Lowkey Thankful: Insecure Season 4, Episode 3 Recap

This post is in partnership with HBO. As always, thoughts and opinions are my own

Alarm – Lawrence is getting some mirror time in by dropping techy buzzwords to himself in prep for a big meeting he has at work. Just then, Condola wakes up with a jolt to a loud alarm clock and he’s all cutesy about her in the morning, which is how you know he’s smitten. He didn’t even care about stale breath or nothing. He tells her how he’s inspired by her and wants to step his game up at work. She mentions that she’s hosting Friendsgiving at her place that year, and he asks if he can come. She says yes.

Lawrence walks into his office and his bosses have rescheduled the meeting. Later, he tells Chad that half of the people at his job will be getting laid off but since he’s the only melanin in the mix, he’s safe. But he’s pissed he won’t be getting promoted. Chad, on the other hand, ain’t sold a house in a month but bought a new Range Rover so he can keep his cred with the ladies. Because hustling backwards is Chad’s specialty. Useless financial decision aside, he actually encourages Lawrence and tells him that he’s come up a lot in the last year so don’t be too mad.

Inside Jabs – He walks into a coffee shop and sees Issa. They start laughing about their fave movies when Condola walks in and instantly feels left out. Apparently, this is one of Condola’s fave work spots, and Issa’s presence is lowkey a surprise to her. Issa detects this and leaves quickly, even though she just ordered food. As she walks out, she sees them hugging.

Issa and Molly are grocery shopping for Thanksgiving when Molly asks if she should invite Andrew to Thanksgiving at her parents since they are now exclusive. Issa tells her she doesn’t think it’s a good idea because she might scare him away. Molly’s salty face is on. When Issa puts back her grocery items because she can’t afford it, since the block party is 2 months away, Condola’s name comes up. Molly points out that it’s still weird that they are working together with Lawrence in the middle. Issa reminds her of her Dro-gate moments and Molly claps back with “At least I wasn’t f*cking for free weed and toiletries.” GAHTDAMN! That hurt me in the chest.

Insecure Season 4 HBO

The BFFs admit that they’ve been off for a few months. They keep going for the jugular on each other, and they agree to talk it through at Thanksgiving, since Issa usually spends some of the time at the Carters’ household.

Friendsgiving – Lawrence shows up early for Condola’s Friendsgiving in his best silk shirt. He sees her leaky sink and offers to fix it as she finishes getting dressed. Our guy is there to impress! He pulls up a YouTube video cuz Best Buy bae ain’t nobody’s plumber but he’s gonna try.

Molly goes home for Thanksgiving and the first thing her mom does is point out her newfound booty. There is no one that will humble you like your Black mama will. Molly’s brother’s girl is pregnant and extra. Plus, she’s not liking her dad too much right now, still reeling from finding out he cheated on her mom at some point in their marriage. This is gonna be a tense holiday.

Ahmal and Issa go to their mom’s and an ambulance is outside. They’re about to panic until they see their stepdad Stanley on a stretcher. Apparently, he slipped on some gravy. Issa’s mom rides to the hospital with him and tells them to stay for dinner. Yeah aight. As soon as the ambulance door closes, they bounce!

Insecure Season 4 HBO

Do Better – Condola’s Friendsgiving starts and Lawrence is meeting her friends, who seem to be bougie AF. One of her friends’ French boo even makes fun of his silk shirt. Lawrence is feeling out of place and not accomplished enough for this crew, it seems.

At home, Molly’s mom is asking when she gon pop out some kids. She shows her pic of Asian bae and the fam got jokes. “Is he crazy and rich?” Her mom tells her she should have brought him because if he’s the right one, then he won’t be scared by her. Molly’s bro brought his new girl, who came wearing stripper heels so surely Andrew might do okay.

Kelli’s InstaStories are lit because her aunties are basically her +20 years and they’re arm wrestling.

Issa and Ahmal go to their fave Mexican restaurant, meaning she’ll be late for Thanksgiving at Molly’s. She texts her friend to let her know she’s gonna be delayed, and all the reply she gets is “do you.” OOP.

