Girls - The Complete Second Season

"Girls" brought hipster anxiety and Lena Dunham's breasts to HBO. It's back for a second season with more degrading sexual mishaps, anxiety driven monologues and musings on young life in New York City. The Blu-ray/DVD/Digital Copy combo pack is flush with special features. They not only add insight into the production, but also bring a surprising amount of levity to the pretension of the first season of the series.

Ironically, the second season boasts a lot of great man candy. Andrew Rannells ("The New Normal") joins the series as Elijah, Hannah's gay ex-boyfriend/new roommate. He also boasts what Dunham calls, "the hottest sex scene we've had on the show." Jorma Taccone, of "The Lonely Planet," Chris O'Dowd, Patrick Wilson and Donald Glover ("Community") all do the mating dance with one of the "Girls." John Cameron Mitchell, Shiri Appleby and Rita Wilson also guest star.

The Blu-ray/DVD/Digital Copy set includes a ton of bonus features. The deleted/extended scenes include a completely different opening of the season. It would have put the series in a different context and also includes a pretty graphic sex scene with Donald Glover ("Community"). Also included are audio commentaries on all the episodes and the "Inside the Episodes" segment that aired on HBO after the show. They include insights into Production by Dunham.

"Guys on Girls" is a segment where Dunham sits with the four main guys on the series: Rannells, Alex Karpovsky, Adam Driver and Christopher Abbott. They have a drink and discuss the development and reception of their characters. There is footage from a Table read for Episode 5 that includes Patrick Wilson. The Gag Reel comes in two parts and is a little lackluster. Given the dark and improvisational nature of the series it mostly includes alternate lines to certain jokes. There are also extended scenes of music by Judy Collins and, strangely, a performance by The Swell Season from 2008.

The most interesting special features are the interviews with Lena Dunham, an episode of "Charlie Rose" and an interview from The New Yorker Festival (2012). Seeing how Hollywood hasn't changed Dunham and she's matured and seems to have a grounded, level-headed awkward likability to her is a huge departure from the buzz that surrounded her the first season. Regardless of the shortcomings of the show, the lack of rationality, the questions of feminism and countless "Sex and the City" comparisons, the fact that Dunham can speak modestly, intelligently and passionately about her work is admirable.

Fans of "Girls" will love all the extras on the combo pack of the second season. Haters might also find some new perspective on the series and the place it's made for sex-fueled, awkward, anxious and sometimes questionably grotesque series on television.

"Girls: The Compete Second Season"
Blu-ray/DVD/Digital Copy
$ 39.98
www.hbo.com