Insecure Recap: Meet the Parents — and the Significance of That Moon

Lawrence didn’t want to have a baby with Condola on Insecure. But after she became pregnant with his child, there was no turning back. Fans got to see how his bumpy road to fatherhood looked and felt after the baby arrived early when the beloved comedy aired on Sunday.

The installment, titled “Pressure, Okay?,” kicked off with a heartbroken Lawrence driving back to his place following his breakup with Issa. He went home, took one look at all the moving boxes surrounding him and dejectedly turned off the lights. The next scene happened a few months later in San Francisco. Lawrence had started his new job and was impressing his bosses left and right.

After taking on a smart-clothing startup no one else wanted at work, Lawrence ended the night by turning on the charm while on a blind date. Soon after the attractive woman across from him flirted back and called him “cute,” Lawrence’s phone buzzed with news that his and Condola’s baby had been born. Lawrence apologized to his date, threw some cash on the table and headed to the airport.

When he arrived at the hospital, an overly friendly nurse told him Condola barely had any tearing — slow down, sis, they’re not together! — and whisked him away to Condola’s room where she was visiting with her mother and sister (played by guest stars Lela Rochon and Keke Palmer, respectively). The new mom told Lawrence their son’s name was Elijah Mustafa, and Lawrence liked the first name, which belonged to Condola’s grandfather, but winced at “Mustafa.”

He spent the night at Chad’s place later and complained that Condola begrudgingly gave their son his last name Walker and said that her family was already treating him like a deadbeat dad. To be fair, Condola’s mom showed warmth and compassion, but her sister? Yeah, she hates his guts. Chad teased Lawrence about Elijah’s middle name, and the new father vowed to return to Los Angeles for Elijah’s first doctor’s appointment in a week or so.

At the appointment, Lawrence overreacted to news that Elijah wasn’t consistently latching during breastfeeding, but Condola and the doctor put his mind at ease. The awkward doctor also made jokes about some of the ugly babies he sees on a regular basis, but he assured Lawrence and Condola that their baby was cute. Okay, crazy.

Speaking of crazy, things got really wild really quickly in the parking garage when Lawrence walked Condola and baby Elijah to her car, because Lawrence didn’t like that she had left him out of planning the baby’s baptism. Condola reminded Lawrence that he had told her to keep him posted on all things related to the baby, and Lawrence conceded. He said he would invite his parents to the baptism and be more involved moving forward.

The baptism proved pretty uneventful. Lawrence’s parents — we finally got to meet his mom and dad! — weren’t happy that Elijah wasn’t submerged under water for his baptism. But Lawrence didn’t seem to mind. He did mind it, however, when Condola acted as though Elijah couldn’t spend a week alone with Lawrence and his family.

Later, when the two argued over visitation, Condola admitted that she doesn’t trust Lawrence. Ouch! That same distrust blew up in Lawrence’s face at Simone’s birthday party when he gave Elijah some pureed carrots before Condola had introduced solids, which caused an argument so contentious and messy, Derek had to pull Lawrence away. But seriously, Condola, why did you have a child with this man?

Poor Condola probably asked herself that same question when, during a split-screen montage, we saw Lawrence having sex with his hot new boo while an exhausted Condola fell asleep on the toilet. In another scene, Condola and her sister tried to console a screaming Elijah while Lawrence popped bottles and celebrated a work win with his colleagues. See, Condola haters? She deserves sympathy, too.

It’s a level of compassion Lawrence seemed unable to give Condola until he thought he might die when his plane back to San Francisco experienced extremely rough and scary turbulence. Right before the flight troubles, Lawrence stared out at a bright and full moon similar to the one he had pointed out to Issa in the Season 5 premiere.

It’s the same moon Issa examined closely before calling Nathan in Episode 2. Just like Issa may have wanted to call Lawrence but didn’t, Lawrence stopped himself from calling Issa. Instead, he called Condola and asked how they could make their co-parenting work for real. (Read cast member Jay Ellis’ candid thoughts on Lawrence’s post-partum behavior.)

What did you think of Episode 3’s Lawrence-centric parenthood plot? Are you feeling more sympathetic toward Condola now, or nah? Drop your thoughts in the comments.