‘Insecure’ 101: Your Recap Guide to Season 2

Unable to catch ‘Insecure’ on Sundays? We’re recapping all of Season 2 for you—all season long. Return to the space each week for updates, and be sure to join the conversation on Twitter at #CASSIUSinsecure.

Episode 1: ‘Hella Great’

“I‘m glad we’re finally getting the chance to talk,” Lawrence says to Issa across a restaurant table. “I get why you did what you did now. And it hurts, but… Hopefully we can move past it.”

Wait. Are Issa and Lawrence about to work things out!? Lol. Nah. This is just a fantasy. In actuality, she’s sitting across from one of the many men she’s met on the dating app she’s been using. “I said are you originally from here?” he asks again. They all ask the same damn questions (and she’s still feeling guilty AF—let her hilarious table rap montage tell it). Issa’s also tired of comparing everyone to Lawrence. She’s trying to act like she’s good, but she really (really) just wants her man back. Most of the time, anyway.

Molly’s finally seeing a therapist (Dr. Pine, played by Issa’s RL youth acting coach), but she’ll be damned if she tells her all her business in one go (she tells Pine family and work life are going well, though she later realizes her white colleague, Travis Moore, is getting paid more than she is despite them starting their jobs at the same damn time). While out at the park, Issa notes that although Molly isn’t comfortable with opening up to Dr. Pine, she does sound “better than the other one.” This isn’t the first therapist Molly’s seen, and she admittedly kind of likes Pine, because at least she’s Black (one of her previous therapists, who was white, was adamant about unpacking her use of the word “n*gga”).

Lawrence, who’s currently sleeping on an air mattress in the middle of his friend Chad’s living room, is still hooking up with Tasha but “we’re both having fun, no pressure,” he says to Chad. Meanwhile, Issa receives a jury duty notice addressed to Lawrence and deliberately invites him to pick it up during a party she’s hosting so it appears she’s doing fine without him. He says he’ll stop by to pick it up, but instead takes Tasha out to dinner that evening (after his friend points out the fact that he never wines and dines her) and asks Issa to mail it. Issa is upset because she really wanted to see him, and her party (literally) goes up in flames.

But Lawrence does eventually come over, when Issa is unprepared, and—in a turn of quickly escalated events—ends up hitting her with a few strokes (nah, forreal—prolly no more than 17). He then kisses her on the cheek and tells her he has to go, leaving all of us wondering:

What the actual f*ck just happened?

Episode 2: ‘Hella Questions’

Issa just told Molly about her “nebulous f*ck” with Lawrence. They haven’t spoken since, aside from two text messages, one of which he responded to by saying, “Sure” with no punctuation. Perhaps Lawrence hasn’t gotten back to her yet because he’s trying to organize his feelings, Issa suggests. “Do guys do that?” The scene cuts to Lawrence beginning to text Issa and then backspacing. “Things are just f*cking weird,” the unsent message reads.

Molly’s somewhat making headway in her therapy sessions. During this episode, she comes to the realization that she’s having issues finding satisfaction with her life due to the overwhelming societal pressures placed on Black women. As Dr. Pine words it, Molly’s stuck in a loop of “magical thinking,” believing things that “should” be can come to fruition by way of hopeful thinking rather than accepting things as they are.

Issa tells the rest of the gang about her encounter with Lawrence (though she doesn’t tell them they had sex and instead masks it as a “great conversation”). She wants to wait things out and hold off from dating until she knows what’s going to happen between her and Lawrence. And then Issa finds out about Tasha. First Issa says it’s “not about her” (she’s got on her big girl panties), but then she starts stalking Tasha on social media.

Speaking of Lawrence and Tasha, it seems Tasha may be ready for something serious (she invites him to a family BBQ), but his encounter with Issa is weighing heavily on his mind. So Lawrence tells Tasha he slept with Issa and is unsure how he feels about her. Tasha asks Lawrence to leave.

Relationship woes aside, Issa and Freida stop by the Vice Principal’s office regarding student involvement at the high school We Got Y’all is partnering with.  He agrees to see what he can do and comes through with an advisor to help them rally kids together. (Note: The VP is racist, as exemplified by his offensive behavior throughout the episode. Issa wants to let it go because he’s Black and “the oppressor can’t be the oppressor,” but Freida thinks it’d be different if he was white and that they should definitely make note of his antics and report them to We Got Y’all’s supervisor.)

