‘Insecure’ Recap: Tasha Reads Lawrence for Filth + Issa Begins her ‘Hoe Phase’

Issa’s struggles to indulge in the “no strings attached” lifestyle.

The episode opens up with Issa over a Ben’s house.

They are trying to engage in intimacy and drink wine. Ben suddenly goes in for a kiss and Issa responds by giggling. He unbuttons his jersey and she keeps giggling.

The giggling worsens when he tries to take her clothes off.

Eventually, Issa shuts everything down and says she can’t fool around anymore. She blames their uncomfortable moment on him having weird fingers. She awkwardly tries to leave but ends up walking into Ben’s bedroom before finding the door.

The next day,she heads out for work at the non-profit. Before she walks out, she sees the burn marks on the wall and sighs. On her way out, she sees a noise violation notice on her door and every other unit in her apartment complex. This most likely stems from her recent Wine-Down party.

She takes the sign off her door and heads out. She runs into her neighbor who tells her the party was banging.

Molly is at work collaborating with the Chicago office. She Skypes with Heather and Quentin, another associate.  Heather leaves the call early, leaving Quentin and Molly to have a little small talk, in which she makes fun of Chicago’s “beaches.”

At 41st Street, Frieda and Issa clash a bit. Frieda is concerned that their mostly black student attendance doesn’t reflect the schools population, which Frieda says is 86 percent Latino. When two more black boys walk in, Frieda asks them if they have any Latino friends who want to attend.

Issa tells Frieda that she’s happy the attendance is where it is.

“I don’t know why you’re trying to turn our success into a failure.” – Issa

Lawrence learns about “Startup-Saturday.”

At Lawrence’s job, he is hanging with his co-workers. Lawrence learns about “Startup Saturday,” which is a weekend hangout where his co-workers get wasted partying with other nerds. Lawrence tells them that he has to pick up chairs for Tasha’s family event, that she invited him to. His co-workers scoff and sigh, hoping he joins them at their next gathering.

Molly is picking up furniture and on the phone with her mom. Her mom is planning a vow renewal ceremony and Molly tells her she can wear her glasses during the ceremony since her father has seen her wear her glasses for years. Molly has to hang up when she has to carry the furniture box to her car. The guy bringing out the box to her sees a guy behind her and tells Molly to have him help carry it. However, she tells the guy that she came by herself. He shrugs and hands the big box over to Molly, who struggles to get it to her car.

When she does, she then turns to see the guy that was behind her actually head to his Tesla with his furniture kit and his non-black significant other. She seems perplexed by this as he loads everything into his car.

Issa admits she’s ready for her “Hoe Phase.”

Issa meets Molly at Molly’s downtown apartment, lazily helping her put the bookshelf together. Issa learns that Molly is not going to see her therapist again. She feels like the therapist was looking to project her issues onto her.

After playful back and forth, Issa admits she’s struggling to be liberal in her dating life.

“Okay, first of all, trying to f*** is hard.” – Issa

Molly scoffs at this and tells her its like riding a bike. Issa says she is always in her feelings and it makes her lack confidence when dealing with men. She tells Molly she wants to go through her “hoe phase.”

Issa then proclaims that they should go somewhere and have Molly “teach her how to hoe.” Molly gulps down her drink and replies, “B*tch, that’s rude… But okay.”

Issa then hits her version of the cabbage patch.

Next, we see them entering a bar. Molly walks in confidently as Issa is timid as she tries to walk seductively. The bar seems to be the kind where women approach guys and Issa is uncomfortable. When she sees someone wearing her same outfit, she feels they should go to a bar where they can feel like the exotic ones. Molly scoffs at this, pointing out a guy she should holla at.

Issa walks slowly over to the guy, but allows another group of women to swoop in on the guys Molly eyed.

Next, Issa is talking to a guy and things aren’t going well. She says his job is complicated and he replies, “No it’s not. It’s construction.” When Issa tries to flirt and says he’s probably really good with his drills, we walks turned off.

She lies and tells Molly he had a phone call, and had to go. She then talks to a guy at a bar, who’s friend asked him to play wingman with Issa. He tells her that he only came over to free Molly up for his friend. He then asks if she has another friend.

Meanwhile the guy talking to Molly asks for her number and she hands him a business card, impressing him. Molly heads over to Issa at the bar who ordered catfish after her multiple fails with the men in the bar.

Lawrence struggles to be interested in Tasha outside of physical stimulation.

Lawrence is over Tasha’s apartment and he does not seem interested at all in her conversations. Tasha is venting about the preparation for the cookout and Lawrence can’t remember anyone’s name from her family. When she then brings up her TV watching, he starts rubbing her leg and kissing her neck.

He wants to have s*x but she is more interested in spending time with him, watching ABC’s TGIT.

At her place, Issa reaches for her toy in her nightstand and begins to use it on herself. She yells out “f***,” when the batteries die. She then goes looking for spare in other battery operated objects, including her land line phone, smoke detector, both of which use the wrong batteries, and a flashlight that is empty.

Issa meets with her boss, and Molly snaps back at Travis.

The next day, Molly is talking to Travis, and tells him she is looking forward to the Chicago trip to work with Heather. Travis jokes that he wishes he could sneak vacations to Chicago. Molly quips, “ You already vacation here at work, so what’s the difference?”

This hurts Travis’ feelings who says, “Ouch, that hurts.”

Molly apologizes and says she didn’t mean anything by it.

At her job, Issa and Frieda sit down with their boss, who heard from Vice Principal Gains that their attendance increased tremendously. Issa is nervous about Frieda raising a tizzy over the lack of Latino students. When Issa says she couldn’t have done this without Frieda, Frieda scoffs at the notion.

