Season 3 Discussion

[shura]

4 hours ago, DearEvette said:

I loved the kids' subplot.  Especially how each one came back with a snippet of the story and drew not only wrong conclusions but wildly crazy conclusions.  The show really does well when they put all four into their own subplot.  Their different personalities make for great chemistry.

I hated Junior's part in it. Jack and Diane's ideas were more like hypotheses - "are they bank robbers? do we have the stolen money in the house?", "what if she is our real grandma?" With Junior, on the other hand, I felt like he straight out claimed as fact that Pops must have been involved (personally!) in the Moon landing hoax. Pops used the phrase "the eagle has landed!" And he joined the electrical workers' union in 1969! Proof! Can be no other explanation! That's birtherism-level critical thinking there. It didn't help, of course, that he was pushing a conspiracy theory.

[attica]

I liked the lit-up 'hey' that Zoey had on her wall.

[Boofish]

I loved how Zoey didn't have the heart to bust anyone's bubble other than Dianes.

[peeayebee]

I loved the scene in Jack and Diane's room (when Junior tells them his theory) because of all the colors and patterns. The wallpapers, bedspreads, and what the kids are wearing should clash, but to me it looks cool.

The beginning where Ruby gets a chill and senses something evil was great, particularly with the wind blowing outside.

Is the name Almaviligerais completely made up? Until seeing the place card, I thought it was Alma Viligerais, which is still strange to me.

I'm disappointed that Junior is into conspiracy theories. I thought he was smarter than that.

Loved the flashbacks, esp the first one.

When Ruby came out of the bathroom and looked so sad, I was afraid that she had miscarried. Glad I was wrong. I agree with others that this story line wasn't so good.

[Dee]

I don't know what Orisha Tracee Ellis Ross has been praying to, but it's working.

She's been practically glowing all season.

[Sparger Springs]

I'm already sick of the baby plot line and the kid hasn't even been born yet.  No idea why they thought this was a good idea. I don't believe for one second Bow would be crying over never been pregnant again. She didn't exactly plan this and per previous episodes all the kids were mistakes.

[meep.meep]

I couldn't figure out why Pop's older sister appeared to be about 20 years younger than him.

[Arcadiasw]

I laughed so hard at Earl and Ruby’s first meeting. I love the AV, Earl and Ruby story and the flashbacks, especially the hairstyle and clothes of the time.

I expected Bow to walk out and say she’s not pregnant. I really don’t care for the baby storyline but since Bow says she’s at the end of the first trimester, I assume in new episodes next year, we’ll actually see Bow showing in her pregnancy.

I thought the kids, well at least Junior and Zoey, knew about Earl’s cheating ways but their plot were fun, too.

[Driad]

Junior thinks that sticking duct tape over a hole in the wall fixes it?  This family may be glad later if Jack goes into a skilled trade and can actually fix things.

[topanga]

On 11/10/2016 at 9:57 AM, Joimiaroxeu said:

Agree with comments upthread and think this "Diane is evil" stuff has gone too far, especially now that they've got Bow in on it too. The audience needs to be told what that's all about and/or we need to see some indication that Diane's been running a long con on everyone for some silly reason and is just a regular but perhaps extra smart child.

This may be a comedy but I think it's dangerous to paint Black children as inherently bad and who should be feared. Diane has the advantage of a well-to-do family that will probably always be able to protect her but many Black kids don't. We're already seeing how these kinds of negative presumptions are playing out for Black children across the nation. It's gone from excessive school suspensions to actual death. I hope the producers and writers of Black-ish consider this when they're taking Diane's characterization to such an extreme.

I know I'm in the minority, but I don't think Diane is evil or possessed. I think she's more misunderstood than anything else. Yes, she's dry, sarcastic, and not always emotionally compassionate with her siblings or her parents, but neither is Zoe. Or Dre, for that matter.  Diane is quiet and socially awkward, so she usually doesn't talk to people at school unless she's sharing criticism. And her silent stares (which she made even before this episode) would scare some people, as they do Charlie. And that's probably why her teachers are scared. She does well in school even though she doesn't seem to have any friends. But she's never gotten into trouble for fighting, destroying school property, or harming animals. 

Diane scares people because she's always scheming and planning something, usually in her own head, and people never know what to expect from her. I'm sure she sneaks up on people a lot, which is why Bow was startled in the kitchen. And this makes her different from her siblings: Zoe, Junior, and even Jack almost always announce what they're about to do. Diane usually does not. Bow or Dre just happen to catch her in the act of doing something (or right before she does something). 

