Girls recap: A disappointing end to a disappointing season

The HBO series stumbles with a misguided finale that spends way too much time with the boys

Girls
(Image credit: HBO/Jessica Miglio)

Girls began its second season by promising that its characters were "almost kind of getting it together" — but coming at the end of a strange, uneven sophomore season for the HBO dramedy, tonight's "Together" feels like an episode of a show that's beginning to fall apart.

There's a lot I didn't like about "Together" — and very little that I did — but it's particularly disappointing for a season finale, and an ending that sets a very strange course for the show's third season when it premieres next year. It's safe to say that last week's quasi-nightmarish "On All Fours" was a polarizing episode of Girls, but at least it had a unique (and arguably courageous) story to tell. By contrast, "Together" felt like it came together the same way Hannah intended to finish her book: Quickly and sloppily, in a desperate attempt to wallpaper over the narrative problems that have plagued the show all season.

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Scott Meslow

Scott Meslow is the entertainment editor for TheWeek.com. He has written about film and television at publications including The Atlantic, POLITICO Magazine, and Vulture.