S04.E01: Lowkey Feelin' Myself

[ElectricBoogaloo]

Quote

With Condola's guidance, Issa prepares for a mixer in her courtyard to pitch the block party to potential sponsors - but tensions rise when they discover a mutual connection. Molly begins to develop unexpected feelings for Andrew.

Original air date: 2020.04.12

[Liamsmom617]

   For the life of me I don’t understand how it always goes so wrong for Molly in her relationships.
    Love Issa’s  “I’m gonna name my daughter Cheryl.....or my son...gender’s just a construct...”

    I love how there’s always some show that everybody is watching throughout the season.

        

[Amethyst]

The cracks are really starting to show in Issa and Molly's friendship.  The opening scene was depressing to watch.

The mixer showed how Issa has matured.  Once she realized the party was failing, she got out of her own head and made the real speech that won everyone over.  It was good to see her succeed on her own.  She's going on the right path, even with the snags.

Can't say the same for Molly.  Her discussion with Issa at the end just made Molly look like an ass.  I know there has to be conflict, but I don't want another whole season of Molly screwing up her whole life.  And deep down, I don't know if she can handle that Issa is finally doing well, while Molly isn't.

I like Condola, and it's nice to see that she's as flustered by this whole thing, too.  

[announcergirl]

Molly is forever sour! No reason at all to be that stiff with Andrew. Geez, he’s trying to like you, Molly! She’s a hard one to stay in like with, and then had the audacity to call Issa’s life “messy.” Delusional and hypocritical much?

Ok, I have never really liked Tiffany. She knew and didn’t give Issa a heads up about Condola dating Lawrence? Who does that? What friend does that? You can’t convince me she didn’t know either. 

Kelli can be my friend any day.

Loved the sex scenes. I’m nasty, and I’m quarantined without a boo. Soooo, it was fun and entertaining. I actually got a tingle watching Condola and Lawrence cowgirl. 

I liked TSA dude putting in work for big dudes. He did his thing. LOL!

Glad the show is back!

[scrb]

First of all, there are all these extras you can access on HBO Go.  You have to select them manually whereas in previous seasons, when you play the episode, they’d show you the “previously on” montage, the previews for the next episode and then the Wine Down with Issa and her show runner talking about the episode.

I didn’t notice all these until after I saw the episode.

It was confusing whether season 4 takes place right after season 3 or it’s a couple of years into the future like Season 4.

Can’t be because Tiffany is still pregnant and Condola is still a new friend to Issa and girlfriend to Lawrence.

Issa is just trying to have fun, avoid negativity.  Of course she tried that before in season 2 or 3.

She broke it off with Nathan, who had ghosted her.  So now she just having fun with big TSA bae, even though he thinks sexing her up is like trying to solve a Rubik’s cube?

She had come to like Condola before Tiffany spilled the beans. She’s going to try to work and be friends with her.

But of course Molly knows Issa is kidding herself, as Issa imagining Lawrence and Condola fucking everywhere torments her.

Meanwhile Molly decides after the block party to get real with Andrew, not play games.

In the Wine Down, Issa says the two women are so close because they hold each other accountable, meaning they are truthful even to the point of unpleasant truths they tell each other.

Issa also notes that Molly never has a longer relationship on the show, but her nature is to be “boo’d up,”

 

Kelli on this episode wasn’t her usual loose cannon hilarious self.  Hope they didn’t lose writers who wrote her funky lines in previous seasons.

Glad Lawrence is back, after not being around for much of season 3.  But I hope it’s no just as a prop, like a point o friction between Issa and Condola.

He needs his own story lines , like hanging with Chad, whom they need to bring back.

 

 

[Welp]

So glad this show is back! The baby I’d just found out I was pregnant with before the Season 3 finale is nearly walking, so it has definitely been too long.

I love what this show has to say about Black female friendships, but it’s sad and frustrating to see the fractures in Molly and Issa’s relationship and know what it leads to. IMO, Molly is projecting her ish onto Issa because she’s struggling to reconcile her “Bad Bitch” persona with her fear of being labeled Can’t Keep a Man (TM). I hope her text to Andrew at the end means we’ll see growth this season, but not at the expense of their friendship!

I think the Issa/Condola (side note: she looks like the love child of Sanaa Lathan and Vanessa Simmons) awkwardness didn’t resonate with me as much because it’s been such a long wait—I wonder if binge-watching from S1 and feeling more connected to the show’s timeline would change that.

[rozen]

Literally why would Andrew waste his time to being exclusive to Molly? She's been hot and cold while leading him around by the nose since they met. Molly has always been jealous that Issa managed to snag Lawrence, I'm sure she's projecting that onto Condola as well. Molly can't stand women who are doing better than her, so Condola having a high-powered career and Lawrence 2.0 while getting chummy with Issa is probably her worst nightmare.

