Accurate As Fuck: ‘Insecure’ Season 1 Power Rankings

Insecure’s season finale sent social media into a downward spiral of arguments and celebration. The captivating episode ended in ways most couldn’t see coming, as Lawrence tried to fuck his way into Tasha’s soul while Issa cried on their old couch.

While many thought Lawrence would eventually fall to the whims of Tasha’s advances, despite the fact he rebuffed her throughout the first season, it’s hard to think anybody saw it going down quite like that. Lawrence gave Issa, and fans of their relationship, hope her condom-less sex in the smokey haze of an LA studio wouldn’t be the end of their relationship.

Relationships are complicated though, so Lawrence rearranging Tasha’s insides shouldn’t make anyone feel as if he and Issa may not reunite. The question, however, is whether they should.

HBO renewed Insecure for the 2nd season so answers to those questions will be provided whenever the show returns. With that in mind, I thought it’d be great to take a look back on the first season and create a power ranking for some of the major players.

1. Thug Yoda

Easily one of the show’s best characters. He’s practical and the way he delivers his lines is hilarious. Whether it’s telling his daughter “no baby, this a Blood house,” asking Lawrence and Issa “what y’all muhfuckas gon do with that bouch?,” or offering Lawrence advice (and women), Thug Yoda is always right on time with great advice. The only drawback is he didn’t get nearly enough screen time.

2. Jared

From the first time he approached Molly it was clear he was a different type of dude. He’s easy to relate to and one of the few characters that bothers to hold anybody accountable for their actions.

Jared got points for keeping his cool when Molly drunkenly showed up on his doorstep. He earned more respect by not succumbing to any of her bullshit and putting his foot down, without being “extra” about it. Molly seems like the kind of woman who gets off on having a man “put her in her place” and for her, Jared would’ve been perfect.

I even respect Jared’s honesty when he shared with Molly his one-time homosexual encounter. Women are free to explore their sexuality with other women without much judgment while men aren’t afforded that same freedom. It was brave of him to be so open with her.

It speaks highly of his character that he was open about his past with Molly and I dug how he wouldn’t let her treat his life like a revolving door. Jared, like Molly, wants what he wants and won’t settle for less than that.

3. Tasha

How could you not love Tasha? To quote Chris Rock in Head of State, Tasha is “a big-tittied woman and everybody loves a big-tittied woman.” More than that, she represents a genuine optimism about life and it’s cool to see how much she supported Lawrence.

Tasha is goal-oriented (she’s going to community college at night so she can secure a position as a bank manager,) she’s super supportive, she’s very pretty, and she’s, I’m just guessing here, kinky as all the fucks. I’m not ashamed to say I’ve watched that sex scene more than four times and the way she was catching work not only tells me Tasha enjoys that sort of sex, but that’s likely only the beginning of her freak levels.

It’s worth noting viewers still don’t know much about her and it’s possible she might be fool’s gold. By that I mean, she’s supportive and friendly and kind to Lawrence, but he didn’t forget her birthday and try to make it up by asking her to pick up a DVD on the way home.

Her place in the rankings is based on her potential to be everything Lawrence was looking for but potential is all it is. As it stands, she’s delightful so she’s ranked just below Jared.

4. Lawrence

I’ll fully admit I’m biased towards Lawrence because I see a lot of myself in his character. He’s educated, smart, and has a good heart. He wants to do the right thing by Issa and it was hard for him to get going because he was unemployed.

I was unemployed for two years before I found a job while trying to hustle my way into journalism (my dream,) so I definitely know what it feels like to be so beat down to the point where one doesn’t have the energy to do anything.

Watching Lawrence argue with recruiters and be forced to take a step back was triggering. He’s a man that clearly wants to make something of himself and it feels like he’s not being afforded opportunities to do just that. Part of being a man is being able to handle business and to see Lawrence run head first into so many brick walls was painful to watch.

