A-
Hannah learns to give in Girls’ quietly effective series finale
Several pop culture publications and trades printed stories this week about the fact that some combination of Zosia…
Girls
B+
New York City’s worst best friends gather one last time in the penultimate Girls
Girls saved its biggest twist for next-to-last. The news of Hannah’s pregnancy was surprising, as well as her decision…
A-
Old habits die hard in a surprising Girls
“What Will We Do This Time About Adam?” is an awkward title for an episode that provides such an elegant solution for…
A
“The Bounce” makes breaking up with Girls much, much harder to do
One of my fondest memories of the few years I spent in New York City was an interaction I saw on the subway during my…
C+
Girls leans on its most irritating elements in one of its weakest episodes to date
“Full Disclosure” is one of the oddest, lumpiest half-hours Girls has ever turned out, an episode equally comprising…
B+
Suddenly Hannah is the grown-up in the room on Girls
One of Lena Dunham’s strengths as a writer is her understanding of how weird and arbitrary people can be, and how…
B
Life—and death—comes at you fast in a momentous Girls
Saying goodbye to Girls is difficult because it’s hard to imagine what the show’s finish line looks like. Hannah and…
A-
With “American Bitch,” Girls perfects its take on the bottle episode
From the moment Hannah walks into the well-appointed apartment of Chuck Palmer (Matthew Rhys), the fix is in. He’s one…
A
Hannah and Marnie have a much-needed breakthrough in a terrific Girls
As many recent essays and oral histories have argued, Girls has had an outsize influence on television that it doesn’t…
A-
Hannah gets her groove back in the final Girls premiere
“Maybe I don’t want to enjoy things all the time. Maybe that’s not my style.”
Girls ends its terrific fifth season with a double knockout
For a show that prides itself on upending the conventions of television storytelling, Girls always manages to stick the…
A-
The Girls finally come together as their relationships fall apart
At this late stage, it’s pointless to debate whether Girls should be classified as a comedy or a drama, but I have been…
B+
Adam and Jessa go public in an awkward, restrained installment of Girls
“I’m sorry, I’ve been a little too busy Yelping divorce lawyers to worry about the sex lives of our second-tier…
A
Marnie gets a Girls episode all her own, and—surprise!—it’s great
Girls set itself apart from the rest of the premium cable dramedy pack early on with its willingness to try atypical…
B
Girls asks “Is it important to be nice?”
One of the recurring themes of contemporary feminism is the notion that women are too nice, that societal pressure has…
B+
Hannah and Jessa’s friendship hits the skids in a cathartic Girls
“I’ve wanted this for a really long time.”
“Me too.”
B+
Girls heads east in another strong episode
If you have the moxie and the wherewithal to do so, there’s no better way to spend your 20s than to try living in…
A-
“Good Man” finds Girls threatening a full-blown comeback season
“Good Man” is one of the most purely, consistently funny episodes of Girls in a long time, perhaps the whole run of the…
B+
Our Girls are growing up in a charming, low-key fifth season premiere
Early this year came rumblings about the impending end of Girls, with sources close to the production claiming Lena…
A
Girls: “Home Birth”
Girls has a peculiar rhythm that invariably makes its season finales feel like potential series finales. It’s common…