I'm truly raising an eyebrow at all these *friends* Issa allegedly has. Every single one of these women have extensive experience working with affluent clients and soliciting them for work, but not a one helped coach Issa. Just let her stumble out and make a fool of herself and barely manage to salvage the situation at the last moment. Did any of them even bring clients, or was Condola the only one putting her reputation on the line for Issa? It's like all of them truly expected their bestie to fail and were just there for the booze and snacks.

[Amethyst]

31 minutes ago, announcergirl said:

Ok, I have never really liked Tiffany. She knew and didn’t give Issa a heads up about Condola dating Lawrence? Who does that? What friend does that? You can’t convince me she didn’t know either. 

I guess it depends on how friendly Tiffany is with Condola and how much contact they have.  Tiffany did say she didn't know it went beyond one date.

Tiffany handled the confrontation poorly.  Even if she didn't know about Condola and Lawrence, she just breezed out of the room like it was no big deal.  Lawrence and Issa were together for five years, and Tiffany knows that.  She should have called Issa later and apologized instead of doing that at the mixer, when Issa was already stressed and distracted.  Tiffany's gone from bougie to annoying.

[SFoster21]

Portia from RHOA.

[link417]

So glad this show is back! Even had a few laugh-out-loud moments.

Ugh, Molly. She can be soooo exhausting. And I can no longer separate Tiffany’s awfulness from Amanda Seales’s awfulnees, so I am all the way over Tiffany.

Kelli is too much, in a good way! Her agreeing not to sleep with the old white man, but then murmuring, “I’m gonna fuck that man,” as she walked away — 🤣

Looking forward to seeing more of the show-within-the-show. Loved seeing Porsha from RHOA doing her thing, and Lovita from The Steve Harvey Show! 

[SuburbanHangSuite]

I'm really happy this show is back too.  After I binge watched the HBO marathon on Saturday, I was ready to jump back into Insecure.  So far I'm not really feeling the sex montages (just extra for no damn reason) and I sometimes I found myself straining to follow Issa & Molly's "banter."  But I will deal because this is such a good show.

Molly is ridiculous.  Andrew was nothing but charming, fun and HONEST with her and she's sulking like an 11 year old---they really have to develop her character more this season.  

Who knew that Paula Jai Parker could play a role relatively straight?

More Kelly, please!

[luckyroll3]

8 hours ago, scrb said:

Kelli on this episode wasn’t her usual loose cannon hilarious self.  Hope they didn’t lose writers who wrote her funky lines in previous seasons.

The actress who plays Kelli is a writer on the show and usually improvises most of her lines.  

7 hours ago, Amethyst said:

Tiffany handled the confrontation poorly.  Even if she didn't know about Condola and Lawrence, she just breezed out of the room like it was no big deal.  Lawrence and Issa were together for five years, and Tiffany knows that.

Tiffany was pretending it was no big deal, but her ass knew.  That's why she skedaddled out of there with the quickness.  It's also why she was so concerned about Issa being mad at her.

7 hours ago, rozen said:

I'm truly raising an eyebrow at all these *friends* Issa allegedly has. Every single one of these women have extensive experience working with affluent clients and soliciting them for work, but not a one helped coach Issa. Just let her stumble out and make a fool of herself and barely manage to salvage the situation at the last moment. Did any of them even bring clients, or was Condola the only one putting her reputation on the line for Issa? It's like all of them truly expected their bestie to fail and were just there for the booze and snacks.

Same.  I'm also giving most of them side eye for the reasons you called out.  In their friend group, Issa is the one at the bottom.  She works a shit job and never has any money.  She comes up with crazy ideas that she can never really execute.  To them, there was no other outcome except that this little thing would also fail or she would just abandon it and move on to the next thing. There was scene last season where Molly basically encourages Issa to forget about the block party and Issa agrees.....until she gets encouragement from Nathan that if that's what she really wants to do, she needs to follow her instincts and commit to the work that needs to happen.  When Molly hears that Issa has decided to move forward with it and that Nathan gave her praise for pushing through, she was quite salty about instead of saying something like, "OK girl, if you really want this, what do you need from me to help get there, to support you."  And you can see shades of that here.  They didn't help in anyway to make the mixer happen, but they did little things like manning the bar, staying behind to clean, etc. so that they can say that they helped.  

And don't get me started in Molly. We see very little growth with her character because Molly refuses to change.  She was all too happy to continue stringing Andrew along, as long as he was actively chasing her.  So learning that he's still dating other people is a sock to her gut, which is rich especially because she keeps refusing to commit to anything serious with him.  Girl please.  And her telling Issa to dump Condola as friend because she's dating Lawrence?  Sigh.  Condola has not been shady to Issa, they like each other as friends, and actually work really well together.  If they can get past the initial awkwardness, there's no reason for them to be enemies.  But Molly is the type to be so quick to be done with other people.  She's just negative in general and having a friend like her is tough.  

