It’s been a hot minute since HBO’s Insecure was last on our screens. Thankfully showrunner/star Issa Rae and co are back to bless us with another dope soundtrack, witty one-liners and a whole lot of messy drama.
We wouldn’t expect anything less. Insecure‘s season-three premiere was under a lot of pressure to meet our expectations, more even than the show’s previous two. Mainly because we lost Lawrence, our beloved handsome male lead. No, he didn’t die – Rae just decided not to bring his character back for a third round.
It was such a trip watching Issa and Lawrence awkwardly try to navigate life without each other after five years and toy with our emotions the possibility of reconciling. But once we got over the heartbreak of Lawrence’s unceremonious departure, we realised it made sense because, well, who really hangs out with their ex after a huge, traumatic break-up?
Instead we now have the equally sexy and charming Daniel (Y’lan Noel) – Issa’s trusty sidepiece. Yes ladies, in case you’ve forgotten from season two, Daniel is cool, charismatic and – now, it seems – quite cold actually. On the one hand, he’s doing Issa quite a generous favour by letting her sleep on his couch while she finds a new apartment post-Lawrence.
On the other, he’s unashamedly having loud, headboard-banging sex with another woman in the next room while Issa… sleeps on his couch. As Molly (Yvonne Orji) so rightly states: “Damn Daniel!” That’s savage.
But is it? With all of Issa’s flip-flopping, you can’t really blame the guy for getting confused. After all, she did make a point of saying that she was only staying with him as a friend before U-turning and admitting she does have feelings for him.
Issa’s own confusion mitigates Daniel’s attitude but it wouldn’t hurt for him to have some tact regarding his sexual conquests. However, we’re not going to judge our new male protagonist just yet as we know there is more to him beneath the chiselled exterior. Season two offered glimmers of Daniel’s softer side, so it’s likely we’ll get a deep dive into the character’s emotional compass at a later date.
Case in point: the introduction of Daniel’s family in the season premiere suggests that his character will be fleshed out in episodes to come. And it’s undeniable that the chemistry between Issa and him is still bubbling away at the surface. But while we’re excited to see where it goes for the on/off lovers, the true magic still lies between our favourite home girls.
Yes, Issa and her ride-or-die best friend, Molly, are where the (Lyft) party’s really at. Honestly, the “blooping and blapping” conversation in season three’s premiere is one of the best yet between the two.
As though they’ve never been away from our screens, the banter still bounces so effortlessly between the besties, but they’ve brought a whole new dynamic to the show this season: boundaries. Not with each other, fortunately, but in every other aspect of their respective lives.
Issa doesn’t want Daniel to overstep the mark in their so-called friendly relationship and Molly wants her ‘I’m married but swinging’ bae, Dro, to hand back her apartment keys. Molly went on an exotic holiday and came back with an IDGAF attitude that we’re totally here for.
Unfortunately for Issa, she appears to have overstepped the boundary at work. It was uncomfortable – and all too familiar – to see the way she was shut down by her white boss at We Got Y’all for explaining how their clients perceive the brand’s marketing as racist. It’s a race narrative that has always been the underlying thread of Insecure, and that’s the beauty of the show: it’s relatable to reality. This sentiment doesn’t appear to have been lost yet – if the premiere episode is anything to go by, we can safely say that the rest of season three will be just as lit as Issa’s “party Lyft”. And both are places you definitely want to be.
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