S01.E04: Love Is a Battlefield

[ElectricBoogaloo]

Quote

When Rainbow is tasked with a school assignment that requires her to trace her roots, she learns that history is more complicated for her mom's side of the family than it is for her dad's. Meanwhile, Johan struggles to balance his new love of ice hockey with what his friends think is cool.

Original air date: 10/15/19

[MadyGirl1987]

Thought this was a really great episode. Really felt bad for Bow when Alicia and Deedee were fighting and getting in the way of the project she was so excited about. Loved that they came together at the end.

Enjoyed the hockey subplot with the kids getting so into it. So sad Johan felt he couldn't like it and was happy when his father set him straight, telling him he could like whatever he liked. Really liked them all bonding over first hockey and then basketball.

[ElectricBoogaloo]

It makes me sad to see kids subjected to peer pressure at such a young age. Poor Johan wanted to give up watching hockey just because his friends said it was a white sport. And it wasn't even so much that Johan liked hockey as a sport (after watching all of one game) but the freedom to yell whatever you want and spend time with his dad and grandfather.

I liked that the show delved into the way people think that whatever they experience or like is the "right" version of their culture when there is actually a wide range.

The one thing I didn't like was that all of the tension between Denise and Alicia was reduced to Denise feeling that Alicia abandoned her when she married Paul. How does that explain Denise acting superior and judgmental for the first 20 years of their lives? She was shown doing that even when they were kids.

[tennisgurl]

I really liked this episode, and the lesson that there is no one "right" way to be any culture and that all aspects of a culture, especially one as complex as African American culture, are good and worth celebrating. I was so sad for Bow, she was so excited to do her project and had so much fun with her dads side of the family, and then Denise and Alicia made it all about them and their issues. Glad that they worked things out!

Also enjoyed the hockey plot and how into hockey the kids got and how it was this big family bonding activity, but it was so sad that Johan felt like it wasnt something he was "allowed" to like. Glad that he had a good talk with his dad about how he can like anything he wants to like, regardless of peer pressure, and that the whole family had fun watching basketball. 

Really, this is the kind of lesson that Dre, self proclaimed arbitrator of all thing Black and the apparent authority of what black people are allowed and not allowed to like (basically based around what Dre himself likes or doesent like) from over on Black-ish could really use.

[AnimeMania]

4 hours ago, ElectricBoogaloo said:

How does that explain Denise acting superior and judgmental for the first 20 years of their lives? She was shown doing that even when they were kids.

She was the oldest.

[OnceSane]

1 hour ago, AnimeMania said:

She was the oldest.

This ain't a lie!

[DearEvette]

Cute episode with some funny lines.  I liked the heat-tilit in stereo Dee and Alicia did when Harrison asked "what have we every stolen from you?"

Gary Cole remains a treasure.

I liked that the Dee/Alicia wrangle over 'what is black culture' neatly encapsulates the tension that occurs when trying to define it.  Where and how to begin where it starts?  What does it even mean?  For some people the 'Africa' part of African-American becomes so important to claim even when we do not have the ability or vocabulary to talk about the connection there.  It is a way to reminding ourselves that our past doesn't begin at being chattel and it can be just as deep, rich and old as any other.  But for other people the life & culture black folks created and refined right here on US soil becomes the more important piece because it taps into a narrative of resilience and self empowerment.

I also really like the dynamic they are building between Dee and Alicia.

Read on twitter that MPG learned how to double dutch on set.

[ElectricBoogaloo]

8 minutes ago, DearEvette said:

Read on twitter that MPG learned how to double dutch on set.

I was honestly expecting to see him fall flat on his face so it was fun to see Aunt Denise’s face when he just hopped right in. Since it was a long shot and his back was to the camera, I initially thought they had someone else as a double but then he turned around and I saw his face! Heh, I knew ABC didn’t care enough about the closing tag to blow major money to CGI his face onto a double’s body so I was impressed that he was doing it himself. Now I’m even more impressed that he learned to do it while on set!

I danced from childhood through college and was on the dance team in high school and college (so I do have some coordination) but I could never get the hang of double dutch (much to my poor mom’s consternation!) so I am always in awe of anyone who can do it. 

[Brian Cronin]

How old is Christina Anthony? She looks a good deal older than Tika Sumpter.

[morakot]

Is Double Dutch specifically African American? We did it in Thailand and in the UK but I don't know if my mother (black from the Bronx) taught it to us.

[shipmate]

This show is my favorite of the new season. The cast is perfect and TER's voiceovers are... soothing? Hope the ratings ate doing well!

[bybrandy]

1 hour ago, morakot said:

Is Double Dutch specifically African American? We did it in Thailand and in the UK but I don't know if my mother (black from the Bronx) taught it to us.

