*SPOILER ALERT* This piece contains spoilers for the series finale of HBO’s “Girls.”
After six crazy seasons, it was time to say goodbye to the HBO series “Girls” and the finale left us with all the feels. Season six has had a fair amount of shock factor: Hannah getting pregnant and moving out of NYC, Marnie and Ray getting together but then breaking back up again, Adam thinking he wanted to be with Hannah and then going back to Jessa and Shoshanna suddenly getting engaged. The most surprising thing of all is that the four main girls didn’t reconcile for the finale.
However, I think this ending was appropriate considering the series as a whole.
I’m usually one to love a good cliche ending where the girl ends up with the guy of her dreams and an amazing job she loves all with her besties still by her side, but this time it was different. Hannah didn’t end up with Adam,—(RIP my OTP)—we don’t really know how successful she will be at her new teaching job, and her major friend group fell apart – and I’m okay with it.
The whole series was about those first formative years of true adulthood. “Girls” made a point to show how imperfect life really is with flawed characters in their twenties getting into messy situations. In the first episode of the series, Hannah finds out she is cut off from her parents and has to find a job that actually pays. This started her six-year transition from college graduate to, now, new motherhood.
Along the way, Hannah and her friends have lost jobs, had messy breakups, one night stands and some have even grown apart. So, it makes complete sense that the finale ends with Hannah living on her own in upstate New York learning how to be a single parent. It wouldn’t make sense for Hannah to end up with Adam, all her best friends and the certainty of an amazing lifelong career because it totally goes against the very premise of the show.
Even though I am a little sad that Jessa and Shoshanna didn’t make it to the finale, I understand why this happened because not all friendships are made to last. Hannah and Marnie have definitely had their ups and downs, but through it all, Marnie was always her best friend and that’s why she stuck around.
I’m genuinely happy that the creators of “Girls” didn’t give me the ending that I thought I wanted. The main cast was not all gathered together, smiling and laughing as if there was never any drama between them, and it felt right. In the end, Hannah was supported only by her best friend and her mother as she stepped into the next phase of her life; she didn’t have the same support system she’s had for the last six years and that’s the way it should be. This ending continues the narrative that’s been at the heart of the show since day one – life’s not perfect. It’s messy, it’s beautiful and it’s complicated but hey, that’s real life.