Insecure is back!
Let’s get this part out of the way…
#LawrenceHive, as promised, there is no mention of your favorite jilted nice guy, turned f-boy.
*Insert taking a deep breath*
Lawrence quickly became a written off character beyond the opening recap where we are reminded of Issa’s feelings of dating below her standards while trying to be his ride-or-die chick that lands her in the arms of her ex, Daniel, ultimately ending her relationship. Lawrence did not fulfill his alternate destiny of becoming Issa’s husband and starting the perfect family. Instead, they said their goodbyes and, she winds up at Daniel’s door.
*And exhale* Now to season 3, episode 1.
Damn Daniel
We are immediately reminded in the opening scene why no one hated Daniel for having a hand in breaking up Issa and Lawrence. Viewers were pleasantly greeted with an intense scene of Daniel getting it in with a woman we’re both hoping is and isn’t Issa.
One can only have mixed emotions while the two faceless bodies danced on top of the sheets on the screen. One reaction would definitely be shaking your head while thinking: “You’re in danger girl!” Also, Issa would be jumping back into the bed of her ex while her income hangs in the balance, and no bed of her own due to the gentrification of her last neighborhood. In essence, this move would make her a hobo-sexual who hasn’t learned a thing from the hoe-cation she tried to take last season.
If you were rooting for your girl to be on the receiving end of Daniel’s moves, we can’t blame you, but we’d still advise you to refer to the previous paragraph. It turned out to be another girl screaming the roof off of the house while Issa awkwardly listened from his couch, turned her new bed. Eventually, Issa ventured out into the night, not to visit a man, but to pick up customers as a driver for Lyft. Issa figured if she wasn’t getting any action, she might as well make some cash. Smart move.
The Token Chronicles Continue
Issa is still in trouble at “We Got Y’all” after getting caught up in only serving part of the demographic at the school she was in charge of in season two. Banned from the field, with her ex-partner, turned her indirect supervisor, Issa is tasked with making follow up calls to the schools on a dwindling roster.
It turns out after Issa calls the schools she was told by another underling not to call, that many of the schools have figured out that students may benefit from another program with a diverse staff that can relate to the students.
The organization as a whole is whiter than the Oscars with a bias against the students they serve. We find Issa stuck in an all too familiar struggle of POC spaces not quite being saved by YT faces who also silence of the voices of those they claim to be caping for.
Molly’s Life is a Beach
Fresh from a two-week vacation after leaving her job at a law firm who paid her below her worth, Molly declares that her new mood is “know better, do better.” We also find out that Issa rationalizes staying in a messy situation with Daniel because of a broken vase from her last attempt at a BFF roommate arrangement with Molly.
Molly feels like her vacation has helped her to see the men in her life with new eyes noted in the following way and order:
Bloop: Vacation Bae has to stay in his lane and in her memories.
Blip: Her long-distance bae will stay long distance in Chicago.
Blam: Her new job better not play with her benefits.
Blip, Blap, Bloop: Dro, her best friend, who is married, but is in an open relationship is nothing more than a f**k buddy.
We’re inserting an extra one of Molly’s sound effects for Issa’s “Sandy Pu**y” — Molly’s nickname, not ours.
A full bottle of Hennessy leads to some loving near the oven for Molly and Dro. Nesting ensues, but Molly is reminded of her resolve when their morning-after cuddle session was disturbed by Candice — Dro’s wife. His attempt to continue pillow talk and to go back to the scene of the crime from the previous evening to make breakfast, forces Molly to enforce that they can only be acquaintances who get it on. No feelings allowed.
The Party Lyft
Issa makes an AND1 move by avoiding a kiss Daniel. Daniel was sipping on some brown liquor to get his creativity flowing after he had an earlier conversation with a family member about whether he is with Issa or someone named Vanessa (we’re guessing she was the lucky girl in the opening scene). This leads to a pact for Issa’s alleged last two weeks at his place where he must inform her if he is having company.
When Daniel lets her know that he plans to put on a repeat performance, Issa is back on the road picking up passengers with Molly in the front seat and Capri Suns in stock for her customers. The party is off to a great start with two young girls on the way to the club as one of them refers to Issa as the cool aunt in their review.
Ready for some action of her own, the next customer she accepts had to meet the fine man requirement. Enters a good looking dude who doesn’t quite get Los Angeles. Issa changes his destination to a nearby taco place that they never reach because she picks up a passenger who takes the term “lit” literally. Two Capri Suns and two puffs later, the cute dude is beating up his fellow pool passenger and fleeing the scene. The cutey later sends Issa a $50 tip.
We’re guessing he’ll be back in a future episode.
Meanwhile, Molly is missing a meet up she agreed to with Dro to celebrate getting everything she asked for in her contract at her new job.
In Their Feelings
Molly, realizing that the boundaries she set with Dro should have been an electric fence, finally cuts him off after he lets himself into her apartment and proceeds to make himself at home. Dro gives back her keys and heads back home to his wife — we hope.
Issa is eventually upfront with Daniel about having feelings for him, but does not want to go back to their old ways by quoting Molly’s “know better, do better” policy. They settle into a roommate routine.
*Honorable mention to Erika Alexander (Living Single), comedian Bill Bellamy, and Darryl M. Bell (A Different World) making a cameo with a “reboot” of a fictional show playing on the television in the background while Daniel and Issa figured out how to co-exist despite their obvious sexual tension. Dawn Richards of En Vogue also makes an appearance as a singer who can’t sing as Daniel tries to make more connections as a producer.
A sneak peek of next week’s episode shows Issa trying to get her financial life, more awkwardness with Daniel and more cluelessness from her co-worker’s plight to impact the ‘hood one child at a time.
