With its fourth season, Lena Dunham's Girls has basically accepted that it's now a second-rate version of itself. Its sense of humor and self are ever-waning, its drama losing its touch of honesty and even its clever writing feels a little more put-on than ever. So, it's safe to say, Girls has already peaked and now its time to either wrap things up or the creators need to firmly decide which direction they want to go.
That negativity aside, this week's "Close Up" is likable for finally finding its ever-selfish characters with earnest attempts to change not just themselves but those around them. This kind of change, to the series that is, not only is smart but needed. For years, Girls fans grew tired of how petty the problems are and how mundane to a fault these tribulations feel in terms of narrative approach. To me, I think it's all a matter of sense of humor, but at least accepting the fact that your show has overdone its initial sincerity is a pleasant start.
Hannah (Dunham) wants now to be a teacher, which means she's probably going to have as many different life goals and careers as Homer Simpson by the time this bugger ends. An interesting chance of pace, especially considering, as Elijah (Andrew Rannells) puts it best, Hannah is "the most selfish person we know." Ray (Alex Karpovsky), meanwhile, has plans to go into congress it seems when he learns the local community government system — lead greatly by guest star Marc Maron — isn't quite what it cracks out to be. Adam (Adam Driver) in his fresh relationship with newbie character Mimi-Rose (Gillian Jacobs) has to allow him to let go a few of his inhibitions if he wants the connection to work.
Marnie (Allison Williams) and Shoshanna (Zosia Mamet), however, are about as self-centered as ever, though. And while the writers, in this case Murray Miller this week, try to hard to make Shoshanna stand out, her presence always has some lasting effect. Marnie, however, is still as interesting as a dead fish, but at least she understands how formulaic her band is as she rightfully notes it's basically "like She & Him with romance." It's highly unlikely her newfound relationship with Desi (Ebon Moss-Bachrach) is going to come to anything interesting or emotionally fulfilling for the audience, at least they have some self-awareness alive in their characters.
It's interesting how guy-centric a show called Girls has been of late. "Close Up," were it not for occasional sequences with the leads and Mimi-Rogers, would almost be an entirely male-focused episode, as Ray and Adam drive home at least half of this week's heavy drama. To their credit, Elijah is super funny this week, and Ray's scene in local community hearing is easily this week's highlight. But a big problem with Girls' structure these days is that it can't quite decide who it should be focused on and where it should keep its attentions locked. It's this continuously scatter-shot design which has lead Dunham's series down a rabbit hole.
That's why Mimi-Rose is such a blessing, especially in this episode. She's the one female character of late who has made a strong, lasting impression. She's the kind of driven, independent woman the show hasn't quite created — despite obvious attempts — until now and she's truly a spark in this series. It's apparent she won't be on for long (Jacobs has not one but two other shows in the works or ready to air soon), but she is mostly definitely fulfilling a hole this series has created of late, and hopefully she'll have more great scenes to come.
Following what could very well be the season's best episode last week, "Sit-In", "Close Up" is something of a step-down, but at least the manners in which Girls experiments will be somewhat productively. With only a handful of episodes left this season, there's no doubt there are some plans in the works here.
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