[Empress1]

8 hours ago, scrb said:

Kelli on this episode wasn’t her usual loose cannon hilarious self.  Hope they didn’t lose writers who wrote her funky lines in previous seasons.

Oh, I thought Kelli and the older white guy was funny (and she totally fucked him). Also the line about how drunk people give more money, which is totally true.

8 hours ago, rozen said:

Literally why would Andrew waste his time to being exclusive to Molly? She's been hot and cold while leading him around by the nose since they met. Molly has always been jealous that Issa managed to snag Lawrence, I'm sure she's projecting that onto Condola as well. Molly can't stand women who are doing better than her, so Condola having a high-powered career and Lawrence 2.0 while getting chummy with Issa is probably her worst nightmare.

I'm truly raising an eyebrow at all these *friends* Issa allegedly has. Every single one of these women have extensive experience working with affluent clients and soliciting them for work, but not a one helped coach Issa. Just let her stumble out and make a fool of herself and barely manage to salvage the situation at the last moment. Did any of them even bring clients, or was Condola the only one putting her reputation on the line for Issa? It's like all of them truly expected their bestie to fail and were just there for the booze and snacks.

Right! Issa’s friends are a corporate lawyer, a PR person, and a financial advisor or maybe accountant. They ALL could have brought clients. It seems like they want Issa to be the unsuccessful one. And Tiffany not telling Issa about Condola and Lawrence was foul, although I’ve always thought Issa and Tiffany weren’t that tight.

Tiffany’s hair is too brassy. It clashes with her skin.

Molly is a mess. She blew off Andrew (who, if she doesn’t want, I’ll take. Call me, Andrew) before and is surprised they’re not exclusive? She’s old enough to know that you should assume you’re not exclusive with someone until you explicitly say to each other that you’re going to be exclusive. I did like her using her words (for a lawyer, her communication skills are trash, which is a big part of her problem) at the end though.

I don’t think Condola and Issa should be enemies ... but I won’t lie, it would be hard for me to kick it with my ex’s new person. Issa envisioning them fucking was hilarious though. “Pop the tag!” 

I don’t like that Issa and Molly are headed for a breakup but at the same time, I appreciate the show for showing a friend breakup. So much emphasis is put on romantic relationships (too much, in my opinion) but friendships are just as valuable. If my best friend and I broke up, I’d be devastated.

[DearEvette]

So glad the show is back.

I root for Issa, so I hope her new venture is a success and honestly I hope her new relationship with Condola helps her move Lawrence to her past where he really belongs.  I mean it has been more than a minute since she and Lawrence broke up so I hope that the awkwardness is just that... awkwardness of the situation and they manage to push through.

I always thought Molly was her own worst enemy when it comes to, well, everything.  She has so much going for her... she is attractive and successful and smart.  So it is painful to watch her self-sabotage.  I thought she had turned a corner with Andrew, but I see she is at it again.

Also, I'd always thought her relationship with Issa was a good one.  Sure they've had their cracks before and argued and had differences in philosophy, but overall I always felt they were solid.  But now it feels depressingly like Molly is one of those friends that can only be your good friend when she is in a superior position.  Before now Issa had no money, no credit, a job that gave her no real satisfaction  and even though she had Lawrence, he was jobless and depressed.  So not the ideal partner.  Molly could definitely feel superior in the power imbalance in that relationship.

But now, Issa is getting her shit together, is making connections, has a new friend who is not someone who is a broke-down mess, but a professional like Molly, and who can help Issa succeed in tangible ways.  Molly is seeing the shift in their dynamic and it doesn't work for her.  It is  sad to see Molly gaslight Issa in that way.

I have never looked for Kelli or Tiffany for more than comic side-kickery.  So their presence lived up to my expectations. 

[luckyroll3]

1 minute ago, Empress1 said:

She blew off Andrew (who, if she doesn’t want, I’ll take. Call me, Andrew)

Andrew is so fine AND a smart, funny, decent guy.  It's what we all hope for!  I don't know why she playing.  

I hope they bring back Nathan at some point, or at least we see him at Andrew's house.  He's also some eye candy....

[Joimiaroxeu]

Wait, NO! Asian bae cut his hair! His long, glorious hair!

LA is so small. 🤔

Andrew. Other women? I am disappoint. Molly is a lot though.

Kelli is so silly. She knows she would hit that Bill Murray-looking potential donor for free.

Issa's like Simone Biles but a little clumsy.

[Sheenieb]

Quote

Right! Issa’s friends are a corporate lawyer, a PR person, and a financial advisor or maybe accountant. They ALL could have brought clients. It seems like they want Issa to be the unsuccessful one. And Tiffany not telling Issa about Condola and Lawrence was foul, although I’ve always thought Issa and Tiffany weren’t that tight.

