What I’m Watching: Girls

Girls: Season 1, Episode 5 “Hard Being Easy” (A-)

The writing on this show is truly excellent. This installment demonstrates a clear mastery of its characters and a commitment to making them extremely interesting people with complex and dynamic lives. Marnie’s lengthy conversation with Charlie about their break-up was perhaps the most enlightening and intriguing of all, as she clung desperately to the notion of them staying together despite explicitly yearning for that to happen just episodes ago. Her ultimate rejection of him wasn’t surprising, but that didn’t make it any less harsh considering how hard Charlie had fought against their reconciliation only to have his heart broken once again. The flashback to their first meeting was hugely entertaining and highly informative as well. Hannah’s show of power with her boss was honest if nothing else, and she made some valid points despite being laughed at for sticking up for herself in a rather direct and blunt manner. Having some verbal fun with Adam at the end of the episode was good for her, even if he still doesn’t treat her nearly as well as he should. Jessa is an extraordinarily manipulator, first making her employers uncomfortable by being all too seductive in her application of makeup, and then purposely seducing her ex-boyfriend just because she can. Such frivolous behavior may come back to haunt her, as it already did with the pregnancy scare, but she seems to just discard any sense of decency or propriety, living her life, to use an appropriate expression, like all adventurous women do.