I was hesitant to start Girls for so long, even when I had a friend a few years ago recommending it to me every other day, quoting it nonstop, and telling me how much of a genius Lena Dunham is. Dunham has been involved in various controversies, and ultimately has been declared problematic— another factor in me shying away from the show. Until recently, I thought everyone was just being overly dramatic about how good the show is; I also thought it was short, like two seasons, until I discovered it had six seasons, spanning over five years.
Eventually, I caved. I saw so many TikToks and posts on X (formerly Twitter) talking about how it’s the best show ever made and how every girl in their 20s should watch it. So, I figured, now that I’m in my 20s, I guess it’s time. And I’ve never been so grateful to start and finish something like I did with Girls.
Girls shows a realistic (for the most part) life of four girls, three post-grad and one still in college in the beginning, trying to figure out life in New York City. Written by Dunham, we follow Hannah (Lena Dunham), Marnie (Allison Williams), Jessa (Jemima Kirke), and Shoshannah (Zosia Mamet) all exploring possibilities regarding their careers, friendships, and relationships. Along with the women, the show also follows their boyfriends’ and non-boyfriends’ lives as well, with the inclusion of Adam (Adam Driver) as Hannah’s friends-with-benefits relationship turned boyfriend-girlfriend relationship. He also ended up dating Jessa at the end of the show, and honestly, I was shocked he was even in the entire show. I think it’s just the fact that Driver is this big time actor now, with awards (actually specifically for Girls) and Academy nominations, that caused me to be surprised that he was in a sitcom for so long. Regardless, he was incredible in his role as the ditsy Adam Sackler.
Broadway actor Andrew Rannells also joined the show as Elijah shortly into Season one, and he was probably the best character on screen. And then of course, there’s Ray (Alex Karpovsky) (whom I totally saw on the street when I was at San Marzano a few weeks ago) who dates Shoshannah and Marnie, while being intimate for a minute with Hannah, who’s too important to forget (and may or may not have been my favorite character).
The characters are probably the worst part of the show, yet simultaneously the best. There are maybe two truly likable characters, but that’s really the whole point. What Dunham seemed to want to show was that no one is really likable in their 20s. No one is likable when they’re trying to figure out their lives and who they are. People think that college students are the ones that need to figure out their lives, but truthfully, college students have it so easy, until maybe senior year. They have structure, and most of the time, are still supported by their families. But once they’re out and graduated, parents stop fully supporting them, friends move to other places, oftentimes never to be spoken to again, and life finally begins. Dunham used the inclusion of Hannah’s parents so well throughout this series, with one scene specifically standing out to me: when Hannah’s mother, Loreen tells Hannah that dating a strange man (Adam) is hard, but the words she uses within this scene are so obviously fracturing to Hannah that you can see in her eyes she understands what her mother is saying, yet defends Adam, saying she loves him.
Obviously, I’m still in college, barely into my 20s, and haven’t truly faced hardships in my life, but I think this show changed the future trajectory of my life, career, friendships, and relationships, and it has me looking at everything differently now. I continuously see people talking about how this is a show that needs to be watched in your 20s, and then again in your 30s, and I’m already ready for my 30-year-old Sam rewatch. I know that my perspectives on each character will change, the actual setting (NYC) will have me looking at everything differently because I will have (hopefully) been living here for 10+ years by then, and my point of view, being older than all the characters in 10 years, will change after having experienced life post-college.
The point of this article is to tell you to watch Girls. Disregard everything you may have heard about Lena Dunham (while of course not supporting or encouraging any of the problematic things she has done), and go into the show knowing that it will probably change your life. Prepare yourself to want to rewatch it as soon as you’re done, while also hating the ending because it should’ve ended on the second to last episode—until you discover that the last episode is actually an epilogue (still unnecessary). Prepare to make “All adventurous women do” your newest defining quote, and “Dancing On My Own” by Robyn your newest favorite song.