Exactly. Issa is clearly the fuck up friend of the group. She's just there to make the rest of them feel better about themselves. That's disappointing. Even more so coming from Molly since that's supposed to be her Day 1.

 

3 hours ago, luckyroll3 said:

Andrew is so fine AND a smart, funny, decent guy.  It's what we all hope for!  I don't know why she playing.  

Because Molly stays being her own worst enemy. Once again, she gets EXACTLY what she wants in a man and she finds someway to screw it up. I don't know if it's because she doesn't think she deserves good things or what. I hope she has some growth this season and continues with therapy because her constant self-sabotage is getting tiresome. Even Issa is trying to get it together. 

And who knew Paula Jai Parker could play a role that doesn't require her to be on 11? 

[link417]

Every time someone mentions “growth,” I see that Kelli gif in my head.

[tennisgurl]

So happy to see this show again, it has been WAY too long! 

Given how frequently things go badly for Issa (either because she sabotages herself or stuff just goes wrong) I was happy to see her block party plan making progress, and making a speech to bring her mixer from flopping. I really hope that she and Condola can stay friends, I know its super awkward now that she is dating Lawrence, so its a weird situation, but they seem like they work so well together, as both friends and business associates, so I hope they can overcome the awkwardness. 

Plus, Issa could use a friend, as trouble seems to be brewing with her friendship with Molly, as sad as that is. Where does Molly get off calling Issa "messy" considering how much Molly tends to self sabotage, despite everything she has going on, because of her issues with communication, empathy, and commitment. She has no business getting all pissy at Andrew, who she has been jerking around for what seems like ages now, because he isn't being exclusive to her, when she pretty emphatically made it clear to him that she didn't want to commit to him. I am feel like Molly is being kind of crappy towards Issa (telling her to dump Condola, not being very supportive of her project) because she always liked being the successful one in their friendship. She liked being the one who has it together while Issa was stuck in a crappy job, no credit, dead end romance, not many professional prospects, but now that Issa is getting her life together, their dynamic is changing, and she feels weird about that. She might not even realize that she is trying to drag Issa down, but it feels like she is. Molly could probably feel better about her own issues because at least she was doing better than Issa, but now? What does it say about Molly when she isn't the one with her life more together?

Even in her brief scenes, Kelli is always the best. "Get your Bill Murray looking ass over here..." 

Probably not a long term thing, but I do like Issas booty call! He is just super happy to be here! 

[scrb]

Let's say the block party happens, is a huge success, Issa gets some money.

Then what?

It covers her for a few months or maybe a year?

She has a good housing situation but still going to be struggling for money, unless block parties are a huge boon that I'm not appreciating.

 

[link417]

1 hour ago, scrb said:

Let's say the block party happens, is a huge success, Issa gets some money.

Then what?

It covers her for a few months or maybe a year?

She has a good housing situation but still going to be struggling for money, unless block parties are a huge boon that I'm not appreciating.

 

Maybe she’s hoping to leverage the business contacts she makes in the process? I was wondering this last night, too.

[LibertarianSlut]

19 hours ago, Liamsmom617 said:

  Love Issa’s  “I’m gonna name my daughter Cheryl.....or my son...gender’s just a construct...”        

That was such a funny moment.  I also loved when Issa first sat down with Condola, Condola complimented her on her shirt, and the awkwardness that ensued about her dead grandma, complete with, “I try to keep things nice,” and the water spilling down the front of her shirt.  

The TSA guy was funny and new.

I don’t really see a problem for Issa vis a vis Condola dating Lawrence.  She’s had two other major guys since Lawrence, and she broke up with him.  I’m sure there is unfinished business, but that didn’t ping with me very hard, because that is the past.

What really gripped me was the Molly/Andrew story.  I don’t think she’s right, but I see her side, which really made it good storytelling.  She was never really into him in the beginning, right?  But their chemistry was popping at the bowling alley, and she probably made assumptions, and when he said that he was free any day except Friday, I knew exactly what was coming, and I felt the ice go through my veins, same as Molly probably did, but she went ahead and asked, probably because she was hoping it was something else, and now she knew that he was dating others, and she had really no one else to blame for getting the info but herself, but...

Molly is a beautiful woman.  She is written to be the whole package, except for some neuroses only her friends know about.  She is in her mid-thirties, so she’s been in the grown up dating world for 15 years.  For a lot of beautiful, successful women, men just want to date them and be in their presence, and there are men who are willing to sort of pre-commit to you.  It’s not as explicit as a handshake deal, but a guy who may not be as high as Molly’s level might have the attitude of, “please just let me be in your presence.  Please just give me a chance.  I am so deeply in like (some think it’s love, but that’s for another post) that I won’t date anyone else, even though you can, just so long as you give me a shot.”  It’s not overt, it’s implicit, and Molly probably subconsciously put Andrew in this category, because she’s probably experienced it half a dozen times before.

