HBO’s Insecure is a surprising gem of a comedy full of rich detail and surprising moments
HBO’s Insecure offers some of the most surprising comic moments of the 2016 Fall TV season. The comedy stems from creators Issa Rae (Awkward Black Girl) and Larry Wilmore, and it feels like one of those pleasant discovery-type series that viewers need to savor. For whatever reason, it doesn’t come with much widespread buzz, but viewers who miss out on this great show do so at their own peril. Insecure invokes genuine thoughts, emotions, and laughs – far more than many of the artificial comedies plaguing network television.
Insecure stars Issa Rae as Issa Dee, an LA-based social worker with a talent for rhymes. Yvonne Orji plays her best friend Molly, a corporate attorney. One of my very favorite aspects of the series is the friendship between these two women. In a shocking turn of events, they’re not in competition with each other. They’re not “frenemies.” They’re genuinely in support of each other. They call each other out on their mistakes. The relationship feels like a revelation.
Also a revelation is Issa Rae as Issa Dee. This character feels so incredibly real, so authentic in her construction that it nearly approaches documentary filmmaking. Her exploits are all character-driven, orchestrated by her own faults and faulty desires. She also becomes the focal point in the series’ exploration of the “black experience” in Los Angeles. There are so many small moments to savor here, so many great conversations on which to eavesdrop. It’s just an enormous breath of fresh comedy air in a television world that sorely needed it.
Insecure as a comedy series is anything but that. It becomes a confident and intriguing portrait of a woman trying to navigate her life. And those feelings, I assure you, are entirely universal.