Girls returns to its roots in “Ask Me My Name,” reviving the honest emotions and devil-may-care atmosphere of earlier seasons that were sorely missed from a largely gloomy Season 4. Even better, the welcome change in tone is thanks to an unlikely duo: Hannah…
Adam is in unfamiliar territory. The white knight, “at his best when he’s nurturing the poor, the lost, the profoundly damaged,” according to loopy sister Caroline, is now dating a woman who is fiercely independent and dispassionate to the point of repression. Mimi-Rose Howard…
We have just witnessed a turning point for Hannah. In what was Girls‘ strongest episode so far this season — beautifully directed by Richard Shepard, who also helmed the poignant “One Man’s Trash” from Season 2 — our protagonist hits rock bottom. “Sit-in” marks…
After three seasons of ill-advised choices and poor decisions, it often feels like the girls of Girls are stuck in an endless loop of setbacks, with little or no progress being made in their lives. For this reason, it was refreshing to see Shoshanna…
Hannah Horvath is a modern antiheroine. She is selfish, narcissistic and insensitive. She displays self-absorption more often than self-awareness. She is frequently (and often bafflingly) unlikeable. Yet, I found myself rooting for Hannah in episode 3, “Female Author,” and relishing her epic takedown of…
Toto, I have a feeling we’re not in Kansas New York anymore. In episode 2 of Girls, Hannah has finally arrived in Iowa, the land of corn, cows and rolling hills. For both our protagonist and viewers at home, “Triggering” opens with a heady…
Girls‘ Season 4 premiere picks up right where Season 3 left off, with Hannah and co. each moving on to the Next Big Thing in their meandering, twenty-something lives. As Adam presciently puts it in episode 1’s opening scene, they’re “taking the next step…
Extant‘s lackluster first season came to a messy end, failing to tie up several loose threads by closing credits. However, the two major plot lines involving Ethan and the Offspring finally merged, and — as we suspected — they ultimately faced off in the…
With episodes 11 and 12, Extant is sprinting toward the finish line, upping the drama before Wednesday’s Season 1 finale. The thrills, however, come too little, too late. If I were watching as a regular viewer (and not as a critic), I would’ve checked…
For the past two weeks, Extant has aired two episodes back-to-back, with 7 to 8 and 9 to 10 each functioning like continuous two-hour mini movies. They marked a turning point for the sci-fi series, which until now, had been largely bland and derivative…