I’m not saying she’s right or entitled to keep Andrew off the market, I just think that she may have been right in knowing enough about herself that she can’t handle Andrew dating other people, now that she likes him, but she’s too proud to ask him not to date others.  I mean, what is she going to do, ask him to cancel the date and only date her?  Then if they had a future, she might forever wonder if she strong-armed him into commitment.  I think—and I understand this is a huge stretch—Andrew should have been intuitive enough to realize Molly really liked him in the moment, and offered to cancel the date with the other woman and ask her if she wanted to be his girlfriend.  If he likes her enough and he sees an opening, he should take it.

I empathize with Molly, because I don’t think I could have kept seeing him after I knew we liked each other and I knew he was on that date.  On Friday, I would have been a basket case, wondering, “What are they doing right now?  Are they laughing?  Are they kissing?  Are they having sex?  How much money did he spend on her?”  I feel like all of the anxiety that was put on the Issa/Lawrence/Condola situation hit harder with Molly, ironically.  Then again, I come from a family where a close relative met her husband when he was on a date with another woman, and I guess I don’t see anything wrong with leaving a date if you think you have a partner for life waiting in the wings.  The heart wants what it wants.  

I am here for Issa, obviously, but I don’t think she was being the best friend when Molly really wanted to talk to her about Andrew at the market, and Issa just shrugged it off with one line about him making her happy, and what’s the problem?  What Molly deems a problem may not be what Issa deems a problem, and vice versa.  I kind of wished Molly hadn’t texted Andrew, because it gives him all the power, but I sympathize with where she was coming from.  If it were me, I would probably take some time, calibrate, and meet him at a very casual meeting place when we were both sober, and I’d be very honest about what happened, and tell him that we can continue to date casually, but I’m not going to consider him a serious contender, and I’ll kind of date him while I find my Mr. Right if he’s up for that.  And if he’s not, we can both move onto other people.

I know it sounds like a bizarre position.  I think in a perfect world Molly would be cool enough to let him date others, and see what happens, but some women are just not built to do that.  I don’t think Molly’s reaction was further outside the realm of normalcy than the way that Issa still has such intense feelings for Lawrence, or how Issa went to look for Nathan at his home last year when he stopped texting her.  I’m not judging any of it.  These are all very realistic stories.  I just think that Molly’s story rang so true and it was more familiar to me as a woman than anything I’ve seen in a long time.  

[luckyroll3]

2 hours ago, scrb said:

Let's say the block party happens, is a huge success, Issa gets some money.

Then what?

It covers her for a few months or maybe a year?

She has a good housing situation but still going to be struggling for money, unless block parties are a huge boon that I'm not appreciating.

 

 

50 minutes ago, link417 said:

Maybe she’s hoping to leverage the business contacts she makes in the process? I was wondering this last night, too.

In the last episode of the previous season, Issa did have an interview with the head of that Music non-profit she was interested in.  Since it seems not much time has passed since season 3, she may still be waiting to hear back from that job and focusing on moving the block party forward/building momentum in the mean time.  

[DearEvette]

9 hours ago, Empress1 said:

Right! Issa’s friends are a corporate lawyer, a PR person, and a financial advisor or maybe accountant. They ALL could have brought clients. It seems like they want Issa to be the unsuccessful one. And Tiffany not telling Issa about Condola and Lawrence was foul, although I’ve always thought Issa and Tiffany weren’t that tight.

To play Devil's advocate for a moment.... If you do have the good friend who is always the fuck up friend, you really might have to press pause and think real hard before you decide to cross your professional and personal streams.  Because if they really are constant fuck ups, using your professional currency to do that friend a favor can have blow back consequences on your professional reputation, especially  if that friend messes this up too. 

 And depending on your work situation you might not have the clout or wherewithal to rally back in case your friend's venture fails or in some way results in any negative association.  Also, Black women who make it to a certain professional level may often times be in a Highlander situation.  They are the only one and have to be hyper aware and hyper vigilant about how they are perceived.  So floating a client a 'business opportunity' of a friend could be awkward or in some cases even a breach of ethics.

I am not saying that is the totally the case here since the show is really seeming to point to the fact that Issa has good ideas, just not the experience to pull it off seamlessly.  And I do think it was a missed opportunity to not show them showing support other than just coming to the kickoff to hang and help out.  But maybe that was intentional?

 

 2 hours ago, scrb said:

Let's say the block party happens, is a huge success, Issa gets some money.

Then what?

It covers her for a few months or maybe a year?

