing their wild life leading to an independent film driven by Adam, and Loreen coming to terms (finally) with her gay husband’s new life, begin to have some resolution to them. All of them hit fifth gear when Hannah is revealed to be pregnant, as her urgency to make sure life is resolved in NYC before leaving it.

The side stories provide padding and interest to Hannah’s main journey, as well as act to help clear up her life into things that matter and people who want to be apart of it once she is gone from NYC. The writers and director of the show really did a solid job with balancing out these side stories to meticulously position themselves within the overall journey.

Seeing how Marnie separates herself from everyone other than Hannah carries the series home by the end. Her journey to find her perfect partner in life, even going as far as to almost falling back into love with her ex-husband Desi, is a tough one to watch. Equally as tough is Marnie’s journey in deciding to part ways with Ray, though technically he does the parting. Her growth from the beginning of season six to the end of it is well documented and treated carefully.

Loreen’s story, where she is finally coming to terms with her gay husband, as well as her ultimately laid out life alone, is also a smaller journey similar to Marnie’s. She decides in the season to finally start moving on and finding a new way to live happier, even when life seems bleak. She comes in and out of Hannah’s life in season six when appropriate and helps Hannah to move on to a new life in the last episode. I have enjoyed her more in this season than any other seasons prior, as her character is better developed in 10 episodes and is finally given a strong voice that has been missing. She is no longer the two-dimensional jaded housewife, rather the voice of reason, if not a soothsayer of sorts. I really enjoyed her in this season.

Ray and Shosh’s small journey, one which is a little understated, but nonetheless powerful in season six, is brief. Ray breaks up with Marnie after the death of Hermie and begins to serve a greater purpose in the Brooklyn area. His story goes from lost, lonely and complain-y to doing something he loves and respects, which is document the history of Brooklyn through audio recordings. It’s a cool transition in season six for Ray, certainly a happier one, but one that doesn’t get enough screen time as it should.

As for Shosh, her story goes south really quick. I won’t say how, but it certainly takes a lot of sunshine away from what she had been built up to be in prior seasons. Maybe it’s not the best way for her character to end the series, but it is an ending. It certainly connects back to Hannah and helps push her upward and onward.

As for Adam and Jessa, it’s a sick story that ends properly and then suddenly begins again. I know that’s not many details, but you should know they make their own movie, separate and come back together again. It personifies addiction between the characters and the story is created by that very term. You will read a lot into it, but their story heavily plays into Hannah’s. It rightfully plays into it and resolves some much needed loose ends before Hannah departs.

All separate stories, all that connect in a smooth way to Hannah. They aren’t simply side shows to pad a shallow story inside of episodes, rather they’re meaningful pieces that make sure to support the overall need.

Again, very well-written and much better than season five.

As these stories get resolved and the season begins to wrap, as does the series, it does so on such a graceful and beautiful note. Hannah, Marnie and Loreen end up in the country and everyone else is left to their own device. Hannah figuratively sheds her friendship baggage and focuses on her new son in one final episode of the show. The last show acts as the butterfly finally coming out of her cocoon and realizing the next phase of her life as a single-mother, writer and someone who arrives. It’s a final death throw of Hannah that shifts into her next step, the next great journey and a peaceful note of serenity. How it gets there is nothing particular special, but the episode itself is something to behold. In short, it’s a great way to wrap a series that has been carefully crafted and created, beautifully directed and written, and given everything and all by the players who made it work.

While she certainly doesn’t need to know this because she already knows it, Lena Dunham is a masterful creator of one of the finest, truest shows to have been created.

Bravo, Lena Dunham and excellent work on a season series finale, as well as a shows.