Girls – Episodes 6 and 7 Review

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Cory (@CoryWrote) is back to follow up on his coverage of HBO’s Girls.  Read on for his insights into episodes 6 and 7…

There’s something oddly addicting about Girls.  As the episodes roll on, the show has become more and more puzzling to me, puzzlement that mostly stems from its lack of plot development, strange punch lines, yet incredible moments of authenticity.

Since my last post (at the end of episode 5), we’ve seen two more episodes: “The Return” and “Welcome to Bushwick aka The Crackcident”. I quite enjoyed “The Return”, but found what I’ll refer to simply as “The Bushwick Episode” to be absolutely maddening.

Trying to figure out what exactly it is about this show that keeps me not only coming back, but looking forward to it every Sunday night has been eating at me over the last 7 weeks. I find the character development of all but Hannah (and Adam, sort of) to be completely half-assed. Many of the punch lines of the series to me have been extremely callow and juvenile (for example, in the second episode “Vagina Panic”, half of the jokes were about Aids. The humor was supposed to be derived from the complete lack of awareness of STD’s and sexual health of the characters). Yet I get excited to watch this show every week, and it’s not just so that I can continue to make gripes about it.

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1 Yr, 1000 Eps – A Week’s Worth…

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#66 – 30 Rock – “What Will Happen to the Gang Next Year?” – (aired 5/17/12)

#67, #68, #69 - Community – “The First Chang Dynasty”, “Digital Estate Planning” & “Introduction to Finality” (aired 5/17/12)

#70 – Scandal – “Grant: For the People” (aired 5/17/12)

#71 – The Pauly D Project – “Spin City” (aired 5/17/12)

#72 – Common Law – “Ride Along” (aired 5/18/12)

#73 – Saturday Night Live – “Mick Jagger” (aired 5/19/12)

#74 – Game of Thrones – “The Prince of Winterfell” (aired 5/20/12)

#75 – Veep – “Nicknames” (aired 5/20/12)

#76 – Girls – “The Return” (aired 5/20/12)

#77 – The Borgias – “The Siege at Forli” (aired 5/20/12)

#78 – Nurse Jackie – “Day of the Iguana” (aired 5/20/12)

#79 – Mad Men – “Christmas Waltz” (aired 5/20/12)

#80 – The Pitch – “Frangelico: The Ad Store & Kovel/Fuller” (aired 5/20/12)

#81, #82 – House – “Swan Song” & “Everybody Dies” (aired 5/21/12)

#83 – Glee – “Goodbye” (aired 5/22/12)

#84 – Don’t Trust the B- in Apt. 23 – “Shitagi Nashi…” (aired 5/23/12)

#85 – Modern Family – “Baby on Board” (aired 5/23/12)

#86 – Revenge – “Reckoning” (aired 5/23/12)

#87 – Around the World in 80 Plates – “Something Smells Fishy” (aired 5/23/12)

 

1 Yr, 1000 Eps – The Age of Retirement with Modern Family, Revenge, Suburgatory and More

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#61 – Suburgatory – “The Motherload” (aired 5/16/12)

As the finale of the first season, “Motherload” could not have been a better cap to a very well-done freshman run.  The show is like looking in a fun house mirror of the suburbs in general, sure, but this episode cements the fact that it can have emotional moments that resonate in addition to the standard goofiness.  As proof, watch the scene of Tessa’s teary-eyed drive home after being rejected by Dallas.  And as a nice cap, an interesting cliffhanger: Tessa’s birth grandmother, who showed up only once previously this season to disagree with George in a diner, is waiting outside Tessa’s home when she gets back.  But when Tessa walks towards her, her voice over tells us it is not because she is searching for a connection with her mother, but because she sees her grandmother as a possible way out of the suburbs.  I’m very much looking forward to season 2.

#62 – Don’t Trust the B- in Apt. 23 – “It’s Just Sex…” (aired 5/16/12)

#63 – Modern Family – “Tableau Vivant” (aired 5/16/12)

- “Please, she’s a gym teacher. She is to teaching what Dr. Seuss is to medicine.”
- “Don’t worry, he can’t get ya!”
- “Is that jealous? Ay, my poor sisters!”

