Zeitgeisting TV: 'Girls' and 'Looking' : Episodes 2

"American Horror Story" hasn't finished it's fourth season yet but here we are - recapping two shows returning to HBO's super white Sunday night comedy block. In this edition of Zeitgeisting we will take on Season Four of "Girls" and Season Two of "Looking."

Here are our assessments of the first episodes of both.

Girls "Triggering"

Jason St. Amand (national news editor:

liked "Triggering" more than last week's "Iowa," mostly because we get more Hannah. Also, we're finally in Iowa. What "Iowa" lacked in jokes, "Trigger" sure made up for. I was really into this episode. It was light, but still showed that you can take the girl out of New York but you can't take the self-absorption out of the girl.

I loved it how Hannah was truly impressed at how much house she was getting for $200 a month (even I was shocked at what a nice pad she has for pennies). I love that no matter where she is, NYC, Ohio, Iowa, the moon, she's still clueless and totally in her own world. When she goes to her writer's workshop class, no one is impressed with her "LiveJournal entry" of a story about wanting her boyfriend (Adam?) punching her during sex. But Hannah can't wrap her head around a group of intellectuals not liking her story, so she assumes it was just too real for them, triggering past experiences. But in reality, the story probably just wasn't that great.

In one of the more whacky sitcom-y parts of the episode, Elija randomly shows up at Hannah's place, saying he's sick of the Rotten Apple. Half of me is happy about Elija being in Iowa with Hanna because Andrew Rannells is one of the best parts of the show and when he and Leann Dunham are on screen together, it's pure magic. The entire party scene was magnificent: everything from Hannah giving that crying girl a pep talk to Elija jacking of a possibly under age boy in the bathroom. He may have been shoehorned into the episode, but I'm willing to ignore that because it's clearly the right way to go.

Robert Nesti (arts and entertainment editor):

I was afraid from the trailer that this episode was going to push "Girls" into sitcom land. Happily I was proven wrong. The episode was tart and funny; in other words, in perfect pitch with the show's satiric sensibility. That it has Hannah as a true fish out-of-water made for laughs, such as when she attempted to engage a sales clerk and when she was chastised for locking up her bike. This is Iowa! It became more real, though, when she was in class and her fellow grad students ragged on her story. As you point out, her self-absorption takes over, thinking that her writing was so profound that it triggers emotional responses with the other students when, in fact, it was just her attempt to be shocking. I was thrilled to see actress Desiree Akhavan as one of her peers. Akhavan's new movie "Appropriate Behavior" is a very funny movie in the "Girls"-mode and she's a terrifically funny, self-reverential comic on her own. That Dunham recognizes her talent is to her credit.

But these students - are they meant to be idiots or savants? As another post pointed out, their demographic make-up shows more diversity than there's been on the show thus far; but is that a criticism of academic programs out to be more inclusive? Before they get to criticizing Hannah's story, they overpraise the prose by an African-American student. "I want to say this was one the best pieces I have read so far in this program, and I am a second year," said a blonde student. Another (a white male) says he'd cut off his right arm to hear what happens next in the story. After that, does their criticism of Hannah have any validity? The writers appear to be satirizing both Hannah and the graduate program, as if to ask, does she need to be there in the first place?

It was a bit odd to have Elijah appear out of nowhere, but he did make for a most welcome comic jolt. And his reasons - that he tripped over a homeless lady on his stoop and keeps running into everyone he's slept with - make perfect sense for anyone whose lived in New York. His encounter with a gay-curious student was hilarious. "Do they do this at every frat party?," the boy wondered. "They do at everyone I go to," Elijah responded. Especially funny was Hannah's advice to a tearful co-ed also in a long-distance relationship. It was delivered with such authoritative smugness that you know it's going turn around and bite her in the ass. To her credit, Hannah hasn't taken the bite from Marnie about just what Adam was up to, but who knows how long that will last.

