Girls: Season 5

Shoshanna in Japan at the cat cafe

I missed the 'watch-a-thon' week on my cable network when I usually catch up in a super binge of "Girls." For the last couple of years, it's fallen during my spring break, but I had my spring break confused since it didn't fall around Easter as it usually does. Out of sorts, I missed it. Through the kindness of a good friend (actually, his Dad who has complete cable access to ALL of the channels), who gave me a user name/password so that I could unlock HBO and Season 5 of "Girls," the only show that I just absolutely have to see. Successfully logged in at 8 o'clock last night when my school night bedtime is usually somewhere around 9, I watched all ten, delicious episodes. Pity my students today as I look at them with tired, I can't take any bullshit today, eyes. Ah, I'm too easy on them most of the time anyway. They need a little kick-ass.

Back to "Girls." Man, that show just doesn't ever disappoint me. I am far away from 25 (Marni's age as told in one of the episodes), but it doesn't matter. The show is awkward, vulnerable, arrogant, and smart. Oh, Hannah is pain in the ass. I think that it would be very hard to keep up with her neurotic tendencies or jacked way of thinking. I thought that when she decided to blow Ray for having rescued her from upstate New York was a bit of a stretch, even for Hannah. Hannah is best when she realizes her own power, not as it is dependent on someone else. For this, the end of the season was so rewarding. She moved back to herself. I suppose that someone who is 25 doesn't know this yet ... that Hannah isn't any good for anyone else if she isn't herself. But that's what the show is all about. Millennials figuring out who they are and how they fit into the world. It isn't just a story for 25. I'm twice the age, and the reminding isn't wasted on me.

My favorite story line is Shoshanna's journey to Japan. Of course, she fits right in to the Japanese culture. Her look is phenomenal. And when her corporate job evaporates, she goes on to manage the cat cafe! I love it. Where else would she go? But like all good story lines, she's cooking with gas and the flame goes out. Her room fills with toxicity, and she has to wiggle her way out of what she thought was her essential self to start over again. Ah, but with the lessons from her experience, she doesn't go back to zero. Shoshanna re-starts, but she's ahead of the starting line.

Sometimes, I feel that I have to re-start, but it's good to recognize that I don't have to go all of the way back. I'm closer to knowing than ever before. That's where all of the girls hope to be.