Kathleen Newman-Bremang: The grand gesture here is Issa’s speech, and I guess Lawrence’s declaration at the party. You know I am not Lawrence Hive — for many seasons I have not been able to stand this man — but I love a good romantic speech, and I thought Issa gave a really good speech. I don’t love that it wasn’t Lawrence putting his heart on the line and throwing the hail mary at Issa, instead of the other way around. Think about the penultimate episode when Lawrence’s friend Chad was like, “Yo, you never fight for anything in your f*cking life. Fight for this.” (I’m paraphrasing). Aside from declaring his love in the middle of a f*cking party while her boyfriend (Nathan) was there, he didn’t fight. And now, in this grand moment, it’s Issa who is the one that’s being like, “OK, let’s do this,” and Lawrence just gets to be there and accept it. I like it as a gesture for Issa, but I don’t like that Issa’s the one making the gesture, especially in this relationship, because Lawrence has done nothing, and continues to do nothing, to make this relationship work. Like Chad said, Lawrence just lets life happen to him “like he’s on the dock of the bay.” Not to agree with the goofiest character on the show, but Chad’s right. And Lawrence is doing the exact same thing here.