Yes, she has tried to harm Jack. And she's talked about wanting to harm jack. This is alarming, yes, which is probably why she's in therapy. Maybe she's feeling an extreme level of jealousy and sibling rivalry. But Diane doesn't display other antisocial behavior. (Forget about her behavior at the Purge. Everyone was displaying antisocial behavior at the Purge). 

Who knows? Diane might be somewhere along the autism spectrum. I'm going to fanwank that Diane somehow rigged her own prank at the end--with the rustling of the covers and the lights flashing then turning off when she gave her evil stare. I refuse to believe that Diane is possessed with the Devil. 

[readster]

4 hours ago, Driad said:

Junior thinks that sticking duct tape over a hole in the wall fixes it?  This family may be glad later if Jack goes into a skilled trade and can actually fix things.

Even though Junior realized that everyone in the family has sleeping issues, but never has looked into why. Problem is, Junior when given enough evidence will ask some great questions, but his deduction methods are very, very sad. 

[Dee]

And Diane's siblings are no strangers to dysfunctional behavior.

Zoey spends a good chunk of her time reveling in Junior's misfortune & icily dismissing her mother, Junior gives as good as he gets with Diane and Jack, in his rare moments of clarity, often derides Junior for his perpetual weirdness.

Granted, they're not as extreme as Diane, usually, but they're snarky entitled little brats themselves. They just camoflauge it better through popularity (Zoey), nerdiness (Junior) and/or cuteness (Jack).

[paulvdb]

10 hours ago, meep.meep said:

I couldn't figure out why Pop's older sister appeared to be about 20 years younger than him.

I thought the same thing but according to IMDB Lorraine Toussaint was born in 1960 and Laurence Fishburne was born in 1961 so she really is older.

[LydiaMoon1]

Well, that was boring.  Also, it was a criminal waste of Lorraine Toussaint.

[Inquisitionist]

I found this one nearly unwatchable.  Ugh.

[needschocolate]

6 hours ago, paulvdb said:

I thought the same thing but according to IMDB Lorraine Toussaint was born in 1960 and Laurence Fishburne was born in 1961 so she really is older.

Laurence Fishburne is only 55?  Wow, I would have guessed at least mid 60's.

[megsara]

42 minutes ago, needschocolate said:

Laurence Fishburne is only 55?

They do a good job of aging him up.  Compare this with the last season of Hannibal, especially a particularly epic fight scene and he looks more his age.

[vibeology]

33 minutes ago, needschocolate said:

Laurence Fishburne is only 55?  Wow, I would have guessed at least mid 60's.

He's been playing old his whole career. When he was playing Furious in Boyz n the Hood he was 30. Cuba Gooding Jr. was 23.

Pops, Ruby and AV would all have to be playing older for the timelines to make sense. Otherwise AA and TER would have to be playing younger and I don't see how Bow could be much younger based on medical school, Zoey's age and the current pregnancy plot.

[spaceytraci1208]

1 hour ago, Inquisitionist said:

I found this one nearly unwatchable.  Ugh.

I changed the channel after Dre was curled up in the fetal position after his massage

[ElectricBoogaloo]

I'm sure there are still men who would be uncomfortable getting a massage from a man, but using it as a plot point just reminded me of that Seinfeld episode ("It moved!").

[OnceSane]

The flashbacks were the best parts of the episode, I really liked seeing just how things fell apart for Pops and Ruby (though I knew his cheating played a major role).  And Aunt AV was fun.  I also enjoyed the kids trying to figure out what was going on and Diane thinking Aunt AV was their real grandmother.  But I loved Zoe not bursting the other kids' bubbles once she learned the truth.

[ItCouldBeWorse]

1 hour ago, vibeology said:

2 hours ago, needschocolate said:

Laurence Fishburne is only 55?  Wow, I would have guessed at least mid 60's.

He's been playing old his whole career. When he was playing Furious in Boyz n the Hood he was 30. Cuba Gooding Jr. was 23.

Pops, Ruby and AV would all have to be playing older for the timelines to make sense. Otherwise AA and TER would have to be playing younger and I don't see how Bow could be much younger based on medical school, Zoey's age and the current pregnancy plot.

