S01:E22 Love, Dean

[AgentRXS]

Quote

It’s the end of the school year, and summer excitement is all around. When Bill and Lillian each receive major career opportunities, tension builds as they decide who will handle more of the household responsibilities. Meanwhile, Dean and Keisa take shelter together as a tornado tears through Montgomery, providing the perfect moment for Dean to tell her how he really feels.

Original Air Date: May 18, 2022

[Izzy85]

Lillian is my favorite character on this show, I love her.

[nelroy78]

Don’t understand why Bruce can’t stay at the house when Lillian is gone to Birmingham? But that would’ve made too much sense and been too convenient. 
 

It’s gonna be a long wait til Season 2. In the meantime I have plenty of time to watch the episodes I missed. I missed almost all of the beginning of the season. 

[OLynn33]

I've grown to really like and enjoy this show. Even Dean has grown on me. It took the show a bit of time to find its footing and come out from the shadow of the original series imo but the characters and actors are all terrific. Gramps cracks me up, Lillian is wonderful and Kim is HILARIOUS. The actress is fantastic. Her timing and facial expressions kill me. "Why does Dean get to go to New York? I'm the one who looks like this." Lol

[Bookish Jen]

What a great season finale. I loved how Lillian stood up for herself, and when she pulled up in her new ride? Go Lillian!

Still, I wondered why Bruce, Gramps, the neighbors couldn't keep an eye on Dean. But I'm looking forward to the show reflecting on Dean's summer in NYC. 

And I love Kim. The actress is so funny. And I always look forward to seeing her outfits and her hairstyles.

[Sarah 103]

16 hours ago, nelroy78 said:

Don’t understand why Bruce can’t stay at the house when Lillian is gone to Birmingham? But that would’ve made too much sense and been too convenient. 

That makes total and complete sense. It isn't like we are getting a season of Dean in New York City. The timeline for this show does not work at all, but hopefully they can fix it going forward in season 2, and we just have to accept that the timeline of season 1 doesn't work/doesn't make sense.

I could relate to distracting Dean with chocolate. That totally would have worked on me on that age, or today.

I liked how ahead of his time Bill is. He knows what other men are doing, what is considerded acceptable and the standard, and is doing his own thing.

[andromeda331]

I love Lillian! She was so awesome in this episode. I love how she made her point to Bill by buying herself a cool car. Also at the barber shop Bill realized even more the mistake he made. I like that he fixed it. Although I agree with everyone else here, why not have Bruce or Grandpa or someone watch Dean?

Kim is awesome.

I'm a little surprised Dea told Keziah he loved her and she wrote it back.

I do hope they do more with the era in the next season. The picture of the first four black kids at the school should have been a much bigger deal then it was.

[AgentRXS]

Were was Bruce this episode? You would think he’d be there to see his kid brother and dad off.  As to why he’s not watching Dean, perhaps Lillian and Bill didn’t think it would be fair to saddle him with that responsibility during his first summer back from Vietnam. It’s weird that they had Gramps in this episode but no explanation as to why he couldn’t watch Dean, though. It’s not like Dean is an infant or toddler that needs 24/7 supervision. 

[Sarah 103]

11 hours ago, andromeda331 said:

I do hope they do more with the era in the next season. The picture of the first four black kids at the school should have been a much bigger deal then it was.

Yes, except there are limits. Licensing pop/rock music from the era is ferociously expensive, as are TV clips and movies. As for the yearbook, I am sure there were harsh words and comments, but we didn't hear them. This is a network show. They live and die with ratings and sponsors. They don't want to be accused of reverse racism, racism, or anything that will get social media or regular veiwers mad at them or mad at thier sponsors. 

It absolutely pains me that the show started at the midway point/end of the school year in April and we didn't get to see what first semester and what the first few days or months of school were like for the first year of the integrated middle school, (and I get it, network show, but there are so many interesting stories, scenes, and moments we didn't get to see.) 

[Raja]

17 hours ago, Sarah 103 said:

Yes, except there are limits. Licensing pop/rock music from the era is ferociously expensive, as are TV clips and movies. As for the yearbook, I am sure there were harsh words and comments, but we didn't hear them. This is a network show. They live and die with ratings and sponsors. They don't want to be accused of reverse racism, racism, or anything that will get social media or regular veiwers mad at them or mad at thier sponsors. 

