We’re back and we need answers. Last week’s season premiere of Insecure left us with a bit of a cliffhanger. Issa (Issa Ray) and Lawrence (Jay Ellis) had sex! It was rushed, distant, short sex. But after Lawrence spent months avoiding his ex, it had to mean something, right?
This is what Issa is trying to figure out at the start of this week's episode. She and Molly (Yvonne Orji), are combing through all of the details to piece together Lawrence’s intentions. Who initiated the sex?”, “Have ya’ll spoken since?”, and “What kind of fuck was it?” are among the questions Molly asks to help Issa process the situation. If common sense is telling you that Issa should just ask Lawrence about it, I have bad news: Lawrence can’t even formulate a text to explain what happened. But we do know that he thinks it was a mistake. After a workout (in his friend’s garage, of course), he types a bunch of messages to Issa trying to explain that mistake, but he deletes them before he can press 'send' and gives up. Lawrence is so consistent in his fuckboy-ness.
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Because she still has her own issues, Molly is finally ready to open up to her third therapist. She rants about being under-appreciated at work and not being rewarded despite putting her best foot forward. Molly is mainly talking to herself when she resigns that she will just have to break into the “boys club” that thinks she’s being excluded from. When her therapist suggests that Molly might be bound by the way she thinks of her life should be instead of accepting her life as it is (a flaw that also hindered her love life in season one), Molly isn’t trying to hear it. She’s already formulated a plan.
Later in the week, Issa and Molly reunite with the other half of their foursome — Kelli (Natasha Rothwell) and Tiffany (Amanda Seales) — at an art show. Kelli and Tiffany press for information about the status of Lawrence and Issa’s relationship, but they’re the ones with the tea, and it’s about to be spilled. First Tiffany, their resident bougie friend, let’s it slip that her perfect marriage to Derek (Wade Allain-Marcus) is not so perfect. He spent months living in a hotel the previous year, but all she wants her friends to know is that they’re “fine now,” and that Issa should remain hopeful about Lawrence. But then Kelli, their resident loudmouth friend, drops the bomb: she brings up Tasha (Dominique Perry), Lawrence’s new boo that Issa knew nothing about.
Finding out that your ex has a new lover can be triggering, especially when you desperately want them back. In front of her three friends, Issa plays it cool. Molly finds Tasha online in a record-breaking six seconds, and Kelli and Tiffany make fun of her looks. Issa insists that it’s “petty” to judge Tasha when she should be focusing on Lawrence. But Issa's bathroom mirror freestyle (you knew it was coming) tells a different story. She’s hurt, feeling very petty, and decides to take action. She shows up at Chad’s (Neil Brown Jr.) house to talk to Lawrence in person. Chad gives her major attitude. He has rightfully taken Lawrence’s side and isn’t keen on giving Issa any information about his whereabouts. But he does compliment Issa’s edges, which is really all any Black girl can ask for.
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Plus Lawrence isn’t home, anyway. He’s with Tasha. They’re at her place watching a fictional period drama and looking very couple-ish. (We caught a glimpse of this show in the first episode as well, and it features Regina Hall and Scandal’s Scott Foley. Insecure should win an Emmy for most creative cameos. Just saying.) But Lawrence has his own tea to spill. He confesses that he slept with Issa — right after Tasha invites him to a family barbecue. Not able to offer her any explanation as to why it happened or what it meant, Tasha exercises some good common sense and kicks his ass out. She’s hurt, but not stupid, which is why I love her. So this week at least, the Tasha haters can rest assured that just because Lawrence is unsure about Issa doesn’t mean he’s moving forward Tasha, either.
Enough relationship drama for now. Remember when I said Molly devised a plan to get ahead at work? Well, she figures out that her boss has plans to go to a hockey game, so she attends as well to schmooze. Her efforts don't deliver the results she wanted, though. The next day, her boss pretty much ignores her and doesn’t even catch the inside joke Molly tries to make about lobster rolls. Meanwhile, Issa and Freida (Lisa Joyce) are still trying to make their We Got Yall program succeed at East 41st High School. But the vice principal, Mr. Gaines (A. Russell Andrews) isn’t exactly helpful. He is more concerned with pinching pennies at the overcrowded school… and the growing number of Latino students. He helps Issa and Frieda get more students, but all of them are Black. He demands that Mexican students in the hallway speak English and tells Issa privately that they’re “taking over.” Frieda wants to include Mr. Gaines’ discrimination in their report to the boss, but Issa wants to focus solely on the positive strides they’ve made. Apparently Issa is woke, but not willing to act on it.
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Lawrence is also trying to get his life together. He and Chad look at a perfect apartment for him, with Chad chastising him for confessing his sins to Tasha. Clearly, it’s against Chad’s code of ethics to be honest with women you’re sleeping with. But Lawrence is still hesitating about signing the lease on the new place. I have a couple of ideas why that may be.
So yes, there is still the elephant in the room. After stalking Tasha’s Instagram, Facebook, and LinkedIn Issa is clearly shook. She sends Molly on a covert operation to talk to Lawrence — Molly pretends like they casually ran into each other — while she has found herself in the parking lot of the bank where Tasha works. She fantasises about going in and punching Tasha in the face, but instead hides when Tasha leaves with a coworker. Typical Issa, she’s never ‘bout that life. Things get even worse for our protagonist when Molly delivers her report: Lawrence took the apartment and doesn’t want to get back together.
It looks like the end for Tasha and Lawrence. They appear to b e in acceptance of this. Lawrence shows up at Tasha’s to apologise, and she forgives him. Issa spreads out in her apartment, acknowledging that she officially lives alone. She also sets up her first post-break up booty call. Brace yourselves: Issa’s hoe phase is coming.
Bonus: Molly is working late and Skyping with a senior lawyer at her firm who recently relocated to Chicago. Molly offers to help her out with some cases and might have to split her time between LA and Chicago. She can't leave Issa at a time like this!