Disaster – Condola Friendsgiving is full of interesting personalities and when 2 of her friends jokingly ask her to plan their wedding, she scoffs. She ain’t touching weddings with a 10 foot pole. Lawrence goes to the kitchen to refill drinks and her drunk friend Nikki follows him to the kitchen. She tells him that Condola needed him. Because after her divorce from her ex-husband Mark, she needed something lighter and not serious. Divorce?? Mark?? New news drop! Lawrence is slightly taken aback and opens the faucet. It comes spraying back at him. Disaster.

Insecure Season 4 HBO

Work in Progress – Issa and Ahmal are feasting on Mexican food and margaritas. They talk about how holidays were trash growing up, and their parents definitely didn’t belong together. They start talking about his love life and he says he’s done changing himself for people. I think that was a TED talk Issa needed to hear, and that’s when she reads Molly’s “do you” text. Issa mentions seeing Condola and Lawrence and how it lowkey bothered her. He is not the dude he was when they were together. “I got the work in progress… I feel like she’s reaping all the benefits of his time with me.” That’s some REAL shit. A Mariachi band shows up to their table and Issa posts it to her InstaStories.

Molly’s family is about to play Taboo and her brother pulls her to the side to ask why she’s still being so weird to her dad. Yes, she learned he cheated but she gotta understand that dads are just dudes who happen to have kids.  He made a mistake and has worked to fix it with their mom. She gotta give him grace and chill.

Ex Factor – Lawrence is cleaning up the kitchen mess as Condola says goodbye to her friends. After they leave, she tells him her friends thought he was funny, and he thanks her for the invite. She playfully points out that she didn’t but she liked his presence. Ouch! She didn’t wanna feel the pressure of necessarily having him there. Oh so Nikki’s thought of him just being some casual roadstop was accurate? He points out that he’s learning a lot about her, because according to her joke to her friends, she doesn’t want a family. She corrects him and says she doesn’t wanna be married again. She’s only 18 months out of divorce. Is she over her ex? She says she’s over it but she should be the one worried about exes, since him and Issa still roll in the same circles. Hell, they still got inside jokes. Condola asks if Issa hadn’t cheated, would Lawrence still be her? He doesn’t answer.

Catching Up – Issa drops off Ahmal at his house and when their mom texts Ahmal to give a Stanley update, she wonders if they should have stayed with their family for the day. He tells her nah, because you ain’t gotta do nothing just because other people want you to, dropping yet another gem on her. She texts Molly that they can talk some other time.

Molly grabs pie and sits next to her dad, handing it to him. That’s the mea culpa. She sees Issa’s text that she’s not coming and shakes her head. She’s disappointed.

At home, Lawrence is catching up on everyone’s Thanksgiving via InstaStories. LAWD Kelli and Trina, the rowdy neighbor are now friends. This is gonna be disastrous and I’m here for it. Tiffany and Derek are at home Duboising. He watches Issa’s good time at the Mexican restaurant and sends her the laughing emoji.

Insecure Season 4 HBO

Molly and Issa are at a true breaking point, and Issa might have just made the move that would be the straw that broke the camel’s back: she stood Molly up on Thanksgiving for some margaritas. But here’s the thing: her decision to skip out is layered in the months of tension they’ve been having. The devolving of their friendship isn’t the fault of one over the other but the butterfly effect of Issa not going to see Molly and her fam is going to be painful, I predict.

Now, Lawrence and Condola are starting to crack, because I think Lawrence is feeling somehow inadequate for her. He’s feeling intimidated by her friends and her job and he’s already letting it mess with him. Friendsgiving did not go well, and it only exacerbated it. Meanwhile, Condola is feeling the edge of being the first girlfriend after his 5-year relationship. All isn’t sweet for these two. And I thinkLawrence clearly still has a thing for Issa. Condola ain’t wrong to have her side-eye activated on this.

And shoutout to Ahmal for showing such emotional intelligence. He got Issa together a few times during this episode. Some people take therapy seriously and it shows. Little brother’s being a whole sage.