I mean part of this show is that we're seeing the characters through a female lens. So it makes sense to me that the male characters may not be as well-rounded. The show isn't about them.

I don't think any of them have come across as unrealistic either. These characters and their traits usually don't come out of the ether -- I imagine on a show like this the writers are pulling a lot out of their own experiences with guys.

...which is why Charlie's bandmate walking around Hannah's room being like "I'm not wasting an opportunity to sniff some panties" or w/e and talking about banging a family member but **** his sister's a fatty sounds more like a stereotypical sex-obsessed male viewed through a female lens than it does a real person.

I think "pretty authentic" is a bit much, they're fairly exaggerated, imo. I think I agree with your main point, though.

I think this is a good example. That scene would ring more true if the guys were like 15 years old maybe, but as is not so much.

I think the writing is very good overall though, and I'm enjoying the show a lot.

Oh, and Rendle was on point about the last scene in episode 3 where they're dancing being perfect.

To me that's just a cop out, I understand that we're seeing things from a young woman's perspective, but if the show is supposed to be somewhat realistic, have realistic characters. I can understand the motivations of the female leads well enough, but the men come across as nothing more than foils for them to engage against. Obviously only like four or five episodes in, and pretty much everyone is in their early to mid-twenties. But all the guys come across as nothing more than walking penises, or vagina in the ikea apartment guy,

Maybe I just don't have a lot of experience with entitled, indie, pseudo- intellectual hipsters but I'm pretty sure I would have slapped every male character in the face repeatedly if I knew them IRL.

Cbroods, if it makes you feel any better it's not like the women are being portrayed in a very favorable light either.

Most of the women have been portrayed as being pretty impulsive, overly emotional, and generally not have a clue what they want.

I applaud their honest.

An entire episode about Hannah only? Why?

i kinda like this show. it's like a tolerable sex in the city.

So others can get naked on the show, but only if they are part of Hannah's family.

Best guess: because she's the central character and played by the show's writer/creator.

The quality of Adam's dialogue varies from episode to episode, but in this episode it was excellent. It straddled the line between rude and charming.

I have a hard time blaming a female writer for writing significantly better female characters than male ones, considering the vast vast vast majority of male writers have the same problem in reverse.

Marnie's boobs one time please

But in all seriousness, another good episode. Liked the last dialogue a lot.

Liked Hannah being either too proud to admit that she's in money trouble to her parents, or too happy for her mom being proud of her for not having money troubles to admit it. Either way, i guess the people who thought she was an awful person in the pilot for being so spoiled etc. will appreciate her more.

The drawcard of this show for me is that while every character has disagreeable traits, and they're often introduced with those traits front and centre, they end up being filled out. Everyone on this show can act in ****ty ways, there's no doubt, but none of them are horrible as far as I can tell. Mostly they're just fronting like they're confident and have everything sorted out when really thay're young, stupid and unsure of themselves.

I'm impressed by the depth of observation in the writing, even if the characters' concerns wouldn't necessarily mean a lot to anyone unfamiliar with the world of entitled urban hipsters.

yeah i remember watching freaks and geeks and thinking 'man, i hope i get to see the mom from freaks and geeks's breasts'.

interesting that judd apatow got a writing credit on this episode.

i felt the whole 'people from high school are shallow and lame' angle wasn't hit well enough - it just felt predictable, even if the song and dance were completely ridiculous. i now get why all the critics were comparing this show to louie after having seen 4 episodes, and this is the most 'louie' episode so far. the pharmacist dude being boring sexually was probably the most predictable beat of the show. still, the show won me back by showing that the dancer and hannah aren't that far off from one another.

I don't know that the high school friends are shallow and lame, just that it's a culture shock for Hannah to return to her small hometown where people don't share her Williamsburg-styled outlook on life. Accounting for the fact that the tribute dance routine was beyond absurd, I've had similar experiences to that.

it's tough for the show to disagree with how hannah thinks, though, even though they also show that much of what she does is dumb.

pretty repulsive episode.

I don't mind kinda hating all of these characters as a group- but when it's a focus on just one it's a bit more of a struggle. Had a hard time getting into this one.

Did they really send a guy with a concussion back to bed? Isn't that like the worst thing? A spot where the fact that this might be real makes it a lot more creepy.

Thought this episode was pretty amazing. Felt more like a short film to me than a TV episode. There were a lot of really believable emotions and character moments imo and I liked that it went more in depth about Hannah and her parents.

I don't really agree with that. The opening scene of the whole show was Hannah acting like an unimaginably entitled brat with her parents. I know nothing about Lena Dunham, but I feel there's a safe distance between her and Hannah. To me it feels like her approach to that character is a bit like that feeling you have when you stumble accross some old emails or whatever and think to yourself "oh my god, I was such an idiot back then!"

Really liked this one, I think it was the best yet.

"It straddled the line between rude and charming."

I think this is a good description. That was a great scene.

This seemed a bit different and I wouldn't be surprised if the Apatow credit was more then just a formality.

I agree with this, except I thought the pharmacist using a condom, which bothered Hannah, though she would never say anything about it was a really good touch. Once they had that scene in the car where it was clear Hannah's arc mirrored the dancer's arc I moved closer to this school of thought about the episode.

My one complaint about the series thus far, is they have relied a little too much on broad comic setpieces, even if the acting/repercussions of those setpieces are all naturalistic.

Some of the writing for men has felt a little off, but complaining about that feels ridiculous given how many shows marginalize women and turn them into talking vaginas.

Stupid detail to spur a bunch of discussion. I felt it was a nice, albeit incredibly unrealistic touch how few contacts Hannah had in her phone.

They were just her favourites or whatever right? But yeah, was a nice touch. There's been a lot like that. My favourite was the shot of her twitter page.