Looking's "Looking for Results"

Jason St. Amand (national news editor:

I'm honestly not sure how to feel about "Looking for Results," the second episode of Season Two of "Looking." Half of me was really into it: It was great what they're doing with Patrick and how he feels so ashamed and dirty for sleeping with his engaged boss Kevin he ends up taking an HIV test. That inward spiral of paranoia, doubt and fear is something I'm sure a lot of gay men, including myself, have gone through. That ping-pong effect of equating doing something (sexually) wrong and contracting HIV is maddening. I'm sure there's more to say about that and why we feel that way, but creator Michael Lannan and director and producer Andrew Haigh don't explore much more of that. Instead, the episode unfolds kind of like a soap opera, which i'm not sure if I like or hate.

At the start of the episode, Patrick and Kevin get into some well-written pillow talk and it becomes apparent, at least to me, that Patrick is far more into their "relationship" than Kevin. Later on, Dom, Agustin and Patrick visit a dumpy spot where Dom wants to open up his own restaurant. They later meet Dom's sister, the wonderful Doris (the first thing she asks Patrick is "How's the affair?"), for drinks, and that's where Patrick's AIDS fear starts to kick into full gear, after noticing he has some red marks (possibly bed bugs) on his torso. But things get even more real after the foursome split up and Augustin goes looking for his new pal Eddie at a club but gets high, thanks to an old friend (the dude from the threesome in the "Looking" pilot). And who should stumble upon Augustin, passed out on the street like a homeless person? Richie.

Good-guy Richie brings him to Patrick's doorstep. Is it just me, or am I the only one who finds Richie annoying? Sure he's GREAT always taking the HIGH ROAD but it must be exhausting being that humble and putting everyone first. I'm guessing the writers are trying to make us go "awwww" but I'm most of the time trying to keep eyes from rolling out of my head. Anyway, it's the first time in about a year since Patrick and Richie communicate. It's awkward, it's cute. It's a start. They both reveal they're in some sort of relationship.

At the end of the episode, Patrick's paranoia is at its peak, and after taking an HIV test, he tells Kevin who reassures him things are cool. It's a touching moment, but it's also marred by the ickiness of their relationship. You want to root for Kevin and Patrick together but you really can't - the "affair," as Doris puts it, is always lurking in the back of your mind.

This episode was all about support though. The three buddies are big-time gossipers, but they're also pals and confidants and that comes through on "Looking for Result."

Robert Nesti (arts and entertainment editor):
I think what I love about this series is how it is building on the situations from Season One. I know that's obvious - isn't that what every series tries to do? But it feels so organic and real. I don't think a show has ever dealt with the anxiety of AIDS panic with such a deft hand as Andrew Haigh (who directed the episode in his intimate, mumblecore style) and Michael Lannan (who wrote it) did here. It was both ridiculous and very real. Ridiculous in that it is apparent that Patrick overreacted (but isn't that his nature?), but serious in its ramifications, beautifully expressed in the sobering moment when he got his results.

Of course his relationship with Kevin is going to leave you queasy - it's secret (for obvious reasons) and will likely come to a bad end, be it for Patrick or Kevin's boyfriend. Kevin's a heartbreaker. As for Richie, I don't think he's so much always right as having old-fashioned values that don't necessarily fit into Patrick's world. That this may be because of their class difference may be the case; but whatever the reason, it does make Richie seem the most judgmental character in the story line. He knows what he wants and isn't part of the game-playing that Patrick indulges in. That Patrick couldn't be honest about his relationship with Kevin with him was telling - is he ashamed? Or does he sense Richie's interest and knows that telling him would be the dealbreaker?

I guess that's soap-operatic, but I didn't see it that way. The show has a gently satiric edge that keeps it from slipping into bathos. I especially like how Agustin went on his bear hunt and ended up so fucked-up on Molly that he ended up in a gutter. Is he out of control? We'll see. As for Dom, I liked how he addressed Lynn (Scott Bakula) on his relationship with his deceased partner - another nod to how AIDS will continue to surface in the lives of these characters. Smart writing without being too obvious. What I like most about "Looking" is that it seems so relevant. It has issues, such as lack of diversity, etc.; but isn't that true of most gay men's lives?

This story is part of our special report: "Zeitgeisting TV". Want to read more? Here's the full list.