I want to start out by saying how excellent this season of Insecure has been. Barring the lack of storyline for our beloved Kelli (season 5 please, I’m on my knees), this show didn’t miss once in the last 10 episodes. The thing that I love the most that I believe this last episode encapsulated perfectly, is that it’s incredibly reflective of real life down to specific situations and emotions. There isn’t a single black person who watches Insecure that hasn’t related to a character’s feelings in a certain situation or seen themselves and their emotional reactions reflected back to them in one way or another. I don’t know about you guys but to have a black show like this where we get to exist freely and experience ourselves humanly is so moving. Issa is portrayed as awkward and unsure of herself sometimes but simultaneously so resilient. Molly can be self-absorbed but is also incredibly accomplished and confident. The writers of Insecure have created such three-dimensional and well-rounded black female characters that sometimes I have to remind myself that they aren’t real (and that I need to calm the fuck down). Unfortunately we don’t get to see Kelli’s multiple dimensions as I discussed in my episode 5 review, however this episode we got a sneak peek into Tiffany’s.
To put it plainly, we saw it all come crashing down for every single character in Lowkey Lost and it was lowkey heart-breaking to watch. We start out with a beautifully shot scene at a market in the daytime during which Issa admits to Lawrence that she’s open to 'moving' to San Francisco with him now that he’s gotten a new job. Girl? As a new found member of the Lawrence Hive, a part of me was rooting for them big time. They’ve genuinely put the work in to have open, honest conversations and contrary to what Ope said in the last review, I do believe they’d gone about giving the relationship a 'second go' properly. But move cities? A touch dramatic if you ask me. It should be noted that Issa’s willingness to move is heavily attached to where things are with Molly and the writers alluded to it. Lawrence asks Issa if she’d considered what leaving her friends and family would mean to which she responds, “I can make new friends. Shit, I might need to.” What went down with Molly last episode clearly hurt Issa deeply which is making her cling onto Lawrence a little tighter than she would have otherwise. A big reason why she reached out to Molly in the last episode was because she needed a friend to talk to and now feeling like she has no one but Lawrence, I’m sure she’s not interested in losing that on top of everything else.
Issa goes to see the space Nathan is offering her for an event, during which he apologises for calling Lawrence “sometimey” (that scene? Lord have mercy). He also admits he felt some type of way hearing that they were back together and Issa simply reiterates that Lawrence is bae and she’s cool to be friends as long as he understands. Looking at this scene in retrospect has me feeling a little bit of second-hand embarrassment for her. I don’t think Lawrence or Condola have done anything wrong, Condola doesn’t have to justify her desire to want to keep her pregnancy to anyone and people questioning her thought process behind that should re-evaluate. But now, due to no real fault of his own, Lawrence looks hella sometimey and should Issa decide to end their relationship (which is completely valid), it’s going to be real awkward explaining things to Nathan again after she just pledged her allegiance. As an OG member of the Nathan Hive (I can be in both), I’m more than happy to see them start something up again because with their chemistry and obvious fondness for each other, I think they’d really work. But will Nathan be able to get over the fact that he’s technically the second choice and will Issa be able to get over Lawrence period? I’m not sure.
We move onto Molly, who’s at a work event with her way too sexy man Andrew and they seem to be enjoying themselves until a colleague invites them to an after party of sorts. Andrew is clearly not eager but Molly insists because it’s what she wants and he caves as usual. They get in after a day that has obviously taken it out of him and I’m sure all he wanted was to cuddle with his girl and watch Looking For Latoya but because she’s tired, she declines. This was the evidently the final straw for him and Andrew finally speaks up properly about being completely over their dynamic and the argument we’ve all been waiting for ensues only to be interrupted by a phone call from Kelli letting her know Tiffany is missing.
In the episode 5 review I mentioned the ways in which I felt the writers were hinting at Tiffany’s possible post-partum depression. I think this happening in the middle of Molly’s drama was deliberate in its efforts to bring her and everyone to a quick and humbling reality. Nobody but hormones is to blame for Tiffany feeling the way she is right now but the fact remains that neither Issa or Molly had really been present enough to notice it getting to this point for her. Derek, looking even more exhausted than we saw him last, is frantically trying to locate his wife who had disappeared after leaving him a cryptic call. As they rendezvous through the city putting together clues, Molly seems to be slowly coming to the realisation that she is in fact very self-absorbed. Next to Kelli’s evident panic and how easily Issa put the clues together about Tiffany’s whereabouts, Molly was faced with reality, and that a lot of her relationships don’t really exist outside of herself. Molly is so hell-bent on making sure she’s good and comfortable that she doesn’t even take a second to consider everyone else in the situation and that concept definitely became obvious to her.
Tiffany has never been forthcoming with the things she was going through at any point during the show. She often made blasé remarks about problems she was having with her marriage but never really came to her friends with her issues looking for comfort. So disappearance being her response to not being able to cope definitely checks out. However, it’s important to mention that the tenderness and understanding with which Derek approached her honestly melted my heart because black womxn deserve to be loved like that. We deserve to be in relationships with people who will just hold us in the face of the pain we can’t comprehend and watching Tiffany be held in that moment was one of the highlights of the season for me. Tiffany has always made all efforts to be very put together in front of her husband but watching her open the door in her wet curls and towel after hesitating was a beautifully warm moment that I’m glad we got to witness.
We all saw the breakup between Andrew and Molly coming but I still had to watch the scene through my hands because as much as she deserved it, it was still painful to watch. Losing everybody you love in such a short space of time is extremely devastating and it was lowkey sad to watch all her behaviour come back to bite her. However this moment served to make the last scene of the season all the more fitting. It’s a shame that it took losing Andrew for Molly to reach out to Issa for the sincere conversation we wished they had last episode and although we purposely don’t get to hear the contents of their dialogue, it’s framed very intimately. From the lighting to the slow pan out as the episode closed, we can feel the openness and candour with which they’ve approached their reconnection because let’s face it, they both really need a friend right now.
Insecure’s cinematographer Ava Berkofsky is fond of her side profile shots where two characters look at each other from opposite ends of the frame. We see one earlier this episode with Issa and Nathan which is the first to not be lit with a contrasting warm and cold backdrop but rather neutral tones; perhaps suggesting that they’re on the same page completely. The same goes for the final scene with Issa and Molly, it’s lit warmly and they’re sat much closer together than typical of this technique; and as the camera zooms out the moment feels even more meaningful. Issa having to potentially let go of the love of her life and Molly just losing the first thing that has ever felt real for her, they both definitely need to fix at least one relationship in their life right now in order to be able to face all their other issues. As much as I wish Molly did better this season, I think we can all relate to being blinded by our own emotions to the point of hurting someone else at one point. We’ll see next season how their friendship unfolds and whether or not forgiveness is on the horizon, but we all deserve a second chance. Right?
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