Every Monday, Very Smart Brothas Senior Editor Panama Jackson and Contributing Freelance Writer Shanelle Genai break down the latest episode of season 5 of HBO’s cultural flashpoint show, Insecure. Okay?! Spoilers ahead.
Panama Jackson: Annnnnnnd we’re back! After last week’s “a little too raw, a little too real” excursion into what life is for Condola and Lawrence (real talk: I hope we don’t see them again), we’re back where left off in the on-again, off-again dalliance between Issa and Nathan. Will they will, or will they won’t? Inquiring minds would like to know. The barbershop event is on the beach and between the beach ball to Issa’s head, Molly’s wang-on-the-brain goals and Kelli finding her spirit animal in Resha, who—like Kelli—basically died, we’re back to business.
Nathan is doing that thing you do where you don’t know what to do so you basically try your best to avoid unavoidable shit, causing Issa to overthink—kind of her lane anyway—to try to figure out what’s going on with the two of them. In all fairness to Issa, Nathan loves a good exit; his cousin confirms this when he and his wife Velma show up at Sharky’s and the milk-carton jokes start from jump. We’ll get into Nathan and his mental health journey and how it plays out, interestingly, here. I enjoyed this episode; there is absolutely not enough Jason Derulo in this world. What were your thoughts on the episode?
Shanelle Genai: I loved the true-to-life depiction of a day/night out with your friends in this episode. I don’t know how many times me and my friends pulled up to an event, met up with other folks, found out the event is whack and ended up bouncing from place to place trying to get it popping, no Chris Breezy.
What I also loved was that literally with almost every person/mini-group, communication (or the lack of it) was a common thread. Kelli and Resha connected on some Iyanla, Fix My Life type shit meanwhile Aric was giving Molly some bootleg Rosetta Stone Chinese lessons in the backseat headed to “Jason Derulo’s” shindig in an attempt to get some good-good later on that night. And then we have good ole Issa and Nathan, who are both too non-confrontational for my comfort level but they eventually get to have that conversation by the episode’s ending. So that was great. Speaking of Nathan though, how’d you feel about the show’s exploration of his mental health journey?
Panama Jackson: Well, I do appreciate that, especially in today’s day and age, when self-care and mental health journeys aren’t taboo but encouraged, that Nathan was both dealing with something that impacted himself and his relationships and then he found his way to addressing it so he could be a better person for himself and others. I do think it’s curious that he seemingly had a strained relationship with his actual family in LA and never got around to addressing it with them. That seems like the first relationship you’d address.
The reason I said it was interesting is that in the context of this episode, when Nathan was going through it and getting himself together he asked for grace and understanding from others, like Issa, who found ways to be there for him—but he doesn’t seem to be able to offer that same to Issa. I thought it sucked that his first instinct was to walk out on Issa and then ignore it wholesale because “she doesn’t know what she wants.” If they’re friends, it would seem that he’d also want to make sure his friend was okay. And he more or less was like, “nope, she trippin’” and said as much when talking to the homies about it.
Shanelle Genai: Yeah. But that’s the nature of humanity, right? We make all the concessions, explanations and excuses—valid or not—for our own actions while simultaneously judging or withholding grace from others for theirs. It’s not pretty, nor is it justifiable, but specifically in Nathan’s case: I’m sure his bipolar diagnosis plays a large part in his fight-or-flight/avoidance tendencies. I did love the fact that Issa was able to pick up on how the jabs from Nathan’s cousin were hitting a sore spot and spoke out. That’s a true friend. But I don’t love that the cousin couldn’t just be real with Nathan from jump about how he felt about his behavior. See! There’s that communication piece again!
Panama Jackson: Communication, or lack thereof, will be the end of us all. Speaking of, Crenshawn is going HAM on our girl Issa on social media. In my head, I kept saying, “don’t respond, Iss, don’t respond.” Any person coming for you on socials has no cut cards and will gladly use any and all measures to snipe you and she took the bait. Now she can’t play spades AND is finna get herself dragged on social media.
I must say, the entire side-plot of Kelli and Resha having a whole therapy session and manifesting shit and talking journaling and ghost pussy literally was the joy I’m here for. I mean, it was truly hilarious to watch unfold. I love indulgent shit and they fully committed to that conversation.
Oh, one last thing on Nathan and Issa: I’m happy if they’re happy, but I can never quite shake the feeling that Lawrence is never tucked deep enough in the recesses of Issa’s mind, and if he shows back up and Issa needs to explore her feelings again, well...Nathan is going to be smokin’ out the window.
Shanelle Genai: Yeah, Crenshawn is definitely WILDING. But we knew he was about that action from the fashion show. I don’t know why I thought real-life Issa was gonna let us have a cutesy little romp between her and Kofi’s characters in the final season but seeing as how she lives for mess, I should’ve expected her to go a different direction. Also, is this a safe space? I am quite tired of the divisiveness within our community when it comes to who does and doesn’t know how to play spades! I understand it’s a cultural rite of passage but dammit why the hostility?! I thought “Black people weren’t a monolith.” The fervor needs to die down. Additionally, when it comes to Lawrence, I need him to focus on his new bundle with Conquistador and stay far away from Issa and her newfound happiness. No more pain, Lawrence! Word to Mary J.
Panama Jackson: I guess you can’t play spades, huh? It’s okay, no judgment. And speaking of Black things, I loved the Telfar earrings Issa was wearing and one of my great clothing regrets in life will always be not getting that LA Riots jersey buddy with the cat was wearing when the company (the name escapes me; I can’t find them online either) had them for sale. I did buy a shirt from them that says “Every Nigga Is A Star” though. I too thought Issa and Kofi were gonna get it in but that looks like a solid “not gonna happen.” Also, I hope Molly got her some good sex since that was her focus for the episode. And mostly, I hope Mo got to participate in some close-up magic with Jason Derulo because when a nigga jogs to get into the back of a club because Jason Derulo is present you hope the night goes his way. Any final thoughts?
Shanelle Genai: Aside from the now annoying urge to whisper Jason Derulo every 5 seconds? I just want Issa and Crenshawn to work things out; it seems Issa’s finally found her community betterment lane and I would hate to see that get jeopardized over Twitter fingers. I’m also not quite sure if I’m all the way Team Nissa, but like you said earlier: if she likes it, I love it. Until next week...
New episodes of Insecure premiere Sundays at 10p.m. ET only on HBO and HBOMax.