She has a good housing situation but still going to be struggling for money, unless block parties are a huge boon that I'm not appreciating

I have a college friend who does "promotions." It is like event planning, but with a a grassroots feel.  So say, there is a group that wants to have a party.  He has connections with restaurants, bars, lounges etc. as venues.  They determine price points for attendees, open or cash bar, VIP tables and entrances, and he'll act as the publicity machine for the event.  I remember that somebody on Facebook from our college years had an idea for everybody from our crew to have a get together and re-create one of our famous house parties we used to have.  He got involved and in due course we had a date, a venue, a DJ and he had sent personal invites to all of our crew who had graduated within a certain four year period.  It was in NYC and while a lot of us hailed from New York, a lot also lived all over the place and traveled there. In the end there about 500 of us partying like it was 1999.

It was a business he started real small, but now he makes pretty good money and has connections all over the city.

[scrb]

Yeah I guess it's a good networking opportunity, that one of her guests likes her from the block party and hires her for a more conventional job but one with more predictable income.

Or one of the sponsors could hire her.

 

Was it in the Sopranos that AJ was thinking he could make a career in event planning?  

Tony and Carmela were livid.  😅

[rozen]

10 hours ago, DearEvette said:

To play Devil's advocate for a moment.... If you do have the good friend who is always the fuck up friend, you really might have to press pause and think real hard before you decide to cross your professional and personal streams.  Because if they really are constant fuck ups, using your professional currency to do that friend a favor can have blow back consequences on your professional reputation, especially  if that friend messes this up too. 

Fair, but they didn't even coach her on how to present herself. They let her make messaging 101 level mistakes that could have been fixed with a round of mock pitches over margaritas. That's trash behavior from alleged friends.

[ElectricBoogaloo]

I can't wait to see how Looking for LaToya unfolds over the season! The look on Rose Cranberry's face when Rufus said he didn't kill LaToya but he killed the pussy was priceless (followed by "my condolences to her moms and pops").

I knew that eventually Condola and Issa would realize their connection through Lawrence so I'm glad that it happened sooner rather than later. I'm glad we got to see how well Condola and Issa were getting along and working together before it happened so that there's something at stake for them to lose. It can be hard to make new friends as an adult, especially now that Issa doesn't have a traditional job, so it sucks to consider giving that up because of Lawrence.

Molly was straight up jealous of Condola. It was written all over her face when Issa thanked Condola at the mixer and said she couldn't have done it without her. Molly may have told Issa her life doesn't have to be messy under the guise of holding her accountable but she really just wanted to make Issa feel bad and hopefully get Condola out of the picture.

Molly being surprised that Andrew was seeing other people seemed a bit much. They just mentioned that they've only been dating for a month. For people who have regular M-F jobs, that usually means you see each other on the weekends so they've probably been out 4-8 times. If you haven't had the talk about being exclusive and it's only been a few weeks, you shouldn't be surprised that the other person is still dating around. She'd better straighten up so she can keep him around (because he is FINE).

2 hours ago, rozen said:

Fair, but they didn't even coach her on how to present herself. They let her make messaging 101 level mistakes that could have been fixed with a round of mock pitches over margaritas. That's trash behavior from alleged friends.

I agree. They could have told her how to approach donors and what pitfalls to avoid, and then they could have let her practice on them. Instead, Issa was googling and learning to say people's names repeatedly.

[4evaQuez]

16 hours ago, DearEvette said:

To play Devil's advocate for a moment.... If you do have the good friend who is always the fuck up friend, you really might have to press pause and think real hard before you decide to cross your professional and personal streams.  Because if they really are constant fuck ups, using your professional currency to do that friend a favor can have blow back consequences on your professional reputation, especially  if that friend messes this up too. 

 

I agree with you; however, please let me offer a different perspective. I have no issue with Issa's friends not offering their contacts. I'm a strong believer of keeping your professional and personal lives separate. However, I do have issues with her friends attempting to subconsciously sabotage her efforts.

 

1.  Tasha giving too much alcohol away as a bartender. Drunk people may give more money, but people also quickly leave once libations are gone, and Issa does not have the finances nor the resources to get alcohol for her hopeful donors. It can also look badly on Issa if she runs out of resources because that is representative of her management skills, and I don't care how much comic relief Tasha is as a character, I refuse to believe she would accept that behavior at her own event or recreate that behavior at Molly or Tiffany's event.

2. Molly wanting to talk to Issa about Andrew at her work event. Again, not the time, not the place. Issa was obviously distracted, nervous and in business mode. I, again, refuse to believe Molly would accept that behavior from Issa, or anyone.

3. And probably the most egregious, Issa's brother playing My Neck, My Back. Self explanatory.

 

I'm okay with people not offering contacts or even finding less intrusive ways to provide help, but once you use that help to try to sabotage your friend's or sister's efforts, I must question your motives for being in that person's life.

[DearEvette]

26 minutes ago, 4evaQuez said:

I agree with you; however, please let me offer a different perspective. I have no issue with Issa's friends not offering their contacts. I'm a strong believer of keeping your professional and personal lives separate. However, I do have issues with her friends attempting to subconsciously sabotage her efforts.

