Insecurities are a mf: Season 4 Ep 5 Recap

I'm not doing any pleasantries today. I'm just here so y'all will keep reading my little blog post.

Best,

Atiya

Episode Five, Lowkey Movin' On Synopsis via HBO:

With the block party finally here, Issa is determined to deliver a memorable event, despite some surprises. Meanwhile, Tiffany enjoys a break from her baby, Kelli entertains a gullible new boo, and Molly attempts to put a grudge on hold.

SPOILERS BELOW (not that you should even be reading this if you haven't watched the episode).

Well, its block party time! Again, who has a block party in January? Issa, that's who. To start this recap, I wan to address the things I loved about this episode because we lead with love and positivity on this blog. First, the block party was such a success! Who knew one could be so proud of a fictional tv character? I think the writers knew there was going to be a riot if they pulled any fuckery. From Issa's intern Quoia (short for SeQuoia), who was walking around with that headset and her prolonged nose bleed to the musical guest, SiR, and Vince Staples, to the wobble in the middle of the event, it was all just vibrant and black. I loved it.

Second, we need more from Kelli. She is a breath of fresh air in the bullshit. We need to see more of her. This fool faked a British accent to impress a new dude she was messing with (who was fine ass Aminé), and I haven't laughed that hard all season. I was on the floor when Issa's brother Ahmal asked Kelli what Brexit was, and she deflected and asked her date about the American government system instead to which he replied, "we have two branches of government...the presidential branch and the bank branch which makes all the money. That's why its called Bank of America." SIR?

Condoleezza is alive, y'all! She showed up at the beginning of the block party to "check on some vendors" before heading out. As you would think, the exchange between Consolo and Issa was awkward as can be with Condem telling Issa, "oh, you didn't know? Lawrence and I broke up" as if that was a proper excuse for her ghosting Issa and leaving her to plan a large scale event by herself. It's not. Even if she felt like he still had feelings for Issa, you two had a working relationship. She didn't even formally apologize. As she turned to leave, Issa said, "see you around" and Condola answered sure. I hope we don't because she's served her purpose here. Thanks for the connections, girl.

Well, that's it.

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Before we dive into Dumb and dumber, I mean Molly and Issa, I want to address Tiffany and Derek. Ever since she had her baby, Tiffany's been off and making little snide comments about how the baby won't take to her while breastfeeding or the baby is difficult and fussy or that she doesn't like the baby. Keep in mind, in the last episode, Derek told Lawrence that he and Tiffany had plans to travel and do a couple of other things before settling down to build a family, so they never intended to have a child so soon. That's completely understandable, and I think people should take all the necessary precautions to prevent pregnancy when they aren't ready to have a baby. I also get that shit happens. Babies change things, but more so, they make you grow up. When you have a child, you have to become selfless as its no longer about you. I don't think either of them was ready to do that, but Derek is adjusting way better than Tiffany. It's obvious she's going through postpartum, and as usual, the only one noticing is Kelli. While at the block party, Tiffany made a "joke" she was going to leave her baby at the supermarket (*calls the police*) and when the babysitter called her and Derek to let them know the baby wouldn't settle, Tiffany asked Derek to handle it as it was her first time being out since giving birth. Now, I am not a mother, and I don't have a clue what that experience must be like, so maybe she did need that time to herself. I worry that if she doesn't get real and discuss how she's feeling, she'll start to spiral.

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If you aren't into zodiac signs and astrology let me put you on to something – I am a Libra, and Libra's are usually diplomatic, objective, and fair. I hope that comes across in these recaps because what I never want to do is attack or place blame on one character, and it's not realistic. To be clear, Issa and Molly have made heavy mistakes this season to fracture their friendship. They were both wrong this episode, and I just think Mollith is more wrong. Lets lay the facts; Molly declined to help Issa connect with Andrew for a headliner for the block party to protect her new relationship. Was that in her right? Yes. Was it for the right reason? No. Personally, I would not let my best friends event fail because we have tension because I know at the end of the day we can work through our shit. Molly told Andrew at the beginning of the episode, "I love her, but I don't really like her right now", so if you love her, she should have shown up for her. Again, I want to reiterate what said in my last post, it is incredibly hard to enforce boundaries in relationships where there previously were none.

