Rating summary

Movie		3.5
Video		4.5
Audio		4.5
Extras		4.0
Overall		4.0

Girls: The Complete Fourth Season Blu-ray Movie Review

Entropy

Reviewed by Michael Reuben March 1, 2016

(Spoiler alert: The following assumes that the reader has seen all prior seasons of Girls and contains spoilers for those who haven't. If you are new to the show, a spoiler-free review of the Season One Blu-ray set can be found here.)

HBO's Girls flirted with soap opera in its fourth season, which may be an unavoidable hazard for a series that draws its comedic inspiration from dysfunction. Just as soaps thrive on making their characters miserable, whether or not they deserve it, Girls delights in taking each of its main characters down blind alleys—emotional, professional, romantic or, if possible, all of the above. At some point, the plot machinations required to distress, dismay and unnerve the main characters become expected, even if the specifics aren't necessarily predictable. Beneath its au courant surface, Girls has always been a traditional "coming of age" saga, but that foundation was often overlooked in the show's early days, when everyone focused on buzz-worthy superficialities. Now that both the characters and the milieu are thoroughly established, Girls has to evolve into something more than just the millennial response to Sex and the City.

The running theme of Season Four is the dawning realization for each of the main characters that, as Zosia Mamet's Shoshanna puts it, adult life is hard. The fact that the girls of Girls think they've stumbled onto a new discovery shows how much further they have to travel on the road to maturity. Indeed, as demonstrated by the unexpected antics of several recurring adult figures, some people never get there. It remains to be seen whether series creator Lena Dunham and her writers' room can maintain the delicate balancing act that keeps their characters' constant self-sabotage entertaining rather than repetitiously tiresome. Season Four narrowly scrapes by, thanks to clever writing and skilled performances, but it's an open question whether Dunham et al. can avoid tripping and falling for the two additional seasons that HBO has granted Girls. (The early signs in Season Five are not encouraging.)

Season Three ended with Hannah Horvath (Dunham) clutching an acceptance letter from the prestigious University of Iowa Writers' Workshop, an apparent validation of her artistic aspirations after numerous false starts. In a kind of mock celebration of this momentous occasion, Season Four opens with a reprise of the series pilot, with Hannah sitting across from her parents Tad and Loreen (Peter Scolari and Becky Ann Baker) at the same restaurant table where, three years earlier, they cut off her financial support. Now, though, the Horvaths are beaming with approval, as their dithering offspring appears, at long last, to be embarking on a career path that the parents can brag about to their friends.

But of course, this is Hannah we're talking about, and her Midwest sojourn only confirms her talent for spinning gold back into straw, as she butts heads with both teachers and fellow students, writing even less in Iowa than she did in Brooklyn. A link to her old life is provided by gay ex-boyfriend Elijah (Andrew Rannells), who pops up to keep Hannah company but finds the midwestern environment unexpectedly congenial. It gives nothing away to report that, after only a short time out of New York, Hannah finds herself pulled irresistibly back to familiar environs, where, to her shock and consternation, life has continued without her. Her attempt to pick up where she left off becomes one of Season Four's core dramas, as boyfriend Adam (Adam Driver), who felt abandoned by her departure, is now less than thrilled to have her back. Hannah's latest job, substitute teaching in a charter school, brings her into yet another inappropriate relationship, this time with a student named Cleo (played by Maude Apatow, daughter of Girls's executive producer Judd). It also introduces her to a handsome and (apparently) stable teacher named Fran (Jake Lacy), who for some reason finds Hannah intriguing.

Allison Williams' Marnie spends all of Season Four trying to work out her relationship with musical partner Desi (Ebon Moss-Bachrach), the airhead guitarist from the Pacific Northwest who drifts through life on good looks and superficial charm. (He's a male Marnie, but lacking her ambition.) Still formally committed to his possessive girlfriend, Clementine (Natalie Morales), Desi is now secretly sleeping with Marnie, who is appalled to find herself playing the role of mistress. As the former "good girl" sheds one layer of propriety after another in the pursuit of a romantic obsession, she can't decide whether she's in a dead-end relationship or the happiest she's ever been. The emotional rollercoaster leads to unexpected places, especially after the couple receives a potential career break from a music executive played by film director Spike Jonze.

Shoshanna graduates from college, reuniting her divorced parents (Ana Gasteyer and Anthony Edwards) for the occasion, where they quickly demonstrate why they split up (and also why their daughter always sounds like she's running to stay breathlessly ahead of an oncoming storm). Shoshanna's effort to land the kind of job that she thinks she deserves leads to the rude awakening that she may be unemployable, but one of the interviews does introduce her to a charmer named Scott (Jason Ritter), who won't hire her but would love to date her. To fill her empty time, Shoshanna assists former boyfriend Ray Ploshansky (Alex Karpovsky), who has decided to run for local political office in the hope of improving his neighborhood. It's an unexpected turn for the confirmed cynic, but it gives him something to distract him from his regret at having broken off with Marnie in Season Three, only to see her fall into a relationship with a man Alex considers unworthy of her. (The confrontation between Desi and Ray in the season's final episode is one of its most memorable scenes.)

Jemima Kirke's Jessa continues to drift through life, but no longer with ease. Abandoned by her most recent employer, Beadie (Louise Lasser), following the elderly woman's failed suicide attempt, Jessa finds herself commiserating with Adam after Hannah leaves for Iowa, and the unlikely pair form an odd friendship born of necessity and shared attendance at AA meetings. When Hannah returns, Jessa find herself caught up in a bizarre romantic melodrama involving Ace (Zachary Quinto) and Mimi-Rose (Gillian Jacobs), an artistic couple that seems to have split up for the sole purpose of experiencing jealousy as they date other people.

