Critic Reviews

Bravo’s first original non-reality TV series is a sometimes hilarious, sometimes heartbreaking story about an L.A.-based self-help author.

Edelstein’s pitch-perfect performance elevates Girlfriends’ Guide to one of the best new series of the season.

It’s sad, it’s funny, and it’s surprising.

Girlfriends’ Guide is for the most part a pleasure, and unlike a lot of the network’s series, there’s nothing guilty about that.

It is, along with the raunch, the flinty outlook, the “War of the Roses” echoes, and the fun, also about the pull of marriage. Thanks to the aforementioned fine performances, it’s a guide that entices.

You want to watch more episodes of this series not just because it’s funny, but because it understands that the emotionally complex elements of loving someone, marrying them and having kids with them are probably the reasons marriage tears two people apart over time.

This one is smartly acted, crisply written and willing to address all manner of issues--marriage, betrayal, family economics, friendship, even the pitfalls of public domesticity--in gratifyingly complex ways.

Girlfriend’s Guide to Divorce is worth watching this season because Marti Noxon and company are moving beyond Abby’s first taste of sexual freedom and addressing more of the harsh realities divorce entails. The guest casting alone makes the show watchable and Lisa Edelstein’s Abby continues to be an engaging, appealing catalyst for the show’s stories.

The series is fun and frothy but also often poignant.

What makes a marriage work, and what sacrifices are worth its maintenance and upkeep, are plumbed here with surprising dexterity.