After the Sliding Doors-inspired backstory provided by last week's season 4 premiere of Broad City, we've returned to present day. Specifically, the season takes place this past winter, and for the first time we're watching Abbi (Abbi Jacobson) and Ilana (Ilana Glazer) grapple with the results of the election without addressing it head on. "Twaining Day" begins in the thick of a protest, with Abbi and Ilana working as clinic escorts (you'll notice, Ilana even has on a pussy hat), a job they're pretty much perfect for.
"You're a strong queen," Ilana tells a patient as she sends her inside, shortly before blowing weed into the face of one of the people picketing outside.
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This isn't the only new thing that's happened since the election: Abbi now has a big girl job.
Okay, it's more of an internship, but she still shows up at a graphic design office and delivers coffee (and also cat food, cat litter, and cat moccasins), leaving the sweaty world of Soulstice behind her. Almost.
As Ilana is sneaking out of the house of a one night stand, Abbi gets a call saying a package she ordered got delivered to Soulstice, and she has to go pick it up (or risk another confrontation with Garol as the distribution centre). Unfortunately, this means a confrontation with Trey (Paul Downs), whom she hasn't seen since their tryst last season.
She FaceTimes Ilana to see if she can convince her to pick it up for her, but Ilana has her own plans. She has an interview at a restaurant, so Abbi has to make up a lie to get out of work for the next few hours. She tells her boss her parents just got divorced, and ducks out for an "emergency therapy session."
Ilana heads to her interview, which is run by none other than RuPaul. Except he's a restaurant owner, and he doesn't take any bullshit. So much so that he can tell Ilana's not cut out for the harsh, judgemental world of being a waitress at his establishment. Luckily, his rejection inspires her to fight back, and her temper lands her a trial shift.
Abbi, after tiptoeing into Soulstice to get her package, spots Shania Twain — the person she used to lie about training — yakking it up with Trey. Her heart is conflicted, but in order to prove to Ilana that she's not lying, she heads back in to convince Trey to let her help train Shania for the day. They briefly speak about how things ended, and Abbi manages to win Trey over with a killer Top Gun reference. He lets her stick around to help train Shania, but she turns out to be a lot more than they bargained for, and they didn't realise how much her unwillingness to exercise would reignite their old spark.
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Things are going much better for Ilana, who ends up totally nailing the bitchy waitress vibe. She learns to insult every single customer, and in return, they order the most expensive things on the menu. That's just how hoity-toity NYC dining works, you guys. But no matter how successful she is, Ilana can't pretend to be someone else. She tells her boss (which, please don't forget, is Ru-fucking-Paul) that she's only going to stick around if she can do things her way.
Back with Abbi, Shania Twain can't help but notice the electricity between Abbi and Trey, and she asks what's going on.
"We had a thing," Abbi explains. "But it's over."
Shania Twain calls bullshit — and when Shania Twain calls bullshit, you listen.
"When there's a spark, you gotta ride it," she advises (and also sings into her iPhone).
Anyways, Abbi takes her advice very literally, and she and Trey proceed to hook up all over Soulstice
While Abby's taking a sexual chance, Ilana's own leap of faith is working out swimmingly. She's even more successful winning customers over with her charm instead of her ire.
Unfortunately, Abbi's night didn't end as fortuitously. Shania Twain walks in on the couple going at it, and their surprise results in an unfortunate genital injury for Trey. Abbi calls 911, and as he's being wheeled out, he tells Abbi she's not the relationship type. Their "thing" once again comes to an end, but perturbed by Trey's comment, Abbi immediately asks out the EMT Mike.
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Later that night, the women reunite to scroll through Abbi's now endless supply of Shania photos, and to open Abbi's package of a four year supply of Plan B. This is a post-Trump Broad City, after all.