The greatest love story on Insecure is not between Issa and Lawrence – despite the desires of some fans that they would like to see them together again.
No, it’s the bond between Issa and her bestie Molly that matters most, which is why their fight and breakup in season 4 hurts so much. But that’s water under the bridge now, because these two have always lifted each other up – especially if no one else would. This was certainly the case in the Sunday night episode of the HBO comedy titled “Growth, Okay?”
A year has passed since the last time we saw Issa and Molly return to the togetherness in the Season 5 season opener, and some things have changed. Molly has a cool new natural haircut and Issa’s business is booming. Molly often slept with Issa and Issa ate with Molly. The lawyer tried to sing their best friend’s song… but Issa jokingly told her she was singing it wrong.
Professionally, Molly (for the most part) got along well with Taurean, while Issa took on a new client named Shawn aka Crenshawn (Queen Sugar‘s Kofi Siriboe). He is a designer, artist and reformed inmate who needed the help of the budding event planner to find a sponsor for his upcoming fashion show.
Issa did just that with a company called Nothing But Water (or NBW), which is owned by Nadia, a fellow Stanford University student that Issa met while speaking on a panel at her 10-year college reunion. Nadia trusted Issa’s trust in Crenshawn, but her head of sponsorship (a company called Seth) not done, and his first reaction was not to sponsor Crenshawn’s show. On Molly’s sage advice, Issa turned to Nadia for help to bolster the company’s support, despite Seth’s reluctance.
At first, Seth felt betrayed that Issa was going over his head, but she put on the charm and got him on board. There was only one problem: Seth had business-friendly suggestions for Crenshawn, who immediately hated every last note and request. Issa assured Crenshawn that not only was she behind him, but business compromises are part of the game. She also reminded her client that she had already courted NBW for six months before they said yes.
Crenshawn said that he understood what Issa meant, but on the day of the show, he doubled the number of low-rider bikers and drummers in the production, even though NBW asked him to remove them. Issa tried to reason with the emerging creative, but he didn’t flinch, and during the show, several of Crenshawn’s performers approached Seth aggressively and made him feel uncomfortable. Luckily for Issa, Molly was there to serve as her sounding board, just as Issa had been when Molly’s mom tried to play Cupid earlier in the episode.
Issa took Seth’s discomfort as a sign that she was about to lose her company and influence, but after the show, Seth said the experience opened his eyes and made him appreciate the radical visions of Issa and Crenshawn all the more. Crenshawn gave Issa a stinking look, but the pleasantly surprised entrepreneur (entrepre-noir?) shook off his tude and went home to break off her day and celebrate with Nathan.
things went So well on that front Issa asked Nathan to stay, and they even kissed. And then Issa, who was clearly still grieving the loss of her romance with Lawrence, began to cry so uncontrollably that some of her tears came to Nathan’s mouth. She fell asleep shortly after, and when she awoke, Nathan had sneaked out.
