The line of self-awareness HBO's Girls hosts has been in a contentious state of flux since its second season, and perhaps even before then. What started out as a laid-back, near Sex and the City parody for the hipster 20-year-olds of the post-9/11 America has driven between brilliantly deft comedy to navel-gazing, unaware sentimentality so often, it's often hard to tell where Lena Dunham's show stands these days — in terms of quality, of course.
These confessed emotions play out perpetually throughout Girls' latest epsiode, "Cubbies." Dunham is as clever a writer as ever, and this episode is easily is most reflexive and self-aware episode of the season so far. But Dunham's voice feels too distant this time around, and often characters bounce between genuine emotions to becoming caricatures of themselves, particularly Shoshanna (Zosia Mamet) and Jessa (Jemima Kirke). It doesn't help this week's installment of a show called Girls comes from the minds of two grown men, those being Jesse Peretz in the director's chair and Bruce Eric Kaplan's name on the teleplay, respectively. Both do a fine job, mind you, and while Kaplan's writing occasionally helps bring life back into this gropingly tired program, neither quite gives "Cubbies" that boosted spark of identity which would have made Girls truly fantastic again.
The problem that's most apparent here is this episode walks a fine line between dispelling major character developments and trivial actions from our leads. Oddly enough, Hannah (Dunham)'s appearance this week are largely "Cubbies" highlights, with Kaplan's writing returning Girls back to its snappy self-awareness and colorful descriptions of modern-day realities. Even Marine's (Allison Williams) story finally goes somewhere this week, which is probably the first time this writer can confidently say that in probably two or so years. But Shoshanna feels more like an impression of her than the fast-talking gal we all love, and same can be said for Ray (Alex Karpovsky), who finally gets some screen-time again, but feels largely wasted.
There are certainly things to like about "Cubbies," though, in addition to the points I mentioned before. Hannah's uterus sweater is to die for, as is Shoshanna's critique of Marine's song — the episode's only shining Shosh moment. Also, the episode, past its rocky start, comes to terms with itself as it goes along. It provides some major shake-ups, one including the return of Adam (Adam Driver) and the introduction of Mimi (Gillian Jacobs), who'll play a significant part in the episodes to come it seems. But it also makes time for nice character moments, like the ones shared by Hannah with her father (Peter Scolari) halfway through.
If anything, it's a sign of reformation to its funnier, bolder self. Girls can sometimes be one of the most inconsistent shows on television, but at the very least it keeps one guessing where it'll stand each week.
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