Rating summary

Movie		4.0
Video		4.0
Audio		4.0
Extras		1.0
Overall		4.0

Insecure: The Complete First Season Blu-ray Movie Review

Reviewed by Jeffrey Kauffman March 11, 2017

One of my favorite memes of the past year or so, as provocative as it undeniably was and as touchy as its general subject matter undeniably is, was a compilation of all the talking heads a certain right leaning cable news outlet had assembled to speak about the racial unrest in places like Ferguson, Missouri. Of course, all of them were older white males. It was perhaps a bit of salient shorthand for at least part of the problem any culture faces when dealing with those who have had manifestly different experiences within that selfsame culture, a problem that could be solved by living by that maxim that some of our parents often shared with us, “Try walking a mile in his (or her) shoes”. In a way, Insecure is a throwback to situation comedies of yore, the kind where marquee stars often played versions of themselves, frequently with the same first name they sport in real life. In another way, Insecure is decidedly not your father’s broadcast sitcom, for it features some scabrous humor that includes frank (and sometimes hilariously graphic) discussions about a number of supposedly taboo subjects, including of course sex. The basic foundation of Insecure is in fact built on the hoariest trope of television comedy—the friendship between two women. Think Lucy and Ethel, or Mary and Rhoda. In this case it’s Issa Dee (Issa Rae) and Molly Carter (Yvonne Orji), two African American women who don’t suffer fools gladly. While the show might be seen as the natural follow up to Rae’s highly lauded Awkward Black Girl, it may in fact also be seen as the minority offspring of Lena Dunham’s Girls, especially with regard to its often not safe for work take on contemporary relationship issues.

That very NSFW ambience can be easily identified without actually even watching the show, since every episode features titles with variations on “as f***”, e.g., the premiere “Insecure as f***” or later offerings like “Messy as f***” or “Racist as f***”. Issa herself is more than happy to drop the F- bomb at a moment’s notice, this despite the fact that she works for a non-profit aiding disadvantaged minority students, and therefore has occasion to interact with impressionable young minds. (Part of the series’ humor springs from the fact that these kids are hardly shrinking violets themselves and can give as well as they get, including with regard to Issa.)

Insecure was co-created by Rae and Larry Wilmore. Wilmore of course has been one of the more trenchant voices on television discussing issues surrounding race, and if his The Nightly Show is sadly a thing of the past, he continues to offer some really insightful analyses of where “race relations” are courtesy of both this show and Black-ish, which he Executive Produces. Black-ish might (rightly or wrongly) be seen as Wilmore in “accessible” mode, offering a show that appeals to an at least fairly wide demographic while also not shirking from some very “challenging” subjects. Insecure is a much thornier offering, one that doesn’t have to toe the broadcast television standards and practices line, and for some adventurous viewers at least, that will make this show much more viscerally real feeling, though the humor can often tiptoe right up to potentially offensive territory at times.

That penchant to at least flirt with potentially offensive material is going to be almost entirely offset by the sweet, if often foul mouthed, approach Rae brings to her “character”. It’s easier to accept some of the frankly hilarious off color banter in this series simply because Rae’s character is “insecure” (as are several other supporting players), frequently giving herself “affirmation” sessions in front of any available mirror. While seemingly more on the fast track to corporate success courtesy of her job as an up and coming attorney, Molly is also shown to have issues of her own that present at least temporary obstacles to self realization.

If the show’s general outlines are hardly innovative, its very distinctive perspective is what gives Insecure its unique flavor. While there all sorts of referents one can assemble to help “define” Insecure for the curious, including everything from the aforementioned Girls to workplace outings like The Office to "girl talk" offerings like Sex and the City, the very specific point of view Rae and the creative staff bring to this enterprise makes it seem newer than it might appear to be from merely a cursory glance. The show benefits from some smart performances, with the relationship between Issa and Molly feeling absolutely genuine. The “boyfriend” angle is perhaps given just slightly less development despite a lot of the talk between the women being about men, but Jay Ellis as Lawrence, one of Issa’s romantic entanglements, delivers some fun moments, with the show daring to delve into self imposed “rules” of what it means to be a “real man” in the black community.

Insecure: The Complete First Season Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

Insecure: The Complete First Season is presented on Blu-ray courtesy of HBO with an AVC encoded 1080p transfer in 1.78:1. This digitally captured show has uniformly good detail levels, even when things are graded (as they often are) to a kind of unusual (for a comedy, anyway) cool blue color. The show understandably pops best when it gets out and about into bright sunshine, moments when the palette perks up considerably and fine detail levels are generally excellent. There are occasional deficits in fine detail in some of the dimly lit scenes, particularly those in various apartments or other indoor locations. There are no issues with image instability and no problems with compression anomalies.

Insecure: The Complete First Season Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

Insecure: The Complete First Season features a competent sounding DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 track, one that derives good surround activity when the characters get out and about (they eat at various relatively crowded restaurants with regularity), and when various musical elements enter the fray. Otherwise, though, this is a dialogue driven series, and in fact often an almost monologue driven series, with Issa delivering self help advice to herself in front of the mirror, and as such immersion tends to be limited to ambient environmental effects. Fidelity is fine throughout the presentation and there are no problems with distortion, dropouts or other damage.

Insecure: The Complete First Season Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

• Conjugal Visits (1080p; 4:04) is a whimsical set of interviews set in the county jail.


• Insecure: In the Room (1080i; 2:01) is a brief roundtable with some of the show's creative staff.


• On the Insecure Set with Issa Rae (1080i; 4:35) is a brief tour of some of the locations with Rae acting as guide.

Insecure: The Complete First Season Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

The talk is unapologetically frank and often fairly graphic throughout Insecure, and so those who are, well, insecure about such interchanges may want to steer clear of this series, despite the fact that even the potentially objectionable material is typically presented with a kind of innocent freshness that makes it seem at least a little less provocative than it actually is. The performances are top notch, but it's the very smart writing that really provides Insecure with its very particular point of view, one that really hasn't been explored all that much on either broadcast television or even in the niche world of cable. Technical merits are strong, and even without much in the way of supplements, Insecure: The Complete First Season comes Highly recommended.