On Issa Rae’s Insecure, Molly, and the Perils of Being a Savage

Yvone Orji and Issa Rae for Insecure. Courtesy of HBO

Maybe being a savage who cuts niggas off left and right isn’t actually a good quality. Such was one of many takeaways from the season three finale of Issa Rae’s HBO series Insecure. Framed around a celebration for Issa’s 30th birthday, the episode saw its central characters take important steps forward in their respective careers and love lives. For Issa’s ride-or-die friend Molly specifically, she came to realize her ongoing cosplay as a savage in a power suit belied a much deeper issue — that being of the unresolved feelings of hurt and pain caused by her last relationship.

It’s all Rihanna’s fault.

Starting with her criminally-underrated Rated R album and culminating with her 2016 magnum opus Anti, the Bahamian beauty has been unveiling this concept of savageness to popular culture for some time now.

Anti album cover. Courtesy of Roc Nation.

Savage is a slippery bugger of a concept, as it slides across multiple states of the human experience. It’s both an emotional state of being and life-politic. To be a savage is to be clear and confident in who you are, and to lead a life rooted exclusively in what pleases you, not others. On the song “Needed Me,” Rihanna displays her love-life savageness by making plain to her romantic interest that he need not feel special. He can keep the white horse and carriage, because he is “just another nigga on the hit list.”

Screen capture from Rihanna’s “Needed Me” music video. Courtesy of Vevo.

The accompanying visuals for “Needed Me” takes on a similarly violent and psycho-sexual tone as other Rihanna videos including “Bitch Better Have My Money,” “Russian Roulette” and “Man Down.” In “Needed Me,” Rih flips long-held notions around heterosexual women’s aspirations of Queendom in their male counterparts’ lives. As she stares at her victim through the eye of her gun, you get the sense Rih intends to kill a lot more than the man throwing money in her face. With that man’s murder — plotted while sauntering topless in a beachside estate, no less — RiRi effectively lays to rest any desires for the traditional, fairytale romance.

Visuals for Rihanna’s “Needed Me.” Courtesy of Youtube.

Rihanna’s savage life-politic shapes and reflects an existing sentiment among millennial women today. Per The New York Times’ Roni Caryn Rabin, millennials are rejecting notions of the fairytale romance. According to Rabin, millennials are “marrying and having children later in life than previous generations” and “taking more time to get to know each other before they tie the knot.” This generation has a “breezy approach” to sexual intimacy, and exercises caution while entering into committed relationships.

It’s clear there is an empowering quality to this life-politic, as it allows women to confidently choose the relationships they want for themselves. Their romantic pursuits no longer need to be framed through rose-colored, Disney princess glasses.

But what happens when pain and depression walk around hidden in a savage’s clothing?

If the season three finale of Insecure is any indication, it’s clear Molly adopted a savage approach in her romantic dealings, to disastrous effects. It’s also clear this approach did not come from a woman operating with healthy romantic priorities. Instead, Molly’s savage dismissal of men — most recently Andrew — after her affair with the married Dro were the antics of a depressed woman who hadn’t reconciled the pain the relationship caused her.

Insecure’s Yvone Orji and Sarunas J. Jackson. Courtesy of HBO.

The Undefeated’s Soraya Nadia McDonald brilliantly unpacked the subtext of depression that runs through all of Insecure’s characters. For Molly specifically, she dealt with the end of her relationship with Dro by “throwing herself into work and becoming increasingly pessimistic about humanity.” Issa even checked Molly on her pessimistic approach in the finale when she revealed she sent Nathan away on Issa’s birthday. Molly’s end-of-episode apology to Andrew was so important because she unfairly treated him like trash. And despite seeing a therapist, she hadn’t effectively dealt with her issues.

And therein lies the problem with blindly claiming the savage label. Yes, being a savage can be liberating for the millennial woman bored with the Cinderella love story. But it can also be a cover for the woman pained by that past relationship she can’t seem to shake. With hope though, that pained savage will have a friend like Issa there to clock her pessimistic ways. And more importantly, inspire some much-needed growth.

Insecure’s Alexander Hodge. Courtesy of HBO.

Apologizing to this very available and fine Asian man standing right in front her is a good start.

tiffany dillon (aka, thecoolintellectual) is a writer, social critic, and sales professional with a lot to say. Check out her other ramblings here on Medium, Twitter (@tiffanysdillon) and her blog thecoolintellectual.tumblr.com.