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<em>GIRLS</em> "Triggering" Recap: On Iowa, Bats, And Saying Goodbye To All That

Rebecca Fishbein

Published Jan 19, 2015

Modified Jan 19, 2015

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Rebecca Fishbein

Published Jan 19, 2015

Modified Jan 19, 2015

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At long last, Hannah Horvath has arrived at the Iowa Writer's Workshop, the Harvard of the MFA world and every freshman creative writing major's grad school dream until a cruel senior whispers something about the University of Iowa's "dry campus."

Things look pretty good for Hannah in the beginning. Iowa is a world away from Greenpoint (though, technically, just a slightly tricky subway ride), a magical land where $250/month gets you a perfectly livable studio apartment and $800/month gets you a mansion. The campus seems like a city-fatigued person's, filled with flat streets and charming houses, and you never have to lock your bike, apparently. There's a sense of peace here, one hinting that a writer can practice her craft without being distracted by Bushwick warehouse parties and moody actor boyfriends. "We should all move here and start the revolution," Hannah tells Marnie during a Skype session. And at first, it seems like she has a point.

For the so-called "lost" twenty-something—as in, you know, Hannah—a graduate school program like Iowa can seem like a dream come true. Iowa's workshop students get free tuition and a livable stipend, so even though Hannah's just a "poor graduate student," as she tells Brooks Wheelan's incredulous bookstore employee, she probably earns as much cash as she did back in her Cafe Grumpy days, sans NYC's obscene cost of living. And for anyone who's grown weary of the post-grad urban grind, a graduate program like Iowa presents a safe form of temporary escape, one that gets you out of New York for a few years without ripping the city away from you permanently. Hell, after the first eight or so minutes of this episode, even I wanted to send my college portfolio in as an application, though my best story was about a girl who lost a toe so...maybe not.

But in the Girls world (and, in fact, in the REAL world) removing oneself from one's friends, city and life isn't all that easy, and the rest of the episode is heavy with Hannah's isolation. A Skype session with Marnie cuts out. Her cell phone doesn't work. ("You're in the dead zone. It's this block and like 200 feet that way," a passerby tells her). She's kicked out of her house by a bat, and spends the night sleeping on her bathroom floor. Her bike gets stolen.

And worst of all for our dear narcissistic protagonist, Hannah's story gets slammed in her first workshop, in part because, ever the essayist, she repackages a story about her sex life with Adam as a fiction piece. Of course, as the instructor notes, "Since this is a fiction workshop, we need to treat every story as a piece of fiction,"—valuable advice for GIRLS viewers struggling to separate Hannah from creator Lena Dunham, yes?

Speaking of Adam, he does not appear in "Triggering," and he is only mentioned in passing, though he haunts the episode—in Hannah's story, in her camera photos, in her conversation with Marnie. We can probably expect his absence to be a focal point this season, though some of it might also be thanks to his starring role in the new Star Wars (!!!), right?

So it's unclear what Hannah's going to glean from Iowa, a place where her fellow grad students seem unamused by the trademark self-absorption we've learned to tolerate over the past few seasons. Sure, Hannah's had some problems with Marnie/Jessa/Shosh in the past, but those friendship bonds have been gluing them together for years, for whatever reason. Please, someone send Hannah some friends—preferably the very cool Desiree Akhavan.

A few final notes:

What the hell is going on with Hannah's finances? Her credit card is cut, and she calls her friends and parents collect. Is there a gambling problem plot on tap?
Marnie is still the worst. "I'm knitting a scarf for Desi. When he wears it, it'll be like a part of me is with him." Go away.
I have never been happier to see Elijah, my favorite permanent addition to the GIRLS cast. Though I will not forgive him for permitting Hannah to ruin that adorable black-and-white dress.
I (and potentially every other former creative writing major) needed a trigger warning for the workshop scene. Workshops are a bloodbath, and no one needs to remember getting sliced open by their fellow students for naming a dog "Lazarus."
Also, Hannah went to Oberlin, where she doubtlessly sat through millions of these miserable workshop sessions. She knows not to talk during her dissection. Come now, writers.
Please don't send me any more emails about how great bats are.
No one wants to be the 25-year-old at a college party, but if you're going to do it, you might as well dispense life advice to the little kittens.

And that's all, folks! Next week, Elijah makes new friends, and maybe we'll get to spend more than a few seconds with Shosh and Jessa.

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Rebecca Fishbein

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