Dear Girls,

I’ve seen three episodes of you now, and that being my general new show grace period, I think it’s safe to say that I’m in really deep like with you. Like, I really like you. Like, if we had a few drinks, I might be inclined to have sex with you with a condom. You get me. Your commercials told me I would like you, but the strange, yet very cool thing is that I didn’t realize how much I would actually relate to you. I mean, I’ve never lived in Brooklyn, and my parents stopped financially supporting me back when I went off to college, and that was mostly because I was all, “It’s cool, parents. I got this.”

But I had a bit of a moment during your second episode where I was laughing and yet wanted to curl up in a ball and cry so hard for everything your girls were going through that I’ve also faced. After it ended, I sat up on my futon (I make no pretenses that I’m a real adult), stared at your credits and said out loud, “Fuck me” because now I was obsessed with “the stuff that gets up around the sides of condoms.” Of course, this wasn’t the first time I thought of that nastiness, but you brought it up, man! I still am a disenchanted 20-something praying so fucking hard that I figure out who I am and what I want to do with my life. I’m pretty sure I’m a voice of a generation too, but I’m the only one who realizes it. Hannah Horvath… she gets me, and I get her.

But the thing that I find even more interesting about you, show, is that even though I like Hannah and the other girls, they make me so mad. They try… they do… but, God. I simultaneously love and fucking hate every single one of those bitches. And that is absolutely fascinating.  They are all horrible people (except Shoshanna, who is sweet and innocent but SO annoying, but has yet to do anything truly cringe-worthy), but I still sympathize with all of their situations (except maybe Jessa. Girl, you need to get a grip.). And because of that, they are all incredibly, surprisingly endearing. I think I like Marnie the best of them all because I know what it’s like to be in a relationship that you hate simply because you’re bored, and because while she’s still a mess, she seems to have her life the most together. But, show, after thinking about this and writing several drafts of this letter, I’ve realized something: my heart really lies with your main protagonist, and I think that’s why I’m in such deep like with you.

Hannah… Oh, Hannah, how much she bothers me. It’s because I know that she’s smart, and I know that she’s capable. After three episodes, I can see this. But she makes decisions based on misguided ideologies (I have theories on this involving mantras we were all taught as children, but I feel like that’s another letter for another day/blog), and she does and says things she thinks will make her appear a certain way, but it often backfires. She has a toxic relationship with a boy that any idiot can see will only end with emotional destruction. She’s being emotionally affected now, but she’s so blinded by what she thinks is real, that she doesn’t see it. Hannah infuriates me. But I completely and totally sympathize with her because she is me. I am her. I’ve been where she is, more or less. Maybe I’m there now. But it’s something you can only see clearly in hindsight. Hannah, you are a voice of a generation. We just may not realize it yet.

That’s really what it boils down to. The situations you depict are, of course, exaggerated, but they are real. And they’re funny. They’re fucking hilarious. But they can also be so, so depressing. But that’s what makes them feel so real according to the life we see through our own eyes. Show, when I talk to people about you and they say things like, “I just don’t understand why so-in-so does this,” or “Why doesn’t whatsherface realize that he’s no good for her?” I just have to think, “um, have you never met people?” Every character, I think, is an apt representation of little pieces of all the girls of our generation*. At least some of us. To varying degrees. But true to life, nonetheless.

*Here’s another interesting thing I think you hit on, but no one mentions. All the girls are in their twenties, so they’re technically not girls anymore. But we are. In so many ways, we are. Just like men our age are boys. But that gets into my misguided ideologies tangent again and we won’t go into that today.

I know that can be hard to stomach, and it’s the one downfall I see in you. Even though you got renewed for a second season (HOLLA!), I predict (based on three eps), that you may end up going the way of Community. You’re smart, but you do things in ways other shows don’t. You tell stories no one else is telling. They’re specific to a group of people who aren’t really represented on TV right now, and that’s 1) genius, but 2) not always well-received. Because of that, I fear you may be limiting the number of people you’re actually going to reach. Your pre-airing hype was another topic of controversy in the media, and I suppose I can see where people are coming from on that one, but after three episodes, I think you’ve opened up. People can see you now, if only they’d look (and some are!). So, people need to just calm their tits on all fronts. They may not understand you, but something tells me having the highest rating isn’t really what you’re after. And I think you’re right in doing that. Because trust me on this: you’re reaching people. And those of us who get it… we get it. And we love you just the way you are.

Love,
Christina

P.S. – Sorry for getting mushy. We should totally grab some coffee somewhere later. You know any good places?

P.P.S. – I should probably acknowledge that people also have problems with your casting, but I’m going to be honest: I couldn’t give a shit. I think all the actors work so well together, and I couldn’t care less that most of them are the offspring of famous people, or that they’re all white. Because the important thing is this: I can’t even look at Adam Driver when he’s on screen because Adam, the character, is such an amazing douche, I want to reach through the screen and rip his dick off for grabbing Hannah’s stomach fat. Because I’ve experienced that too, fuckface, and you’d deserve it.