It’s incredibly difficult to hold down a relationship when so much of your life feels out of your control. As someone who’s had some very similar difficulties in that arena, watching Lawrence felt like I was watching myself on television.

With that said, Lawrence checking out of the relationship is wholly understandable but it’s not excusable. The difficulties surrounding unemployment/underemployment are far beyond most people’s reality, however, forgetting your girlfriend’s birthday is just bad form.

Issa gets a lot of heat for “checking out” of their relationship but Lawrence, from what’s been shown, wasn’t exactly doing the best job of keeping her (or himself) engaged. Additionally, Lawrence was talking absolute craziness when he told Issa he was thinking about passing on the tech job to work on his app. The same app we’ve never seen him work on at all during the first season.

I completely understand chasing dreams and wanting support to chase those dreams from the person one is sharing their life with, but I’m not a fan of people who talk a big game and never follow through.

None of this means Lawrence deserved to be cheated on but I’m not surprised it happened. He wasn’t there mentally and, regardless of why, something had to give.

5. Molly (aka Bizarro Jill Marie Jones)

If you would’ve asked me three weeks ago about Molly I might’ve spit on the floor in response. I originally found Molly vain, “bougie,” and partly psychotic. By the end of the season, however, I started to like her a lot.

Molly is a career woman who appears to have only had herself to rely on. She’s not unlike many of the black women I interact with in that, she doesn’t want to settle for anything less than what she deserves. If a man can’t meet Molly’s standards, Molly doesn’t want that man. And, that’s fine.

It’s easy to jump on her neck but Molly has definitely tried to look out for people, even when they don’t want her advice. When her firm hired Rasheeda, Molly pulled her to the side with some advice on how to navigate the corporate world.

When Issa wants to talk, Molly talks. When Issa wants to complain, Molly listens. When Issa does something terrible, Molly quickly forgives. She’s someone I’d love to have in my corner.

With all the niceties out of way it’s also time to realize Molly has quite a few issues she needs to deal with.

She dicked around with Jared’s feelings prior to his revelation. She spent a lot of time going on a lot of dates with a lot of terrible dudes and when she finally found one, this fool acted a whole ass so she could go out on more dates with these weak ass “League” niggas. I feel no guilt when I say I laughed heartily at her failed endeavors.

The scene in the hot tub also comes to mind, as Kelli and Tiffany were comparing the “old” Molly to the “new” Molly and she realized they were the same person. Molly clearly has some blind spots and it’ll be interesting to see if she works on them for the second season.

Molly isn’t perfect. She’s a flawed person with flawed logic who probably needs therapy. However, she’s a realistic portrayal of some people I know in real life and that endears me to her anyway.

6. Issa

The only reason why Issa isn’t dead last on this list is because she’s somehow not as annoying as her friends. Speaking about all of her character flaws would take longer to write than the entirety of this article so I’ll just hit the highlights.

For starters, Issa isn’t a bad person. I’ve seen several people try to paint Issa as a savage because she told Daniel “you were just an itch I needed to scratch.” The line looks good on paper and sounds even better on the show but savage isn’t the word I’d use to describe her. The correct word is coward.

Issa is scared of everything. She doesn’t know how to assert herself in her relationship, which is why she spent earlier episodes literally running away from her boyfriend instead of talking through her problems. She doesn’t know how to assert herself in her friendships, which is why she ended up beefing with Molly. She doesn’t know how to assert herself while cheating, which is why her side dude showed up to her charity event asking her why she wouldn’t text him back.

Crying on the couch with Molly is one of the first times Issa bore the brunt of her bad decisions. The last time I lacked this much empathy for a main character was Nancy Botwin on Weeds and, while Issa might not be as bad as Nancy Botwin, she’s definitely just as annoying.

Piling on her doesn’t feel right so now is the appropriate time to say something good.

