Lowkey Done – Insecure Season 4, Episode 6 Recap

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

Helping Hand – Issa is in bed replaying the big fight her and Molly had at the Block Party in her head. Had Molly not spazzed out on her, she would be celebrating the major success it was.  People have been showing love on the Facebook event page. They want more! Issa’s phone has been blowing up, and she has a bunch of voicemails from folks calling to check up on her.

Issa’s reflection tells her not to call Molly, since she’s always the one reaching out. What she needs to do is take her mind off it: Self-Care Sunday! So, Issa does a deep clean of her apartment. As she’s finishing, Nathan calls her, and she picks up. He’s barbering and checking in on whether she’s good. She thanks him for the plug to Andrew, which led to her securing Vince Staples to headline, and says she would do the same for him.

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Good Samaritan – The day after, Issa is in the grocery store, checking out and a pregnant woman is asking if anyone can help her pay for her groceries. Issa calls the woman over and when they ring up the total for both of their foods, it comes to $154.99. Ouch. She decides to eat the cost but her card declines. Twice. The pregnant woman says “the gift you gave me today is perspective” as she walks away from the Good Samaritan who didn’t deliver. It’s both a read, shade and gratitude all at once.

Right after, as she drives, Issa sees an older man chasing his missed bus so Helpful Hannah decides to help. She asks him if he needs a ride and he tells her, “I don’t hit ladies, but I’ll slap a b*tch if I need to defend myself” as he gets in. He doesn’t give her the address of where he’s going because he doesn’t want the government tracking her via GPS. George is insufferable, complains the whole time they’re driving and is wholly couthless. He even asks her to stop so he can pee, and although she has the chance to leave him, she doesn’t. I see you, Saint Issa. Finally, they pull up to a house he’s holding the picture of and he gets out. The door opens and someone says “dad?”

BYOSquad – Issa pulls off and sees she’s almost late. Where’s she going? Sip and Paint! She takes the last seat, next to 3 women, who are celebrating their friend, about to become a bride. They forgot to bring a bottle and she offers them some of her massive bottle of Pinot Grigio. These girls are from PG county, and they’re full of inside jokes, history and support. They probably remind our girl of her squad.

After the event, Issa’s heading out, and sees her phone is full of missed texts and voicemails. She is about to check them when the new buddies she made ask her to go to a bar with them. She wants to say no at first but then says yes and follows them.

Insecure Season 4 HBO

At the bar, the girls ask her what she does, and after talking through everything, she lands on “Cultural Curator.” She mentions she just did an event with Vince Staples and they are super impressed, which is different energy from what she’s gotten from some of her people. Her and one of the girls go to the bathroom together, and they’re chatting while in their various stalls. After a few minutes, Issa doesn’t get a response, and realizes the girl has left the bathroom. When she gets back to their table, the trio has dipped! They left behind a piece of paper, of their bridal scavenger hunt. 2 entries on there: befriend a stranger and Dine & Dash. WOWWWW they got her with a two-fer. She wishes she could roll up on them and slam her painting on them, but all she can do when she sees them is honk as they laugh her off. OUCH.

Mom’s Love – Issa makes a call to someone and asks to come over. It was to her mama. Because sometimes, you just gotta go cry on the shoulder of the woman who loves you unconditionally as the world proves to be shitty. Her mama asks her about the Block Party and how it went and sees that something’s wrong. So, she pulls her in for a hug, and Issa breaks down in tears.

Her mama tells her she’s going through growing pains, even at 30. At 30, Lila had her house and 2 kids (Issa and Ahmal) but all of it was a surprise to her. She tells her daughter that yes, she and her brother were mistakes, but she figured it out. Besides, she admires Issa for being so good as so many things, and it helps our girl smile. Lila, who by the way, is perfectly content with her live-in boyfriend, Stanley, who is clearly doing her right. In all ways. Owww!

Back Up – It’s late as Issa leaves her mama’s house. Her phone rings and it’s Kelli, who is leaving Tiffany’s. Has Issa called Molly? Nope, and she won’t because she’s always initiating their reconciliatory contact. Not this time. Kelli asks her friend “So if she doesn’t call, y’all just never gonna speak again?” Maybe.

Finally home, Issa changes into sweats, lights up a joint and goes on Facebook. She answers the questions people have about the Block Party and seems excited for what looks like the first of many. With munchies, she goes in her fridge but there’s no food there, so she throws on a coat and drives to her fav Ethiopian food spot. She’s about to walk in when she sees Molly sitting at the bar there. After much consideration, she decides not to go in, and gets back in the car, driving off.

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First, I’m peeping what looks like Tiffany’s post-partum depression. And Kelli being an extraordinary friend through it. For her to be at the DuBois residence til dark, and to be handling the baby so much speaks to a struggling new mom. Plus, Tiffany’s been dropping these breadcrumbs that show that motherhood is harder than she anticipated.

Issa is feeling obligated to help others in the way she was helped by Nathan, but it is to her own detriment, which is not helpful to anyone. Her card being declined as she tried to help the pregnant woman should be a lesson in “put your own mask on first.” Sometimes, we feel guilty when we receive help (or see ourselves as TAKERS) so we try to force a way to pay it back, even though it’s okay to receive without trying to find an exact way to reciprocate. Same for when she gave George the ride.

This is also in response to Molly’s words that she’s always using people, so she’s operating from that place of hurt. Her friend left that scar in the battle. This is also why I don’t think she is wrong for not calling Molly. Although both of them played a part in the disintegration, the way my petty is set up, I wouldn’t call her either. You chose my event, which was going amazingly well as the place to grind an axe with me? Nah, we’re not good. And I can’t be the one to throw out the white flag.

It’s tough, but sometimes, friendships drift apart. Sometimes, they blow each other apart. This is the latter. How you can tell is when you decide to bypass your fav food because your friend beat you to the restaurant. That’s deep hurt.

Will they recover? Can they recover? Not sure, because Issa is LOWKEY DONE.