I was unnerved by the number of times Andrew was the voice of reason for Molly during this episode. I guess its a sign of growth in their relationship, but I find it funny how she can easily extend grace to dudes but not so much her family and friends? That morning, he comforted her, at the block party he told Molly she should be more forgiving of Issa being MIA so much due to the block party. Make no mistake, Molly is very spoiled and is used to Issa being accessible to her whenever she wants, but Issa doesn't just exist to be your friend. I get it, you miss her, but Issa being MIA mostly due to this block party is forgivable, especially when Molly, as ambitious as she is, even admitted that she hasn't been as available either due to work earlier this season. Why is it okay for her to be busy with work, but when Issa is, it is she's never there for you? Why did it take Andrew, pointing that out to make you acknowledge just how hard your best friend has worked on this event?

Following this conversation, Molly brings Issa some food to talk to her, but Issa had to step away to meet with Vince Staples. I was watching this like what did you expect Molly? She's in the middle of the block party she's been planning for months, and that's not the place to have the heart to heart you want to have. In Molly's defense, she has tried to extend the olive branch to Issa to talk several times this season, but Issa has either put it off or was preoccupied with the block party. However, Molly's response to that instead of being more direct with Issa (bc they like to skate around things) is to go with the jabs and insults that hold a lot of venom behind them. I get she misses her and she's frustrated with her but trying to embarrass or belittle her as result on numerous occasions is wack. When they get into their petty arguments, Molly is always coming with the unnecessary venom, and I don't like that. It is nothing anyone can say to me that justifies the way Molly speaks to Issa. There has always been this socio-economic imbalance between the two that's been present because of Molly being a more established "professional" and Issa being a little more fluid in her career so that clearly affects their dynamic on top of the tension.

Cue the blowup toward the end of the block party; Molly finds out Issa went through Nathan to get help from Andrew with replacing her headliner for the block party and is angry Issa went behind her back after she said no. Again, is she right to be angry? Yes. Should Issa have told her? Yes. Do I think Issa was wrong? No. If I invested all this time, energy, and money to pull this shit off, you bet I'll use every resource I have. The way Molly hit that pivot and sped over to Issa to confront her with a little too much energy said it all. She just needed a reason to unload on her, and as soon as she got it, she didn't care that it was Issa's event that she's worked hard to put on, it had to be about her now and how Issa has been this big bad villain for months. Molly confronts her, and Issa retorts, "you were willing to let me fail over some random rule you made up...you saw me struggling at We Got Y'all, and you decided your new relationship was more important than that." Molly then replies Issa stabbed her in the back and called her a user. Issa asks her why she is doing this at her event right now, to which Molly starts putting her hands in Issa's face. *woosah*.

Now, I want to say emphatically that any favor that Issa has asked Molly for has never directly affected her livelihood, health, or reputation. You coming through for her as a best friend is just that so I don't think it is appropriate to call her a user. If anything, Issa could have hit Molly up for money plenty of times, could have persuaded her to let her live with her, all of the above but this lady lived with Daniel while he was fucking other people, drove for Lyft, and grinded to find an apartment without asking Molly for anything. Issa even ran down a list of people and exhausted every option before even getting the nerve to finally call Molly to even ask for the favor? Molly is trying to equate using with being a friend and that math just doesn't math girl. Then as if ending Issa's block party early wasn't enough, the hands in the face were uncalled for. Are you going to fight your best friend at her event? It was out of line and selfish. If anything, she should have held that L, went home with her dude, and showed up to Issa's house to have this confrontation and hopefully reconciliation in private. I hate confrontation, but I most certainly hate confrontations in public, do that shit in private. The drama is exhausting at this point. They're both owed major apologies.

Fix it.

Well, this is the end of my episode recap. Let me know your thoughts on this week's episode and predictions for next week's episode! Last week's recap is HERE.