Hannah Horvath (Lena Dunham) -- both hailed as the voices of their generation -- burst onto the scene in 2012 with Girls, which was immediately embraced as the younger, more realistic version of Sex And The City because it was about careers and friendships in non-glitzy New York City. Mostly though, it was about coping with post-collegiate angst.
Although the members of the hipster squad -- ambitious Shoshanna (Zosia Mamet), beautiful Marnie (Allison Williams), free-spirited Jessa (Jemima Kirke), and bohemian Adam (Adam Driver) -- seemed perfectly cast, there were things about the Golden Globe-winning show that just didn't quite fit.
Hannah (Any Of Them) Affording Rent In Brooklyn
Just like no could ever figure out how Carrie Bradshaw lived in Manhattan's East 70s off her weekly newspaper column, there were the same doubts about Hannah's BK abode--even with a roommate or two. It may not have been Gossip Girl living, but a two-bed even in the outer boroughs of NYC will cost you. More realistic would have been a one-bed, either sharing the bedroom or someone paying a little more for privacy, and the other roomie cuddling with her pillow each night on the pullout sofa.
And Upstate New York
The same can be said about the sprawling Norman Rockwell-esque house she lived in. True, when you trade concrete and skyscrapers for trees and mountains you may get more bang for your buck--but you still need the bucks. Hannah has never really had a steady income or made a livable wage, and when she moved she did so with a baby--FYI: They may be little, but kids cost money. One of the most unrealistic things is how she never felt stuck in whatever situation she was in due to a lack of funds.
The Too-Easy Reveal To Hannah's Baby Daddy
After discussing it with every character on the show, Hannah decided to let surf instructor Paul-Louis in the loop. He has no idea who she is when she calls and it takes many reminders. When she informs him of her "sitch" and that she wants nothing from him (because he's looking forward to his waterskiing career) he tells her it's really cool of her because, you know, he's not ready. He wishes her good luck and suggests a baby name that she eventually chooses. It was like they were talking about a sweater she left at his place.
Her Pregnancy and Birth Timeline
This is what single motherhood is like? She and her baby live in the aforementioned beautiful house with a porch and a yard in a bucolic neighborhood. Apparently, the "important job" she took that prompted her move does not require her to work on-site.
Marni, who is taking a vacation from her life, shows up to offer free childcare services. When her caregiver bestie needs a break, Hannah's mother arrives. There are women with partners that don't have it as good. Dunham must not know any single mothers IRL.
Remembering Jessa and Shoshanna Are Related
When Jessa returns to NYC in the beginning of the series, Shosh takes her in because they're cousins. It's not a relationship that's cultivated though; and after a while, it was easy to forget why or how those two polar opposites came to know each other. It's not until the end of the series that we're reminded again that they are indeed related when Shoshanna, the young professional reluctantly invites Jessa to a women's empowerment event and the hippie chick, once again, sabotages her uber-serious, desperate for a grown-up life relative.
No One Speaks Of Usual 20-Something Debt
Did everyone have a scholarship or have their parents foot the whole tuition bill? Apparently, since no one gripes about their student loan, a preoccupation with people well into their 30s. There is no scrounging around the sofa cushions for spare change or frantic calls home to request funds--just this once (until next time.)
Hannah's #MeToo Moment
When famous writer Chuck Palmer (Matthew Rhys) asks Hannah to his apartment after reading an article she wrote lambasting him for using his powers to sleep with young students--she goes. When he seduces her to prove that the women who have accused him were not victims--just as she was not a victim--Hannah realizes she'd been tricked. The prolific Hannah would not have kept it to herself as portrayed on the show. She would have turned it into an essay and sold it to a glossy women's magazine.
Her Quitting GQ
With all due respect to Hannah's creative soul, once she got a taste of her corporate paycheck which afforded her the ability to shop for a dress on the spur of the moment, there was no way she was going to walk away.
Yes, the stories of how her colleagues once had creative ambitions, but their 9 to 5s distracted them was disheartening, but Hannah really liked writing and hunkered down to do it. She would have been able to continue as well as work full-time.
Exes Are Never Spoken Of Again
When 20-somethings tell a story, they use what relationship they were in as a point of reference. Not the case with this group. That's where Girls deviated from its likeness to SATC, whose women deconstructed every one-night stand and passing man they bumped into on the street. The doctor Hannah cavorted with in his beautiful brownstone was the stuff "give me the details" are made of. The fact, that he appeared in the ER and informed her she was indeed pregnant it merited an all-night discussion. Nothing.
No Diversity
Apparently there are no Black, Latina, or Asian girls in the BK. Originally, Dunham clapped back citing that Hannah dated Sandy (Donald Glover) in Season 2, then in Season 4 the Iowa Writers' Workshop was the midwest's answer to multiracial cohorts (more so than one of the Brooklyn warehouse raves) and lest we forget her one-nighter with Riz Ahmed who is Pakistani from whom she was with child. After the show ended Dunham finally offered an apology saying, "I wouldn't do another show that starred four white girls."