Oh, mos def.  I have no issue with the clear demarcation between professional and personal as in my response above.  But acting like you have no home training when you are there at her professional event is a completely different issue.

That is the one place where I felt that the writing and the show felt like it was trying too hard to stack the deck against Issa in a way.  It could have still gotten the point across that this was an uphill struggle for her without making her friends seem like they were buffoons.

[ElectricBoogaloo]

Re: Issa’s friends - the other thing that really bugged me was when Molly told Andrew that the event was going to be [insert judgmental and condescending word that is now escaping me] but that Issa was trying. That was so patronizing and disrespectful (even if Issa didn’t actually hear her say it).

[ElectricBoogaloo]

HBO has posted this episode on their YouTube channel:

 

[qtpye]

On 4/13/2020 at 8:59 AM, luckyroll3 said:

The actress who plays Kelli is a writer on the show and usually improvises most of her lines.  

Tiffany was pretending it was no big deal, but her ass knew.  That's why she skedaddled out of there with the quickness.  It's also why she was so concerned about Issa being mad at her.

Same.  I'm also giving most of them side eye for the reasons you called out.  In their friend group, Issa is the one at the bottom.  She works a shit job and never has any money.  She comes up with crazy ideas that she can never really execute.  To them, there was no other outcome except that this little thing would also fail or she would just abandon it and move on to the next thing. There was scene last season where Molly basically encourages Issa to forget about the block party and Issa agrees.....until she gets encouragement from Nathan that if that's what she really wants to do, she needs to follow her instincts and commit to the work that needs to happen.  When Molly hears that Issa has decided to move forward with it and that Nathan gave her praise for pushing through, she was quite salty about instead of saying something like, "OK girl, if you really want this, what do you need from me to help get there, to support you."  And you can see shades of that here.  They didn't help in anyway to make the mixer happen, but they did little things like manning the bar, staying behind to clean, etc. so that they can say that they helped.  

And don't get me started in Molly. We see very little growth with her character because Molly refuses to change.  She was all too happy to continue stringing Andrew along, as long as he was actively chasing her.  So learning that he's still dating other people is a sock to her gut, which is rich especially because she keeps refusing to commit to anything serious with him.  Girl please.  And her telling Issa to dump Condola as friend because she's dating Lawrence?  Sigh.  Condola has not been shady to Issa, they like each other as friends, and actually work really well together.  If they can get past the initial awkwardness, there's no reason for them to be enemies.  But Molly is the type to be so quick to be done with other people.  She's just negative in general and having a friend like her is tough.  

 

On 4/13/2020 at 9:19 AM, Empress1 said:

Oh, I thought Kelli and the older white guy was funny (and she totally fucked him). Also the line about how drunk people give more money, which is totally true.

Right! Issa’s friends are a corporate lawyer, a PR person, and a financial advisor or maybe accountant. They ALL could have brought clients. It seems like they want Issa to be the unsuccessful one. And Tiffany not telling Issa about Condola and Lawrence was foul, although I’ve always thought Issa and Tiffany weren’t that tight.

Tiffany’s hair is too brassy. It clashes with her skin.

Molly is a mess. She blew off Andrew (who, if she doesn’t want, I’ll take. Call me, Andrew) before and is surprised they’re not exclusive? She’s old enough to know that you should assume you’re not exclusive with someone until you explicitly say to each other that you’re going to be exclusive. I did like her using her words (for a lawyer, her communication skills are trash, which is a big part of her problem) at the end though.

I don’t think Condola and Issa should be enemies ... but I won’t lie, it would be hard for me to kick it with my ex’s new person. Issa envisioning them fucking was hilarious though. “Pop the tag!” 

I don’t like that Issa and Molly are headed for a breakup but at the same time, I appreciate the show for showing a friend breakup. So much emphasis is put on romantic relationships (too much, in my opinion) but friendships are just as valuable. If my best friend and I broke up, I’d be devastated.

 

On 4/13/2020 at 1:20 PM, Sheenieb said:

Exactly. Issa is clearly the fuck up friend of the group. She's just there to make the rest of them feel better about themselves. That's disappointing. Even more so coming from Molly since that's supposed to be her Day 1.

 

Because Molly stays being her own worst enemy. Once again, she gets EXACTLY what she wants in a man and she finds someway to screw it up. I don't know if it's because she doesn't think she deserves good things or what. I hope she has some growth this season and continues with therapy because her constant self-sabotage is getting tiresome. Even Issa is trying to get it together. 

And who knew Paula Jai Parker could play a role that doesn't require her to be on 11? 

Molly is awesome but I remember in the past thinking that she might not always be the nicest person. She reminds me of my daughter's friend who is a total alpha. She can be incredibly cool and then be horrible when that alpha status is threatened.

One of the problems with having a friend group that goes way back is that they often keep you down because they do not want to acknowledge the changes in you.

