Hella Shook: Insecure Season 2, Episode 5 Recap

Let’s talk about the latest episode of Insecure!

New Options – Issa goes to visit Daniel, and seems things are good with them again because they greet each other with some tongue. “Due North” is playing as Issa and Daniel wrap up their tryst. Do they see each other later? Neither one is really committing to that.

Molly is at her law firm’s Chicago office, where unlike the LA office, there are actual Black folks there who aren’t secretaries. Her coworker, Quintin, asks if she brought up the fact that Travis makes more money than her to the higher ups. Has she thought about leaving? She got options, and she’d be appreciated elsewhere. Real talk. Listen to him.

Issa and Molly are arranging flowers for Molly’s parents’ vow renewal ceremony when Daniel texts Issa to see what she’s up to later and she’s grinning. She tells her bestie that she has her hoe-tation going, with neighbor bae and Daniel. Plus, she’s about to add another with a Latino dude named Nico, who she’s seeing that night. Aight den, hoes in different area codes!

Called Out – At work, Frieda is barely talking to Issa. Issa asks her what makes her upset and she says it’s because of her inaction with VP Gaines at the school. They debate whether a Black man can be racist, when racism is a power structure, and in that school, he is definitely an authority figure. Issa asserts that Frieda’s whiteness means she can’t call him out on this, but woke white girl ain’t hearing it. Because she’s right and Issa’s wrong.

Distraction – Lawrence is sitting at the courthouse waiting to see if he’ll be called for jury duty. He goes on Kelli’s FB page, and in a selfie, sees Issa and Daniel in the back smiling at each other. He does not like it. And then they call his name. At the courthouse, Lawrence is distracted by his Facebook stalking of Daniel, so he doesn’t even hear when the judge dismisses him.

Molly is dropping off flowers to her parents, and Dro meets her there. They grew up across the street from each other, so of course he’d be at the occasion. He wants to make sure they’re good, after his little bombshell about his open marriage. Has she thought about them in that way? Of course, but there’s that little detail of him being married, which means there’s a big STOP sign hanging over them. They both agree that they will remain friends, and Molly rags on his extra schmedium tshirt.

Inside the house, Molly’s parents are getting ready for their 35^th anniversary vow renewal and they are still super cutesy with each other. It’s the cutest thing. Her two brothers roll in too, and it’s easy to see why Molly has been chasing love. She wants to have this family of her own.

Date Night – Issa throws on this bad ass dress to meet her Tinder date, Nico. As she walks in, Daniel texts her about coming over and she says she’s busy. Nico is just as handsome as his picture, and in the beginning of their convo, all she can think about is jumping his bones. But when she starts paying attention, she realizes he’s also interesting and funny. They end up hanging til midnight and the perfect gentleman picks up the tab. Issa says she can still hang, even though it’s late but he excuses himself because he has an early flight to catch. He says he wants to go out with her again, though. OWWWW!!

Dumped – We Got Y’all is having a Saturday team retreat, cuz Joanne wants to name someone the new Director of Student Outreach. They each have to pair up with another staffer, and Frieda goes to someone else instead of Issa, who is her work wife. That’s how you know she’s really pissed.

Lawrence meets with Derek, Tiffany’s boo and asks him what he knows about Daniel. He’s wondering if Issa played him their whole relationship but Derek brings up the fact that Issa’s awkward ass ain’t slick enough for that. He then tries to convince Derek that Tiffany could be out there being bogus too, because apparently, women hide our dirt better. SIR, stop projecting your boolsheet on other people. Derek tells him that this ain’t just Issa’s fault, you know. He spent 2 years as Tommy from Martin (jobless AF), so it can make sense that his girlfriend would find a man who has his life together attractive. FINALLY!!! Someone tells him he ain’t innocent in this shit.

Force – At the renewal ceremony, Molly brings Lionel as her date. Yes, the same Lionel she blew off the week before. She introduces him to Dro, and that meeting is awkward. Molly’s brother Curtis asks her about Lionel, because she doesn’t seem too into him. She is giving him her time purely because she wants what their parents have and he’s a good dude on paper. Butttt you can’t force it.

Caught – Issa calls her brother, Ahmad, to talk about Frieda’s beef with her. She wants to be affirmed that she is right but her brother challenges her on it. Why is she allowing the Latino kids at East 41^st to be left behind? She hangs up on him and neighbor bae hits her up asking for a video. While standing in front of the bathroom mirror at work, she pulls up her shirt to get a pic when a coworker walks in. ISSA. DO STALLS NOT EXIST FOR THIS KIND OF THING??

Tea – Molly’s aunties call her over to do the thing aunties do when you bring a man home. And then one of them marvels at her parents lasting 35 years, after what her dad put her mom through. OH?? Before loose-lipped aunty can spill tea, the other aunts drag her away. Molly is looking hella perplexed.

