HBO aired the final two episodes of the fifth season of “Girls” on Sunday, which found Hannah (Lena Dunham) bonding with her college classmate and frenemy Tally (Jenny Slate), Marnie (Allison Williams) trying to understand her romantic impulses toward Ray (Alex Karpovsky), Shoshanna (Zosia Mamet) embracing her role as a marketer, and Jessa (Jemima Kirke) and Adam (Adam Driver) trying to make sense of their budding relationship. Amanda Hess, a staff writer, Margaret Lyons, the TV critic for Watching (the Times newsletter), and Jenna Wortham, a staff writer for The New York Times Magazine, discuss the entire season, and where the show might be headed in its sixth and final season.
This conversation contains spoilers.
JENNA WORTHAM I haven’t cried this much watching television since rewatching the second season of “Grey’s Anatomy.” Even Hannah Horvath, who at one point felt like a monstrous caricature of a millennial, has been cracking me up this season. And the look on her face when she realized Adam and Jessa were together … whew. Everyone is growing in a way that feels so painful, and honest and real.
“Girls” has suffered a little as it’s become less of a unicorn. In the last few years, there are so many new and interesting television shows and story lines about women (and by them and for them) on television, so the show hasn’t been as special or as singular since its debut in 2012. But having a little breathing room has gone a long way. I started watching this season when a few friends mentioned how good it’s gotten and I agree: The writing is stronger than ever, and episodes, especially the ones directed by Jesse Peretz, have beautifully poignant arcs. I’m so glad this isn’t the final season, that we get a few more episodes before the end-end. How did the show get so good? What do we think changed since last season?
MARGARET LYONS: I liked last season! I liked this season, too, though I’m in the minority because I absolutely hated “The Panic in Central Park,” where Charlie re-emerges and turns out to be a heroin addict. And I did not love “Homeward Bound,” last week’s episode where Hannah dumps Fran, jumps on Ray, and eventually hitchhikes back to New York. But I wanted “Hello Kitty,” the Kitty Genovese episode, to last for nine hours; I was riveted, and the closing moments, when Hannah realizes that Jessa and Adam are together, just knocked me out. I would have called it the best acting moment of the “Girls” season, but Elijah’s slow crumple as he realizes his not-quite-boyfriend Dill is rejecting him might best it.
JW: Margaret, that scene with Elijah walking toward the window in Dill’s apartment, with the glittery New York scape spilling out below, right as “iT” by Christine and the Queens swells behind him — it slayed me. It was absolutely devastating, a sign of how much the show is pushing its characters to confront their desires — and ask themselves if the shiniest things are necessarily the best things. It wrenched my heart right open — and showed off Lena Dunham’s creation at its best. This season also really brought home how good “Girls” is at capturing the spirit of New York, and it’s power to transform everyone that lives here. It is so good at filling that “Sex and The City” shaped hole in my heart.
AMANDA HESS: I’m feeling it, you guys. As the series had marched on, something had become unbelievable about this foursome staying glued together as a friend unit. They aligned in college or just after, but many of these relationships tend to unstick by the time women reach 30. Unlike “Sex and the City” — where the regular brunch date served as a kind of otherworldly purgatory for staging boozy debates about feminism and sex — “Girls” is not timeless. These girls change. And so it was satisfying to see them head off on their own this season — Shoshanna in Japan, Hannah at her mom’s midlife-crisis moon-goddess retreat, Marnie on her heroin-fueled lark with Charlie, even Jessa kicking around with Adam on Coney Island. And to see them hang out with new girls, too! Watching Tally and Abigail, played by Jenny Slate and Aidy Bryant, step in as emergency contacts for Hannah and Shosh was a highlight of the show for me. Also, finally giving honorary girl Elijah the romantic subplot he deserves.
JW: Was it just me or does Shoshanna in Japan feel a little like when Don Draper went to California? Similar Draper dream vibes when Marnie put on the red dress….
AH: Japan has been working double time this year as the go-to destination for white indie girls who need a life change. In “Master of None,” Dev’s girlfriend Rachel torpedoes their relationship by announcing her exit to Tokyo. (She even dyes her hair, too!). But there was something really appropriate about seeing Shosh in Harajuku, a place that in all of its aesthetics, so perfectly reflects Shoshanna’s intense, girlie drive. I agree with her ex-boss Abigail: I’d watch the Shosh and Yoshi show any day of the week.
JW: Yes, we seriously need a Yoshanna spin off. Side note — Grace/Simon Dunham’s micro-cameos as a salty coffee barista have been so great.
ML: “Girls” really benefited from the change of scene. (I’d loop Hannah’s time in Iowa in with that, too.) I’ve never been a big Shosh person, but seeing her bob around in Tokyo gave her new context: What would Shosh be like if being “the weird one” wasn’t what defined her? She’d be more confident, maybe, and more grounded.
The big question of this season, posed to each character in a different way, was: How do you know you are growing up? For Shosh, that answer was professional success; her little victory dance with Colin Quinn at Ray’s coffee bar was as happy as we’ve ever seen her.
For Marnie, her answer was getting married. She turned out to be wrong of course; marriage is almost always a bad answer, but that doesn’t mean people don’t think it’s the answer. I think her ultimate grown-up move might be getting divorced. For Jessa, it’s being in a real — and sober — relationship. (I wish we saw more of her schooling; I bet she’s an interesting classmate.) For Elijah, it’s being vulnerable. For Hannah’s dad, Tad, it’s being out. Out out. For her mom, Loreen, maybe it’s being on her own after all.
So what is it for Hannah? I think she declared it for herself in her story for the Moth. It’s being free, even just for a little bit. Free of her own bad behavior: Not flashing anyone, not sneaking off to have sex at the spa, not throwing herself at — or on — Ray, not scolding her parents. Just chill. For 10 minutes. Whether any of these characters actually wants to grow up is a different story…
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