In the group if feels like this:

• Tiffany is the over the top princess
• Kelli is the funny crazy one
• Molly has it all together but can't keep a man
• Issa is the silly screw up.

They are all well educated capable women but Issa is always been on the lowest end of the totem pole career wise.

They have all probably played these roles for so long that they don't even realize they are pigeon holing themselves.

I loved Andrew. I thought Andrew and Molly made a beautiful couple. However, I think Molly wants a man that is on her level....which to her is probably another corporate attorney, doctor, or CEO of a successful company (not a struggling one).

These level of men are sometimes also alphas and are looking more for a women who caters to them, which will never be Molly.

My brother is in his mid twenties. Many of the ladies in his peer group are dating successful men in their late thirties and forties. 

I am so glad the show is back...we all really need some distraction from the world right now.

 

[Empress1]

1 minute ago, qtpye said:

I loved Andrew. I thought Andrew and Molly made a beautiful couple. However, I think Molly wants a man that is on her level....which to her is probably another corporate attorney, doctor, or CEO of a successful company (not a struggling one).

What does Andrew do?

[qtpye]

1 minute ago, Empress1 said:

What does Andrew do?

I really don't know. I would not be surprised if he was very successful but just did not fit into the "mold" of man Molly imagines herself with. 

[Sheenieb]

Quote

I loved Andrew. I thought Andrew and Molly made a beautiful couple. However, I think Molly wants a man that is on her level....which to her is probably another corporate attorney, doctor, or CEO of a successful company (not a struggling one).

Given her pattern, she'd get someone on her level, and it'll still not be enough. It happened when she met Sterling K. Brown last season. I don't remember if the show revealed what he did, but he clearly had it together, and she said some bullshit about him just "checking things off a list."

Molly just wants to complain. She doesn't want to do the work to fix herself and stop self-sabotaging because then she'll have to realize that she's the common denominator in why her relationships fail. 

[qtpye]

1 hour ago, Sheenieb said:

Given her pattern, she'd get someone on her level, and it'll still not be enough. It happened when she met Sterling K. Brown last season. I don't remember if the show revealed what he did, but he clearly had it together, and she said some bullshit about him just "checking things off a list."

Molly just wants to complain. She doesn't want to do the work to fix herself and stop self-sabotaging because then she'll have to realize that she's the common denominator in why her relationships fail. 

It almost killed me when she turned down Sterling...I mean who does that?

Edited April 16, 2020 by qtpye

[Irlandesa]

6 hours ago, Sheenieb said:

Given her pattern, she'd get someone on her level, and it'll still not be enough. It happened when she met Sterling K. Brown last season. I don't remember if the show revealed what he did, but he clearly had it together, and she said some bullshit about him just "checking things off a list."

Yep.  This is why I can't with Molly.  There is always something.  Always.  And it's never her fault. It's them for not being or doing exactly what she wants them to be at the moment she wants it.  She's fine dating a married man but wants to dump a guy she had been ambivalent about and dated less than a month for not going exclusive with her yet? 

 

On 4/13/2020 at 6:00 PM, LibertarianSlut said:

I kind of wished Molly hadn’t texted Andrew, because it gives him all the power, but I sympathize with where she was coming from.

It doesn't give him all the power.  It only gives him the power to be honest with Molly about whether or not he's ready to take the next step with her which is what she needs to know to make an informed choice.  Her initial response of lying and pulling away meant she was unnecessarily choosing to gamble instead of looking at the cards Andrew appeared to be willing to show her.

Edited April 16, 2020 by Irlandesa

[luckyroll3]

13 hours ago, Sheenieb said:

Molly just wants to complain. She doesn't want to do the work to fix herself and stop self-sabotaging because then she'll have to realize that she's the common denominator in why her relationships fail. 

That bolded part?

[luckyroll3]

20 hours ago, Empress1 said:

What does Andrew do?

 

20 hours ago, qtpye said:

I really don't know. I would not be surprised if he was very successful but just did not fit into the "mold" of man Molly imagines herself with. 

In my rewatch of this episode, I noticed that in the shopping scene, Molly tells Issa that Andrew works at Live Nation.  Totally missed that the first time around.

[ElectricBoogaloo]

The wine down:

 

Edited April 20, 2020 by ElectricBoogaloo

[announcergirl]

Question: Did we ever find out if Dro’s wife really let him date Molly?

[Amethyst]

On 4/22/2020 at 12:23 AM, announcergirl said:

Question: Did we ever find out if Dro’s wife really let him date Molly?

I don't think so.  The last we saw/heard of Dro and Candice was at Tiffany's baby shower. 

Issa did say that she knew the previous season was unfinished, so I'm expecting to see Dro again.  It would be interesting if Candice knew about Dro and Molly, especially since Candice is supposed to be pregnant.