I doubt it.  My mom grew up doing it in the 40s and 50s and she was from Washington State and 3/4s of her grandparents were immigrants from Northern Europe/scandinavia.   The poor part of town where she lived was mostly made up of recent northern european immigrants and there was only one black person in the town.  My grandfather made jumpropes for his kid and he made the best ones so when it was doubledutch season everybody would come over to their house to do it.   

I'm sure we knew this before but it only just hit me that Rainbow's maiden name is also Johnson.   If I married somebody with my last name, I'd totally hyphenate.

 

3 hours ago, ElectricBoogaloo said:

but I could never get the hang of double dutch (much to my poor mom’s consternation!) so I am always in awe of anyone who can do it. 

THIS!  I'm a late in life baby and when double dutch was popular among my peer group my mom was in her late 40s early 50s and she could totally do it!  Me?  Never got the hang of it, ever.   But I was/am uncoordinated in general.

[LadyintheLoop]

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I'm sure we knew this before but it only just hit me that Rainbow's maiden name is also Johnson.

Black-ish had an episode, "Johnson and Johnson," where Bow and Dre got into a stupid fight over whether she was using her husband's name or her father's. I think this show once said Jackson instead of Johnson, though.

In other continuity news, grown-up Bow once reminisced about caroling with her sisters, plural. Could Paul and Alicia have lost a child?

Paul's divorced (dead?) mother probably contributed some Germanic or Scandinavian ancestry to the mix. "Johan" isn't very hippie-ish; the kid has to be somebody's namesake.

[LBS]

Great episode!  I came to this series with a big old chip on my shoulder because of The Kids Are Alright being cancelled and I was getting tired of a lot of the Black-ish story lines but this show is really finding its own voice.    I found myself laughing out loud at the reaction shots whenever Harrison speaks.  

Question - was DeeDee ever on Black-ish?  I can't remember if she was established as a presence (like Jonah/Santa Monica were) or just a Bow remembering her via stories.   

[UNOSEZ]

I didn't hear the culture convo until my mom got involved with my future step-dad.. His fam was from NYC but previous generations were from the deep south where as my moms fam is from south America and we can actually trace our lineage back to a specific country in Africa (Ethiopia)  before heading to a new continent and then being free even in the slave times.. So sometimes they would consider the things we spoke on.. Or didn't get about Africa no American culture as being bougie.. Or question our blackness 

[UNOSEZ]

On 10/17/2019 at 8:16 AM, ElectricBoogaloo said:

The one thing I didn't like was that all of the tension between Denise and Alicia was reduced to Denise feeling that Alicia abandoned her when she married Paul. How does that explain Denise acting superior and judgmental for the first 20 years of their lives? She was shown doing that even when they were kids

  Agreed... She really never said why.. Those I know its cuz her idea of blackness is somewhat narrow.. And her belief that everything outside of that narrow lane is being ashamed of said blackness... I did appreciate Deedee pointing out we weren't all kings and queens.. Ive had the same argument with some hotep-adjacent folks

[DearEvette]

On 10/18/2019 at 5:07 PM, UNOSEZ said:

Agreed... She really never said why.. Those I know its cuz her idea of blackness is somewhat narrow.. And her belief that everything outside of that narrow lane is being ashamed of said blackness... I did appreciate Deedee pointing out we weren't all kings and queens.. Ive had the same argument with some hotep-adjacent folks

I think it is kinda funny that marrying a white guy and living on a commune, Alicia was showing some decidedly Hotep-adjacent  tendencies.  LOL.

[In2You]

On 10/19/2019 at 9:49 PM, DearEvette said:

I think it is kinda funny that marrying a white guy and living on a commune, Alicia was showing some decidedly Hotep-adjacent  tendencies.  LOL.

That's normal. I notice especially on social media so many pro-black wanna-be activists who preach all day long about racism and marginalization while their spouse is white.

[possibilities]

I fine it highly suspect that they idealize the cult. In my experience, racism and other bullshit exist in a heightened form in those kinds of situations, not the reverse.

[rhys]

It's odd tho that A didn't double down on her 2nd major ( minor?) of African American studies & taken Bow to a library to do some research.

[Grundoon59]

I enjoyed the episode (and in fact all of the episodes so far) for a variety of reasons but as a life long Detroit sports fan, it was nice to see the Red Wings jerseys.  🏒♥️ Lots of memories of watching with my dad. Even though he was a Canadiens fan by choice, when you're in Detroit with the last name of Howe, you need to know Wings.

[ElectricBoogaloo]

Obligatory music video (even as a kid who loved musicals, the idea that a big dance number could defeat a pimp was ludicrous to me):