Insecure Roundtable: Where We Fall On Issa Rae’s Big Time Debut

With the first season of Insecure by Issa Rae in the books, the staff circles up to talk characters, motivations, and trends. William: Where do we even start with Insecure? I guess what was everyone’s expectations? Were you fans of Issa before the HBO series? Did you expect it to play out this way? Lauren: To be honest, I wasn’t sure after the pilot. I admit I’ve never watched a full episode of Awkward Black Girl, but this felt like a Black Girls. Maybe it’s partly my advanced age *pops a Geritol*, but I’m growing weary of stories that fail the Bechdel test, as limited as it is. Watching these two Black women embarrass themselves made me feel a way. Oz: I’m a big fan of Issa Bae Rae so I was open to whatever content she had to offer. I tried to go in having as few expectations as possible because since I originally had my doubts about Atlanta (in my defense, Donald Glover was inspired by David Lynch…the guy who directed Dune) and was quickly proven wrong. I definitely didn’t expect Awkward Black Girl Behaving Badly but amazingly enough, it didn’t disappoint me. I recall Lumberjanes writer Noelle Stephenson tweeting about how, yes, there should be women in strong positive roles but they should also be seen being a mess, covering the whole spectrum. And Insecure definitely did that. Lauren: I’m down with complex characters who aren’t perfect. Unfortunately, I feel like that kind of story about young women is so common these days, particularly when it comes to their romantic l…