'Insecure' Recap: Everything You Need to Know Before Watching HBO's Season 2 Premiere

Everything that happened on season one of "Insecure"
Issa Rae appearing in the first episode of HBO's "Insecure" on Oct. 16, 2016. Season two of the hit series premieres on HBO on July 23, 2017. John P. Fleenor/HBO

Fans of Insecure have been waiting for the show to return to HBO since its first season ended back in November. And finally, on Sunday, the hilarious hit series will return with season two.

The last time viewers saw the protagonist Issa Dee, played by show creator Issa Rae, she had a fistful of tears after returning home from a girl's trips to discover her longtime boyfriend Lawrence Walker (Jay Ellis) had packed up his belongings and moved out of their the apartment they shared in Inglewood, California.

Lawrence called Issa earlier in the season finale episode and expressed his desire to fix their broken relationship. But apparently, at the last minute, he decided that he didn't want to work things out after all and was last seen on season one pounding away at the backside of the bank teller Tasha (Dominique Perry), who had been incredibly flirty towards Lawrence all season long.

In an earlier interview with Newsweek, Rae said time would jump ahead a few months after Issa and Lawrence's breakup in the season two premiere. She wouldn't say whether or not the duo would end up back together, but from the looks of the season two previews, it seems as if Issa will be diving into single girl life feet-first with the help of her best friend Molly (Yvonne Orji) while Lawrence appears to be mulling over various aspects of his former relationship in clips.

Regardless to where they end up, it's probably worth remembering how they got there. Brush up on everything that happened during Insecure season one by checking out the recap below:

Episode One, "Insecure as F**k": Issa appears in front of a classroom of teenagers attempting to stir up some interest in We Got Ya'll, the nonprofit youth-outreach organization that she works for. She later ends up in a heated exchange with an unemployed Lawrence who has made no special plans to celebrate her 29th birthday.

A birthday message from an old flame, Daniel (Y'lan Noel), leaves Issa wondering what would happen if she just started actually going after what she wanted, which results in her dragging Molly out to an open-mic night where Daniel is expected to be. After giving a stellar impromptu open-mic performance, in which she raps about the misfortunes of Molly's love life with the song, "Broken P***y," Issa goes to meet up with Daniel. However she's quickly reminded of Daniel's playboy status after they kiss and he tells her he's not looking for a relationship.

Episode 2, "Messy as F**k": Lawrence gripes over his incompetence to a neighbor. Although he's college educated, he's apparently lost his mojo on all fronts of his life, including his relationship.

Molly, on the other hand, finally gets a spark in her own romantic life when she randomly runs into Jered (Langston Kerman), a cutie she met at the open-mic night.

Issa suffers a bad day of work when she shows up unprepared for a presentation. However, at the last minute she and her coworker Frieda (Lisa Joyce) comes with the idea to take the youth group to the beach for a cleanup day. The exhaustion of it all and her failed attempt to reconnect with Daniel leads her to finally return home to Lawrence.

Episode 3, "Racist as F**k": Lawrence gets a "regular sales job" at Best Buy that he tells his bank teller, Tasha about while Issa finds out some of her white coworkers have been badmouthing her beach day event behind her back. Luckily for her, the cleanup is a huge success. The day continues to get better when she returns home to find Lawrence cooking her a romantic dinner. This reignites the spark in their relationship, and they finally exchange apologies for the way they've been treating each other.

As for Molly, despite having an obvious connection with Jered, she decides to break things off with him when she gets accepted into an elite dating service called The League.

Episode 4, "Thirsty as F**K": Issa and Lawrence are back in a good place and decide to go shopping for a new couch, while Molly scares off a doctor with her overbearing and over-available advancements towards him. Luckily, she already has another date set up.

Daniel unexpectedly shows up at We Got Ya'll looking to apologize to Issa for what happened after open-mic night, and she promptly tells him that she's back with Lawrence. Daniel sticks around to talk the kids in her program about music production for Career Day, after which he invites her to the studio where he works. But the moment is eventually ruined when Issa overhears the kids watching a YouTube video of her performing "Broken P***y."

Lawrence gets discouraged when he's relocated from the computers section at Best Buy to washers and dryers. However, his spirits are lifted when he runs into Tasha during his break. He opens up about an app he's been trying to launch, and she tells him to "keep hustling" while they have lunch together.

