‘Insecure’ recap: Lawrence’s double shot and Issa’s reality check

Season 2, Episode 4 | Episode: “Hella LA” | August 13

Just when you thought Insecure couldn’t get any more chaotic, after last week’s bombshells, Issa Rae kindly says to all, “Hold my prosecco.” We’ve all got thoughts about this week’s episode. Here are mine.

1. Chad, Lawrence’s best friend, returns, and we’re all better people for this. And, like any best friend, Chad’s already creeping on a come-up to get his boy back in the game after the messy ending with Tasha.
2. God bless Issa. I love her, but she was entirely too pressed to hit that day party. I feel her, though. L.A. day parties are lit (shoutout to Lock & Key in summer 2015). But Issa’s confidence was nearing an all-time high (after the drought-buster with Eddy, the neighbor).
3. Given the real-world events of the past few days, Lawrence getting pulled over by the cops for the illegal U-turn gave me that queasy feeling in my stomach for five seconds. My heart couldn’t take him getting assaulted by the cops. Or worse.
4. I knew it. You knew it. We all knew it. Daniel re-emerging isn’t surprising. How will Issa play this? There’s definitely still sexual tension there. And Daniel definitely still looks like he goes to the gym three times a day. Which reminds me, Planet Fitness first thing tomorrow morning.
5. Dro being in the open marriage was a nice twist. Now the question is, will Molly climb that mountain? Methinks yes. She didn’t this episode, but it’s going to happen at some point this season. They vibe together.
6. The string of events from Lawrence forgetting his wallet to the two white chicks buying his groceries for him and then essentially getting him high and drunk enough to engage in a threesome can be seen a couple of ways. It’s the scene that caused the most uproar because it’s Lawrence basically living the life Chad always wanted for him. It was also eerily reminiscent of the infamous dorm room scene from He Got Game — you know exactly which one I’m talking about. Then there’s the whole debate about this brother dipping his toes in milk of magnesia and what that means from a historical perspective.
7. Yet, the most important aspect of the scene wasn’t the actual sex. It wasn’t Lawrence not being able to immediately “check back in the game” because, you know, this isn’t Brazzers. It’s the discussion the two girls had while snorting coke. They swapped stories of different black men they had slept with and ranked those previous performances against Lawrence’s. They didn’t see him as a person. They saw him as a sexual conquest, opening the discussion for the long fetishisized infatuation with the black body through white eyes. We could honestly go another 2,000 words on that scene alone, but we’ll save that for another time. Kudos to Insecure for this nugget.
8. We all know Issa has her awkward moments — like four or five an episode. But that dude from Tinder she was meeting at the day party was weird. In the short term, it knocked all the cool out of Issa. But in the long term, she did herself a favor. Buddy looks like he still plays Pokemon Go!
9. Any episode with Chad and Kelli (Issa and Molly’s best friend) is already a win. But Kelli walked away with another episode MVP award. She owned the day party from the moment she walked in with confidence that would make J.R. Smith look humble. She scared off all would-be cling-ons. Kelli getting — how can I say this without Disney firing me? — “caressed” under the table at the diner by the dude who had been clocking her all day may be the funniest scene in the series thus far. Daniel’s and Issa’s reactions are classic.
10. Of course an emotionally battered and bruised (and physically drained) Lawrence is parked outside Issa’s apartment in the episode’s final scene. Of course. The ball’s no longer primarily in his court. He and Tasha are through (for now). He’s not great at being single. And, unbeknownst to Lawrence, the guy who broke him and Issa up is back in the picture. And Daniel and Issa looked mighty comfortable in that diner. It just might be time for an emergency chapter meeting in the #LawrenceHive.