Season 2 Critic Reviews

[Issa Rae's] show is even more assured in the second season. ... As an actress, Rae is a marvel. [21/28 Jul 2017, p.106]

Issa Rae’s very funny, great-looking HBO sitcom Insecure is back for a second season on Sunday night, and it’s even better--more assured and finely detailed--than its excellent first season.

More is gleaned from creative story construction and careful scene setting than exposition. Her rapping doesn’t feel as disconnected from the rest of the show because of how thoroughly Rae’s personality is integrated into the series. She still occasionally steps into a bathroom to cut loose, but her personality shines through brighter and wider than before.

Smart, engaging second season (so far). The ensemble cast gets better and better.

The experiences of Issa and her best friend Molly (Yvonne Orji) are given such specificity, depth and nuance that each episode of Insecure is like a well-made cocktail--sweet, powerful and gone too soon.

The risk in this kind of show is that viewers will complain that “nothing happens,” but that never feels like the case here because Rae and her co-stars shape every scene into a perfectly formed bit of social interaction, built around a core of conflict, but with fascinating bits of business happening in the margins.

In season two, Insecure picks up its ongoing story of life and seems almost immediately stronger in its ability to tell those stories--no doubt because the ensemble has more resonance.

Without ever being too on-the-nose, Insecure has something to tell its audience about the lived experience of seeking life and career successes while black.

The second season, which kicks off Sunday at 10:30 p.m., flows with more confidence and pluck than the first right off the bat--a good show that has only improved. Often a second season pick-up is the endorsement a creator needs to relax into her vision. Rae certainly has.

Insecure season two is more self-assured than ever.