Insecure Season 2, Episode 3: Hella Open

Alana Noelle Black
Aug 9, 2017 · 4 min read

Tryna fuck ain’t easy, and neither is riding a bike. Twenty-something me and longing-for-Lawrence Issa held these truths to be self evident. While in my case, timing, physical location, and social surroundings were more to blame for my not being able to ho it up, for Issa, her head is what’s stopping her. At the start of the episode, she’s found a potential playmate, ostensibly the dude she messaged at the end of “Hella Questions,” and their booty call seems off to a good start. She’s laughing — nervous though it seems — and he thinks it’s sexy, so yay? Nay. It’s something about his fingers…or they just lack chemistry…or Issa just doesn’t want to have sex with him, at this moment.

“…It’s weird, it’s so weird,” Issa finally says. Of course it is — she was with Lawrence for five years, and her encounter with college-friend Daniel was almost a polar opposite to what she’s trying to do with couch-and-wine guy. (Forget “polar opposites” — both the North and South Poles are glacial. Issa and Daniel were on that Equator!) How is Issa supposed to get her Halle-in-Monster’s Ball on and “feel goodt” with these flat dudes? (Eddie-from-her-Building included, despite his seeming to have some moves when they did get together.)

While it’s probably easy for the longtime-coupled among us to feel bad for Issa (and Molly, too) out in these streets, it’s important to note that they have a hella solid, enviable relationship. Because that word is not just for romantic, committed couples, though Hallmark and society would have you believe otherwise. Molly and Issa have been tight for years (since their early twenties, at least), have argued heatedly but resolved said arguments (remember when they told each other about themselves in the penultimate episode of Season 1?), and now, since Issa became single and in this episode particularly, they’re doing boyfriend-type stuff for each other. We see this when Issa comes to help Molly assemble her bookcase — they ultimately ditch it so Molly can teach Issa how to ho, but still — and especially in the moment where Issa nearly faints from the fumes she inhales from painting the burnt wall in her apartment. Molly is on the other end of the phone to allay this version of the kind of near-death-of-a-single-woman other shows hint at with a, “Bitch, open the window.”

In this case, I’m more concerned about Lawrence. Chad at least was supportive enough to let Lawrence crash at his place for weeks and to find him a new apartment — though that was at least some part to stop the former situation — but how often are they in touch now that Lawrence has moved out? Maybe now that Tasha is no longer in his life, Lawrence and Chad will be out on the town (with Chad as wingman).

Random observations:

— Issa wore cute bras in this episode! Very different from the faded T and boy shorts she wore when Lawrence came over unexpectedly in “Hella Good.”

— Comedian Lil Rel as Quentin, an associate from the Chicago office of Molly’s firm. Potential love interest? But Molly, I agree with you, though…how can Chicago beaches be real beaches with no ocean? (I say this even though this is the main beach I hang out at.)

— Regarding the lack of diversity at We Got Y’all’s program at East 41st, Issa’s refusal to talk to Vice Principal Gaines about his prejudice against Latinx students because she doesn’t think she’ll change his mind reminds me of white “liberals” who decided it wasn’t worth it to try to dissuade their red-state kin from voting for the orange guy. Obviously not a perfect comparison — for one, underserved kids are still getting helped in this case — but still. (Also, it bears repeating that this tangerine non-dream is decidedly not black women’s fault — 94 percent 4 lyfe!)

— At work, Lawrence mentions that he ate crickets in Phuket. I get the sense that this was a pre-Issa adventure. I wonder what else Lawrence was up to in that earlier epoch?

— Happy vow renewal to Molly’s parents! (Garnered from Molly’s end of the phone conversation en route to get her bookcase.) Also, boo that she quit therapy with Dr. Rhonda.

— “There are plenty of brown titties in the sea.”

— Seeing This is Us guy as Molly’s perfect-on-paper date served to remind me that I need to catch up on This is Us. You dodged a bullet, Molly…you could have had a poorly-made-up-to-look-sexagenarian Mandy Moore as your mother-in-law.

— The bar where the ladies went to ho is a real spot in LA called The Cork, and they serve the wings and catfish Issa talked about. (And on Yelp they look amazing.)

— Eddie-from-her-Building wearing crew socks during sex, among his other actions. (Religiously watching Gossip Girl, and being happy to see white people ‘doing their thing’?)

— Finally, I wonder how many people became new Tasha fans as she called Lawrence on his bullshit? Although, as someone who has been ghosted on by more than one “nice guy” after multiple interactions, my first thought was, “At least he called you after disappearing!”

— Regarding my opening paragraph: I’m a decent bike rider now.

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