I'm not digging the whole 'it's so true and relatable' thing. I mean, the protagonist stole money from the housekeeper. In a way, this is a lot easier to deal with if you think of it as the female Eastbound & Down. Instead of joining the major leagues, this Kenny Powers is delusional about being the voice of a generation. I don't think they'll take it as broad as that though.
― Popture, Tuesday, 17 April 2012 12:08 (twelve years ago) link
"mom was too mean, she should have been a stepmom, then it wouldve made sense"
while we'd still be dealing with monstrous caricatures, it would make a bit more sense for a woman to be screaming about how she deserves a lake house if maybe the girl lying half-conscious on the floor wasn't raised by her. either way, people are really just asking for some backstory to explain why the "tough love" dunham is getting seems so contemptuous.
― da croupier, Tuesday, 17 April 2012 12:10 (twelve years ago) link
it kind of reminds me of that new "bff" show in that the half-hour format might be a little limiting. it asks us to get emotionally involved with character reality while indulging in broad cliches to move things along. We've got the lead's eating and fucking in stark indie-vision, but everyone who affects her life is a parody of a person.
― da croupier, Tuesday, 17 April 2012 12:21 (twelve years ago) link
yeah the episode felt shockingly short at a half hour.
― lou reed scott walker monks niagra (chinavision!), Tuesday, 17 April 2012 12:30 (twelve years ago) link
oh god it'd be a nightmare as a 60-minute show, better too little than too much
― some dude, Tuesday, 17 April 2012 12:48 (twelve years ago) link
kind of amazed judd "146-minute theatrical cut" apatow settled for that, actually
― some dude, Tuesday, 17 April 2012 12:49 (twelve years ago) link
oh the old james l bridges understood how TV works even after he started making mammoth dramedies
― da croupier, Tuesday, 17 April 2012 12:52 (twelve years ago) link
lovechild of james l. brooks and jeff bridges?
― some dude, Tuesday, 17 April 2012 12:57 (twelve years ago) link
lol
― da croupier, Tuesday, 17 April 2012 13:02 (twelve years ago) link
I would have enjoyed it at an hour I think. a longer show would allow it to stretch out and escape nightmare territory maybe? modulate tone a bit?
― lou reed scott walker monks niagra (chinavision!), Tuesday, 17 April 2012 13:03 (twelve years ago) link
people are really just asking for some backstory to explain why the "tough love" dunham is getting seems so contemptuous.
― da croupier, Tuesday, April 17, 2012 8:10 AM (53 minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink
asking her to get a job, what nazis
― lag∞n, Tuesday, 17 April 2012 13:07 (twelve years ago) link
i mean she was not actually half conscious, as the mom said 'youre getting played by an all time player here' was the whole point, the tea wasnt knocking her out, her desperation to not get cut off was
― lag∞n, Tuesday, 17 April 2012 13:09 (twelve years ago) link
i think its weird a parent would announce half-way through the dinner she was cutting off her child immediately with a nagging "no more money". ymmv
― da croupier, Tuesday, 17 April 2012 13:10 (twelve years ago) link
a lil grace period prob wouldve been wise but obvs the situation was already pretty loaded
― lag∞n, Tuesday, 17 April 2012 13:12 (twelve years ago) link
and you're really ignoring the "i deserve a lake house" meltdown
― da croupier, Tuesday, 17 April 2012 13:13 (twelve years ago) link
i realized like an hour after watching the show that the mother is the mom from freaks + geeks, right?
― Mordy, Tuesday, 17 April 2012 13:15 (twelve years ago) link
There sure are a lot of boys on the Girls thread.
― wolf kabob (ENBB), Tuesday, 17 April 2012 13:15 (twelve years ago) link
and, uh, pretty much every other thread. it happens.
― some dude, Tuesday, 17 April 2012 13:15 (twelve years ago) link
I know, I know. Still.
― wolf kabob (ENBB), Tuesday, 17 April 2012 13:17 (twelve years ago) link
she wants to use her hard earned money to sit on her ass at the lake, her daughter is being a manipulative lil monster and her husband is falling for it for the millionth time so she melts down a lil bit, no one behaved v well but it still ranks p low on the scale of family disfunction
― lag∞n, Tuesday, 17 April 2012 13:17 (twelve years ago) link
obvs aside, i just think some backstory would help explain just how the situation is "loaded" and just how sympathetic the mom's anger is (though i know plenty of people who were just glad to watch a spoiled 24-year-old get shit on, even if it was by the presumable spoiler)
will admit having the freaks & geeks mom in this role made it more wtf for me
― da croupier, Tuesday, 17 April 2012 13:18 (twelve years ago) link
― wolf kabob (ENBB), Tuesday, April 17, 2012 9:15 AM (2 minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink
oh i thought this was the title of the show not an instruction on who should talk abt it, excuuuuse me
― lag∞n, Tuesday, 17 April 2012 13:19 (twelve years ago) link
pretty sure the "backstory" is that her parents have been supporting her in nyc for two years while she writes her memoir
― max, Tuesday, 17 April 2012 13:20 (twelve years ago) link
i mean i dunno none of that rang false to me
― max, Tuesday, 17 April 2012 13:21 (twelve years ago) link
picked a nice restaurant to surprise cut her off in
― da croupier, Tuesday, 17 April 2012 13:21 (twelve years ago) link
x-post - I didn't say you can't talk about it! Talk away. I just think it's sort of interesting that afaict no women (who have actually watched it yet) have posted about the show. I'm not saying that's necessarily significant in any way but I did notice it. nb I am going to watch it. I just forgot to the other night.
