This season of Insecure has been all about growth. In its sophomore showing, Issa Rae’s hit comedy has not only upped its production value with beautifully shot scenes and a score that’s better than most big-budget films, but the show —which also doubles as Rae’s love letter to black Los Angeles— has leveled up its storytelling, as well. This time around Insecure isn’t just about Issa and her hilariously awkward life; Molly (Yvonne Orji) and Lawrence’s (Jay Ellis) super messy, super complicated stories get top billing, too. The result? Like Living Single and Girlfriends before it, Insecure is a snapshot of Black love and life in modern times.
In Sunday night’s episode, titled “Hella Blows,” each of the leads takes it on the chin (or eye) and has to decide if they’ll stay down, or get up and try again. While Issa (played by Rae) is still trying, and failing, at cultivating her “hoe-tation,” Lawrence throws himself into something other than a woman’s arms.
Lawrence is coming off of a losing streak, no matter what his hive has to say about it. After being called a f–kboy by Tasha and being treated like a piece of dark meat by the two Beckys with a coke habit, Lawrence needs a win and seems to find one when he presents his app idea, WootWoot, at work. Lawrence kills the presentation —or so he thinks— until his coworker Aparna (Jasmine Kaur) gives it to him straight. She tells him his bosses aren’t feeling his idea because they didn’t ask him any follow-up questions, but Lawrence isn’t trying to hear her. When he circles back around with his bosses and senses a brush off, however, he realizes Aparna was right. Though his pride is a little damaged and he suspects there’s some racial ‘ish at play, his coworker hits him with a truth bomb that helps him move on: “Sometimes saying ‘goodbye’ means you’re making room for something better.” Even though Aparna is talking about Lawrence’s failed app idea, the same advice could also apply to his relationship with Issa.
Molly is also trying to make room for something better, or at least different. As she attempts to figure out how to ask for more money at work, her love-life (or maybe just her sex life) got a little bit of an upgrade. During the last episode, Molly ditched the good-on-paper brotha for Dro (Sarunas J. Jackson), her childhood friend, after finding her parents’ marriage wasn’t perfect. Still, no matter how she feels about him —and the news that he’s in an open marriage— Molly just doesn’t feel right about sexing her old pal. Or at least that’s what she tells him while their clothes are on. After talking about just being friends again, Molly and Dro end up in bed —and in a new arrangement that will likely leave Molly hurt and their friendship broken.
For now, though, Molly is content with getting serviced sexually by Dro, but it remains to be seen how long their situation will last. Molly isn’t the type of woman to play the background to anyone else, especially on a romantic rival. And when Dro skips out on their third romantic evening when his wife locks herself out of the house, she’s finally confronted with her place in his life. They may go way back, know each other’s secrets and have amazing sex… but Molly isn’t the only —or even main— woman in his life. And knowing her, that realization cuts deep.
Like her homegirl, Issa’s romantic entanglements aren’t going too smooth either. After hinting to Daniel that their situationship was getting a little too close, Issa goes back to working her “hoe-tation” for a sexually satisfying, but emotionally empty hook-up. It’s all falling apart, though. Daniel is feeling some kinda way and ignores her, her neighbor is getting busy with someone else, and Nico (Diego Serrano) —the cute Latino guy she met on Tinder— wants to actually take her out to dinner before he gets in her pants. Issa is committed to the no-strings-attached life so she kicks Nico to the curb after he says he wants to take things slow, and she goes running back to Daniel with a few new tricks up her sleeve.
While attending a sex-positive gathering with her homegirls, Issa takes a seminar on oral sex and practices on Daniel. She’s a fast study and immediately drives him wild. But when Daniel, uhhhh, reaches his peak, the result is reminiscent of Phife Dog’s Seaman’s Furniture line from A Tribe Called Quest’s “Electric Relaxation”. And Issa is not happy about it. After getting an eyeful of Daniel’s sexual eruption, Issa is pissed. She quickly cleans up, leaves in a huff and flees to an Uber Pool to sulk home —because of course, her car is still recked from the
For most of the season, Issa, Molly and Lawrence have been treading water, or just barely dealing with their issues because the alternative —getting all the way real about where they are and where they’d like to go— has been too hard figure out. Issa is still trying to sex her problems away; Molly is settling for this situation with Dro because he feels comfortable and meets her physical needs; and Lawrence is finally realizing he’s not as smart or special or good as he once thought. Each character has been forced to deal with a slew of changes this season, but will they evolve into their best selves?
I guess we’ll just have to stay tuned to find out.