Welcome back to week three of Season 4 of HBO’s Insecure.
Our opening scene begins with Lawrence (Jay Ellis) practicing his interview pitch of how he can be a valuable asset to the Meridian team — the tech company he currently works for. He’s suddenly interrupted by Condola’s (Christina Elmore) alarm clock, so loud that Lawrence says that it’s not healthy to wake up that way. Condola replies that she once slept through an emergency landing, and of course we all, including Lawrence, have questions.
The season has shifted from Halloween to Thanksgiving this week, and Condola is hosting a Friendsgiving get together at her place. Lawrence invites himself, asking her, “Do you want me to come?”
Things are not so great for Lawrence at his job. There’s little to no lateral movement or upward mobility at the company. Meanwhile, Lawrence confides in Chad (Neil Brown Jr.) about his lackluster career. Chad is also dealing with the housing bubble crisis and hasn’t sold a property in over a month. Chad, of course, is doing the absolute most by purchasing a new car just to keep up appearances and claiming that Bradley Cooper has “fell off” and is basically a nobody.
Okay, Chad. Bradley Cooper is definitely somebody.
Apparently Los Angeles is the smallest city in the world, because Lawrence manages to bump into Issa (Issa Rae) at Condola’s favorite spot, and the two start talking about old movies. As they reminisce and it’s clear that the chemistry between these two is brewing like a cup of warm tea ready to be sipped, Condola walks in and completely ruins the vibe. It becomes uncomfortable, and Issa, who should teach a masterclass in awkwardness, takes her entire meal with the tray and all outside with her to avoid the tension between the three of them.
Next we see Issa and Molly (Yvonne Orji) shopping for groceries. Molly asks Issa if she should invite Andrew (Alexander Hodge) for Thanksgiving. Issa throws lowkey shade in jest and says that “the old Molly may come out.” This doesn’t bode too well with Molly, and she snaps back hitting Issa below the belt about having sex with TSA bae for freebies. It’s at this point that Issa points out that things have been off between the two of them.
By the way, is it just me who is little disappointed there’s no more TSA bae this season?
Issa and her brother Ahmal (Jean Elie) have scheduled Thanksgiving, but it takes a detour when their mom’s boyfriend has an accident and is taken to the hospital. Luckily it’s a minor injury, but now the two find themselves spending their holiday elsewhere. This disrupts Issa’s planned “pie time” at Molly’s place. When Issa texts Molly about her timeline, Molly’s not pleased.
Meanwhile at Condola’s Friendsgiving, one of her friends, Nikki (Robin Thede), has clearly had a little too much to drink. Lawrence decides he wants to get more to drink and Nikki joins him, even though she needs to lay off the booze. It’s at this moment that tipsy Nikki tells Lawrence a little too much about her friend Condola. She reveals to Lawrence that Condola wanted to let loose and have fun after her recent divorce.
This disappoints Lawrence, but also makes it clear where he sees things going in their relationship. This later leads to a confrontation with Condola, and he bluntly asks if she’s over her ex. Condola says she is and retorts back, asking if Lawrence is over Issa. You can see where this is going.
Issa inevitably stands up Molly given the day she’s had, but she’s mentally exhausted and can sense the fracture between her and Molly. However, Molly does have a redeemable moment in this episode where she makes up with her father whom she disconnected with after he cheated on her mom. The final scene ends with Lawrence scrolling through his Instastories and stumbling onto Issa’s account, where he sees how she spent Thanksgiving at the Mexican restaurant with Ahmal.
Lawrence then sends a message via a smile emoji, and we see Issa in the process of responding.
Oh dear. Here we go again.
Insecure airs Sundays on HBO at 10:00pm ET/PT. See you again next week!
