S02.E13: Forever Young

[ElectricBoogaloo]

SEASON FINALE!

Quote

In 2021, Adult Rainbow, Johan and Santamonica recall very different accounts of what happened the summer that they all got their new bicycles. In the ‘80s, an overprotective Alicia’s worst fear comes true when one of the kids goes off on their own with their bike and gets lost. Meanwhile, Harrison catches Denise spending extra time in the office to get overtime and puts her to work.

Original air date: 5/18/21

[ElectricBoogaloo]

Two possible contenders for this week's song reference because there were two completely different "Forever Young" songs released in the 80s (and the show has chosen songs from the later 80s for some episode titles so they're not sticking strictly to whatever year it is on the show):

Forever Young - Alphaville (1984)

Forever Young - Rod Stewart (1988)

 

[SoMuchTV]

On 5/17/2021 at 5:26 AM, ElectricBoogaloo said:

Two possible contenders for this week's song reference because there were two completely different "Forever Young" songs released in the 80s (and the show has chosen songs from the later 80s for some episode titles so they're not sticking strictly to whatever year it is on the show):

Forever Young - Alphaville (1984)

Forever Young - Rod Stewart (1988)

 

Looks like it was option A. But wasn’t there also a Bob Dylan “forever young“? Was the Rod Stewart version a cover of that, or was it yet a different song?

[DanaK]

Such a sweet ending that works nicely as a series finale

[Marley]

The episode did work well as a series finale. I was enjoying the show tho but oh well. 

Was only Rashida Jones voice available tho lol.

[ElectricBoogaloo]

5 hours ago, SoMuchTV said:

Looks like it was option A. But wasn’t there also a Bob Dylan “forever young“? Was the Rod Stewart version a cover of that, or was it yet a different song?

Bob Dylan released the original version in 1973. The 1988 version by Rod Stewart was a cover.

The show doesn't always use the song in the title in the actual episode so I'm glad they cleared up the mystery of which version they were referring to!

[DanaK]

I found it amusing that Denise’s creative attempts to avoid more work only endeared her to Harrison and impressed him with how smart she was. It also led him to push her to get her paralegal license or whatever it was

[ElectricBoogaloo]

Having adult Rainbow and Dre made this episode feel like a series finale. It was nice to see the grown up versions of Rainbow, Johan, and Santi here (although what was up with Rashida Jones being animated?).

Usually I just roll my eyes at Dre being Dre, but I was with him when he applauded Rainbow for finally standing up for herself with her lazy siblings. Just because she likes being organized and responsible doesn't mean that she should HAVE to do it all the time for them. I mean, these are grown ass adults. They shouldn't need their sister to remind them that their mom's birthday is coming up. It's 2021 so just put the damn date in your phone's calendar. It takes like two seconds.

And OF COURSE Paul and Alicia already had a tandem bike.

[fishcakes]

On 5/17/2021 at 2:26 AM, ElectricBoogaloo said:

Two possible contenders for this week's song reference because there were two completely different "Forever Young" songs released in the 80s (and the show has chosen songs from the later 80s for some episode titles so they're not sticking strictly to whatever year it is on the show):

Forever Young - Alphaville (1984)

Forever Young - Rod Stewart (1988)

 

Ha ha, that Alphaville video is killing me. It's so 1980s, it hurts. Now I'll have to spend a good part of the day day listening to Simply Red and Tears for Fears until I get it out of my system.

There was also Jay-Z and Mr Hudson cover of Alphaville's version, which was used in a Black-ish episode a few years ago. I think the kids made a birthday video for Dre with it.

 

Sorry that Rashida Jones wasn't there; I had to check to see if that was her doing the voice because she sounded similar but somehow different, though it was her after all. But that's how I found out the show was cancelled, which is so disappointing. This is one of the few more recent sitcoms that I really look forward to. I gave up on Black-ish a few years ago, but I adored Mixed-ish. I'll miss it.

