Zeitgeisting TV: 'Girls' and 'Looking' : Episodes 1

"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: "Iowa"

Jason St. Amand:

First up "Iowa," the first episode the new season of "Girls." For an episode called "Iowa" we don't even get there in this 30-minute, or 30-second?, episode. I didn't like this episode and think it is one of the weakest of the entire series. As I said in my review of this episode, it kind of proves that maybe "Girls" doesn't have much else to say. It's running out of steam and, while the characters are fun to watch, I'm not really sure where it's going and if it needs to go. But we know that won't happen because "Girls" was renewed for Season Five a week before Season Four even started.

"Iowa" basically was a reminder of where we left off last year. Hannah (Lena Dunham) is gearing up to leave for the Midwest to attend a prestigious creative writing program, leaving her relationship with Adam (Adam Driver) up-in-the-air. Marnie (Allison Williams) is trying to make it big as an indie folk singer (and is also getting her ass eaten out by her bandmate who has a girlfriend (but let's be real - we all know Marnie doesn't like butt stuff)), Shoshanna (Zosia Mamet) is facing the problems the girls were up against in Season One - trying to find her first post-college undergrad job, and Jessa (Jemima Kirke) is still trying to get her shit together.

And that's all we pretty much get from this episode. I didn't laugh much, I think Dunham forget to add the jokes, and I felt "Iowa" was kind of a throw away, setting up what may be a hard-to-get-through season.

Robert Nesti:

Yes, but... Don't you think opening the episode with a repeat of the show's initial opening when Hannah's parents cut off her hair was a smart move? It resets the series, acknowledging how far the show has gone with its situational depiction of four friends trying to make it in New York, as well as letting us know that it will be moving forward in (hopefully) different ways. Hannah has survived her parents' test that she could survive - an accomplishment in and of itself; and she's done so on her own terms. So I think this a moment to give her some cred just as she's headed out to make an ass of herself in a new locale.

Of course, she remains as annoyingly self-absorbed as ever. Just the way she treated Adam was proof that she just doesn't get how to relate to another person in a grown-up way. I loved how her leaving New York, fraught as it is with drama, was handled with such matter-of-factness: just a car driving down a street with Adam looking out the window and Marnie walking away. Having been there, it is a beautiful way of capturing such moments in people's lives.

I think you mentioned in conversation that only Adam Driver's performance has nuance while the rest of the cast appeared to be coasting. In this episode he has the most emotion invested in the moment and his expressions suggested someone about to burst, but holding back. It is a great way to set up what's to come. And I actually liked Marnie this time around - is her breakdown at the jazz brunch her realization that this musical partnership is just going to lead to heartbreak? I like the way an incident, in this case her being interrupted while performing, allowed her to express what is really wrong with the situation. The same is true of both Shoshanna and Jessa, both of whom came to the jazz brunch after emotionally-fraught experiences they appear to have learned from: Shoshanna to get the nerve up to apologize to Ray (Alex Karpovsky), while Jessa confronted Hannah about how her leaving was more about abandonment that growth. From the looks of the previews, this serious tone is going to be replaced with some typical sit-com humor as Hannah adjusts to graduate school; that's fine, but this episode turned out to be a refreshing recap.

Looking: "Looking for the Promised Land"

Jason St. Amand:

The "Looking" premiere, "Looking for the Promised Land," was more filled out than "Girls" - not that we should really be comparing these shows, but they are sitting next to each other. It reminded us where pals Patrick (Jonathan Groff), Augustin (Frankie J. Alvarez) and Dom (Murray Barlett) left off but it set things forward. They trio are going to Lynn (Scott Bakula), Dom's now-boyfriend's cabin in the woods for a drug-and-alcohol-free get away weekend, which ends up as the opposite: a magical drug-fueled sex romp in the woods. Directed by Andrew Haigh ("Weekend") it had that soft, Sofia Coppola, filtered and faded look we've come to expect. It was a beautiful episode to look at - the neon party scene was spectacular - but, like "Girls," the episode seemed to zoom by, but unlike "Girls" I wanted to see the next episode ASAP.

Patrick calls his boss / lover Kevin (Russell Tovey) to come fuck him in the woods. And he does. Then, the next day after the drug haze clears, Patrick makes the move to tell Augustin and Dom about his affair. Dom also reveals he has an open relationship with Lynn and we find out that Lynn had a longtime partner who died, which I find the most interesting of plots.

I can't get on #TeamPatrick because he is whinier than Hannah in "Girls" but gets a pass. I actually dislike all three of the main characters for different reasons (Augustin is a total prick and Dom is in his 40s but still can't get his shit together). I basically get excited when Dom's sister Doris (Lauren Weedman) appears and takes everyone down a notch because that's what everyone on this show needs: a reality check.

Robert Nesti:

A reality check fueled by Molly. At first I thought the sobriety aspect of this episode was a bit forced, partly because the naturalism of the filmmaking invited these men to relax and enjoy themselves. They were at a vacation retreat! Who wanted to hear "I really think that this weekend should be about the three of us hanging out together, not us and 200 naked homos crammed in a pool" coming from Patrick in the first few minutes? It was relief when Augustin snuck a joint in his room; and actually came splendidly to life when Doris arrived. In just a few minutes, she brought more to the series than she did the entire first season. Let's hope she gets more to do in upcoming weeks. Funniest line: "It's like 1994!" from Doris when she takes the Molly.

The point I guess is that the out-of-control Patrick (breaking up with Richie [Ra�l Castillo], fooling around with his boss Kevin [Russell Tovey]) wanted to control everyone else; but, of course, what makes him so likeable is that he can't control anything, which led to the episode's dreamy second section at The Promised Land party. I agree it was beautifully photographed, dreamy and expressive; it also put these men in a larger social context where their inhibitions were (happily) broken down. What else could explain Patrick crossing the crowd to make-out with a hot guy in a cap (who looked like Richie had crashed the party). That hinted that Richie is the person he calls in the next moment; that it is Kevin only shows how he really wants to explore his bad boy side. Ritchie is sexy and safe; Kevin is sexy and dangerous. Patrick wants to be out of control (at least as out of control as he can be).

I actually liked Augustin a lot more this time around. Maybe that he was in a relationship he shouldn't have been in last season made him so disagreeable; but this year he seems more relaxed, less critical and more fun to be with. Don't you sometimes feel a break-up is good for someone? That's how I feel about Augustin. And I love the addition of Eddie (Daniel Franzese), the party bear who works with transsexuals and wears his HIV status on his arm in the shape of a huge positive symbol? What a great addition!

Plus that Dom found out that Lynn had a partner that died brings up another indication of how HIV is part of these men's lives. The scrapbook of photos suggested that Lynn had a great life affected by HIV - how different it would have been if there hadn't been HIV? And how do we navigate the virus today? That's what the addition of Eddie brings to the show. Andrew Haigh (who wrote and directed this episode) and the series show-creator Michael Lannan are making a series that addresses the issues that LGBT men face today, at least LGBT men with HBO subscriptions. Perhaps having a "House In Virginia" will be a meme developed this season.

And that painting of Lynn? What does Scott Bakula think of that?

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