“You totally could’ve. Things happen without me all the time.” Freida

Their boss tells them to keep up the good work but Frieda seems to be just about over it.

Molly goes out with Lionel and Lawrence ditches Tasha for his co-workers.

Molly is out on her date with the guy from the bar. He is showing off his nieces and nephews. Things seem to be hitting off well between them. Molly learns that he is a marketing consultant. He also feels happy they are vibing. However, Molly doesn’t seem to be totally cool with opening up.

Lawrence arrives at the cookout with the chairs. Tasha’s play uncle play Jesse introduces himself and another man demands help for setting up the stereo equipment. When Lawrence asks him if he got a permit from the park to play music, the guy calls him Rules.

Lastly he helps Tasha’s aunt Mimi out of the nursing home van. Overall, Lawrence seems overwhelmed by the cookout and completely uncomfortable. At this time, his co worker Brooke sends him a text reminding him of Startup Saturday. When he sees this, he finds Tasha and tells her something came up at work that he has to go to.

Molly runs into old friends Candace and Dro.

Molly is at a cupcake shop when her friend Candace and her boyfriend Dro walk in. The two hug and then make jokes about each other’s sororities. Candace and Dro tell Molly that they will be in town for the Kiss-n-Grind party next week.

Issa is struggling to paint over the burn mark on the wall when she sees her neighbor Eddie chilling by their apartment pool. Issa starts to get some ideas but Molly calls and tells her about her date with the guy from the bar, named Lionel. She’s impressed with him, however she doesn’t feel Lionel is genuine.

Molly compares Lionel to Dro and says that Dro just went with the flow while Lionel has boxes he is checking off.

Issa tells her that she has a problem with Lionel because Lionel reminds Molly of herself. The conversation ends as Issa begins breathing in paint fumes and nearly passes out.

Lawrence heads over to the Startup Saturday and all of co-workers are happy to see him. They remind him that things can get crazy the longer the party drags on and to be prepared for it.

Issa’s neighbor catches her eye, Lawrence realizes he doesn’t have anything serious with Tasha.

At home, Issa finishes painting the wall but sees burn marks on the ceiling. Issa sighs and says, “You won’t steal my joy.”

Suddenly, she hears music playing from Eddie’s apartment. She opens her door to see Eddie walking in with a bag of clothes freshly washed. She’s attracted to Eddie and finds an iPhone adapter and cable to use as a ploy to get in. She changes clothes and heads to his unit.

She knocks and Eddie answers. Issa tells him she found an extra adapter at her place and Eddie thinks it’s his, inviting her in.

While at the party, Tasha texts Lawrence, asking if he is okay. He replies that he just got caught up at work. A co-worker asks if he is single, and Lawrence says he is dating.

His co-worker scoffs at this.

“So you’re f***ing anything that moves pretty much.” – Co-worker

Lawrence says no to this notion. A waitress walks over and asks for an order. Lawrence declines at first but is urged by the group to stay. After the waitress flirts and tells him she hopes he sticks around, he decides to stay longer. So he orders another round of shots for the team.

Issa decides to dive right into things with Eddie.

Issa is still over Eddie’s place and they are watching “Gossip Girl,” a DVD set Eddie picked up from his school’s library. Eddie is really into the show but Issa is more into trying to get him to pay her attention.

Issa is next seen in a bathroom, rapping to her self, motivating herself to get Eddie in between the sheets.

“Even if it’s bad, you could still get some head. Go for it, go for it, go for it, go! Ho for it, ho for it, ho for it, ho.” – Issa

After she motivates herself, she dives in for a kiss from Eddie, but they knock foreheads.

She thinks that move would scare him but he was pleasantly surprised by this.

“I actually like it rough.” – Eddie

The two of them then engage in rather awkward intimate moment, which includes Issa bumping her head against the headboard and Eddie struggling to unbutton her pants.

They finally get things right and sleep together.

Meanwhile, Molly is at home, ignoring texts from Lionel, who invited her to a SZA concert and dinner next week. She is watching the group of men she paid to come over to put together the book shelf as she sips wine.

Tasha reads Lawrence for filth after standing her up.

It’s getting late and Lawrence is still at his work’s Startup Saturday party enjoying himself. Tasha calls him worried. Lawrence finally admits that the work event is a social event. Tasha then tells him that if he didn’t want to come to the cookout, he could’ve been honest. At this point, Lawrence gets really honest about the situation he is having with Tasha.

“Honestly… I’m just not looking to get into anything serious. You know I just got out of a relationship and —“ – Lawrence

Tasha gets really angry about this, and lets Lawrence have it, especially after she invited him to spend time with her whole family and he “ghosted” her.

“Quit acting like you give a f*** about what I want. You don’t think I knew what this was? I knew it wasn’t nothing serious. But see, you fronted like it was. Apologizing for s*** you wasn’t even sorry for. You a f*** n****. No, you know what? You worse than a f*** n****. You a f*** n**** who thinks he is a good dude.” – Tasha

Tasha immediately hangs up after that read and Lawrence is in shock. One of his coworkers comes to where he is and invites him back in the party.

Issa seems happy with the new phase of her life.

Issa is trying to creep out of Eddie’s place but he wakes up, inviting her to stay. However she declines and he’s cool with it. They say their goodbyes and Issa heads out of the door. On the way out, she picks up her charger, smiling when she sees Eddie’s phone plugged up with his own charger on the table nearby. She realizes he knew the charger excuse was game but played along anyway due to his interest in her.

When she gets outside, she gets another message from Tinder. The guy’s name is Felix and he asks if they could meet up.

Issa smiles and walks up to her place, and the episode ends.

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