The Best Parts of the Season 2 Premiere of Girls

1. It was wonderful to see Andrew Rannells (playing Hannah’s gay ex-boyfriend Elijah) take the place of Marnie as Hannah’s bedfellow in the first shot of the second season of Girls. Rannells’ presence on the show perfectly demonstrates how Lena Dunham is opening the cast up and expanding her show while staying true to the first season’s focus on the characters’ messy life trajectories. Elijah’s spontaneous sexual encounter with Marnie in the first episode and his questioning of his sexuality also yielded the funniest line of the episode: “People are so prejudiced about bisexuals, though, it’s like the only group of people that you can still make fun of – it’s like bisexuals and Germans. And I happen to be both.” Rannells also had the best line of the first season in the episode All Adventurous Women Do: “It was nice to see you. Your dad is gay.”

2. Donald Glover is another welcome addition to the second season of Girls. As Hannah’s new über-Republican boyfriend, Sandy, he is an integral part of her moving away from unstable Adam, and he forces her to confront her issues with race. It’s fun seeing Glover in a more serious role and it will be exciting to see Dunham confront the criticism of her show’s lack of diversity by proxy with Hannah’s awkward confrontation of Sandy later on in the season.

3. Let’s take a moment and celebrate Zosia Mamet and her totally bizarre, blunt performance as Shoshana. Her character got more screen time than ever and she did not disappoint. Recently deflowered but, in her words, “not devalued,” Shoshana is reeling after being rejected by Ray, calling him out at Hannah and Elijah’s party for insulting her before every compliment. Of all the girls on Girls, Shoshana may have the most self-worth and that makes her fascinating to watch. I hope we get to see more of Shoshana this season, and maybe learn more of her life/career aspirations, which are guaranteed to be both ridiculous and admirable.

4. Marnie’s meltdown. It was an excellent decision on Dunham’s part to let the character who outwardly seemed to have her life the most together crumble. Losing her boyfriend and then her job at the art gallery has left Marnie (Allison Williams) to do some soul searching and figure out what is is she wants to do. Marnie is smart and sensible, but she is finding out that that may not be enough. Add to her jobless state a totally inept mother (guest star Rita Wilson) and a flirtation with the pretentious artist Booth Jonathan and Marnie has a full plate in the upcoming season.

Lena Dunham and Adam Driver on Girls

5. Every scene between Hannah and Adam is painful to watch while also containing some of the most compelling performances on television. Adam is a Guinness World Records-worthy bad boyfriend, with offenses that include peeing on Hannah in the shower and serial neediness, but as much as Hannah should abandon him, he also forces her to confront what kind of person she wants to become.