Episode 5, "Shady as F**k": A freaked-out Issa worries how the "Broken P***y" video will affect her job, and although Lawrence assures her the kids will forget about it over the weekend, they don't. Pressed to have the video removed, Issa meets up with Daniel outside the studio to see if he knows anything about who posted the video. After some convincing, Issa decides to come sit in on a session Daniel's producing.

Molly goes to an engagement party with her date from The League, who introduces himself as her boyfriend. But later he tells her it was just all just an act so Molly wouldn't appear lonely. This leads her to show up drunk at Jered's, where she ends up staying the spending the night on his couch.

Meanwhile, Issa ends up sticking around the studio after the session ends and has a deep conversation with Daniel about why they were never able to establish a relationship when they were younger. He admits that he may not have been ready for commitment back then, but alludes he might be ready now. Caught up in the moment, the two of them end up having sex in the studio.

Episode 6, "Guilty as F**k": Issa decides not to tell Lawrence that she cheated on him with Daniel, and arrives home from the studio to learn Lawrence was able to get the "Broken P***y" video scrubbed from the internet.

Daniel texts her while she's at work, but Issa ignores him while Molly spends the day at Jered's house, finally apologizing for dismissing him. And after the two end up having sex in his kitchen, Molly decides to cancel The League and take her blossoming romance with Jered more seriously. However, when she finds out Jered messed around with a guy once, she ends up ending the relationship once again.

Issa and Lawrence go on a date, but the night ends on a sour note when he takes her into a jewelry store to look at engagement rings and Issa starts having flashbacks of her hookup with Daniel.

The next day Issa tells Molly about her cheating incident, and after Molly advises her not to tell Lawrence about, she finally goes home and allows herself to be intimate with Lawrence, who secured another job interview at a tech firm earlier that day. After a passionate night of love making, Lawrence wakes up to go to the bathroom and trips over Issa's phone, which just so happens to have another message from Daniel.

Issa and Daniel go on a date, but the night ends on a sour note when he takes her into a jewelry store to look at engagement rings and Issa starts having flashbacks of her hookup with Daniel. Issa tells Molly about her cheating incident, and after Molly advises her not to tell Lawrence about, she finally goes home and allows herself to be intimate with Lawrence after learning he's secured another job interview at a tech firm. After a passionate night of love making, Lawrence wakes up to go to the bathroom and trips over Issa's phone, which just so happens to have another message from Daniel showing on the display.

Episode 7, "Real as F**k": Lawrence's interview goes without a hitch and he ends up landing the job. However, he decides to turn down the offer and work on his own app instead. Unpleased by this Issa tries to convince him that it's too good of an opportunity to pass up.

Later, they attend the We Got Ya'll fundraiser, which is a success until Daniel shows up trying to talk to Issa. When he finally gets the chance to talk to Issa, she tells him that he was simply an itch she needed to scratch, unaware that Lawrence is watching their exchange in the distance. Later that evening, Issa finds herself in yet another blow up, but this time with an intoxicated Molly who tells her that she doesn't deserve Lawrence.

Things only get worse when she returns home, ready to celebrate the success of the event but faces questions from Lawrence about Daniel. Irate after Issa confesses she messed up, Lawrence leaves the apartment.

Episode 8, "Broken as F**k": Lawrence disappears for three days, during which Issa leaves him voicemail after voicemail. Finally, she shows up at his job with toiletries and tries to talk things out. But he tells her that he's done. Things are still shaky between Issa and Molly too, even though they are supposed to be going on a girl's trip to Malibu for the weekend with their other friends Tiffany (Amanda Seales) and Kelli (Natasha Rothwell). However, when Lawrence calls Issa during the trip and suggests talking when she returns, it's Molly who volunteers to drive Issa home. Unfortunately, by the time she arrives Lawrence has had a change of heart, and Issa finds no remnants of him other than his Best Buy uniform shirt hanging in the closet.

Uncommon Knowledge

Newsweek is committed to challenging conventional wisdom and finding connections in the search for common ground.

Newsweek is committed to challenging conventional wisdom and finding connections in the search for common ground.

About the writer


Michigan native, Janice Williams is a graduate of Oakland University where she studied journalism and communication. Upon relocating to New ... Read more

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