#64 – Around the World in 80 Plates – “Forget Paris” (aired 5/16/12)

#65 – Revenge – “Grief” (aired 5/16/12)

- I am LOVING that Bill Buchanan is the infamous white haired man.  And he totally evades Nolan’s watch just like Bill would’ve done.  CTU forever!
- :12 mins in and I called it: Sammy was the body that Emily was burying during that glimpse we got at the top of the episode.  As soon as Declan mentioned he has been a little sluggish lately, it was a done deal.  You don’t need need to be clairvoyant to pick up on that one.  Please, Revenge, don’t telegraph any human deaths that may or may not occur in the finale next week as obviously as this one.
- Daniel is spineless. He has been pro-Victoria, pro-Emily, and now pro-Conrad all before this first season fades out.  And I imagine that he will also soon be pro-Ashley after she inevitably reveals what she saw between Emily and Jack at the end of the episode.  His character is quickly losing steam for me, if there was any to begin with really.  He’s like Karen in Smash: everything happens to him instead of him going out and making something happen, plot-wise.  I dislike passive characters.  So much.

Halfway through, is HBO’s “Girls” satire or serious?

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Introducing: Cory.  He posted for Deebs On TV for first time last week to introduce himself – you can check that out HERE.  Now comes his second post and first crack at writing about television.  With a review of HBO’s Girls, please welcome Cory:

I’ve been subscribing to New York Magazine for the past year and a half, reading just about every issue since January 2011 from cover to cover. I love the breadth of that magazine; any given cover story might be about politics, fashion, pop culture, or sports. The cover story of the April 2nd 2012 NY Magazine featured a picture of Lena Dunham, creator of the new HBO Original Series Girls. This was the first time I can remember a brand new, yet-to-air television show dominating the cover of my favorite magazine, which could only mean one thing: time to set the DVR!

Full of praise for the new show, the story praised Girls as “a bold defense (and a searing critique) of the so-called Millennial Generation by a person still in her twenties.” The description of a show about the “Millennial Generation” – my generation – was always going to be something that I needed to watch.

It fascinates me how seemingly everyone over the age of 35 is obsessed with the ‘phenomena’ of our Millennial generation. They cannot stop talking about us, for better or worse.  Don’t believe me? Watch this 60 Minutes piece on Millennials, where in the first ten seconds the 80 year old corpse of Morley Safer sensationally proclaims that the Millennials are coming to attack “everything you hold sacred”. It’s hard for me to describe just how much I can’t stand this view of our generation. First of all, the type of person they are referring to that “spends the summer climbing Machu Picchu” has a completely different reality than just about everyone I know. When did it become OK to generalize about an entire group of people based on the social elite?

Girls, a show written by a 20-something that was supposedly going to speak for my controversial generation, was incredibly intriguing to me from the moment I read that NY magazine article. While I have thoroughly enjoyed the first five episodes of Girls from an entertainment standpoint, I have not enjoyed it as the groundbreaking cultural phenomenon that some critics claimed it was going to be. To my horror, I’ve discovered that from a cultural standpoint, Girls does more harm than good when it comes to dispelling the myth that my generation is full of entitled brats that are not willing to roll up our sleeves and pay our dues.

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1 Yr, 1000 Eps – Nurse Jackie, The Borgias, Cougar Town

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#57 – Nurse Jackie – “No-Kimono-Zone” (aired 5/13/12)

After last week’s “next-week-on” showed Jackie and Cruz locking lips, I was very ready to yell at my TV this week.  Fortunately, it was all part of a dream sequence at the top of the episode.  Not only that, but it was actually a dream within a dream, Inception-style.  Not a terribly useful gimmick in this show at this time, but I get it.  That said, I gotta say that I am really enjoying this season.  A Jackie Peyton that is attempting to stay clean is far more interesting than a Jackie Peyton who constantly lies her way through life.  Gloria back as a nurse on the floor is better than Gloria in the office.  And Zoey, who is always great, just continues to get even better.  Her freakout after losing the ring (“Cocksucker! Motherfucker! Where is my ring?!”) had me in tears and forced a rewind.  I also like that Kevin is really going at Jackie – he only speaks via lawyer, he’s going after custody of the kids – the show has just the right balance of funny and serious right now.

