A walk on the wild side
IT wasn’t that long ago that Issa Rae couldn’t afford HBO. Now she’s about to launch the second season of her critically acclaimed series Insecure on the network.
The Los Angeles native, who bypassed the conventional Hollywood system in launching her career, is part of a generation offering a fresh perspective on the complexity of coming into your own, with all its thrills and heartaches.
The first season of the series, which she created, executive produces and stars in, drew praise for its portrait of that restless stage of thirtysomethingdom when work, love and friendship don’t seem to be measuring up.
And Rae has been working hard to make sure season two doesn’t slip.
The debut season ended with growing pains. The wreckage from the broken relationship between Issa Dee (Rae) and Lawrence (Jay Ellis) remained messy with the last moments of the finale revealing Lawrence having revenge sex with bank teller Tasha (Dominique Perry); meanwhile, the friendship between Issa and her bestie Molly (Yvonne Orji) had weathered a storm of unpleasant truths.
‘‘What excited me about the characters is that everybody’s worlds were turned upside down, and the rebuilding wasn’t going as planned,’’ Rae (32) said during a recent sitdown.
Rae recalled knowing two things for sure going into that season two brainstorming session:
1) She wanted Issa to go through what she calls the ‘‘ho phase’’, dating and sleeping with guys without inhibition. ‘‘It was something I really wanted to explore with Issa, the character. It was something that I missed out on in a way. And it feels like once you’re past a certain age, it’s frowned upon, like, ’Girl, you’re too grown to do that.’ ’’
2) She wanted Lawrence to still be involved with Tasha.
Showrunner Prentice Penny offers this insight on season two: ‘‘Issa and I think of it this way: Remember — or imagine — what happens when you have broken up after so many years with somebody and you’re hit with realities maybe you’re not ready to face. That’s what you’re going to see on this show. Overall, we liked this theme of the face you present publicly versus what you’re going through behind closed doors.’’
The vein of authenticity is important to Rae and speaks to her roots in the DIY world of YouTube.
Before the writeractress was exploring the themes of race and identity on Insecure, she tackled them on the internet — most notably through her web series The Misadventures of Awkward Black Girl.
‘‘Just being able to have a TV show, on the air, a show that I am proud of, is something that I don’t take for granted,’’ Rae said. ‘‘And knowing that this came from, in its earliest stage, a YouTube video that I posted in 2007, on a whim, that trips me out in the best possible way.’’ — TCA
The second season of Insecure premieres on Thursday at 9pm on SoHo.