Liars and Saints

"Insecure" gave us a "Beach House" episode this season. "Beach House" is the famous moment in "Girls"--Season Three, ranked among the top "Girls" episodes--when the four protagonists gather and attack one another, Edward Albee-style. "Insecure" has recently done something similar. The four main women go to hear Beyonce at Coachella. "Here we are," says one woman, "standing with the whites in The Field." This later becomes: "We're out fighting the whites in The Field." References to slavery seem to be a recurring thing this season (and, certainly, last season, as well). There's the "field" discussion, the line, "Look at you, working away like a little slave," and also, in a kitchen scene: "We are slaving here." There's also a startling moment when a cop uses a taser on one of the four characters--a moment played for (uncomfortable) laughs. "Remember ...

I'm watching two HBO shows right now--"Insecure" and "Sharp Objects"--and I can't help but notice how much more brilliant and vital "Insecure" is. Not that there is a competition. And of course "Sharp Objects" gives us the great gift that is Amy Adams. But still. Some thoughts. - Language. Is there a writer on TV who loves words as much as Issa Rae loves words? It doesn't matter what the plot is; you just become giddy because of the use of English. "I see you," "I've been saving, I've been saving, I've been saving," "It was a nebulous fuck," "Party Lyft," "We Got Y'All," "I didn't do *shit* to your vase," "ho-tation," "Are you thirsty? For a drink?" -- This is the work of a poet. Issa Rae makes me think of Alison Bechdel. When Bechdel was getting started on "Dykes to Watch Out For," she said her aim was to introduce the worl...