Yes, we are adding Girls to the lineup! Maddening and yet surprisingly truthful, I think everyone has an opinion on Lena Dunham's weird little show. This is the first part of the Season 3 premiere - part two will be added tomorrow.

I have a love-hate relationship with this show. Stylistically it's excellent, and there is a ton of talent involved on both sides of the camera. Lena Dunham is great and has a very distinctive way of doing things. But at the same time - like many viewers say - the characters drive me a little nuts. One moment they relate perfectly to those little moments in twenty-something life, honest and sympathetic, and the next they're utterly unlikable and wallowing in privilege. I guess that's part of the show's intelligence (and it is nothing if not intelligent), being brutal about the characters' flaws, but it can be quite jarring. So let's say I'm 65% sold on it? Maybe Season Three will change that.

Previously on: Basically a recap of Season 2, so spoilers. Hannah and Adam dump each other and get back together in an endless cycle, Marnie has a tough life, Shoshana and Ray navigate things and then break up, Hannah writes stuff, Jessa is happily married and then divorced, Marnie and Elijah hook up, Hannah's OCD flares up, Jessa goes away for no apparent reason, Hannah breaks down, she and Adam reconcile.

We find Hannah and Adam curled up in bed together. He helps her take her meds and remains by her side. Marnie is on the couch in someone's apartment (Charlie's?), while Shoshana sleeps next to her one-night stand. Jessa washes dishes in an industrial-looking kitchen.  A naked girl climbs out of Charlie's bunk. Wait, is that Marnie? But wasn't she on the couch - oh, I can't bother to figure this out anymore. Stay together or break up forever, guys. Since the actor playing Charlie is leaving mid-season, I think we can guess how that turns out.

At Grumpy's, Hannah tries to talk Ray into coming to dinner, but he refuses because of the recent breakup with Shoshana. In fact, he doesn't even like having Hannah around to increase the chances of accidental contact. When Hannah protests that it's sad that he's going so far to avoid his ex, he gives her a thorough schooling in How Life Works. Hannah gets about eight of these per episode. Adam shows up, but is quickly cowed by the appearance of his Season 2 girlfriend, Natalia, who is mad about their bitter breakup (after a very dubiously consensual sexual encounter).

Natalia's friend tells him what an asshole he is for ending the relationship abruptly (what, the rapey stuff isn't even going to come up?). Adam tries to apologize, but as usual he's not very good at it. The friend finally takes him to task for the incredibly creepy sex from last season, and then adds that Natalia's pregnant for good measure. Yup, that's right, Adam in all his weirdness has managed to reproduce. Natalia's friend rants for a good minute about Adam's deadbeat dad status, until Natalia manages to get a word in edgewise and tells them she's not pregnant, though she also calls Adam a donkey, which I applaud. I do think she needs to get new non-psycho friends, though.

Natalia notices that Hannah's there, and after finding out who she is, kind of treats her like the dirt under her shoe. I guess she expected a supermodel. She also warns her to stay the fuck away from Adam, because of his aforementioned assholery. A disgusting description of their sex life follows, and then Natalia storms out, dropping the damn mic in the process. Hannah looks mopey, as usual. Opening titles.

Marnie's mom shows up at the apartment, yelling at her for being inadequate in basically every way. Marnie resents this, no surprise. However, her mom does have a point - she's sick of hearing about Charlie and really wants her daughter to move the fuck on. She thinks she's encouraging her to be strong and independent, but it turns into a nag pretty fast. I'm not on anyone's side here, really. Kind of want to punch them both. Actually, extend that to the entire cast. Marnie's mom storms out, and Marnie goes to work - at Grumpy's.

Jessa turns out to be in rehab, having evidently rekindled her history of heroin addiction. She  tries to hide behind a blanket and refuses to participate, but does tell them she finds the whole thing stupid. This does not endear her to the other group therapy participants. Finally, she gives them a sarcastic life history, with the caveat that she's figured her shit out and doesn't need anyone's help. Eventually she takes over in her own Jessa style, much to the other patients' anger.

She's sent to an individual therapist, who notes that she's on "male ban" already (and is forced to wear a fucking "Females Only" sign to show it), I assume after she tried to seduce one of the nurses or something. Anyway, she's driving all of rehab mad, but considers herself to have made progress because she doesn't mind having friends who are ugly. The plan: stay sixty days as her grandmother requested, then collect Grandma's rehab bribery money to fly back to New York, rent an apartment and buy some cute boots. The (extremely awful) therapist sends her out of the room, disgusted.

