‘Insecure’ Season 5 Episode 4 Recap: “Faulty, Okay?!”

In its final season, Insecure has deftly played with tone and genre in such a fun way! Last week’s Lawrence-centric episode gave us more drama than we’d seen from the show with showrunner Prentice Penny remarking on Twitter, “We knew this wouldn’t be a super “funny” episode but a REAL one.” This week, thankfully, we’re treated to a pitch-perfect half-hour romantic comedy (written by Syreeta Smith. We’re waiting on the feature-length romcom, sis!) – & the season’s funniest episode so far. 

The plot is kept pretty slim in service of jokes and relationship-centric moments between our characters. Nathan’s barbershop The Clips (!) is having a party on the beach & it’ll be the first time he’s seeing Issa since she cried “in his mouth”. Before the festivities are broken up by an earthquake, we meet a bevy of friendly Black hotties, (or as Molly puts it: “It’s niggas in bulk out here! Like Costco!”), some Black function staples (Issa hilariously has no idea how to play spades), and some painfully awkward interactions between our two lovebirds. 

Issa starts full-on glitching in her first conversation with Nathan since their emotional surprise sleepover. The vibe between them is more than a little “Faulty, Okay?!”. The “Thanks for coming” to “Yeah! Great. And You?” pipeline had me cringing as much as I was cackling through their whole conversation. Issa’s in her head about the whole thing – imagining hella fake scenarios between Nathan & his very outgoing coworker Resha, doing radio DJ voices for no reason, and they’re both talking to everyone but each other about their true feelings. Nathan is visibly disappointed when she says she’s glad they’re still friends. But according to romcom formula, there’s nowhere to go from here but up.

On the ride to the second location, while Kelli & Resha bond over …. I’m still not sure, but it’s good to see Natasha Rothwell on the giving end of some emotional dumping after The White Lotus, Molly gets info on the nature of Nathan’s relationship with Resha. In another car, Nathan & his deeply Los Angeles coworkers lament his being friendzoned by Issa. At the bar, the pair agree they both made mistakes blurring lines past the platonic in a performance neither of them believed. 

Sidequest: It’s about time we get to see Molly having fun being single versus dreading it. And she’s out here choosing! She goes home with Nathan’s coworker who has a tattoo he tells her, flashing a killer smile, is “the Chinese symbol for good dick”. Good for you, Molly.

At the bar, we also meet Nathan’s cousin? Who he used to live with? IN TOWN? Even though Issa didn’t know he had family in LA? Between that, and the palpably stiff energy between Nathan and his cousin’s wife, it’s clear somebody’s got a secret. In a sweet & characteristically awkward moment & clumsy extended metaphor about leaves, Issa notices he’s hurt & steps in to speak up for Nathan’s character while he’s being playfully piled-on by his friends & family for being flaky & unpredictable. These two are so emotionally tapped in, I’ve got to change my stance: I ship it! 

Will-they, won’t-they may have been the main story here, but Issa’s professional life is never out of focus. Quoia’s over-the-top reaction to any perceived disrespect of Issa is getting creepy. Crenshawn is giving Issa hell online for being a “fraud” & a sell-out which gives Quoia a nose bleed while threatening retaliatory violence. Issa shoots off a very tone-deaf DM that does the opposite of squashing the whole thing & Crenshawns reacts predictably –  by popping off on Twitter. (Side note: the way Crenshawn uses socials is too accurate for me! The hashtags. The emojis. We all know that guy.)

That is all background noise to the climax of the episode – the third and final location – Jason Derulo’s mansion party at which the singer was apparently doing “close up magic”. After only Molly & her beau are able to get in, the group begins to splinter allowing Nathan to catch up with his cousin for the first time in years & us to get some insight on this secret! 

During his stay with their family, Nathan was unknowingly in the throes of a manic episode, the resulting behavior of which his cousin perceived as too risky to be around his young family, & unceremoniously threw him out…choosing to blame the decision on his wife. And let me just say, Kendrick Sampson was acting his ass off in this episode! And I know personally the way it feels hearing the effects your mental health struggles have had on the people you love. He captured it all.

Understandably he leaves Jason Derulo’s party in favor of a picturesque lookout point up the hill & Issa follows. My romcom senses are tingling. There they agree that they have no control of other people’s perceptions of them & clear the air about their feelings for each other & the circumstances that have kept them apart. “Last year was a lot for me. And now I feel like I’m just always waiting for the other shoe to drop” Issa says, echoing viewer sentiments.

Issa reveals she wants to be more than friends but held back for fear of “looking stupid” in a final scene that nearly brought me to tears of satisfaction…. As a great romantic comedy is wont to do! It was giving Pride & Prejudice, it was giving Runaway Bride. It gave Love & Basketball, Brown Sugar. And I want more! 

The shot of the couple kissing overlooking the city feels full of possibility – and compared to what we saw Issa’s life could have looked like had she stayed with Lawrence – the possibilities are looking pretty good!

Rebecca O’Neal is a stand up comedian and writer in Brooklyn. She hosts a comedy show – Angel Baby at Purgatory – in Bushwick (November 27th). Check out her jokes on Comedy Central.

Watch Insecure Season 5 Episode 4 on HBO Max