‘Girls’ Season 4 Episode 2 Recap 'Triggering' SPOILERS: 12 Things We Learned From Hannah Moving To Iowa [PHOTOS]

Are you ready for our Girls season four episode two recap? The HBO show's season four premiere found Hannah Horvath (Lena Dunham) moving to Iowa, and leaving her boyfriend Adam (Adam Driver) and closest friends Marnie (Allison Williams), Shoshanna (Zosia Mamet) and Jessa (Jemima Kirke) behind in New York. Read our recap of the second episode, "Triggering" — obviously containing SPOILERS — below. As mentioned in our preview, this is a totally Hannah-centric episode, dealing with her move to Iowa. Here are 12 things we learnt from "Triggering."

1. House prices are cheaper in Iowa than NYC  

"Triggering" begins with shots of Iowa's corn fields and wide open spaces, and with Hannah deciding on a new place to live... She's stunned by who big her "two thumbs the fuck up" palatial new abode is compared to what she could afford in New York. And wouldn't you be? Just look at the place. 

2. You don't need to lock up your bike in Iowa.

Hannah meets one her new classmates and learns that her bike is safe in Iowa. "Hell yeah, this is Iowa."

3. Marnie is Knitting Desi a Scarf 

Hannah's staying in contact with her NY friends via FaceTime, as she shows Marnie - who is knitting Desi a scarf -  'around' her new house saying "Iowa's incredible; we should all move here an start the revolution." Marie responds by saying "no one is moving to Iowa ever," and Hannah boasts that she's eating "grapes as a snack." 

"I'm totally at one with my body and surroundings," Hannah adds before gently probing her for information on Adam. None of which is forthcoming. 

Hannah also takes shots at Marnie for having an affair with the in-a-relationship Desi, which Marnie scoffs at saying that people are "really judgmental," before the feed freezes.

4. House Intruders Are Scary Pt 1

After a scary night with a surprise intruder (a bat), Hannah locks herself out of her house and then spends the night sleeping in her bathroom.

5. Hannah's Classmates Aren't Easily Fooled 

Hannah meets all of her writer workshop compadres... and it doesn't go well. 

Some of the biggest laughs of the episode come as Hannah's writing is criticized for being too autobiographically in her piece (which she warns them "has some triggering aspects"). 

As they point out, "The character is a girl with a lot of tattoos named 'Anna'." "Who needs to eat every two hours or she passes out." 

Yikes. 

Hanging out with them at the pub later, Hannah tries to mend bridges by explaining the triggering aspects of her story about "the time I took a couple of quaaludes and asked my boyfriend to punch me in the chest." 

Again. It doesn't go well. 

 

6. You Actually DO Need to Lock Up Your Bike in Iowa.

Or else it will be stolen. 

7. There's No Such Thing As TMI 

Hannah refutes the idea of 'TMI', saying "by the way, TMI is such an outdated concept, there's no such thing as too much information, this is the information age; we're all just here to express ourselves. So it's like to censor ourselves, we're no better than George W Bush." 

8. Hannah is Super Lonely

After a failed collect call to Shosh and Jessa, then a truncated chat with her parents - due to Hannah losing her phone during a creek walk - Hannah lies and says she's having a great time. Truth is, she's super lonely, and even asks her mom whether or not it's usual to contemplate suicide when moving to a new place.   

9. House Intruders Are(n't) Scary Pt. 2

The big surprise of the episode comes with yet another house intruder... this time, they're far more welcome. It's Elijah! 

Elijah's surprising of Hannah at her home - he subsequently moves in as her "candystriper" - is punctuated with yet another classic Elijah line of "on the drive from the airport, two people asked if I was Blake Lively's husband. Iowa's AMAZING!."

Elijah is the tonic for Hannah's despair, and his reason for moving is typically terrific and Elijah worthy. "Honestly," he says, "New York was just too grotesque. I mean, I just feel like a fucking loser. I kept running into people I've slept with... and then last week i saw a homeless woman fist herself on my stoop. It's just like 'I've had enough',"

"I hate everyone who isn't you," replies Hannah.

"Me too!" grins Elijah. "I've been saying that for years."

10. College Parties Are the Best 

The two then head to a "rager on north Lynne street!" to, as Hannah says, "forget who we are."

The highlight of the episode is the house party: which includes Elijah jacking off a fellow party-goer, who protests "I'm not gay." Comes Elijah's reply, "Nah, me neither brah." 

Hannah has an amazing conversation with a girl who's crying  about her boyfriend cheating on her, to which Hannah growls "your boyfriend's cheating on you? Where the fuck is that dingbat?"

She checks herself, saying "Oh, you're saying it's a long distance thing? Then you're gonna need to snap out of it. Them's the rules honey. Don't ask, don't tell." 

"And that's why," she says, "you're going to movie into that living room and bust a nut. You're gonna get your dick wet and you are gonna get yours. That's what you're going to do. You can't sit around being little Miss Faithful, that's fucking crazy! Are you crazy?" 

Hannah then apologizes and gives the girl a hug, saying "It's okay, it's just that I've seen a lot of things, I'm 25 years old."  

11. Mud Fights Are Fun

Yup. Hannah gets into a mud fight. 

Either way, the party is a huge relief. The two wake up the next morning and walk back to their house feeling cleansed. Mission accomplished. 

12. Hannah Can Actually Be Interesting To Be Around For An Entire Episode

"Triggering" takes us deep into Hannah being in Iowa, and unlike other Hannah-centric episodes feels quite expansive. It's because there's a definite sense of joy, then loneliness, existential despair and then joy at the party, and the journey is delightful.   

HBO's Girls season four continues next Sunday Jan. 18 at 9 p.m.

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