Hannah submits some work to her editor, who is pleased. "Why didn't you tell me you were suffering from mental illness? That's something we can work with," he says of the whole late submission debacle. They go ahead with publication details, and it looks like Hannah's career is taking off at last. She tells this to her psychiatrist, and also confesses that she's worried about money, since writing is precarious and Adam's being supported by his grandma. Dammit, why is no one in this show self-sufficient? And where have all the rich grandmas been hiding? Hannah and the shrink discuss the merits of chanting, and the psychiatrist winds up falling apart himself. Sigh.

Jessa's back in group, ruining things as usual, even accusing a woman of using her molestation as an excuse. Ah, there's the Jessa hate coming back. She may have impeccable style, but she's a shit human being 99% of the time. They try to get her to open up. Once again, it's a losing battle. Instead, she provokes the other woman into a fight. Why is everyone on this show such an awful person?

Hannah and Adam discuss the upcoming dinner. He soon gets into a rant about how much he hates having her friends over. Apparently, he was counting on someone bailing so he wouldn't have to do it. Now, he wants out, though Hannah protests that he's her boyfriend and should at least make an effort. Yes, definitely Team Hannah on this one - until she dishes it out by reminding him that he has no friends, then brings up the Natalia incident. They whine about relationships for a while. I have to say, even if Adam's a jackass, he does have a certain gormy appeal, and Adam Driver makes him a really interesting character. I can see why he got the Emmy nomination.

Jessa meets an English patient (heh), who is somewhat of a silver fox and has a half-English, half-American daughter roughly her age. They smoke together and discuss how much bullshit rehab involves. He takes down her personality and her daddy issues quite brutally. It's nice. Jessa goes to find the woman she so brutally insulted earlier (Laura), claiming she wants to apologize. I would tell Laura to stay the fuck away. Luckily, her response is a dismissive "Whatever". Not that Jessa's perturbed. She just plays with her "Females Only" sign and tells some stories of her childhood to show that she totally understands what Laura's going through. Unfortunately, Laura falls into this trap and bares her soul to Jessa, admitting she thinks she's gay, but she's not sure. Jessa theorizes that drugs were "a placeholder for pussy", then asks if she's ever kissed a girl. Uh-oh.

Shoshana babbles on and on about her sex life while Adam grimaces through the inanity. Marnie whines about how much love sucks. Hannah desperately tries to hold things together. Adam helpfully brings up that he saw Charlie on the street, which sends Marnie close to tears. His insincere declaration that they all look pretty tonight falls flat. Hannah munches chips and tries to change the subject. Too late - Marnie has fallen over the cliff and wails about Charlie and pizza and breakups. Hannah tries to be sympathetic but remains a selfish asshole.

Some staff arrive at Laura's room to find - surprise! - Jessa going down on her. Shocked, they can only shout that "This is getting logged!" before slamming the door again.

Adam recounts his own bad breakup stories to Marnie, who hangs on his every word. Hannah's not thrilled, Shoshana thinks it's romantic. His point - a real connection is different from superficially knowing someone. Marnie's comforted, a bit.

Jessa's been hauled up before the psychiatrist for her lesbian encounter, though I don't know why they're so surprised - surely it's not the first time such a thing has happened. Naturally, Jessa's unrepentant, saying that it was an act of charity. The therapist admits that Jessa totally confuses her, and kicks her out of rehab. Which is exactly what she wanted, of course.

After sex, Hannah and Adam discuss the evening. She thinks it went well, Adam still refuses to see her friends because "I can't." Yeah, I'd have dumped him by now, but Hannah's an idiot. Just then, the phone rings. Jessa, who has had no contact with anyone for months, wants Hannah to come and pick her up from the rehab facility. Hannah goes from "rage Jessa dared to call" to "happiness that she's in rehab" to "exasperation that she got kicked out" pretty quickly. Nonetheless, they're still friends, and she asks Adam how old you have to be to rent a car. Closing credits.

This season has gotten much darker and the characters much crueler in the space of thirty minutes. I'm impressed. It's going to be interesting to see where they take this. As they begin to move along in their twenties, do they have to let go of every last bit of human empathy? Is it Flanderization or just character development? We'll see, I guess.

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