Insecure Season 2 Episode 1 Recap: "Hella Great"

For months, fans of Insecure have been wondering where things were going to pick up after last season concluded with Lawrence giving Tasha that work in an effort to get over Issa’s dalliance with her sideboo, Daniel. Last night, that itch was finally scratched with the premiere of season two (“Hella Great”), which picks up a couple of months after Issa and Lawrence’s explosive breakup.

The gang’s all here. Issa is swiping her way through single life, going out with all the guys she meets through Hinge, Bumble and whatever other dating app is available to download and ruin dreams. We see Molly decided to take some of Issa’s advice from last season, going to therapy. And Lawrence came back just the way we last saw him: having the sex with Tasha from behind, but only Friday through Sunday. The rest of the week Lawrence is sleeping on an air mattress at his boy Chad’s place while he looks for a new spot of his own.

While some people would describe Lawrence as homeless for what he’s doing, I prefer to say he’s rebounding from a broken heart. He never had a plan B because he never thought he’d come home one day and be told by Issa that she decided to knock boots with another man. Now Lawrence is trying to figure it all out and yes, using people to help him do so. Chad points this out to him when he applauds Lawrence for continuing to treat Tasha like a sidepiece because he only sees her on the weekends and he has yet to take her out anywhere that has cloth napkins.

Issa, meanwhile, is trying her best to get over Lawrence or get him back depending on the day. When Molly reminds Issa that every guy wants to come back when they see an ex doing better (a word of truth indeed), and she comes home to see Lawrence has been given a jury duty summons, Operation-Get-Bae-Back begins to get in formation. Issa will throw a plus-one “wine down,” which is a bougie way of asking people to come over and drink this alcohol. At the same time, she will tell Lawrence to come through to pick up his summons (and other shit) with the hopes that he comes over during her party. The idea is that when Lawrence sees Issa on her hosting grind, glowed up, of course he’s going to want her back.

But the entire plan turns into a disaster. While Lawrence initially agrees to come over to pick up his mail, he ends up curving Issa instead, telling her to mail it to him. Unbeknownst to Issa, Lawrence flaked because he finally decides to take Tasha out on a proper date (proof he hasn’t gone full savage yet). As for Issa’s wine down, it morphs into a turn-up when her Blood-affiliated neighbors crash the party and a small fire breaks out in her trash can. Who among us couldn’t help but see that moment as metaphor for Issa’s dating life?

The long-awaited reunion between Issa and Lawrence ends up happening the day after the party when Lawrence decides to see if Issa is home to get his mail. This served as a reminder of just how good Insecure is at depicting these small but explosive moments in a relationship. That first mail exchange after two people are broken up and living in separate homes is loaded with anxiety. The first time my ex came over to pick up her mail, I did as many pushups as I could before the doorbell rang and answered the door looking like all of my shirts and pants were in the laundry.

What ensues is something that will hit very close to home for anybody who sees the person they used to see everyday for the first time in a long time. Lawrence starts with the Oh-I-left-something-in-the-bathroom move, which he’s doing to let the sexual tension between them bubble a little bit more (it’s not hot enough yet!), then, just as he’s about to exit, he does a Steph Curry-like spin move back to Issa and goes in for a passionate kiss. The two of them end up on the couch for a breakup quickie and when I say a quickie I do mean just that. I counted Issa getting less than 25 strokes from Lawrence before he finishes up, goes back into the bathroom to use one of their towels to wash himself off, and then kisses her goodbye on the cheek, like she’s the homie. That’s how breakup sex often is: Quick, spontaneous, and confusing.

The episode ends with both Issa and Lawrence looking uncomfortable with their new reality as exes, but leaving plenty of room for a bunch of different scenarios to play out going into the rest of the season. There’s also the peripheral characters with storylines that have plenty of juice: Molly seems to be less focused on guys and more focused on getting paid at her office like a white man. Meanwhile Tasha looks like she’s going to be around to call Lawrence zaddy for a while.