Issa loves the kids and, after wallowing in self-pity, seems to have gotten the ball rolling at her job. The event she put on in episode 7’s “Real As Fuck,” despite having to continuously rebuff the attitudes of her white co-workers, was symbolic of the sort of bullshit we have to deal with at work.

Fucking Daniel on that studio couch drew a lot of ire on social media, but for me, that was like the fourth worst thing about her. She pretends as if she has it all together and doesn’t ever have a problem pointing out the flaws in other people.

She can tell Molly how Lawrence ain’t hitting it right and tell Molly she needs to talk to someone, but she spends all of her time talking to imaginary people and/or freestyling in the mirror about her issues. There was a strange sort of irony when Issa told Molly she was a mess and could benefit from therapy.

Truth be told, Issa would benefit from it too.

7. Daniel

Daniel is a legitimate cornball. If Daniel’s name was Danielle, most people would be discussing how crazy he is. He showed up to Issa’s job the first time on some “I just wanted to apologize for the other night” nonsense. The second time, he showed up unannounced at the charity party where this “I’m 5 foot 7 but my jacket is made for men over six feet” ass nigga rolled up on Issa like “why are you ignoring me?”

I used to feel sorry for him but I’ve recently decided he deserves no sympathy. Issa came at him about a relationship but he was just wanted the skins. He’d been pressing the issue for them to reconnect, realized he still wanted a shot, expressed that to Issa, and he thought he finally was going to close the loop.

Instead, Daniel aka “I’m a grown man with a mohawk” got hit with one of the coldest lines since The Mack when the main character told ole boy “we can handle this like some gentlemen or we can get into some gangster shit.”

Issa was definitely playing games with Daniel, but Daniel knew from jump he stood second in line. Even if Issa gave out false signals he should’ve played his position.

Furthermore, if he really wanted her he shouldn’t have been so goddamned cool when she originally brought the idea to him in episode 1’s “Insecure as Fuck.” To quote the words of Dave Chappelle, “tough break, nigga.”

8. Kelli

One of the most enduring stereotypes of black women is they’re oversexed. Make that black woman a fat one and the stereotype expands to a desperate, oversexed, fat woman nobody wants to have sex with. If you were to give that woman a college degree, you’d end up with Kelli.

I’d have to re-watch this for confirmation, but there might not be one scene where Kelli isn’t talking/thinking/asking/wanting/needing/fiending for some dick.

There isn’t a problem with a woman who is talking/thinking/asking/wanting/fiending for some dick but Kelli is talking/thinking/asking/wanting/needing/fiending for some dick and never gets any.

The season finale was on her birthday and she ended up “face down in the bed with [her] panties on.” Shorty can’t even get laid on her birthday, meanwhile, Molly is smashing some young dude to smithereens while he’s trying to play music from his trial subscription at Tidal.

One would appreciate it if the show treated Kelli with just a tad bit more dignity. Yet it seems that even with shows as diverse as Insecure, there’s still some work to be done when it comes to representation.

9. Tiffany/Derek Dubois

Tiffany and her husband Derek make up the other half of Issa and Molly’s friend group. Since they’re the only married couple on the show, they’ve resigned themselves to knowing everything there is to know about relationships. I don’t particularly care much for all of them when they’re together but there’s something particularly annoying about Tiffany and by proxy, Derek.

Watching them judge Jared because he didn’t go to college is everything wrong with black college graduates. Every time Tiffany talks there’s this air of “I’m better than you” in her tone. There was speculation on social media that Derek was gay and Tiffany married him because he’d give her the type of life she wanted, but I’m not one to spread rumors.

All I’m saying is, if you hear someone laughing at that possible revelation, just know it was me.

10. Chad

Chad’s the lone name here but I’m including Fast Mike and Brandon aka the “trio of trash.” Chad gives the worst advice. Chad doesn’t listen. Chad is great comedic relief though. Anybody who marries someone after a few months because “the head was crazy” isn’t someone that should be trusted with anything.

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