At first the show might seem to be playing into a timeworn trope: Lawrence is down, unmotivated, and basically not being a great boyfriend. They’ve grown increasingly alienated from each other. But then she and Lawrence reconnect emotionally. He finds an interim job. They recommit to each other, feeling happy and connected. Lawrence and Issa seem to be back on track. But Issa goes to Daniel’s recording studio anyway, and has incredibly hot, fun sex with him. In her interview with Wilmore, Rae explained her choice to write it the way she did. In part, she felt it was authentic to show that
At first the show might seem to be playing into a timeworn trope: Lawrence is down, unmotivated, and basically not being a great boyfriend. They’ve grown increasingly alienated from each other. But then she and Lawrence reconnect emotionally. He finds an interim job. They recommit to each other, feeling happy and connected. Lawrence and Issa seem to be back on track. But Issa goes to Daniel’s recording studio anyway, and has incredibly hot, fun sex with him. In her interview with Wilmore, Rae explained her choice to write it the way she did. In part, she felt it was authentic to show that women don’t just “fall into” infidelities and dalliances. Like Alicia Walker’s study subjects, they often seek them out, because they want them: “She had already opened this door at the first episode, and once the woman decides, like, ‘I’m opening this door,’ she’s gonna walk through it,” Rae mused to Wilmore. This decision wasn’t about being angry at Lawrence or being disconnected from him. In fact, in a fundamental sense it wasn’t about Lawrence at all. It was about Issa and what she wanted, and about Issa acting on what she wanted. It wasn’t about her lackluster boyfriend, who was trying to get his life together, Rae told Wilmore. “It was about her and fulfilling this fantasy and being this person that she had set out to be, this active person who made different decisions.” Rae is talking about agency, something Issa struggles with and sometimes fumbles. But Rae wants her to have it. L...
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Like 50 percent of the women who admitted they were unfaithful in a comprehensive 2011 survey of more than 100,000 US adults, Issa stepped out because she wanted to, because sex with a new person was an exciting idea and then an exciting reality.