 

[LadyintheLoop]

I liked Harrison's acknowledgment that he and Denise are kindred spirits, and his offer to become her mentor. (I was afraid he was going to hit on her.) If only the show were continuing we'd get to see how Alicia liked having baby sister yanked out from under her wing.

[ljenkins782]

15 hours ago, Marley said:

The episode did work well as a series finale. I was enjoying the show tho but oh well. 

Was only Rashida Jones voice available tho lol.

They cancelled this?? Bummer, I was really enjoying it. How the eff does this get cancelled, while shows way past their prime (ahem, the Goldbergs) slog through season after season long after they stopped being funny or good.

I felt like this show was really hitting its stride, with the Harrison/Denise relationship and Mark-Paul Gosselar finally starting to settle into the Paul role. Some of the episodes were way too dorky/try hard with Paul, but in the last 3 episodes, I saw a noticeable relaxation in the character and he and Alicia really seemed like two kindred dorks. 

Once they gave Denise a kindred spirit in Harrison, it freed up space to show Alicia's dorkier side and the reasons she fell for Paul. And teen Bow is exactly who I'd imagine she was, the actress played her so well. 

I loved seeing adult Bow, Dre, Johan, and cartoon Santi (lol) and thought it was a lovely tie in, but I didn't realize why they did it. Sucks :( 

Am I reading into it or did they have a couple homages to Office Space, with Gary Cole leaning on Denise's cubicle with his coffee cup and Denise threatening to burn the office down? 

[Ms Lark]

9 hours ago, ljenkins782 said:

Am I reading into it or did they have a couple homages to Office Space, with Gary Cole leaning on Denise's cubicle with his coffee cup and Denise threatening to burn the office down? 

Good catch! Missed it, but I see it now!

[ElectricBoogaloo]

19 hours ago, fishcakes said:

Sorry that Rashida Jones wasn't there; I had to check to see if that was her doing the voice because she sounded similar but somehow different, though it was her after all. But that's how I found out the show was cancelled, which is so disappointing. This is one of the few more recent sitcoms that I really look forward to. I gave up on Black-ish a few years ago, but I adored Mixed-ish. I'll miss it.

 

12 hours ago, ljenkins782 said:

They cancelled this?? Bummer, I was really enjoying it. How the eff does this get cancelled, while shows way past their prime (ahem, the Goldbergs) slog through season after season long after they stopped being funny or good.

The cancellation was announced just last week. There's more discussion about it in the media thread.

[DearEvette]

I am so sad this got cancelled.

Interesting that grown up Bow and Dre make an appearance, almost feels prophetic like they knew. I have a sad.

Harrison:  If I have to hear one more kid reading a poem

He is me.  I LOL'd at that so hard.

Also, Rainbow voted most likely to be a Narc.

Granted, I don't know Rashida Jones' voice very well but that sometimes did not sound like her.  But she is credited with the appearance. I guess she did not want /could not appear even on screen and only did the VO?

I think I will miss the possibility of the Harrison/Dee mentorship the most.

[ljenkins782]

1 hour ago, DearEvette said:

I am so sad this got cancelled.

Interesting that grown up Bow and Dre make an appearance, almost feels prophetic like they knew. I have a sad.

Harrison:  If I have to hear one more kid reading a poem

He is me.  I LOL'd at that so hard.

Also, Rainbow voted most likely to be a Narc.

Granted, I don't know Rashida Jones' voice very well but that sometimes did not sound like her.  But she is credited with the appearance. I guess she did not want /could not appear even on screen and only did the VO?

I think I will miss the possibility of the Harrison/Dee mentorship the most.

The bright, chirpy tone of young Bow when she says she was voted most likely to be a narc cracked me up. 

I find it so annoying that shows don't get a chance to succeed, I feel like this one grew and developed since its first season and probably had enough juice for another couple seasons. Bow's entry into high school is ripe for embarrassing encounters/storylines and Denise and Harrison's new mentorship would be interesting to explore. 