Meanwhile, Lawrence bumps into Molly on his way to Meridian (which we later find out was planned by Molly and Issa). It’s awkward. She asks him how he is and says Issa is torn up. Lawrence is hesitant, but admits he doesn’t hate her. “Would you ever take her back?” He pauses, leading us to think he may be having second thoughts, but Lawrence says he’s done and found a new two-bedroom apartment. Later, Lawrence stops by Tasha’s to apologize for the incident with Issa. Tasha’s initially reluctant, but invites him inside to eat.

Back at Issa’s, she’s adjusting to being single now that reality is sinking in. While lying in bed, she sends a message to someone she’s been talking to on Tinder.

“Tryna f*ck?”

Episode 3: ‘Hella Open’

Apparently, Issa wasn’t actually “tryna f*ck.” Not yet, at least. This episode opens with Issa at the house of the guy she messaged on Tinder, but their sexual encounter is more than awkward. “It’s weird,” she tells him. It doesn’t feel right to her. Maybe she’s not as ready to enter her “hoe phase” (more on this later) as she thought. She later tells Molly she’s having trouble sleeping with new men because she’s “stuck in her own head.”

Over in the We Got Y’all world, Freida is concerned because most of the students participating with We Got Y’all are Black and numbers are “staggering.” “It’s not that I’m not happy that we have more kids, but the school’s 86% Latino and the attendance doesn’t reflect that,” Freida explains to Issa. But Issa feels they “have to start somewhere.” Their supervisor later tells them Vice Principal Gaines is pleased with their progress at East 41st street and attendance in Issa and Freida’s classroom has doubled. “Whatever you’re doing, keep it up.”

Molly dropped Dr. Pine and Issa wants to make sure Molly replaces her and continues therapy. But Issa has some issues of her own to work out. “F*ck love. F*ck getting to know these n****s. F*ck feeling feelings. I just wanna be on my Halle Berry sh*t.” Issa asks Molly to teach her how to “hoe,” so Molly takes Issa out so she can meet some hot contenders. The night is rough, and just as it seems things are smoothing over, a gentleman having a conversation with Issa later reveals he only made his way over to her so his friend could have time with Molly. (“Do you have any other friends?”)

Molly ends up going on a brunch date with Lionel—the gentleman she met while out with Issa. The vibe seems right, he has a five-year plan, he’s successful, wants something serious, but is he moving too fast? Is Molly moving too fast? What’s actually going on? “On paper he’s amazing, but I don’t know.” Issa notes: “He sounds kind of like you.”

Issa spots her neighbor Eddie from her window and an attraction starts brewing. She shows up at his house with a phone charger that she says he left at his party and ends up hanging out with him on his couch. After a few hours, she decides she’s going to shoot her shot and sleep with him. In real life, Black Twitter explodes.

At the cookout (yes, Lawrence decides to go), Lawrence meets Tasha’s “play uncle,” Jessie, and other members of her family. All seems okay until Lawrence gets a text from his colleague Brooke to meet them at Startup Saturday—a mixer of sorts he promised to attend earlier in the episode. He ditches the BBQ just minutes in (he tells Tasha it’s a “work thing”) and ends up missing the entire cookout. He later reveals to Tasha—after she calls him questioning his whereabouts—”I’m just not looking to get into anything serious.” Tasha, knowing what this was all along, calls him a “f*ck n***a.”

“You’re a fuck n***a who thinks he’s a good dude.”

Episode 4: ‘Hella LA’

Issa. Is. Out. Here. She’s talking to a cutie named Felix and still keeping Eddie around, which is why she didn’t wanna meet Felix for the Kiss & Grind day party. “I’m not tryna be stuck with him tonight.” Issa’s building a roster, as Kelli says. While at Kiss & Grind, Issa spots Daniel, and decides to confront him regarding last season’s incident (Remember the “itch” she “had to scratch?”). Felix shows up, but is disappointed with what he sees. (“You changed your hair. . . Does your voice always sound like that?”) He ditches her, and Daniel sees the whole thing go down.

Meanwhile, a trip down memory lane with Dro leads to some hot and heavy bumping and grinding. Molly suggests they stop because it wouldn’t be fair to his wife, Candice, and Dro explains to her that they have an open marriage. This still doesn’t sit well with Molly, but it doesn’t stop Dro from texting her later that evening to see if she wants to link up for a night cap. She almost gives in, but then she declines.

