Liars and Saints

  Issa Rae grew up on a diet of Bill Murray films and Eddie Murphy films; one of her favorite Murray outings is "Groundhog Day." Rae's fingerprints are all over the new movie "One of Them Days"--you can hear her actual voice in one scene--and the script's rather elaborate plotting and tidy third act help to evoke thoughts of 1980s Hollywood. This wonderful movie concerns Dreux and Alyssa, two friends in Los Angeles. Dreux is generally responsible, but she can be passive. When her sketchy landlord demands rent money "by 3 pm," Dreux fails (actually fails for a few hours) to realize that the down-to-the-minute deadline will not carry weight in a court of law. Dreux has dreams of corporate success--and the dreams are just a little bit sad, a little confining. Dreux is drawn to a particular guy, but because he lacks standard "blue ribbon" signs of bourgeois success, she writes him off. She decides too quickly. By contrast, Dreux's friend ...

 I know I'm not alone in feeling moved and wistful about the final season of Issa Rae's "Insecure." Tributes are popping up. Walking with my co-fan, Marc, last night, I was floored to consider the changes our leads have gone through. Issa began the show in a bad relationship with a guy who was clinically depressed, and Issa was working for a white-savior group called "We Got Y'all." Meanwhile, Issa's friend Molly was working with lawyers who didn't value her, offering unsolicited advice, dropping a boyfriend because he said he had once hooked up with a guy. Now, in Season Five, both Issa and Molly seem to enjoy their work, neither is entangled in an intense secretive extracurricular affair (though, yes, Molly is withholding info from colleagues) ..... neither seems to be on the verge of administering a best-friend "stab in the back" ...... I love a story that shows emotional change over time--and this is what "Insecure" has be...

"Insecure" -- Season Four -- continues to tip a hat to Lena Dunham's "Girls." (I think sometimes young writers dislike being compared to Lena Dunham. But, look, Dunham made waves. The influence is real. I'll go to my grave insisting this. Also, Issa Rae is now passing on her own baton; when Samantha Irby pitched a show to HBO, or some other service, she called it "INSECURE, but with fat people.") Both "Girls" and "Insecure" get narrative juice from the idea of "the breakup." Adam and Hannah split up; Hannah struggles with, and eventually profits from, her post-breakup grief. In "Insecure," we imagine Lawrence is out of the picture, but he isn't; he seems to be flirting with his ex, Issa, a fair amount this season. "Insecure"'s big problem is that Lawrence is nowhere near as compelling as Dunham's "Adam." It feels as if no one has taken time to imagine a three-dimens...

(5) Everyone loves "A Star Is Born." I was clearly, emphatically wrong. Mea culpa. Even the reviewers with reservations about the movie seem to go wild for Lady Gaga's performance. So, Lady Gaga: I apologize. Maybe I was upset that I once auditioned to teach at Sacred Heart and didn't get the job. May I one day attain Little Monster status, if I atone well and play my cards right. (4) A few other things to love about "Insecure" this season. Issa wants to elicit praise from Nathan, who has ghosted her. So she posts an alluring photo on Instagram. "Feeling cute!" she writes. Of course, this does not win for her what she wants. A bitchy writer immediately responds: "Not a good choice. You look needy/thirsty." (We don't have to recognize the name to understand, immediately, that this is Issa's sibling. This is the kind of candor that only a sibling can provide.) And then a throwaway detail that I love: Frieda, Issa's former co...

The gloves came off in my house last night. Not over Kavanaugh, not over November elections. No, my husband and I were arguing over a fictional character--Molly--in "Insecure." Things became heated. I have little patience for Molly, because she reminds me so often of myself. This season, Molly has been intermittently insufferable: judgmental, superior, close-minded. "Why," asked her therapist, early on, "why do you need to view work as a war zone? What if you went in and just tried to be as helpful as possible?" This line of questioning didn't go far. Molly later made a veiled reference to the married man she'd been sleeping with, and it was clear the therapist had no idea what Molly was talking about. Not the most fruitful hour--maybe because the patient wasn't really willing to work on herself. Molly made overtures to her female colleagues mid-season, then abandoned their project when the work became inconvenient. She responded to an ...

"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 ...

Five things to think about right now: (5) Jack Nicholson. Will he really make a return? It's rumored that he will do Lena Dunham's adaptation of "Toni Erdmann." He insists he does not have memory loss. I have sometimes wondered if his retreat from the spotlight also has to do with MeToo. Famously, he leered at Jennifer Lawrence in the middle of an Oscars interview. And didn't he once impregnate a young woman while still maintaining that he was officially committed to Anjelica Huston? Isn't it likely there are skeletons in Mr. Nicholson's closet? Maybe it's illegal or not-nice to type these things. And I could be wrong. (4) "The Problem with Apu." Mike Reiss, in his recent history of "The Simpsons," defended the creative decisions behind Apu. His argument is this: "The Simpsons" is a show that makes fun of everyone. In the many bizarre plots, the writers frequently make fun of themselves. They also make fun of gay peopl...

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...