It’s odd that a show that wound up becoming a part of the cultural zeitgeist of prestige television wound up ending as soon as Girls did. After six seasons, Girls seemed to have lost a lot of the wind in its sails creatively but had the sort of feeling that it was going to continue on for much longer. Hung had less than a season of material and lasted three times that, after all, and HBO isn’t immune to having the problem of a show outlast its welcome. Girls felt like it was going to do just that and yet Lena Dunham was smart enough to end the show at the right time.
This season focuses on the four titular women as they begin the next phase of their lives. The big driving force of the season is Hannah’s pregnancy after a fling with a man named Grover, a drug addiction and a series of events that lead the “girls” into becoming women.
I haven’t been of the show but the interesting thing about this final season is that the show essentially was cancelled with two seasons ready to go. Before the premiere of season five, confirmation that season six would be the final season already was out and as such we’ve been given a two-season finale to the series. It’s interesting because the fifth and sixth seasons are so well orchestrated, story wise, that the finale of season six leaves us with nothing left to hear. Dunham has long said that Girls had to deal with her 20s and that as she approached 30 it made sense for the show to end.
It’s an interesting point of discussion because to go on from the ending point of this season leaves us with an entirely different show. The sort of immature wanderlust that characterized the show early has ended and now we’re seeing the first birth of adulthood in the characters. From here it’s maturity and less shenanigans; it would make for an interesting show but it wouldn’t necessarily be Girls anymore, either.
It leaves the final moments fairly poignant; as we see Hannah really begin to embrace motherhood the conceit of the show is over. She’s no longer just a girl. It’s been an interesting character arc over six seasons.
Nothing of note.
HBO presents Girls (Season 5). Starring Lena Dunham, Allison Williams, Zoisa Mamet, Jemima Kirke, Adam Driver. Run Time: 300 minutes. Not Rated. Released on 7.25.17