Lawrence is on his way to turn up as well. Heading to the grocery store to pick up some dranks, he’s pulled over by a cop and seems to misplace his debit card in the process. But he doesn’t realize this until he gets to the checkout line, where two women offer to pay for his groceries so he doesn’t have to run back out to his car. They follow him to the parking lot and invite him over to their place, where they end up having a threesome. Doesn’t seem like Lawrence is happy with his life choices at this point, especially since all signs point toward him being a prop (they have a thing for Black men). He later ends up on the phone with Chad while sitting outside of Issa’s before driving away.

While enjoying a post-Kiss & Grind meal, Issa realizes Kelli and the man she met up with are—ahem—getting to know each other under the table. Daniel, sitting a table across from Issa’s, makes eye contact with her and they laugh at what’s happening. Issa grabs her plate and joins him.

Meanwhile, everything is a hot-ass mess.

Episode 5: ‘Hella Shook’

Issa and Daniel are sleeping together after bumping into each other at Kiss & Grind, but they’re just “friends who f**k,” as she explains to Molly. She’s not about “this catchin’ feelings sh*t.” She has Daniel, “neighbor bae,” and now, Nico, who she met on a dating app (they end up on a date and hit it off over drinks and a DC/Marvel debate). It seems Daniel may see Issa as more than a f**k when she gets in a car accident and he comes to her rescue. But then Issa puts up a block by clarifying that she is seeing other people. Daniel appears to be a bit taken aback.

Lawrence stumbles upon a photo of Issa and Daniel together at the event while perusing social media during jury duty. He meets up with Derek, who’s dating Tiffany, and tells him what’s going on. Lawrence. Is. Upset. But then Derek tells Law, “You spent two years unemployed, not doing sh*t, letting your woman take care of you.” But does that give her the right to cheat on Lawrence? “No, but I can see why she’d be attracted to a guy who’s out there making things happen.” Lawrence blocks Issa on Facebook.

Frieda still feels a way about going along with Vice President Gaines. When she tries to check Issa for saying Black folks can’t be racist, Issa tells Frieda that her whiteness doesn’t allow her to call Gaines out. Frieda, upset, begins to distance herself from Issa at work.

Dro is still attempting to shoot his shot with Molly, but Molly doesn’t see herself dating a married man. Meanwhile, Molly’s parents, who have been married for 35 years and after whom Molly aspires to model her romantic life, are renewing their vows (Molly brings Lionel with her to their renewal, where he ends up meeting Dro). Molly finds out her dad cheated on her mother and she forgave him, which shatters Molly’s idea of what a “perfect union” should look like. When Molly storms away from the party upset, Dro follows her out to her car where they end up driving back to her place. Dro is about to grab a Lyft home, but Molly invites him up…

…And you prolly can guess what happens next.

Episode 6: ‘Hella Blows’

Molly is feeling a way about the fact that she and Dro had sex. She tells Issa she feels like they f**ked up their friendship and wonders how they’re supposed to go back to normal after their encounter. She decides she’s going to tell them they should just move forward as friends when they meet up to watch the game together, but the conversation never actually happens. They end up sleeping together again.

During a conversation about Dro and Candice’s open marriage, he tells Molly the open relationship was Candice’s idea because she didn’t want the two of them to feel they were limited in their relationship. He then says to Molly: “We can keep talking about this or choose to be in it. What do you want?” It looks like Molly chooses to be in it when they meet up for sexy time in the tub at a swanky hotel, but reality sets in for Molly when Dro has to leave abruptly to go help Candice, who’s locked herself out of their house.

At work, Lawrence pitches an app that doesn’t seem to impress his bosses. Though Lawrence is in a bit of denial, his coworker Aparna keeps it real: the app is outdated as hell. There seems to be a spark shared between the two of them at the end of this episode, leaving us to wonder if something special is brewing.

Daniel isn’t responsive to Issa’s texts after saving her from the scene of her car crash, so Issa decides to show up at Eddie’s, unannounced, because she “saw his light on.” Too bad he already has a girl over. “If I knew we were doing this, I would have been up those stairs a long time ago,” he says. Womp! Later, Issa finds out her car is going to cost $5500 to fix. Another womp! Nico and Issa link up for another date and she tries to sleep with him, but he doesn’t want to rush and actually wants to get to know her. Issa ain’t ’bout it, so she declines to follow through with their original dinner plans and kicks him out her crib.

