In third bout of
Issa Rae’s brand new HBO sitcom

Insecure

(which has but to atmosphere, so lightweight spoilers ahead of time), Issa’s closest friend Molly (Yvonne Orji) calls Issa to share the woman very good news; she has finally been accepted to
the League
, the unique relationship app for “high-achieving” singles. Issa highlights that Molly is actually eventually seeing some guy she likes — plus, don’t she state she was actually completed with internet dating apps? Molly shrugs this lady off. “I mentioned I became done with shitty-ass online dating software,” she retorts, pointing down that man she’s viewing does not need a college amount. “i am wishing like 90 days receive authorized with this. Today i could finally date guys on my level.”

Insecure,

co-created by Rae and Larry Wilmore,


is actually HBO’s long-awaited
followup
to Issa Rae’s successful web series

The Misadventures of Embarrassing asian guys black girls


.

In new show, Rae will be the titular “awkward” black lady navigating an average task at a nonprofit and an unsatisfying long-lasting union; Orji is actually her BFF Molly, a successful lawyer nonetheless looking for the right guy. Using the six periods HBO delivered push, additionally it is one of the better shows about friendship and romance since

Sex additionally the City

(without the unique, over-the-top top quality that frequently permeated Carrie’s Manolo-clad gallop through the ny dating scene). And while other show have actually dealt with the digital rewiring of our enchanting schedules,

Insecure

is among the rare shows to really have the all-consuming society of app-based internet dating baked into the narrative DNA.

Molly, particularly, shows the weird psychological controlling act that accompanies
dating when you look at the digital get older
, a parallel feeling of scarceness and lots: the reserves of eligible the male is quickly depleting (she is broken whenever she realizes the woman Asian colleague is actually interested to a qualified black guy), while at exactly the same time, it will be silly to be in whenever Mr. optimal maybe just one single click or swipe out (“You gotta bang most frogs to have a good frog,” she muses at one point. “It really is a numbers video game”).

Insecure

examines what are the results whenever a modern, self-actualized profession girl knocks facing rigid some ideas about really love and internet dating (even when those firm tips tend to be her very own). Molly works, gorgeous, and smart — as Issa highlights in the pilot, she will be able to charm both grayscale people with equivalent convenience — and is frustrated with dating the guys who happen to ben’t within her category. “simply because there is requirements does not always mean we are tough,” Molly proclaims at some point. But likewise, we view this lady cut off a good commitment because her partner doesn’t meet her thin collection of specs, while additional potential partners are warded off by the woman tendency to move too fast, her incapacity playing the capricious video games of contemporary romance. (Although, without a doubt, why would she?)

The tv series

‘

s writers are obviously well-acquainted with the passionate landscape the tv show portrays, creating for a few great throwaway laughs. In a single scene, we have flashbacks to Molly’s different times from various online dating services, that have their own distinct characters, from OKCupid (“free, but it’s like bottom-of-the-barrel guys) to Tinder (“used to be cool but it’s fundamentally a fuck app”). However the program additionally captures the soul-destroying, round-robin quality of matchmaking in L.A., as many times we observe Molly meet someone new merely to have her desire dashed. “He maybe various, you never know,” Molly claims at some point, showing Issa a photograph of the woman latest match, a hopeful depression within her sight.

One’s heart of

Insecure

could be the commitment between Molly and Issa, both their rigorous affection for starters another while the intricate techniques they are both envious and vital of 1 another’s life. When Issa — ensconced in a long-lasting relationship making use of underachieving Lawrence (Jay Ellis) —contemplates signing up for Tinder by herself, Molly chides the girl, “You ain’t about that app life.” At another point, Lawrence implies Molly is single because her expectations are way too high; therefore, Issa shuts Lawrence down by indicating that her own may have been too low. While Molly consistently comes on too powerful, Issa evades, avoids, and dissembles, choosing to cover instead confront the woman connection at once. Unlike Samantha, Carrie, Miranda, and Charlotte, Issa and Molly feel genuine females
rather than archetypes
. And yet, within their method, they capture both edges associated with the coin this is the modern-dating problem — the idea that regardless of what you do, you’re carrying it out completely wrong, settling or selling yourself brief one way or another. The program provides no solutions, although it does advise a potent antidote: a friend strong adequate to stick with you through every thing.