If nothing else, I think nostalgia is always a draw, especially now after such a long, difficult year. Who doesn't want to look back on the relative simplicity of the 80s after the turmoil of the last couple of years, but especially 2020. 

It wasn't changing the world or breaking new ground particularly, but it was a pretty perfect fit for weeknight family show and it was well acted and enjoyable and the articles about its cancellation suggest that the ratings were steady. So WTF??

[DearEvette]

Call me cynical but I almost feel like ABC cancelled this because they wanted to go with a higher profile black family nostalgia show with the new Wonder Years reboot.  And well, this one got Highlandered.  That, and they are probably cutting ties with Kenya Barris.

[tennisgurl]

It really sucks to hear about the cancellation, I have really enjoyed this show and I think it had a few more years left before it got stale. Is ABC just getting rid of a bunch of shows to promote new ones? It seems like the ratings and reviews were decent and it fits perfectly into their family sitcom line up, I am really bummed. 

At least this was a nice series finale, I wonder if they suspected that they could get cancelled? It had a lot of good moments with the whole cast and seeing the kids as adults (even with cartoon Santi) was a nice way to wrap things up. Bow's chipper "I was voted most likely to be a Narc!" was hilarious, and we got a lot of great scenes between Harrison and Denise, who are my favorite comedic pairing on the show. I'm really sad that the show is over, but at least they got to have a nice ending. 

[Meedis]

4 hours ago, DearEvette said:

Call me cynical but I almost feel like ABC cancelled this because they wanted to go with a higher profile black family nostalgia show with the new Wonder Years reboot.  And well, this one got Highlandered.  That, and they are probably cutting ties with Kenya Barris.

He does have a deal with Netflix so I believe the cancellation is due to ABC cutting ties with him.

The episode was pretty bittersweet knowing it's the last one.    I agree with feeling like they must've known it was the end beforehand because it felt like a great series finale, not to mention bringing the adult versions of the kids (even if Rashida didn't show her face...*LOL*).

[ljenkins782]

6 hours ago, DearEvette said:

Call me cynical but I almost feel like ABC cancelled this because they wanted to go with a higher profile black family nostalgia show with the new Wonder Years reboot.  And well, this one got Highlandered.  That, and they are probably cutting ties with Kenya Barris.

Ah, I hadn't realized that the Wonder Years reboot wasn't going to be revisiting Kevin and Winnie as adults, I thought it was going to be along the lines of the Will & Grace or The Conners reboots. 

Given that the Wonder Years reboot is going to be about a black family in the South in 1968, I have my doubts that it's going to hit the sweet spot of nostalgia that this show did. 

But if they're cutting ties with Kenya Barris, I guess that explains it. Good for him that he got 3 decent shows on the air over the last few years. I'm kinda over Black-ish, but the first 3 seasons were really good and I really enjoyed the first 2 seasons of Grown-ish and kinda still enjoy it while not loving the directions the characters have gone in. 

 

[Joimiaroxeu]

Santi was seven? I would've put her at five, tops. She's tiny.

I was halfway though the show before I realized adult Bow was wearing her graduation shirt from when she finished middle school. Meh, highly doubtful the shirt would still fit her. Adult Bow has the boobs of a woman who's probably breast fed at least four of her five children.

Ditto comments upthread, wonder if the producers knew Mixed-ish was getting canceled when this episode was filmed? It seemed more like a show finale than a season finale to me.

[angora]

On 5/23/2021 at 5:18 PM, Joimiaroxeu said:

I was halfway though the show before I realized adult Bow was wearing her graduation shirt from when she finished middle school. Meh, highly doubtful the shirt would still fit her. Adult Bow has the boobs of a woman who's probably breast fed at least four of her five children.

I'm guessing she had a new one made, since they were recreating the photo from when they were kids. Was Johan wearing his at the end? I can't remember.