6.8 | / 10 |
Users | 0.0 | |
Reviewer | 4.0 | |
Overall | 4.0 |
Created by and starring Issa Rae, this comedy series looks at the friendship of two modern-day black women, as well as all of their uncomfortable experiences and racy tribulations. As they navigate the tricky professional and personal terrain of Los Angeles, best friends Issa and Molly face the challenges of being black women who defy all stereotypes.
Starring: Issa Rae, Yvonne Orji, Natasha Rothwell, Jay Ellis, Lisa JoyceComedy | 100% |
Video codec: MPEG-4 AVC
Video resolution: 1080p
Aspect ratio: 1.78:1
Original aspect ratio: 1.78:1
English: DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1
French: DTS 5.1
Spanish: DTS 2.0
English SDH, French, Spanish
Blu-ray Disc
Single disc (1 BD)
UV digital copy
Slipcover in original pressing
Region A, B (C untested)
Movie | 4.0 | |
Video | 4.0 | |
Audio | 4.0 | |
Extras | 1.0 | |
Overall | 4.0 |
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.
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 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.
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.
(Still not reliable for this title)
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