For as much as we love Fran, homeboy can be a major bummer. At the beginning of "Old Loves," Fran and Hannah are hanging out at home and he starts looking over her graded assignments. Hannah went for a creative approach with the kids and told them not to worry about grammar rules; Fran is towing a hard line and basically calling her teaching methods into question. He starts circling misplaced adverbs and other annoying stuff on Hannah's papers. Trouble is definitely brewing between these two. For once, it's not just because Hannah is being crazy: Fran is legit over the line here.
At school the next day, Hannah's student — the one whose paper got destroyed in the Fran-Hannah grading fight — comes up to her and asks what happened to the assignment. Hannah marches the student to Fran's classroom and makes him explain what happened to the paper and why it's all torn up. It turns into an even bigger fight between Fran and Hannah, with Hannah pulling this poor eighth grader into the fray. Hannah wants him to apologize. He won't. This is clearly going to get worse before it gets better.
Meanwhile, Marnie and Desi have returned from their honeymoon and to their very real-life couple problems. Desi has decided, without Marnie's input, to build a wall in their teensy apartment so that they can have a little more privacy and personal space. Marnie flips out and tells him that she wanted more actual space — specifically, a bigger apartment. Even though it's clear that Desi was trying to do a nice thing, however poorly executed, they have a big fight about it and ultimately, Marnie is furious.
Downtown in Tribeca, Adam shows up at an addiction meeting that Jessa is attending: She's started going solely to women's meetings in order to avoid him. He's totally aware of that and calls her out on it; she reminds Adam that the reason that she doesn't want to see him because whatever might be happening between them would create problems for her relationship with Hannah. Adam calls bullshit on that move, adding that Hannah wouldn't think twice about going after a guy even if it would hurt one of her female friendships. (Truth.) He calls Jessa a pussy and walks away; it seems like maybe Jessa is going to cave.
Back in Brooklyn, Ray and Elijah are talking about Elijah's upcoming date that evening. He's clearly all freaked out about going out with Dill, the famous journalist, somewhere fancy in the theater district. He's excited, too, because he's going to be meeting some of Dill's friends for the first time, which means something important to him in terms of the way that Dill is representing their budding relationship.
Hannah and Marnie both wind up at Jessa's appointment later in the afternoon to escape their respective partners. Jessa isn't happy to see them in the least: She's busy studying and they're having a big relationship talk on her bed. Marnie encourages Hannah to work things out with Fran. In the process, she realizes that she has to be less nitpicky in her marriage if it's actually going to work out. After this revelation, Marnie goes running home to make up with Desi while Hannah stays at Jessa's — even though it's pretty obvious that Jessa doesn't want anything to do with her.
Marnie heads back to her apartment, where Desi is having a total manic meltdown. She apologizes for upsetting him and thanks him for doing this nice thing for her. It's actually a really touching moment in their relationship and it shows that Marnie really is growing up and maturing a little. (Shocking, we know.) But it's also really revealing of how emotionally fragile Desi is, which seems a little foreboding.
As the day presses on, Elijah heads into Manhattan for dinner with Dill. They're really cute together and having what seems to be a truly excellent first date — but Elijah keeps looking at the door, keeping an eye out for Dill's friends to show. Dill notices and asks him what's up. Elijah confesses that he thought they were meeting people, but if this is the sort of relationship where they don't meet each other's friends — i.e., if Elijah is going to be a secret sidepiece — that's okay. Dill tells him that he shouldn't be okay with that kind of relationship and that he should expect more respect. Seconds thereafter, his friends show up. Clearly, this whole Dill-Elijah dating thing is officially on the record.
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After dinner, they end up walking around Times Square together, snapping pics with tourists and ultimately smooching for all the world to see. The message is not subtle, but all of this still manages to be really sweet.
Hannah and Jessa wind up going out for rice pudding. Jessa is being super antagonistic, which Hannah can't help but notice. She's also just being straight-up mean. The amateur psychologist in me thinks that she's sabotaging the friendship so that she can be with Adam — and also working out some latent resentment about Hannah needing so much friendship. Hannah presses the issue of what's going on between them and Jessa says that maybe they just shouldn't be friends anymore. Hannah storms off with her rice pudding to the train, home to Fran, who she is still fighting with.
Jessa leaves that encounter and goes straight to Adam's apartment, where she confesses what happened with Hannah and also that she's wanted to be with Adam for a really long time. They end up having sex on the couch — though, it should be mentioned, it's super-awkward sex, the kind you have with someone you really like and want things to go well with — and then pass out together. Jessa is clearly aware that this is going to be a rocky transition, though, in part because she really is invested in how things work out with Adam.
Back in the city, Elijah goes home with Dill and they also end up having the sort of I-like-you sex that isn't super great but is also really promising. (Also, Dill has a lot of instructions. Way to know what you like, man — but maybe figure out clearer commands?) They are giggly and happy. I am really worried that somehow, Elijah is going to fuck this up/get his heart thrown in a blender.
After the bedroom sesh, Elijah wanders through Dill's gorgeous grown-up apartment in his boxers, taking in the view. That beautiful shot is in stark compositional opposition to the one of Hannah and Fran that pops up next: They're sitting in the Brooklyn apartment, not speaking to one another, silently grading papers. Fran looks over his shoulder to say something to Hannah, but in the end, he decides to stay quiet.