The season finale of HBO’s Insecure was hard to watch. From Lawrence (Jay Ellis) and Issa’s (Issa Rae) heart-to-heart conversation to Issa’s decision to live with Daniel (Y’lan Noel), the general consensus on Twitter seemed to be that no one learned their lesson, and everyone is still up to the same old tricks. But I don’t think that any character inspired more incredulousness from viewers than Molly (Yvonne Orji) did when she walked back on her decision to stop sleeping with Dro (Sarunas J. Jackson). Dro, who Molly has known since she was a child, is in an open marriage. And although it’s not technically an affair, it’s also not a gateway to the serious, monogamous relationship that Molly has spent two seasons wanting. So naturally, everyone wants her to stop sleeping with him. When she dressed up in lingerie for him at the end of the finale, the finger wagging and head shakes could be heard across the country.
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I don’t think it’s that simple, though.
Molly has spent a lot of time in pursuit of something that she’s not even sure exists anymore: a perfect relationship. She used her parents marriage as a blueprint, but after finding out that her father was unfaithful, both her fantasy and foundation were shattered. It was a hard pill for her to swallow, and suddenly she was faced with the decision to either forge ahead in search of her own version of perfect, or create a new goal altogether. This meta (in)decision was the catalyst for Molly to invite Dro into her bed, not the prospect of him being “the one.”
I don’t think that Molly is operating under any delusions that she and Dro are going to end up happily ever after. And if you’re the type of person that thinks “happily ever after” is the only context under which a woman should have sex, I don’t know what to tell you. What I do know is that Dro offers passion, familiarity, and comfort during a time in Molly’s life where nothing and no one else does. Dro feels good, literally and figuratively. The authenticity of their connection probably feels more substantial than any of Lionel’s (Sterling K. Brown) plans for the future.
When Molly’s therapist reminded her to let go of the person she thinks she should be, the career she thinks she should have, and the man she thinks she should be with, it had an unanticipated effect. She became willing to see where things go with Quentin (Lil Rel Howery), but she also let go of the moors that stopped her from sleeping with Dro. It was as if she decided, “If I’m going to free fall, let me take full advantage of all of the opportunities.” I would be lying if I said I’ve never been there. The only thing that set me right was taking the time to figure it out.
I’m not defending all of Molly’s decisions this season. But there isn’t a single one that I didn’t understand. Lionel was perfect on paper but didn’t light a single fire within her. Quentin isn’t her physical type, so she hesitated. Things aren’t going to end well with Dro, but she still needs him. If Molly got it right the first time, she would already be married with a baby on the way. That’s not how life works. Maybe it’s because I’m on the tail end of my own unsteady Saturn’s return, but I respect the place Molly is in: the one full of wrong answers and trainwrecks lying in wait. It’s part of a process that many women have gone through before her and will continue to do so after. The only way out is through it.
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