Issa is driving and texting potential hoe-tation additions. And that is how she ends up rear ending a car in an intersection. In all her thirst, after getting a d*ck pic text. I need her to put her vag on pause for just a hot second.

Molly talks to Curtis to find out if their dad cheated on their mom. He tells her they got through it. She is PISSED, and thinks all of their marriage and the renewal has been fake. She’s cussing up to high heavens when her parents enter the kitchen to tell her to keep her voice down. How could you cheat? Why would you stay? She storms out, and Lionel asks her if she’s okay but Dro is the one who goes after her, as she stomps to her car.

There is a time and place for everything. I don’t think that was it.

Bad Night – Issa calls Daniel to say she ain’t gon make it to him because she got into a car accident. He says he’ll come pick her up. Meanwhile, Lawrence is at home stalking Issa’s FB page on plastic furniture. Molly is venting as Dro drives. She was thinking her dad was the ideal but knowing he cheated changed that. Meanwhile, Lionel was ditched.

Same Page – Daniel gets there to pick up Issa, and says he got her. She starts talmbout how they’re both seeing other people, right? Basically, to put some intimacy space between them. A dude who finds out you got into a car accident and insists he comes to pick you up and hugs you tender might not be one who thinks about you as part of a hoe-tation. She just wanted to clear the air. But it looks to me like Daniel was thinking she was more than a roster chick. The way he was looking slightly taken aback as she ran her mouth about being on the same page. As they walk to his car, he goes to his side and he gestures for her to open her own door. Since this is super casual, chivalry not included.

Molly asks Dro how he will get home and he says he’ll call Lyft. He opens the door to her building and she walks in just to turn back around. And they end up making the secks! Molly is in ecstasy as her childhood friend shows that he REALLY knows her best.

WELP!

Pandora’s box has been opened.

EVERYBODY IS TRIPPING. Every gahtdamb person is acting a fool.

First, there’s Issa. At work, she’s actually the one who is wrong her and she isn’t hearing reason. Frieda is correct in stating that Vice Principal Gaines should be called out for his anti-Latino jokes. Just because he is Black doesn’t mean he gets a “get out of accountability free” card. Her inability to listen, since Frieda is white, is wrong. Even her brother didn’t give her the thumbs up she expected.

And then personally, Issa is a mess. She’s so committed to being non-committal right now that it is literally costing her. Her love of Tinder got her into the car accident, because she is currently hellbent on healing through hoeshit. Madame, be free to sleep with whoever, but it seems like you’re doing it just to show yourself that your Love Pocket doesn’t need real love but pounding. It’s making her do stupid things, as she treats the men she encounters like notches on her belt. She can’t even see when potentially meaningful connections could be made. Her date with Nico went really well, yet she was approaching him like a pure jumpoff. And then Daniel. Honestly, he seems way more decent than what she currently wants, and honestly, deserves. Can we talk about that? Yes, let’s.

Daniel has been taken advantage of by Issa, methinks. From their first tryst, while she was with Lawrence, to now. She shows up at his door when she needs something from him, and then leaves him high and dry when she’s done. She scraps plans to go see him because her date goes well. Her car got totaled and he ran to go pick her up. What does Issa do? She tells him they’re basically nothing but f*ck buddies. Nah, man. That’s cold-blooded.

There’s Molly, who was doing well in putting her Love Pocket on ice. She’s been focusing more on work, but she isn’t feeling fulfilled. Then Dro comes rolling in and ruining it all. FINE ASS MEN ARE A WEAPON OF MASS BAD DECISIONS! Molly has sepia-toned what love looks like. She thinks it comes in these perfect packages, and she’s projected that flawlessness unto her parents. Finding out there’s a crack in their diamond love sent her in a tailspin, and she lost her composure and her thinking straight. Dro happened to be there at the right time for it. But I’m also pretty sure that even if he wasn’t there at the time, she would go knocking on his door. And here’s the thing. Now that Molly and Dro have had sex, there is no going back for them. All that they had compartmentalized has come spilling out and there’s no way to scoop it back up. They are at the point of no return, and their friendship as it’s been is dead. But he’s married, so where do they go from here? And unlike some of Dro’s possibly past conquests in his open marriage, this one is not one he can easily walk away from. I just don’t see this going well. I wanna be mad at Molly but the flesh is weak AND DRO FAHN AF.

We cannot forget Lawrence, in all his unsettled self. He’s now checking in on Issa and making all sorts of assumptions about her and Daniel. Sir, you taking random FB photos and creating entire stories of tawdry affairs in your head. FOR WHAT?!? When you could kill the noise, get over your ego and talk to her. We do a lot of things that vex our spirits when if we put our prides aside, we could solve pretty easily. He’s thinking Issa is all in love with Daniel and carrying on when she’s over there telling him he’s basically a jumpoff. Oh the tangled web we weave.

Everybody is on the executive board of Team Bad Decisions. That much is true.