Insecure Season 4 spells trouble for its most important relationship

After almost two years, Issa Rae’s groundbreaking series Insecure – one of the most highly anticipated shows of 2020 – is back and it’s already stirring up passionate discussions on Twitter. Season 4 which is streaming now on Showmax kicks off with an unexpected turn of events: a rift between best friends Issa (Rae) and Molly (Yvonne Orji). 

“Honestly, I don’t f*** with Molly anymore,” Issa says on the phone in the opening scene before we jump back in time to four months earlier where it all began to fall apart. 

Growing tensions

From Insecure Season 1, Issa and Molly’s relationship has been depicted as one of the most relatable and authentic friendships on TV. They have each other’s backs and, at the same time, they don’t hold back on calling each other out on their bullshit. They give each other weird gifts, like sand in a jar after a vacation, and they argue about nonsensical stuff that happened years ago, just like real friends do. 

We’ve cared about this friendship for the past three seasons because it reminds us of our own friendships. But Season 4 presents another friendship dynamic that is all too familiar – that best friends can break up after many years … and life simply moves on.

Issa’s and Molly’s is an inevitable break-up, one that we probably saw coming (and were in denial about) ever since Molly turned away Issa’s “Ghost Bae” Nathan (Kendrick Sampson, How to Get Away with Murder) without her knowledge in the final episode of Insecure S3. Nonetheless, it still catches us by surprise, especially since Insecure has always cared more about this relationship than the romantic ones.

Friends with the ex

However, it doesn’t start out rocky for Issa and Molly in the new season. Things seem to be going well for them for some time – they are in a better space and, as always, just trying to figure out this whole adulting thing. Molly has stopped running away from good men (if only for a moment) and is finally giving “Asian Bae” Andrew (Alexander Hodge) a chance. 

Issa is taking a break from employment and men (just not booty calls) and finally following her dream of planning a block party. This is a big step for Issa – we’ve watched her grow and take back control of her life, both emotionally and professionally, to finally gather the courage to do something that she’s proud of. Like she tells Molly during Selfcare Sunday as they do yoga together and get high, “It’s like I’m on this forward path, I’m focused…No job, no man. All this sounds bad but it’s really good.”

Things get messy

And then boom! Issa finds out that her new friend and block party collaborator Condola (Christina Elmore) is dating her ex Lawrence (Jay Ellis). Despite some awkwardness, Issa decides to be mature about it and continues working with Condola. This doesn’t sit well with Molly, who finds out while attending Issa’s fundraiser for the block party (that she still clearly doesn’t believe in wholeheartedly) and calls her out for being messy.

“You know you don’t always have to be this messy, right? Sometimes I think you like that shit.” Yikes, Molly!

Now, we all know that the self-sabotaging, brutally-honest-but-really-just-judgemental, married-man-dating Molly has no right to call anyone messy, and it’s at this point that we see the first strains of their once unshakable bond. Whether the crumbling of this friendship is totally on Molly remains to be seen in the episodes to come.

What also remains to be seen is how this shift will affect Molly and Issa’s other two friends, Kelli (Natasha Rothwell) and Tiffany (Amanda Seales), how Lawrence and Issa’s friendship will play out, whether the #LawrenceHive will be as opinionated this season and whether Nathan will make an appearance – and what that may mean for Issa’s newfound freedom.

Insecure S4 is streaming now on Showmax.