Some closing-credit tunes, “old-people candy,” and teenage Gothamites
The end-credits songs of Girls
Girls is a show I’ve had complicated feelings about over the years (last season almost lost me with Hannah’s Iowa sojourn). But I’ve always been impressed with its ability to wrap each episode up with a fantastic pop song, bleeding from the final scene into the credits. The dramedy set a precedent for this in its third episode “All Adventurous Women Do”: Hannah is grappling with the fact that she has an STD, but she puts on Robyn’s insta-classic “Dancing On My Own” and gleefully dances out the episode with Marnie. The cathartic bit of sweetness makes the show’s prickly themes and bracing characters go down a little smoother. A harsh recent episode where Hannah calls Jessa “the biggest bitch I’ve ever met” (and then some) makes this uncanny ability abundantly clear when the show caps things off with Christine And The Queens’ “IT,” a sauntering electro-jam about self-actualization. From charming oldies (Nancy Sinatra’s “Sugar Town”) to pitch-perfect contemporary tracks (St. Vincent’s “Teenage Talk”), Girls’ music cues allow the episode to cozily linger in your brain. Lena Dunham’s show often makes its viewers wince in discomfort, but at least it has the decency to send them off on a rosier note. For the hell of it, I went ahead and put every episode-ending song on a single playlist. It makes for a pleasant, poppy way to entertain your ears for a couple hours. [Cameron Scheetz]