Lena Dunham's Buttcheek

I can't get the image of Lena Dunham's buttcheek out of my head. Keep in mind that as I write this I am laying in bed with a 102 degree fever. So don't blame me if this sounds delirious. Blame the Internet propaganda that forced me to believe getting a flu shot would paralyze me or make me talk backwards like that odd scene in Twin Peaks that everyone knows, even if they've never watched it. Clearly I've never watched it.

Anyway, back to Lena and her cheeky issues. When I first watched Girls last year I hated it, with a capital H. But then, as the episodes piled up on my DVR, I decided to give it one last chance. The episode where Hannah goes home to visit her parents had me hooked immediately. I continued to watch gleefully this season, until this week. The episode in which Hannah must remove a giant splinter from her ass had me so ridiculously uncomfortable I had to close my eyes. Don't get me wrong, like so many detractors it's not her body that made cringe, I don't mind her constant nudity. What I did mind was having to watch, as she painfully removed the splinter and then subsequently decided to lance her eardrum with a Q-tip. And don't even get me started on the Adam and his new gal pal sex scene. We all knew the other shoe had to drop, but Jebus.

The entire episode made me wonder, as I have in the past with some really heinous Curb Your Enthusiasm episodes, is discomfort really a valid form of entertainment? Obviously the bit worked. Ms. Dunham and her giant splinter made me feel as uncomfortable as Hannah must have been feeling. But is there a point to making your audience uncomfortable?

At first I thought, no, and I was about ready to write-off this show again. But then in my flu induced fog I had an epiphany. I was not watching Modern Family. This is HBO after all. The channel that made me weep for Nate Fisher and get a little queasy over any of a thousand Game of Thrones beheadings. And still I loved those shows. Even Curb remains one of my favorites, because no matter the emotion these shows leave you with, they leave you with something. And they make you think. Food for thought is just as important as a laugh.

So the answer, my friends, is ...blowing in the wind... Damn you fever! No, but seriously, just want to say thanks to Lena Dunham and her envelope pushing ass.



Ps. Yes, I realize I haven't posted in months and suddenly this, that's what a fever does for you.