GIRLS - Season 3

Well, the other night the first two episodes of the third season of one of my favorite shows GIRLS premiered on HBO. The first two episodes are shown back to back, and feature a continuous storyline. At the end of season two, Hannah was suffering from debilitating OCD, Marnie had just got back together with Charlie and Shoshanna was discovering her sexual inner being. Jessa however was totally absent, having disappeared in a previous episode. Adam was also in a bad place, having broken up with Hannah he rediscovers a dark sexual side to his relationships.

The first two episodes deal mainly with Hannah and Adam's relationship, they are back together, and everything seems to be going great, however we soon realize that all is not as it seems, they barely talk, Adam still uses Hannah as a sexual object and he won't meet or talk to her friends, his behavior is erratic and uncompromising and he still won't discuss his feelings. Hannah presents her life as being so much better since season 2, but the truth is that she is still as fucked up as she always was, her life hasn't really gone anywhere, and although her book is progressing, and her publisher is no longer threatening to sue her, she still hasn't finished her novel.

Jessa is really at the center of these episodes, after the events with her parents in season 2, Jessa is in rehab, paid for by her grandmother, but she isn't opening up at all, and still treats her addiction like a joke, and antagonizes the other patients. Eventually Shoshanna, Hannah and Adam come to find her, renting a car and driving through the woods. Shoshanna too has progressed since the previous season, having discovered her sexuality, she is on a crusade to live a life of sexual freedom, a quest which leaves her exhausted and hungover. Shoshanna discovers that despite sleeping with lots of men, that she is really lonely and tired, and she longs for the kind of relationship that Adam and Hannah think they have.

One of the techniques that this series uses often is making moments which aren't actually funny, comedic, we start laughing at gloriously unfunny moments, such as someone sharing a ridiculous story in a group therapy session before realizing that Jessa is laughing too, we laugh at Adams ex-girlfriend confronting him about the way he treated her despite his having done some truly awful things. This is perhaps one of the defining features of GIRLS, it's funny without the characters actually knowing that it's funny, and this is certainly a good thing. There's nothing worse than watching a comedy film (probably starring Vince Vaughn or Adam Sandler) where the characters continually laugh at their own jokes, in fact probably laughing more than the audience.

The beginning of the third season of GIRLS shows promise, season 2 ended on an unbelievable high, and season 3 shows a fierce attempt by Lena Dunham to not simply continue the formula of seasons 1 and 2, but to move forward with a different style of storytelling, whilst retaining the signature style of the beloved show. Overall, a success. Rating: B+

Jessa: “I figured my shit out already when I was 5 years old. Heroin is really fun, but it can also kill you.”