#58 – The Borgias – “Day of Ashes” (5/13/12)

#59, #60 – Cougar Town – “Square One” & ”It’ll All Work Out” (aired 5/15/12)

First, let’s start with some amazing news for those of you who are still unaware/not on Twitter.  Cougar Town will be back for a 4th season in the fall…on TBS!  TBS also picked up all 61 episodes already in the Cougar Town library.  This piece of news is crucial because it brings the show that much closer to the mark for syndication and gives a 5th season a good chance as well.  If Big Carl still existed, now would be the time to fill him up and toast in celebration.  Now, some quotes!
- Title cards for each episode, respectively: “Cougarton Abbey” & “Are We Still On TV?”
- “I will have my revenge. But I need to shut it down for a second.”
- “Your son just killed one of my best friends!”

1 Yr, 1000 Eps: Mad Men, Smash, The Pitch

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No time for the standard pleasantries, just a few quick things before we dive in.  This time around, I’m posting my unabridged notes as I wrote them while watching and minutes after these episodes.  Just something new, still playing around with format.

And as always – SPOILERS ahead…

#54 – Mad Men – “Dark Shadows” (aired 5/13/12)

- Roger: “How Jewish are they? Ya know, Fiddler on the Roof, audience or cast?” Cooper: “The company is Manischewitz.” This was a literal laugh out loud moment for me.
- The competition between Don and Ginsberg is very well-played.  I like how Ginsberg is just blinded the whole time by what he thinks is the superiority of his idea while Don shows just how good he is at the ad game – cold, calculating, and in the end, right as always.
- Roger is getting better and better each episode. The scene with Ginsberg is fantastic.
- I LOVE Sally getting in the game with Fat Betty. #TeamSally all day. Not even sure #TeamBetty exists…
- Ginsberg: “What do I care? I got 1 million of em. A million!” Don: “Good. I guess I’m lucky you work for me.” Ginsberg: “I feel bad for you.” Don: “I don’t think about you at all.” BOOM, roasted!

#55 – The Pitch – “Popchips: Conversation & Boone Oakley” (aired 5/13/12)

#56 – Smash – “Bombshell” (aired 5/14/12)

- Weird. A different opening. Appropriate, I guess.
- Ellis just got intense. When this is all “retooled” next season, my guess is he plays a big part
- Frank in the wrong place at the wrong time…again? Enough is enough.
- “She just has something that you don’t” – Derek to Ivy, saying what we were all thinking. Methinks more self-destructive behavior is soon-coming for Miss Ivy.
- At :34 mins into the episode, the part of Marylin has been Rebecca’s, Karen’s, Ivy’s via Eileen, and Karen’s again
- DO NOT make Julia pregnant, I’m warning you now at the :38 mark.  I’m serious, you do NOT need this!
- :45 and the roll is now Ivy’s AND Karen’s simultaneously, then Karen’s again. Stop trying to fool us, we’ve known since day ONE this role would be Karen’s when the curtain goes up.
- And THERE it is! I’m calling Ivy’s suicide at this moment when her visits at :47 mins in.
- Smash the show was “Marylin / Bombshell” the musical…VERY spotty and underwhelming throughout with some bright spots here and there.

1 Yr, 1000 Eps – Thursday Thru Sunday

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I hate to do this again, but with the excitement of adding Cory to the site and a seriously busy day at the day-job, I’m forced to go with another list-y post here simply to keep from falling behind.  There are a few exceptions for the standout eps, for both good and bad reasons.

Episodes 41- 53 after the jump…

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New to Deebs on TV: Contributor Cory

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We’re trying more new stuff, guys!  Today I am introducing our very first guest writer, a good friend of mine named Cory.  I will hand it off to him to introduce himself, but know that you can follow Cory on Twitter @CoryWrote

Check out Cory’s first contribution to Deebs on TV after the jump:

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1 Yr, 1000 Episodes – Suburgatory, Modern Family, Revenge, Around The World In 80 Plates

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Join me in reminiscing about Suburgatory getting Clueless, Modern Family going Disney, Revenge going back in time and a new entry that should really be titled “Top Chef Goes Global”

Episodes 37 – 40 after the jump…

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1 Yr, 1000 Eps – The Voice, Cougar Town, New Girl, Nurse Jackie, The Pitch, Fairly Legal

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There’s just something about finales.  Stakes are raised, expectations are high, there’s pressure to bring things nicely to a close but also to give a compelling reason to tune in next season.  I fucking love ‘em.  Lucky for me, I was treated to two finale episodes last night – New Girl and The Voice.  Also getting it in on the DVR we have some just fine, fairly standard episodes of Cougar Town and Nurse Jackie as well as new reality show The Pitch from AMC and a Fairly Legal, because why the hell not?

Episodes 31 – 36 after the jump…

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