Insecure
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The episode opens with a familiar vignette: Issa and Daniel, together in bed again.
We were always headed here.
Instead, the suspense has been curtailed and the characters sleep together in this episode.
The rapport between Issa and Daniel isnt sexual, not at first.
It flows with the breezy intimacy borne of familiarity, the buoyant ease of long-term couplings.
The silliness of the moment gives it away as a daydream, and it ends shortly thereafter.
Issa and Daniel are, at least for now, platonically sleeping together.
Going back to the early influence of Melina Matsoukas and cinematographer Ava Berkofsky,Insecurehas always been masterfully shot.
Theres a bright prettiness to the images; the characters are stylish and well lit.
Issa is only quasi-engaged in conversation with Molly as the latter details her latest professional endeavors.
She encounters an organization focused on introducing children to the arts in the city.
I hope, for Issas sake, that the tide at work turns soon.
Her unhappiness is further highlighted when interviewing one of the candidates, another black girl.
This episode is full of brief, biting comedic moments, via dialogue and small narrative touches alike.
Eventually she lands a younger black man who exclaims about his stolen clothes.
Insecurehas always insisted on topicality, attempting to parse the varied issues faced by todays young black professional.
Sex, dating, consent, and microagressions in the workplace are all topics the show has broached.
In this episode, the quartet assembles and litigates the messiness of intraracial conflicts.
Elsewhere, Daniels brio gets the best of him when he finally meets with Spider.
His disposition solidifies that Issa needs to move out of his place and live on her own.
Later, in bed, neither Daniel or Issa can sleep.
He attempts an apology for his earlier callous behavior, and the fantasy from earlier comes alive.
They make out and Daniel goes down on her, as shed imagined.
But Issa, in a burst of maturity and levelheadedness, stops the encounter.
Its a decision I applauded, and saw as indicative of her own growth.
Daniel was always appealing as a fantasy.
When she dated Lawrence, he also offered the appeal of an illicit affair.
Once she was single and attempting a ho phase, he was again an exciting conquest.
The fantasy of who they could be as a couple is deflated.
The jump is as intimidating as it is necessary.
