Girls began its fourth season with Hannah preparing to leave New York City for the Iowa Writer’s Workshop in “Iowa.”

Girls Season 4 Premiere Recap

Hannah’s (Lena Dunham) parents (Peter Scolari and Becky Ann Baker) take Adam (Adam Driver) and her to dinner to celebrate, but Adam is not in a celebratory mood. Adam’s career as an actor isn’t going as well as he had originally hoped. Adam’s biggest job so far, a commercial for an anti-depressant, is only making him more depressed. He’s in denial that Hannah is leaving, and refuses to think about what it might mean for their relationship. “To Hannah, taking the next step in a series of random steps,” Adam toasts to Hannah.

Meanwhile, Marnie (Allison Williams) is carrying on her affair with Desi (Ebon Moss-Bachrach), who is still dating Clementine (Natalie Morales), and Shoshanna (Zosia Mamet) is forced to act as mediator between her divorced parents as she registers to get her diploma from NYU. Melvin (Anthony Edwards) and Melanie (Ana Gasteyer) bicker non-stop about where to send her diploma. “Both of my parents are named Mel. It’s the worst thing that ever happened to me. And it was like the first thing that ever happened to me,” Shoshanna tells the gang at brunch, where they have all gathered to bid Hannah farewell and support Marnie and Desi at their ‘jazz brunch.’

Things aren’t great for Jessa (Jemima Kirke) either, who arrives for work at Beadie’s and is met by her mean daughter (Natasha Lyonne) who informs her that she has been fired. She knows that Jessa tried to help Beadie commit suicide, and she’s taking her mother home to live with her. At the jazz brunch, Jessa confronts Hannah about leaving them in New York, Elijah (Andrew Rannells) runs into his ex, Pal (Danny Strong), and Shoshanna takes the opportunity to apologize to Ray (Alex Karpovsky) for trying to manipulate him into being in a relationship with her again. They exchange an awkward hug, and Shosh leaves. The brunch only goes downhill from there. Little kids making fun of Marnie’s singing and reducing her to tears. She storms out, and Elijah shows up to give her a sweet pep talk. “Marnie, this business is not for sissy bitches,” he tells her.

Hannah has one last night with Adam and prepares to leave. Marnie shows up early in the morning to say goodbye, and she cries when Hannah’s parents pack up their car and get ready to take their daughter to Iowa. Adam pretends to be asleep when Hannah leaves and then watches her drive off from the window.

Girls airs Sundays at 9 p.m. on HBO.

Article by Olivia Truffaut-Wong

Olivia Truffaut-Wong was born and raised in Berkeley, California, where she developed her love of all things entertainment. After moving to New York City to earn her degree in Film Studies, she stayed on the East Coast to follow her passion and become an entertainment writer. She lives on a diet of television, movies and food.