Some of Season Four's best storylines focus on characters other than the four leads. Besides Ray's abrupt plunge into politics, the series returns to the Horvath family, tracing the surprising developments after Loreen Horvath finally attains tenure at her college. And the season finale revisits Hannah's neighbor, recovering addict Laird (Jon Glaser), who is, remarkably, still ensconced with (or maybe it would be more accurate to say "enslaved by") Adam's lunatic sister, Caroline (Gaby Hoffman).

In a sign of how distant the girls of Girls have grown from each other, and how episodic the series has become as a result, Season Four has to struggle to find situations that bring the four friends together. A notable example is the opening episode, when Hannah, Jessa and Shoshanna attend a "jazz brunch" performance by the musical duo of "Desi & Marnie", but their interaction isn't what it once was. Each one is caught up in her own catastrophe.

Girls: The Complete Fourth Season Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

The image on HBO's 1080p, AVC-encoded Blu-rays for Season Four of Girls is comparable to that of Seasons One, Two and Three, which is to say that it shares the same smooth, detailed look provided by digital photography, and provides the same excellent black levels and contrast. The Iowa episodes provide an opportunity to vary the color palette, as leafy green surroundings replace the steel and concrete of New York. As with previous seasons of Girls, I watched Season Four during its initial broadcast, and the image on Blu-ray is noticeably superior to the HDTV picture on Time Warner Cable, with better detail, less noise and superior stability overall.

Girls: The Complete Fourth Season Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

As with previous seasons of Girls, the lossless DTS-HD MA 5.1 delivers a nice sense of ambiance, especially in a distinctive environment like Mimi-Rose's "art show" or the frat parties that Hannah and Elijah attend in Iowa. The dialogue remains clear, and Michael Penn continues to provide underscoring that seems like a natural part of the scene.

Girls: The Complete Fourth Season Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

• Commentaries: All of the commentaries are worth hearing, but the best entertainment value comes with the Episode 1 "reunion" of the four leads, who joke about everything, including Allison Williams' sex scene (the first of several in Season Four).


• Episode 1, with Creator/Executive Producer/Director Lena Dunham (Hannah), Allison Williams (Marnie), Zosia Mamet (Shoshanna) & Jemima Kirke (Jessa)
• Episode 2, with Creator/Executive Producer/Director Lena Dunham (Hannah), Executive Producer Jenni Konner & Andrew Rannells (Elijah).
• Episode 3, with Creator/Executive Producer Lena Dunham (Hannah) & Writer Sarah Hayward.
• Episode 5, with Director Richard Shepard, Writer Paul Simms & Writer Max Brockman.
• Episode 6, with Writer Murray Miller & Alex Karpovsky (Ray).
• Episode 8, with Creator/Executive Producer Lena Dunham (Hannah), Executive Producer Jenni Konner & Becky Ann Baker (Loreen).
• Episode 9, with Creator/Executive Producer Lena Dunham (Hannah) & Peter Scolari (Tad).



• Deleted and Extended Scenes: The Season Four Blu-rays offer fewer deleted scenes than on previous sets, but many of them are so good that you wonder why they weren't included.


• Disc 1 (1080p; 1.78:1; 12:44)
• Episode 1
• Fake Job Interview
• Jazz Brunch Mother
• Post Jazz Brunch
• Episode 2
• Banister
• Writers Drink
• Keg
• Twins
• Episode 3
• Alt Intro
• Episode 4
• Ray & Shosh: Certified Mail


• Disc 2 (1080p; 1.78:1; 13:50)
• Episode 6
• Ray & Shosh: Job
• Episode 7
• Ray & Shosh: Campaign
• Episode 8
• The Future of Your Cock
• Dick Touch
• Episode 9
• Your Dad
• Episode 10
• Homebirth
• AA



• Inside the Episodes: Each episode is accompanied by a brief interview with Dunham discussing its themes and origins. These featurettes can be accessed from the "Features" menu of each disc, which includes a "play all" function, or individually from the episode menus.
• Disc 1 (1080p; 1.78:1; 14:54)
• Disc 2 (1080p; 1.78:1; 18:40)



• Gag Reel (Disc 2) (1080p; 1.78:1): Even old pros like Becky Ann Baker and Peter Scolari muff their lines.
• Part 1 (6:12)
• Part 2 (6:26)



• The Making of Girls (Disc 2) (1080p; 1.78:1; 20:15): This season overview includes rehearsals, table reads and location footage from various episodes throughout the season.



• Marnie & Desi, "Breathless" (Disc 2) (1080p; 1.78:1; 3:30): The complete performance of the song from episode 1.



• Marnie solo, "Riverside" (Disc 2) (1080p; 1.78:1; 1:59): The complete performance of the song from episode 10.

Girls: The Complete Fourth Season Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

Those collecting Girls on Blu-ray can acquire Season Four with confidence that the technical quality remains high and the extras are worthwhile. It's a personal call whether these latest episodes are compelling enough to support re-watching. By the end of the season, I found myself yearning to see more of Ray Ploshansky's boss, Hermie, sharply played by Colin Quinn, who sometimes shows up to offer sound advice when someone needs it. In Season Two, he persuaded Ray to become manager of his newest café, jump-starting what looks increasingly like an adult life for the angry former slacker. In Season Four, Hermie gives Ray's ex-girlfriend Shoshanna potentially life-altering counsel, supplying a mature perspective that it's hard to imagine from any other character on the series. Hermie stands out from the rest because he's hard-headed, practical and knows who he is. That makes him a rare character on Girls, and the writers would be smart to take advantage of that resource as they devise an ending for the series.