Insecure’s Season 1 is Over and It Was Everything

Last night was the airing of the finale episode of Insecure on HBO.

The show, created by and starring Issa Rae as a struggling young Los Angelian, has been Sunday night’s “Must watch” TV for the last 8 weeks. The show has been a longtime coming for Issa, who was behind the highly popular The Misadventures of Awkward Black Girl webseries. You know? That one that made many of us exhale from relief of seeing ourselves reflected.

Clearly, TV was the next step. So when Insecure was announced to be coming to HBO, I was like:

I was thirsty for it. Parched, even. Dehydrated. And lawd knows it quenched my thirst. To see the show come to life on TV, on Issa’s terms, and so well done has made me so proud.

The show is BLACK. It’s smart. It’s thoughtful. It’s funny AF. It’s nuanced. It is right. We see strong Black women friendships even in the face of both of them doing weak shit. We see the everyday mistakes we make, reflected back at us in Issa and Molly’s lives. And folks have fallen in love with it. I knew Insecure would be good because I trust Issa Rae’s work. But to see HOW GOOD it is? What’s a word that goes beyond proud? Yeah that. That’s how I feel when I watch it. And to see Issa and Yvonne Orji (Molly) play off each other? BLACK GIRL NIRVANA.

Jay Ellis as Lawrence has people swooning too.

It’s just so good. On top of all of that, the show has taken full advantage of showcasing dope people. It’s an assemblage of Black Artistic Excellence Voltron Squad.

The music used for the show has been curated by Solange Knowles, who serves as their music consultant. Melina Matsoukas (she also did Beyonce’s Formation) was one of the main directors for this season, and the legendary Debbie Allen directed one of the episodes.

Issa brought in familiar faces from the ABG days, like Sujata Day as one of her coworkers. And my favorite fringe character on Insecure is Thug Yoda, played by Tristen Winger, who used to be Baby Voice Darius.

The show’s official podcast InsecuriTea is hosted by Crissle West (The Read) and Francheska Medina (Hey Fran Hey). And I’ve been recapping the show for the official site, MyBathroomMirror.com all season.

All the homies are in the building!

And lemme take this time to shout out the costuming on the show. It’s the incredible work of Ayanna James. The cast looks damb good, and last night’s finale episode featured a little head nod to me.

The girls went on a weekend getaway to celebrate Kelli (Natasha Rothwell), and in the scene where Issa wakes up at the crack of dawn to go to the kitchen, she is rocking a “GIVER OF NO DAMBS” tshirt from my collection with Tees in the Trap. Yes, Dambs with a B.

Rocking @Luvvie‘s t-shirt in this scene. Love her for life. #InsecureHBO

— Issa Rae (@IssaRae) November 28, 2016

Buy this tshirt on TeesintheTrap.com

Twitter went nuts, as they saw this and I was grinning like a cheshire cat. Ayanna and Issa had ya girl in the room, and that meant SO MUCH to me. It was the best surprise ever, and it perfectly captured the spirit of collaboration on this show. All these magical ass real ass Black people coming together to make dope art.

Man, Insecure is everything. It is excellence, and it is what happens when you are committed to telling good stories. It is not a show that is supposed to represent the entire Black experience; just a specific one of a specific time.

Jay Ellis, Prentice Penny, Issa Rae, Yvonne Orji, Melina Matsoukas

I wasn’t ready for season 1 to end, but that means they left us dehydrated for more. I’m thankful for the show’s success because it will open doors. This show could not fail, because that failure would have been considered the rule. Season 2 can’t come soon enough and when it does, I’ll be right here. Getting my life.