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For most hardworking, college-educated black women, TV is a healthy pastime. Whether it’s the mindless consumption of “Real Housewives of Atlanta” or the emotional investment of “How To Get Away With Murder,” shows featuring black women can take your mind off your own issues. When a show doubles as an episode from your own day-to-day, however, it becomes less of a mental getaway and more of a cautionary reminder to get your sh*t together.
For a late 20-something-year-old black woman living an honest-to-God regular life, Rae’s new breakout comedy series “Insecure” is the type of small screen fare we’ve been praying for since “Girlfriends.” The breakout HBO show features the misadventures of two contemporary black women named Issa and Molly, who are just trying to navigate shady coworkers, broke boyfriends and swipe-right situationships like the rest of us.
Creatively mined from the makings of black women’s group chats, “Insecure” hilariously exposes the anxieties that manifest themselves in the nook and crannies of our everyday lives without the heavy, lip-quivering dramatics. As Issa enters the last year of her twenties, she questions everything from her five-year relationship (and her feelings for a not-quite ex) to her confidence at work in an effort to stop living a complacent life. Meanwhile, Molly struggles with having success without a partner, which leads her on an overly desperate quest to find Mr. Right.
Yet, cocooned inside of all the witty BFF banter and sarcastic punchlines are the tough realities, such as stigmas surrounding heteronormative behavior, unintentional respectability politics and infidelity. In an episode titled “Guilty As F*ck,” Issa toils with the regret of cheating on her man as Molly struggles with her dude dabbling in same-sex experimentation. Elsewhere, in “Racist As F*ck,” Molly offers that a fellow black associate take to code-switching more often.
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