What I’m Watching: Insecure

Insecure: Season 5, Episode 5 “Surviving, Okay ?!” (B+)

This was a helpful and worthwhile return to reality, one that interrupted the serenity of Issa and Nathan heading towards coupled bliss and Molly truly finding herself with an unanticipated family emergency. Molly finding out that her mom was in the hospital caught her completely by surprise, and being shown the wrong man with her entire family was a jarring start that was also inherently comedic due to the monumental nature of the hospital screw-up. Issa was far too casual with Molly when she called to find out what she was doing, but then she did exactly what she needed to and promptly offered up her clothes to help her best friend. I enjoyed that she still infused her personality into it, pointed out that she had just had sex in that outfit, and assuring Molly that there was no chance she was ever going to get hers back. While Molly had ample opportunity for introspection and found out about an unknown past medical event with her mom, Issa and Nathan got to spend time together in a different way than they had thought they would when they hoped Molly would be busy. It was sweet to see how Nathan reacted by simply kissing Issa when she said “that’s why I love you.” Ending the episode with Issa hiding from Condola and Lawrence at the hospital was a reminder of what used to be and could have been, and hopefully that won’t stick with Issa too much to mess up what she has going now.