As Hannah immerses herself into unexpected motherhood, we say our final goodbyes to a cast that brought us failing friendships, improvised dancing, full frontal nudity and unapologetic feminism. The show also shed some light on wider issues such as white privilege, millennial selfishness, and the hardships of growing up and letting go of things that just aren’t working out. Sure, Hannah Horvath was self-centered and her spoilt perception of life sometimes made the viewer want to gouge their eyes out with an avocado slicer, but ‘Girls’ also showed a darker side to female friendships, ones that weren’t meant to last. The toxic friendships we often get into in our early 20s are the ones we tend to run away from as we approach our 30s when we realise that the energy to sustain them just isn’t there anymore. Shoshanna summed it up perfectly in the penultimate episode “Goodbye Tour”:
“We cannot hang out together anymore because we cannot be in the same room without one of us making it completely and entirely about ourselves, I think we should all just agree to call it”. Although the finale may come as a disappointment to many fans, ultimately the last episode was a calm and measured testimony to Hannah’s acceptance of adulthood.
The music from the 6 seasons was also one of the show’s strong points with many of the episodes enhanced by Lena Dunham and Judd Apatow’s pristine taste in music. Girls has helped uncover some real music gems, from indie ballads to the next pop and hip-hop anthems. Here’s our best-of playlist, just in case some of the tracks slipped past your ears.
