Allison Williams

With “Home Birth”, Lena Dunham and the rest of the Girls team end what has been a strong, but somewhat disjointed season in peak form, delivering a fantastic season ender that could have easily, and satisfyingly, served as a series finale. The episode is creative, moving and laugh out loud rewind-the-DVR-repeatedly-and-belly-laugh-each-time funny (more on Ray later). Even better, it services all of its main characters, putting them in moments of crisis and forcing them to make what could easily become life-altering decisions, all while feeling natural to the characters’ journeys.

In many ways a direct continuation of its strong third season, Girls’ season four premiere picks up shortly after the events of last year’s finale, with Hannah preparing to leave for the Iowa Writers’ Workshop, Marnie continuing her musical and romantic partnership with guitarist Desi, Jessa newly unemployed, and Shoshanna freshly graduated. This is a change of pace for the series, which has previously taken advantage of the season breaks to jump its characters forward in time, with significant developments occurring offscreen (the start of Hannah’s relationship with Sandy, Jessa checking herself into rehab, Charlie leaving Marnie). Fun as it may have been to jump right into Hannah’s fish-out-of-water adventure in Iowa, it’s nice to get one more episode with the leads together, reestablishing their bonds before they’re tested.

Girls, Season 3, Episode 12: “Two Plane Rides” Written and Directed by Lena Dunham Airs at 10 PM EST on HBO In “Two Plane Rides”, Lena Dunham manages to capitalize on last week’s big reveal where Hannah (Lena Dunham) finds out that Marnie (Allison Williams) and Ray (Alex Karpovsky) have been sleeping together for most …

In “I Saw You”, the penultimate episode of Girls Season 3, writers Lena Dunham and Paul Simms manage to balance plot and characterization for Girls’ ensemble cast while commenting on the show’s overall themes. The episodes sheds light on the characters’ strength and weaknesses and exposes and accentuates the tension in their relationships. Adam (Adam Driver) is growing apart from Hannah (Lena Dunham) as his play gets closer to premiere and begins to bond with Ray (Alex Karpovsky). Marnie (Allison Williams) gets to meet one of her art heroes, the photographer Beadie (Louise Lasser) while preparing for a big open mic night with Adam’s cast-mate Desi (Ebon Moss-Bachrach). Director Jesse Peretz uses timely scene transitions to show how the different “girls” rise and fall. “I Saw You” does a great job balancing the various characters’ plot lines while still having room for keen observations about them and several funny moment.

Girls Season 3, Episode 10: “Role-Play” Written by Lena Dunham and Judd Apatow Directed by Jesse Peretz Airs Sundays at 10 PM on HBO All the tension building up from Adam (Adam Driver) getting a part in a Broadway play to Hannah’s (Lena Dunham) mom’s offhanded comment about “keeping the job, not the guy” last week …

Girls Season 3, Episode 8: “Incidentals” Written by Lena Dunham and Sarah Heyward Directed by Richard Shepard Airs Sundays at 10 PM on HBO With the exception of the storyline involving his sister, Adam (Adam Driver) has been on the margins of Girls Season Three. Much of the focus has been on Hannah’s (Lena Dunham) writing career …

Girls, Season 3, Episode 7: “Beach House” Written by Jenni Konner, Lena Dunham, and Judd Apatow Directed by Jesse Peretz Airs Sundays at 10 PM on HBO Girls continues its focus on character relationships by taking a break from its ongoing plot to show Hannah (Lena Dunham), Marnie (Allison Williams), Shoshanna (Zosia Mamet), and Jessa’s (Jemima …

Girls Season 3: Episode 6 – “Free Snacks” Written by Paul Simms Directed by Jamie Babbit Airs Sundays at 10 PM on HBO In “Free Snacks”, Girls gets to flex its comedy muscles, and writer Paul Simms sticks hilarious words in the mouths of Hannah (Lena Dunham) and Shoshanna (Zosia Mamet). But he also crafts those two …

Girls, Season 3: Episode 5 – “Only Child” Written by Murray Miller Directed by Tricia Brock Airs Friday nights at 10 PM EST on HBO In “Only Child”, Murray Miller moves the season’s overall plot along and creates a lot of tension between the characters of Girls. While trying to save her “dead” book, Hannah (Lena …

  Girls, Season 3, Episode 4, “Dead Inside” Written by Judd Apatow and Lena Dunham Directed by Jesse Peretz Airs Sundays at 10pm (EST) on HBO Like last week’s episode which focused mainly on Hannah’s  (Lena Dunham) 25th birthday party, “Dead Inside” takes another big moment in  her life and uses it as a lens …

Girls Season 3, Episode 3 “She Said OK” Written by Lena Dunham and Jennie Konner Directed by Jesse Peretz Airs Sundays at 10 PM ET on HBO In “She Said OK”, writers Lena Dunham and Jennie Konner slam on the brakes after the big Jessa-centric events of the last two episodes and put plot on the backburner. …

Girls, Season 3, Episode 1, “Female Only” Written by Lena Dunham Directed by Lena Dunham Girls, Season 3, Episode 2, “Truth or Dare” Written by Jenni Konner Directed by Lena Dunham Airs Sundays at 10pm (EST) on HBO A common complaint from Girls viewers is that the protagonists are quite unsympathetic, especially its main character Hannah Horvath …