Insecure review: Issa’s ready to move forward, maybe?

This week’s episode is the second one in the series where Issa, Lawrence and Molly’s storylines all converged in one place — Tiffany’s baby shower.

Issa finds support in unlikely places

Issa’s new business venture is an interesting one (and maybe ill-fitting, considering what happened the last time she tried to throw a party), but it shows that she’s not letting her life stop just because she’s between jobs.

While I was expecting Nathan to support Issa since it’s clear he likes her, I also enjoyed hearing Lawrence offer his words of wisdom at the baby shower. Lawrence has been in Issa’s position before (with Woot Woot, an app idea that still sucks) and it was interesting to hear him share some of the things he went through when he was actively trying to work on his business, since by the time we met Lawrence, working on his business plan mainly consisted of sitting on the couch and not shaving or changing clothes.

Kelli and Molly continue to shoot down Issa’s dreams and their crabs-in-a-barrel mentality is getting old. Issa needs to either check her old friends, or make new ones, but having friends who cackle at you every time you try to be great, even if you’re in over your head, will only bring you down in the end.

Lawrence is older but clearly not wiser

In this episode we also learn that Lawrence is still trash, not making wise decisions with regards to the women he sleeps with. It is far from my place to begrudge anyone their right to have sex with whomever they wish, but Lawrence’s diagnosis of chlamydia and the fact that he had to let so many women know that they might have it shows that he isn’t using protection, which is just not wise.

Lawrence tries hard to be a player, but his last-minute conscience and poor judgment continue to catch up with him, leading to uncomfortable situations. What’s even worse is that even though Lawrence’s heaux phase has caused him to put his and others’ health at risk, he continues to find room to shame Issa for doing “heaux sh**” months ago — ugh! Lawrence still isn’t great at looking in the mirror and it will only continue to hurt him, especially as he seems to be re-realizing his feelings for Issa.

They say that moving on is hard to do

The overarching theme in “Ready-Like” seems to be that people move on when you aren’t there for them. During Tiffany’s baby shower, we see three examples of this with Issa, Molly and Tiffany herself. After seeing Lawrence again at the shower, Issa comes to the conclusion that she’s finally over him and can lay her feelings to the side, but Lawrence has started to see Issa in a new light and his feelings for her appear to be reignited as he talks to Derek. Molly sees Dro for the first time after cutting him off and, after a petty exchange where Dro also proves that he is trash. Molly learns that he and Candice are expecting. Finally, Kelli is hurt that Tiffany didn’t include her in planning her baby shower because she doesn’t have kids.

For Lawrence and Issa, it’s clear that while Lawrence tried to mask his feelings for Issa during season 2, he never stopped loving her, and now that they’ve spent some time apart, Lawrence may want to reenter Issa’s life. Unfortunately, Issa has also spent some time finding herself outside of Lawrence and seems to like her new life better, even with all of its uncertainties.

In Molly’s case, Dro’s behavior at the baby shower and Tiffany revealing that he and Candice are pregnant is more of a confirmation that Molly is never, and was never going to get what she needed out of their relationship. In a way, the person who needs to move on in this episode is Molly. When we see her texting Andrew about their date at the end it seems like she might be about to, but this new development in Dro’s life could set Molly back if she doesn’t handle it well.

Finally, we get a deeper look at Kelli and Tiffany’s friendship. Kelli is hurt that Tiffany didn’t include her, Issa and Molly in planning her baby shower, but Tiffany reminds all of them that Molly and Issa didn’t even offer to throw her one. However, Kelli did, but was ultimately left out of the planning because she’s not a mother. Kelli being hurt is understandable, but when you take into account that she, Issa and Molly started an entire group chat without Tiffany, and weren’t even willing to acknowledge Tiffany’s baby at Coachella during the last episode, it’s easier to see why Tiffany excluded them. Tiffany can be snobby and bourgeois, but she also recognizes that having a baby is a major life shift and she’s starting to realize that Issa, Molly and even Kelli, despite their close friendship, aren’t in the same place in their lives as she is and don’t sympathize with what she’s going through. While it will be sad to see their friendship end, it may be necessary for Tiffany to get the kind of support she needs as she transitions into motherhood.

But we still have two episodes left! Will Lawrence figure out what he wants? Will Issa get her business off the ground? Will Molly let go of Dro for good?

The only way to find out is to watch Insecure on HBO Sundays at 9:30 p.m. ET.