Insecure Season 4 Premiere Recap
Lowkey Feelin Myself
Issa Rae couldn't have predicted that we would all be stowed up in our homes when the fourth season of Insecure was slated to return; but thank God it did! Escaping into the messy and relatable world of Issa and her crew is a much needed reprieve during uncertain times.
The season four premiere started with an ominous cold open, with Tyler Creator playing in the background while the camera surveyed what I assume were the remnants of Issa's block party. Later we see Issa at home on the phone when she utters to someone that she and Molly were done!
Playing on Issa's TV is Insecure's new satirized TV show. This season, its a true crimes series about a girl who disappeared after going to Red Lobster. The host played by Terri J. Vaughn (Lovita from The Steve Harvey Show) asks, "What happened? Who's responsible?" This sets up the premise for the rest of the season which asks, what happened to Molly and Issa?
Cut to four month's earlier, Molly meets Issa at her place for a self-care Sunday, complete with yoga and a blunt. Issa shares that she is in a good space in her life with, "no job and no man," which all sounds bad but she's focused on new opportunities and having good vibes in her life. Molly wants the same but shares that things at work haven't improved. Last we saw Molly, she had alienated her coworkers by looking out for number one. Issa is encourging and says that they'll both get what they want out of life, they just have to hold each other accountable.
Issa meets up with Condola (the girl from the cemetery that is dating Lawrence) for a business meeting and Issa is clearly about her business. Gone are the second hand jeans and crop tops traded in for a sophisticated muted power suit. They're discussing hosting a mixer to solicit sponsors for the block party, and from the banter you can see that their professional working chemistry is kismet. During the meeting Condola gets a text from her mystery bae i.e Lawrence. They've been seeing each other for month and Issa still doesn't know!
Meanwhile, Molly is stunting for Asian Bae (Andrew) at a cute bowling date, wearing a lacy white body suit; Molly sure knows how to get them, but doesn't know how to keep them. I'm happy to see that Andrew is back and they both seem to be having fun. Molly has seemingly let go of her hang ups about being "black orthodox" and dating outside of her race.
Molly ain't the only one getting dicked down. Issa maintains her roster of fuck buddies, this time with a heavy set TSA worker. They fumble through awkward sex, switching positions until they realize that good ol' missionary style can get you there. Aside from Kelli, who's fornication we'll probably never see on the show, this is the first time a fat body has been shown intimately and it was disappointing to see how it was portrayed. Fat people being the brunt of the joke is an age old trope, as if fat people don't have sex too. Granted there has been plenty of comical sex scenes on the show (remember Issa's neighbor bae?) but to have a fat person in an intimate scene for the first time only to use their body to land a cheap joke seemed corny to me.
Issa and Molly go shopping to get new clothes for Issa's mixer. Issa has been keeping up the boss lady look by keeping the tags on her clothes and exchanging them. Issa is feeling intimidated by the potential of inviting big name sponsors to a homegrown event. Molly encourages Issa, letting her know that she's not new to this game and that she's definitely leveled up and can pull this off. Molly also mentions that she's bringing Andrew as her plus one, indicating that things might be getting serious with them. She also gives Issa the heads up and asks if Nathan (Nancford aka honorary Goon Squad member) is also invited since Andrew and Nathan are roommates. Issa passes on that but I can't help but wonder if we'll see Nathan again during the course of this season.
Issa meets Condola at her office to strategize for the mixer. Tiffany drops in on their meeting and Condola mentions that she met her new man at Tiffany's baby shower. Issa does the math and realizes that the dick to pussy ratio was very small at Tiffany's baby shower and that ratio included her ex. Apparently Tiffany knew that Condola and Lawerence went on a date but assumed it wasn't going anywhere and therefore broke girl code and didn't give Issa the heads up. Tiffany literally throws the grenade in the room that Issa and Lawerence dated and struts out leaving the two women to deal with the fall out.
Both women reveal insecurities about continuing their working relationship given the new revelation. Issa fantasizes about Lawerence and Condola having sex back at Tiffany's baby shower while taking jabs at Issa's finances and how unpolished Issa is compared to Condola. Condola meets up with Lawerence at his place and shares the news and learns that Issa and Lawerence were together for five years which, as Condola stated, is pretty significant.
Issa and Condola move forward with the mixer together but they are as awkward as Kim Kardashian attempting to dance. As Molly and Andrew make their way to the mixer, Molly finds out that Andrew is still dating other people and Molly is visibly blindsided and flustered. People, unless you have "the big talk," assume you and your partner are single and act accordingly!
At the mixer, Issa is cracking under the pressure trying to sell her vision of the block party and dealing with her emotions around Condola. The mixer is about to be a bust when Issa grabs the mic and shares her true intentions behind hosting the block party, demonstrating that being yourself and sharing your vision is all the sell you'll ever need.
While Issa saves the day, Molly self sabotages (ain't nothing new) by blowing off Andrew at the end of the party. I thought Molly was changing; she seemed to be going with the flow instead of applying her commitment death grip or finding any and every imperfection to cut a dude off. While everyone seems to be growing, Molly is stunted and at the end of the night she projects these insecurities on Issa by calling her messy for continuing to work with Condola.
Molly calling Issa messy?! Make it make sense! This is the same Molly who was sleeping with her married friend! Let's be real, Issa working with Condola is not messy. Molly playing homeboy because she's in her feelings and can't have an adult conversation about the status of their relationship is messy. However, Molly does send Andrew a text at the end of the night letting him know her true feelings, so there might be hope for her. I'm just tired of giving home girl chances though!
In the Wine Down after show, Issa and show runner Prentice Penny talk about how this season looks at which friendships are here for a season or a reason. Molly and Issa are true friends who've been ride or die for each other, but who's to say that they are what they need for each other at this point in time in their lives. This season has 10 episodes instead of the usual 8, so we'll have more time with this story to see how it develops.