Extremely Insecure: "Growth, Okay?!"
This episode could've easily been called "Compromise, Okay?!"
CREDIT: Glen Wilson/HBO
This will include spoilers.
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I really feel like this episode could’ve been called “Compromise, Okay?!”
We see it with Issa and Molly reuniting, Nathan and co-barbers (is that what co-working barbers are called?) negotiating with Issa on their upcoming event, and Issa trying find middle ground in another partnership with Nothing but Water. Episode one set the tone for the external and internal issues we’ll be combing through this season, but this episode felt like changes, compromise and acceptance of the season’s conflicts.
Kofi Siriboe, who looks like a moan in physical form, plays Crenshawn, a formerly incarcerated artist working with The Blocc and Nothing but Water. He is between Issa’s tug of war between culture and corporate. It’s pleasant to watch Crenshawn be ten toes about his art and authenticity over any corporate rules, even if it almost came at the expense of Issa’s career.
Speaking of career growth, Quoia, portrayed by Courtney Taylor, is Issa’s hardworking, gregarious and warm assistant. There is a homegirl aura that Quoia exudes which is perfect to suit Issa awkwardness. This also makes me excited to see KeKe Palmer, who was spotted in the season previews. A scene with just those two, please. I hope to see more of Quioa beyond life as Issa’s right hand man and Taylor working outside the Insecure universe.
There’s a lot to be said about Issa’s climb and journey into her career, another pivotal moment in this episode. We all know a few of Nothing But Water’s employers Seth and Nadia, or, what I’d like to refer to them as, The Corporates™. The Corporates™ do this thing where they want fresh, new ideas that derive from the same places they shut out while building their company’s target audience and partners. By not allowing Issa’s clients to create freely, The Corporates™ want creatives to conform to ideas that, inherently, are rooted in respectability politics and a lemon water-like censorship. Both are rooted in white supremacy. And, even without the DEI frame, don’t ever bring anyone to our lunch. Especially if it’s business. Especially if you never mentioned the person. Especially if funding is supposed to be a problem but there’s three breakfast steaks on the table. Nadia crossed a line with Issa, and I hope we see her laying more career boundaries for The Blocc in similar fashion to what she did in her romantic life. Issa now has shit to lose. Good.
As awkward as Issa and Molly’s relationship was in the season premiere, it is relieving to see them piece things back together. The pasta and wine sleepover, Molly being work-tired, and the besties splitting Nefertiti pajamas was incredibly honest, especially watching Any Given Sunday during a Friday movie night. While Molly is in morning meditation, we hear Kelly Rowland’s advice: “We can’t always change what’s happening around us, but we can always change what’s happening within us.” Molly and Issa recognize that their relationship is a reflection of their inner, shadow work, so the parallel shots to open the episode really feel like everyone is moving forward.
Even when we look a “year” back, doesn’t it feel like Issa and Molly have both moved forward, yet switched places?
Issa has pivoted her life from dealing with her relationship issues with Lawrence to watching The Blocc hit 10k followers on Instagram. Molly, post-vibrator, head shaven and meditating, is now creating a life where men aren’t the focal point after numerous heartbreaks. Outer circumstances have changed how they interact with themselves and eventually each other.
I appreciate Molly’s mother giving us a true depiction of what families do to the unwed, the unpartnered and childless. Please stop asking questions about our nonexistent lovers’ whereabouts, then suggesting someone completely out of the question. It is offensive, it is embarrassing and a random bystander is literally in the line of fire because you want some grandkids and a big wedding. It’s a lose-lose situation for those who will end up paying for these activities, financially and family-wise. If Molly rushes to marry, and we get a season six for some reason, she will then start competing for cutest Christmas family photos. Wedding or bearing children to get your mother off your back will never be beneficial. Plus, Molly is not dating someone who reworks trap songs for the Lord. Srry Herbert :(
Insecure may be making the mistake of allowing Issa’s role as the main character to step over Nathan’s feelings. I still want to hear about his mental health issues, this new woman he’s into, etc. I have so many questions about what he does or doesn’t know, even how he feels toward Issa and if he’s really balling on a budget and why. There’s a lot of awkward energy between the two of them that I would love to get a clarifying scene about. No sparks are flying, and good. But why?
Breaking The Fourth Wall:
We have another Tellie cameo! Two actually. When Issa visits Molly, she sports an olive green, large shopping bag. In bed, Molly is wearing a black Telfar durag. We also get a cameo of Kirby Jean-Raymond, the Black designer and founder of Pyer Moss. He’s the Black man we keep seeing throughout Crenshawn’s show.
“Did all my invisible niggas go to heaven?” Sounds like a fire ass poem about Black people wondering if the sins their friends committed are accounted for even in abrupt times of death.
I want to complain that this episode felt slow, but if I know Insecure writers as I think I do, I know episode three or four is about to bumrush us with so much that is tied to each small piece of what we have so far.
I cheated and went to the sneak peek for episode three. I can’t wait for this Lawrence episode. I always complain about never seeing Lawrence do the emotional work necessary to fully move on. Let’s see how far he’ll go to avoid that work again in a new city, with a new girl, and a new job.