― wolf kabob (ENBB), Tuesday, 17 April 2012 13:22 (twelve years ago) link
― Popture, Tuesday, April 17, 2012 8:08 AM (1 hour ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink
yeah i dunno. maybe we should make a distinction between "relatable" and "recognizable" and "sympathetic" -- i felt like all the characters were recognizable at almost all times, relatable less of the time, sympathetic even less
― max, Tuesday, 17 April 2012 13:22 (twelve years ago) link
hope the mom becomes a full arch villain & is 100% preoccupied w/ her dream lakehouse
― johnny crunch, Tuesday, 17 April 2012 13:24 (twelve years ago) link
i just think some backstory would help explain just how the situation is "loaded" and just how sympathetic the mom's anger is
― da croupier, Tuesday, April 17, 2012 9:18 AM (53 seconds ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink
i thought some of their ingrained family patterns were p deftly displayed sans formal backstory, like the dads babying style of parenting is dominant in the family mom wants tuff luv as she feels like the girls development has beens stunted but cant pull it off, good storytelling!
― lag∞n, Tuesday, 17 April 2012 13:24 (twelve years ago) link
― wolf kabob (ENBB), Tuesday, April 17, 2012 9:22 AM (2 minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink
sounds like weve got a feminazi on our hands fellas
― lag∞n, Tuesday, 17 April 2012 13:25 (twelve years ago) link
but dad's style wasn't dominant, they cut her off, left her behind in a hotel room with $20
― da croupier, Tuesday, 17 April 2012 13:25 (twelve years ago) link
the mom finally got her way was how i read it
― lag∞n, Tuesday, 17 April 2012 13:26 (twelve years ago) link
ya
― max, Tuesday, 17 April 2012 13:26 (twelve years ago) link
ok you've invented a backstory, good for you
― da croupier, Tuesday, 17 April 2012 13:26 (twelve years ago) link
if you look at her character in general and particularly how she reacted to getting cut off i think the show was trying to imply that shes k spoiled
― lag∞n, Tuesday, 17 April 2012 13:28 (twelve years ago) link
like it was saying that, it doesnt need to be all spelled out, although im sure well get more infos in future episodes
two years is like a crazzzzy long time for your parents to be supporting you after college
― max, Tuesday, 17 April 2012 13:30 (twelve years ago) link
like i could see where croup is coming if this was like a 6 months after college conversation
i do think cutting her off cold turkey was kinda unrealistic, like she needs time to find a paying job, give her a few months
― lag∞n, Tuesday, 17 April 2012 13:31 (twelve years ago) link
if you look upthread, i called her spoiled. i just don't know if we're supposed to take the "all time player" shit at face value, and there seems to be some serious hate there beyond "my daughter, the stunted 24-year-old intern". honestly, any other actress in the role and I'd just take the mom was a cartoon plot device.
― da croupier, Tuesday, 17 April 2012 13:32 (twelve years ago) link
feels more like a convenient plot device than a thing that wouldve actually gone down like that
― lag∞n, Tuesday, 17 April 2012 13:32 (twelve years ago) link
that's true
― iatee, Tuesday, 17 April 2012 13:33 (twelve years ago) link
the mom obvs has some issues of her own, i mean her husband is a professor w/an earring, shes had a tough life, not that that justifies her callous behavior
― lag∞n, Tuesday, 17 April 2012 13:34 (twelve years ago) link
well also they are setting her up to...move home? in a week
― iatee, Tuesday, 17 April 2012 13:35 (twelve years ago) link
yep
― lag∞n, Tuesday, 17 April 2012 13:35 (twelve years ago) link
maybe she could have gotten them to relent and support her for a few months but she actually asked for 1100 a month for two years or whatever, which I guess was the final straw for the mother
― Number None, Tuesday, 17 April 2012 13:36 (twelve years ago) link
the overall family portrait was i think none of them are particularly strong people, theyre not horrible but just a bit adrift
― lag∞n, Tuesday, 17 April 2012 13:38 (twelve years ago) link
haha this argument is getting kinda silly, i guess i sorta see where croup is coming from but while i was watching i didnt feel "oh man this is unrealistic" at all, mostly i felt sympathetic to her parents, i cant say my mom wouldnt have flipped out in a selfish way if i showed up to her hotel room late at night pretend-stoned on opium tea and demanded that she read my memoir
― max, Tuesday, 17 April 2012 13:39 (twelve years ago) link
i didn't say "this is unrealistic" i said "what the fuck is the deal here, this mom hates her"
― da croupier, Tuesday, 17 April 2012 13:39 (twelve years ago) link
i definitely didnt see 'serious hate' -- i felt like her and her mom had a difficult relationship but a lot of ppl do w/ their moms
― max, Tuesday, 17 April 2012 13:40 (twelve years ago) link