It absolutely pains me that the show started at the midway point/end of the school year in April and we didn't get to see what first semester and what the first few days or months of school were like for the first year of the integrated middle school, (and I get it, network show, but there are so many interesting stories, scenes, and moments we didn't get to see.) 

Noticing the new iphone commercial it reminds me that I went to a school that was 80% Black with the rest Asian for a decade when our pictures were taken, being a few years younger than Dean, and we still didn't get the lighting right for yearbook photos. And every year we had the WTF comments about them. Especially since Asians dominated the student yearbook staffs. I guess even then they knew the keys to college admissions game. Back then LAUSD by policy sent Black teachers to South Central L.A where most of the segregated schools were and was starting to try teacher intergration just as I graduated. So even with an Asian student staff the adults in charge were Black.

I too was surprised at the mention of its being the first intergrated year of schooling. I thought the concept was dropped after the pilot episode. Even with Dean being a "first" in a couple of situations.

[Browncoat]

I don't know why they couldn't leave Dean with Bruce or Kim, but no way would I even consider leaving him with Gramps.  Maybe send him to his country cousins instead?

Did they have tornado sirens in the 60s?  

[jah1986]

Like others, I would not leave Dean with Grandpa.  And how old is Kim? I know she's applying to colleges but isn't she somewhere around 16/17? I don't think I would leave him with her either. Maybe Bruce isn't going to be around enough to keep an eye on him?

I did appreciate Bill making a better choice about the summer. One thing that really struck me in this episode is how everyone reacts to Lillian working. It's surprising to me that she is portrayed as an anomaly. Most Black families at that time would have had a mom working. What's shocking is all these black men whose wives don't work. That doesn't ring true. My grandmother worked even after getting married and having kids and so did her 4 sisters. My mom worked. Black mothers almost always HAD to work. Maybe it's the type of work/pay she has that is what is unusual.

I enjoyed this episode and am looking forward to season two.

[Ailianna]

People did talk about her job being fancy and her education being out of the ordinary. And I'm guessing that some people think it's not a very feminine job. But I love Lillian and already miss her.

[Raja]

1 hour ago, Ailianna said:

People did talk about her job being fancy and her education being out of the ordinary. And I'm guessing that some people think it's not a very feminine job. But I love Lillian and already miss her.

No it a Black thing for those raised in the Jim Crow south 

Edited June 7, 2022 by Raja

[DonnaMae]

Are they going to leave Kim alone while Lillian is in Birmingham?  Party time?  Is Bruce still seeing that older woman with the child?

[andromeda331]

31 minutes ago, DonnaMae said:

Are they going to leave Kim alone while Lillian is in Birmingham?  Party time?  Is Bruce still seeing that older woman with the child?

Yes 

[DonnaMae]

Yes to both questions?  Love this show.

[Sarah 103]

On 6/7/2022 at 9:19 AM, jah1986 said:

It's surprising to me that she is portrayed as an anomaly. Most Black families at that time would have had a mom working. What's shocking is all these black men whose wives don't work. That doesn't ring true. My grandmother worked even after getting married and having kids and so did her 4 sisters. My mom worked. Black mothers almost always HAD to work. Maybe it's the type of work/pay she has that is what is unusual.

My guess is that it isn't that she had a job that's unusual but the nature of the job and how much money she earns. Also, it is portrayed more like a serious career with the potential for advancement as opposed to a pink-color, domestic or service job that woud have been more common.

In addition, the writers do not have a great sense of the era, especially some of the more subtle aspects of it. 

[Scarlett45]

On 6/13/2022 at 6:17 PM, Sarah 103 said:

My guess is that it isn't that she had a job that's unusual but the nature of the job and how much money she earns. Also, it is portrayed more like a serious career with the potential for advancement as opposed to a pink-color, domestic or service job that woud have been more common.

In addition, the writers do not have a great sense of the era, especially some of the more subtle aspects of it. 

Yes- it’s not that Lillian worked (as @jah1986 stated, many black women of her generation worked. My paternal grandmother had to, my maternal grandmother didn’t because my grandfather took pride in having a stay at home wife, with one kid it worked out) but it’s the type of professional white collar job that she had, where she was the peer of white men, and may have earned more than her husband. 

I like Dean as a character. I think he’s a genuinely sweet kid, but I understand what people are saying that he works better as an observer than a protagonist.

I really enjoyed this show. It was fun to binge and I’m glad I saved it. I loved all of your comments here in the forum even though I was several months behind.