During the episode’s grand finale, Issa and Daniel finally link up after Daniel being “too busy” at the studio. Following a conversation surrounding Black women and oral sex that takes place at a “Sexplosion” event with the girls, Issa decides to go below the belt. But Issa storms out of Daniel’s place mortified when he hits her with…

…A surprise shot in the eye.

Episode 7 ‘Hella Disrespectful’

“In your FACE? Nawww, n***a. Naw.” Issa tells Molly about the “incident” with Daniel, if you can even call it that, because we still can’t really figure out the big deal. Regardless, Molly’s ready to “spray his face with cum eggs.” Oh, and she’s still seeing Dro. Molly has no clue where it’s going, and “that’s the point.” Note: Daniel calls and apologizes later in the episode, but when Daniel jokes that the two are “even,” Issa loses her shit again and tells him not to call her. Forreal, though. Why so serious?

While in transit, Issa finds out from a Latinx student that Mr. Gaines told him We Got Y’all’s PSAT prep program is full. Concerned, Issa devises a plan to increase awareness that We Got Y’all and enrollment at East 41st is all-inclusive. She presents the idea to Frieda (the two are back on good terms) who’s all for it, but Mr. Gaines isn’t trying to hear it. “If you want Mexicans, nobody’s stopping you,” he says. And when Issa calls Gaines out for turning away Latinx students, he laughs in her face. “Girl, calm down. Ain’t nobody dead.”

Molly preps to meet for her boss ahead of her annual review to talk about a promotion, but he says they’ll only take it into consideration after her review (but remember Travis Moore?). Meanwhile, suspicion begins to churn in the workplace as Lawrence and Aparna become closer.  Lawrence insists he told the crew they “just hung out” because he didn’t want people in their business due to “mistakes” he’s made in the past. They agree to follow through with drink plans later, but Aparna ends up going with Lawrence to Derek’s dinner party before hand.

Whyyy, tho.

Important to mention that both Candice and Issa are also in attendance, which spells trouble for Lawrence, Molly, and Issa. Lawrence and Issa end up having a showdown, during which he calls her a hoe, outside of the party. Molly and Dro end up hooking up in the bathroom. After seeing Dro with Candice, however, Molly calls their relationship quits… for now. Later, she calls her mom and asked her how she made it work with her father despite him cheating on her. “I know he made me feel special more than he hurt me,” her mom says.

Lawrence and Aparna go out for drinks, while Issa goes home and destroys her apartment.

Episode 8: ‘Hella Perspective’

30 days have passed. In that time, it’s become apparent that Lawrence and Aparna are a thing—cooking together, romantic dinners, making out on kitchen counters… but Lawrence also finds out that Aparna had sex with their colleague Colin not once, but on multiple occasions. So is Aparna for real? Is this just another work romance? Lawrence can’t be too sure, and Aparna storms out of his car when he confronts her about it.  More on this later.

Quentin comes to L.A. and Molly is out here getting job offers left and right. Molly’s about to “f*ck up some commas,” as Quentin aptly suggests, but when her job finds out about her search, the only thing they have to offer as a token of “appreciation” is a “Rising Star” award.

Quentin is clearly interested in Molly, but she tells her therapise Dr. Pine that he just doesn’t sound like the guy she “should” be with it. Her therapist suggests she starts looking at things that “could” happen, so Molly goes for it and sleeps with him. Quentin is nice, supportive, and makes her laugh, so Molly wants to see how it could go… but later on, it appears she decided to keep on with Dro.

Issa’s under evaluation for “segregation” after Frieda and Issa begin holding student sessions for Latinx students at the We Got Y’all office. Frieda is promoted as new director of student outreach, and Issa has a yard sale in preparation to move out. Oh, and about that voicemail: she was calling Lawrence to let him know she has boxes of his things and that she thinks he should take the couch they bought together.

When she goes back to the apartment for a walkthrough and to return keys, Lawrence is inside waiting for her. “I didn’t like the way we ended up things and I feel like I’m fucking everything up right now,” Lawrence explains. Which leads to the conversation we’ve been waiting for all season long: Lawrence apologizes for not being who Issa expected him to be, and Issa confesses that she depended on him to be better for the both of them when that was her job (but she didn’t even know how to do that for herself). Issa tells Lawrence she still loves him, and Lawrence says he still loves her, too. The exchange ends in a hug and a goodbye (after we’re teased with a proposal fantasy), and Lawrence later sends her a friend request on Facebook. Could this be a fresh start? Maybe.

But it also looks like Issa’s crashing on Daniel’s couch for a while.