With its gender-studies baiting name—and its creator Lena Dunham’s tendency to assume that she and her selfish, deeply confused on-screen alter-ego Hannah are one in the same—Girls is a show that breeds controversy. Now, its second season seems more than ready to pick up its zeitgeisty mantle: new additions include a gay roommate for Hannah, a painful job loss for her usually successful best friend Marnie, and complex romantic liaisons aplenty.

Of course, these episodes haven not been perfect: the first suffers from an embarrassment of riches, with Dunham introducing so many new plot lines that some scenes feel shortened or awkwardly ordered. But most of these plots are quite well drawn. Impressively, in the first two episodes of the second season Dunham has managed both to engage with the critical discussion that surrounds her work, and make an argument for why her show transcends it.

Perhaps the most surprising new character is Donald Glover’s Sandy, a black Republican love interest for Hannah who seems deliberately designed to deal with critiques of lack of diversity. That storyline’s climax, both riveting and somewhat painful for the viewer, is indicative of the talent Dunham displayed at her best moments last season. And the following immensely tense scene with Hannah’s ex-boyfriend Adam suggests that the second season’s peaks could be even better than the highlights of last season. As it matures, Girls’ quality may soon overwhelm its criticism.