Why HBO's Insecure is So Much Better than Girls

The season 2 finale of HBO's show Insecure is approaching this coming Sunday, and I can't wait. 

Image: Issa Rae, creator & star of Insecure; Photo source: http://www.zimbio.com/pictures/enICWEUMsSW/HBO+s+Insecure+Block+Party

Series synopses are described elsewhere (e.g., Wikipedia, HBO.com/Insecure) so I won't go into too much detail other than to say the show is about two young Black women friends in their mid- to late-twenties, and their experiences with careers and co-workers, friendships (with each other and others), dating and sex. Since it's the second HBO show in recent times focusing on the perspectives of young women -- Girls being the other -- mental comparisons are inevitable. 

Insecure is a much, much better show. Here's why.

The writing is better for Insecure. The randomness of the Girls story lines was always irritating, and over the many seasons I kept waiting for it to improve. It never did. I stopped watching halfway through the first episode of the final season and never went back. 

The characters in Insecure are more well-rounded, focusing on multiple life issues. Unlike Girls' Hannah, Marnie et al., Issa and Molly don't just focus on guys. Molly (played by Yvonne Orji) has to navigate being one of the few African Americans working at a largely White and male law firm. While issues of race, identity, and professional recognition come into play, Molly's experiences transcend race, IMHO, and speak to all women. Fast forward ten years, one can imagine Molly navigating work, marriage, motherhood, childcare arrangements, and making partner at the firm -- as many women (Black, White, Hispanic, Asian) similarly do. 

Issa (played by series creator Issa Rae) works for a non-profit after-school program, offering academic and homework assistance, and mentoring to middle school students. Among the ideas put forth are Issa's successes and failures at recruiting snarky adolescents for the program; having to answer questions about her hair, why she's not married, and whether she made the right choice in choosing to work for a non-profit organization; whether her White co-workers are excluding her from meetings and emails; and her financial worries. (In season 2, Issa wrecks her car and doesn't quite have the money to fix it.) These are issues that speak to many young (and not-so-young) adults. In season 1, Issa turns 29 and reflects on whether her life -- professionally, romantically, self-confidence-wise -- is where she wants it to be. This is a universal question that anyone might ask themselves at 29, 39, 49, and beyond. 

By contrast, over the various episodes of Girls, the audience learned a little about the characters' professional ambitions. But never too much. Jessa (played by Jemima Kirke) is studying to be a therapist of some sort, and Adam (Hannah's ex) is paying for it. We never learn anything more about how that goes. (Does she graduate? Land a job?) In fact, the scenario seems more of a lead in for the main point that Jessa stole Hannah's ex-boyfriend! Shoshanna (played by Zosia Mamet) ditched a boyfriend in one season to follow a career opportunity to Japan. This was going well, and Shoshanna seemed to just love it... except that none of that was true. Counter to what her character explains at the beginning of the episode, she doesn't really love it (for reasons that are never made clear); she's terribly lonely; and only wants to return home. In a later episode or season, she becomes some sort of political campaigner for Ray (Alex Karpovsky). Very little is done with the character after that. Throughout the series, various characters let the audience know that Hannah Horvath (played by series creator Lena Dunham) is a great writer. Not that she seems to do much writing or ever really commit to it. 

Despite its name, Girls seems to be mainly focused on the characters' relationships with guys, and even this has a random, meandering feel to it. In one episode, Hannah is headed off for the summer with then-boyfriend Fran (Jake Lacy). Except that she doesn't want to, doesn't love him. Abruptly abandoning him while they make a pit stop (leaving her luggage and all possessions [wallet, phone, etc.] behind), she gets a ride back to the city from Ray, wearing only a bikini. This makes about as much sense as anything else in the show.  

Girls has been criticized for the lack of racial diversity in its casting. Hank Steuver recently wrote in the Washington Post that "[t]he talking we did about Hannah and Marnie in 'Girls' far outweighs the talks we skipped about Issa and Molly in 'Insecure.' Let’s not pretend we don’t know why." I assume he's referring to race, and that Insecure has garnered less attention (if in fact that's the case) because people assume it's a 'Black' show. If so, that's too bad because the show's themes go beyond race and speak to a larger audience. That, plus it's just terrific TV.