Spoiler alert! The following contains details from the series finale of HBO's "Insecure."
Something old, something new, something borrowed and something blue, or so the classic wedding refrain goes.
The fifth-season and series finale of "Insecure" unravels the traditional rhyme with some nontraditional elements – because yes, two characters tie the knot – and gives its characters a send-off with several birthday celebrations as it asks whether "Everything Gonna Be, Okay?!"
The episode, directed by showrunner Prentice Penny, is all about the big life moments that happen when Issa (Issa Rae), Molly (Yvonne Orji), Kelli (Natasha Rothwell) and Tiffany (Amanda Seales) get together for each other's birthdays.
We pick up right where the penultimate episode left off, following Lawrence (Jay Ellis) and Nathan's (Kendrick Sampson) tussle over Issa, as Issa and Nathan share a tense, silent car ride. Lawrence had confronted Issa in a last-ditch effort to salvage their relationship, which Issa ended in the season premiere after Lawrence fathered a child with Condola (Christina Elmore).
"I was wrong," Nathan tells Issa. "This ain't good for me." He calls the night "embarrassing" and says he's been "ignoring this feeling I've had all along."
Are they done for good? Issa exits the car, forlornly walking into her apartment before receiving a text from Lawrence: "I'm really sorry about tonight. That's not how I wanted things to go," he writes.
"I just want to fast-forward to the part of my life when everything's OK," Issa says to the mirror the next day.
And the show fast-forwards many times, explaining where the four girlfriends land. First up: The group reunites for Molly's birthday. Kelli has a new boyfriend and Tiffany returns following her move to Denver. In a mild tear-jerker moment, Molly finally lets herself feel the love she deserves when she emerges in a room full of friends, her mom and her new love interest Taurean (Leonard Robinson). Growth.
Then they surprise Issa for her birthday, sans Tiffany. Nathan shows up, offering a donation to Issa's budding company The Blocc as a present – and the gift of closure.
The foursome is back together again in Denver for Tiffany's birthday at her picture-perfect new suburban home. Turns out, the Mile High City is not all ski slopes and THC dreams: Tiffany hates it there. "I just didn't sign up to be a Real Housewife of Denver," she says.
In Tiffany's kitchen, after we find out Issa has a budding new relationship, Molly asks the question on fans' minds after Lawrence's big proclamation at the end of Episode 9: "What would you have said to Lawrence if Nathan hadn't interrupted?" Issa says she doesn't know and besides, "it's too late anyway."
The friends are interrupted by Molly's phone, with bad news from her brother Curtis. Their mom, who had a stroke earlier in the season, has died.
Then it's a quick cut to Lawrence, whose mom sings "Happy Birthday" to him over FaceTime but gets cut off by a phone call: It's Issa, and she's surprised that he actually answered the phone. The air is heavy between them as they fumble through an awkward conversation, and Lawrence declines Issa's invite to go out for his birthday. His doorbell rings, and it's a woman wishing him a happy birthday and kissing him.
Without Molly, the other friends and their men attend Kelli's birthday dinner party, and there's a big revelation: Kelli's pregnant! She says her boyfriend Desmond is the only one she would want to have kids with. Issa's face says it all when Kelli talks about reevaluating priorities, and it's not long before Mirror Issa has real Issa questioning whether her dinner date Nasir is the one. An ignored phone call from Lawrence adds to the conundrum.
Another year passes, and it's Molly's birthday again. She has a heart-to-heart with Issa over the phone, still reeling from the death of her mom and coming to terms with the fact that she'll have to spend every birthday without her. Kelli interrupts: Following a conversation at Issa's last birthday, she's now working at Molly's law firm on estate planning after the two teamed up to help Molly's parents get their will in order.
Later on, Lawrence accepts Issa's offer of a tour around her new office space for The Blocc. "You went from 'We Got Y'all' to 'I got my own,' " Lawrence jokes in a callback to Issa's job in the first season.
"I know it's not done yet and there's still a long way to go, but I keep thinking about all it took to get here," Issa says. "I doubted myself, going back and forth about what I wanted, being scared to waste my time and look stupid in case none of it worked out. And then I realized that it was all in my head. No one doubted me, except for me."
Does Issa believe it'll work out? Lawrence asks the question, laden with subtext about their relationship. Issa says she's willing to find out, and the two kiss passionately (cue screams from the #LawrenceHive). Something old is officially back in the picture.
One year later, wedding preparations are underway at a beautiful mansion.
And the happy couple celebrating something new? Mr. and Mrs. Taurean Jackson! Molly and Taurean are married. Fans who have followed Molly's relationship wins and woes will be choked up to see her as a blushing bride, especially as she dances with her father near a table with a tribute to her late mom Carol. At first, it seems Issa is rolling solo, but Lawrence appears as her date.
As Issa helps Molly out of her wedding dress at the end of the night, Molly thanks her for being there. She doesn't "know where life is going to take us, but I just know that as long as you're around I'ma be OK." Issa tearfully agrees as they hug. It's a reminder of the one relationship that mattered most the whole time: the one between best friends (something borrowed here is a hankie to wipe the tears).
If Issa wondered what her life would look like in the season's eighth episode, the finale provides an answer: Her success comes from choosing herself. As she leaves The Blocc's finished workspace – driving by The Dunes, her old We Got Y'all office and a man in a Best Buy shirt – she arrives home to Lawrence and his son Elijah baking her a birthday cake in their swanky new home, and she's wearing a ring. It's a full-circle moment from when we meet her on her birthday in the 2016 series opener.
For many, "Insecure" is not just a show: The series has become a cultural touchstone, especially for Black women who have seen versions of themselves reflected in the unpacking of the beauty and messiness and complexities of young adulthood and relationships.
"Insecure" has created a fellowship for its viewers. Twitter is rife with hot takes, cringes and laughs at the awkward moments, and a sense of community on Sunday nights. It's jump-started a full-fledged empire for creator and star Rae, who has become a mogul in her own right with her Raedio record label and Hoorae production company.
Something blue is likely the fans of the series, which closes its fifth season (aptly nicknamed "Season Byeve") with the answer. Everything is gonna be; things happen and life goes on. But ultimately, for its characters, everything is gonna be OK too.
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