History Series / Girls

* YankTheDogsChain: Right as Shoshanna is really becoming comfortable, happy, and fulfilled in her job in Tokyo, she gets laid off. The creators outright stated in an interview that they couldn't let Shoshanna be ''too'' happy. Then after she finally finds her footing after landing back in New York, she has a chance to be part of part of a successful startup, Jamba Jeans... only to ruin her relationship with her coworkers and miss the opportunity due to trying to build up a relationship with Jessa, who takes her to Rockaway on the same day as an important Jamba Jeans trip for the chance to see Vincent Gallo, who doesn't even show up.

* HeadbuttingHeroes[=/=]VitriolicBestBuds: Marnie and Jessa. It's not completely clear whether they are actually friends or not. In Episode 8 it's made clear that up until then they had a mutual friend in Hannah but really weren't friends with each other. However, their friendship develops - REALLY develops - in this episode (though their interactions wax and wane as the seasons go on).

** FriendsRentControl: Several arcs and motivations are kicked off because people can't afford their lifestyles.

* BittersweetEnding: [[spoiler:The girls start drifting apart, which ends up permanent in the final episode. Shoshanna moves on with her life after cutting ties with the rest of the group, Hannah moves upstate with a steady job and preparing for her new baby, and though she and Marnie reconcile, things will never be back to the way they were, but Hannah has more or less grown up and finally put someone else above herself.]]

* HeadbuttingHeroes[=/=]VitriolicBestBuds: Marnie and Jessa. It's not completely clear whether they are actually friends or not. In Episode 8 it's made clear that up until then they had a mutual friend in Hannah but really weren't friends with each other. However, their friendship develops - REALLY develops - in this episode.

* LesbianJock: Discussed and averted in ''Females Only'' when "fat gay Laura" tells Jessa she hates it when people assume that because she's a lesbian, she likes sports and she really dislikes playing them.

* MeetCute: [[spoiler:Shosanna and her fiance]] meet in line for a Sprinkles cupcake ATM.

* MonochromeCasting: One of the major complaints about the show. It's set in Brooklyn, albeit in a largely white part, which makes this fairly striking. This was addressed by Lena Dunham, who apologized for the show's whiteness in several interviews. Perhaps to offset this criticism, [[Music/ChildishGambino Donald Glover]] was cast in a recurring role in season 2.

** Marnie is a decent singer, but not even closely as good as she thinks. The folksy indie pop music she makes with Desi doesn't make one's ears bleed, but neither is it interesting whatsoever. [[invoked]]

* TheFellowshipHasEnded: [[spoiler:The group begins to drift apart later in the show, and in the final season, a meetup without Hannah just feels awkward and forced. This culminates in Shoshanna's engagement party, where she gives an icy, devastating TheReasonYouSuckSpeech in the bathroom in the penultimate episode, stating firmly that the group's dynamic has become so toxic and tiresome that it would be better to just "call it [quits]". Shoshanna ends her friendship with the group, and Jessa and Hannah decide to mutually call it quits; in the finale, where only Hannah and Marnie appear, Marnie's mother encourages her to chase after her dreams and not spend her life supporting Hannah, as she did the same thing for her own best friend for decades and ended up resenting and hating her, making it likely that Marnie will ultimately end up doing the same.]]

* DoubleStandardRapeFemaleOnMale: In Season 5's "Homeward Bound", Ray drives his coffee van all the way upstate after Hannah breaks up with Fran at the beginning[[note]]and, as it turns out, end[[/note]] of their summer road trip, to take her back to Brooklyn, noting that this is costing him a lot of money. Shortly after they get underway, Hannah takes it upon herself to give him a blowjob while he's driving as a way of thanking him, even though he suggests she doesn't have to, and when he tries to put his hand on her head tells him not to as that's a "trigger" for her.[[note]]Incredibly, with [[https://althouse.blogspot.com/2016/04/the-lena-dunham-character-on-girls.html one exception]], most recaps of the show (written by women) downplayed the clear lack of consent.[[/note. This distraction [[RealityEnsuses naturally makes him crash the van and roll it over at the side of the road]][[note]]; [[https://fanfare.metafilter.com/6507/Girls-Homeward-Bound Some viewers]] even blamed Ray for the accident on the grounds that he had ''later consented to the blowjob by closing his eyes''[[/note]] where, to add insult to injury, Hannah taunts Ray about him not getting aroused and then hitches a ride home while ... it's ''[[PlayedForLaughs played for laughs]]''.

** In the pilot episode while Hannah is having dinner at a restaurant her parents (Loreen and Tad) try to tell her they're cutting her off while she's still unemployed because they gave up hope and patience on her becoming self-sufficient. A waiter arrives and Hannah tries to order dessert. Loreen barks at her obese daughter to stop eating.

** In the pilot episode while Hannah is having dinner at a restaurant her parents try to tell her they're cutting her off while she's still unemployed because they gave up hope and patience on her becoming self-sufficient. A waiter arrives and Hannah tries to order dessert. Her mom barks at Hannah to stop eating.

* TheFellowshipHasEnded: [[spoiler:The group begins to drift apart later in the show, and in the final season, a meetup without Hannah just feels awkward and forced. This culminates in Shoshanna's engagement party, where she gives an icy, devastating TheReasonYouSuckSpeech in the bathroom in the penultimate episode, stating firmly that the group's dynamic has become so toxic and tiresome that it would be better to just "call it [quits]". The fact that half the group doesn't even appear in the final episode underscores this.]]

* YankTheDogsChain: Right as Shoshanna is really becoming comfortable, happy, and fulfilled in her job in Tokyo, she gets laid off. The creators outright stated in an interview that they couldn't let Shoshanna be ''too'' happy.

** In the pilot episode while Hannah is having dinner at a restaurant her parents try to tell her they're cutting her off while she's still unemployed because they gave up hope and patience on her becoming self-sufficient. A waiter arrives and Hannah tries to order dessert. Her mom shoos away the waiter to make sure Hannah gets nothing more to eat.

* DownerBeginning: Up for interpretation. The series begins with Hannah's parents cutting her off citing she's 24 and she has a college education (albeit as an English major, and lacking technical or computer skills). Though we later see that Hannah is lazy, arrogant and irresponsible so her unemployment and loss of parental support is mostly karma.

** In the pilot episode while Hannah is dinner at a restaurant her parents try to tell her they're cutting her off at a time when she's still unemployed. A waiter arrives and Hannah tries to order dessert. Her mom shoos away the waiter to make sure Hannah gets nothing more to eat.

** In the pilot episode while having dinner at a restaurant her parents announce they're cutting her off at a time when she's still unemployed, Hannah tries to order dessert. Her mom shoos away the waiter to make sure Hannah gets nothing more to eat.

** In episode 5, after Hannah sabotaged Charlie and Marnie's relationship by saying the two don't belong in her journal or diary or whatever she calls it, Marnie tries to make Hannah apologize and admit what she did was wrong. Hannah just continues to eat cereal and with her mouth full, tries rationalizing her mistakes. This makes Marnie consider kicking Hannah out of the room and leave her homeless out on the streets because as Hannah has no job, she's not paying her half of the rent.

* OutOfFocus: Shoshanna largely fades from the narrative in the last couple of seasons.

* YourCheatingHeart: There's quite a bit of infidelity going around, though the creators have outright stated that the affairs aren't usually romanticized infidelity, but a consequence of the characters wanting out of their relationships but being too [[AdultChild immature]] to just communicate this.