Anthony Anderson is 46, so it's a combination of Laurence Fishburne's gray hair/facial hair and great acting that makes him appear a generation older.  Jenifer Lewis is 59.

By the way, did anyone notice that Dre had not had his weekly haircut for a while?  No barbershop gossip!

[tennisgurl]

Alright, that was a bit better. The characters actually seemed like characters again, and we weren't forced to watch another "Dianne is evil" plot or a "Stevens is super racist" scene. I actually laughed, and rarely rolled my eyes!

I have to say, Ruby is kind of growing on my. I actually felt for her this episode, and the flashbacks of her and Pops (complete with afro!) were hilarious. Pops cheating is normally kind of played for laughs, but here we actually got some insight into their marriage and their issues. 

I really wish they would let all the kids get into plots together more often. The actors all work together really well.

[topanga]

I just want to clarify in my defense of Diane that I'm glad she's in therapy. I'm not sure how well it's working, but she clearly has problems interacting with others, both at home and school. It doesn't mean there's anything wrong with her, per se, but it's definitely something that should be addressed in childhood. Is she dealing with trauma or abuse that no one knows about? Is she somewhere along the autism spectrum?

My older sister was a lot like Diane as a child--or so my mom tells me. She was mean to her siblings, she was cold and distant with teachers and other kids at school, and she didn't have many friends. But she did well in school and didn't get in trouble for antisocial behavior. So she didn't ring anyone's alarm bells. 

Now, at age 52, my sister remains a bitter, critical, angry woman. She's had relationships, but none long-term. She is easily angered and yells a lot. She doesn't get along with most members of the family. I probably talk to her the most out of the siblings, and while I can ignore most of her rude comments when we talk on the phone, she's not at the top of my list of people I want to spend time with. Sometimes I ask my mother why she was never evaluated during childhood, and my mother says no one took their kids to therapy in 1970s. Not in the South, anyway. And especially not black southerners. 

Like Ruby, people in my family simply called her "evil." Not possessed by the devil, but just a child with a mean, nasty temperament. And people were okay with that. SMH

[SmithW6079]

9 hours ago, Inquisitionist said:

I found this one nearly unwatchable.  Ugh.

 

8 hours ago, spaceytraci1208 said:

I changed the channel after Dre was curled up in the fetal position after his massage

 

8 hours ago, ElectricBoogaloo said:

I'm sure there are still men who would be uncomfortable getting a massage from a man, but using it as a plot point just reminded me of that Seinfeld episode ("It moved!").

I found Dre's gay panic to be repulsive. Yet another example of his childish, disgusting attitude that we're supposed to forgive and overlook.

[DearEvette]

I don't necessarily think Dre's discomfort can be completely chalked up to the masseur being a man, I do think that comprises a small element of it, but not the whole of it.  One of the very first things we ever learned about Dre was that he is very repressed when it comes to physicality, sex  and his body. 

In The Talk episode we learn that Dre wears shoes in the house and a tee-shirt at the pool (he never goes shirtless).  There is that one scene where Dre comes out the shower wearing a big ass towel rucked around his body up to his armpits, like a woman would wear.  Then the camera pans over to Bow who is very free with her body and she is wearing her towel loosely around her waist like a man would normally wear, her torso is completely bare.  It was  great sight gag and set up their characters amazingly right in the second episode.

For someone like that, with his upbringing,  a massage in a fancy spa would be so far out of his comfort zone as to be like it landed on the moon.  Add the fact that Dre is really a man-chld who over-reacts to literally everything, this is the result.

[Sile]

On 11/10/2016 at 8:41 AM, Arcadiasw said:

I applauded Pops when he called out Dre on not knowing blue collar work but thinks he’s better than blue collar people because he has a degree and a well-paying job. It’s really an insult to think blue collar is beneath white collar. True white collar people can make more than blue collar but there are blue collar people that have their own businesses and make a good living.  These same blue collar people can make a killing overcharging white collar people who don’t know how to do the jobs they are paying blue collar to do.

 

This episode reminded of the time Frasier and Niles tried to fix a toilet leak and ended up fubaring it so badly they had to pay two plumbers golden time to repair their mess.  Come to find out, they were old classmates and, when Niles tried to brag on his superiority to John C. McGinley about his new Mercedes, he found out that Mr. Plumber also a Mercedes, but his was (in Niles' words) "oooh, that's the...big one!"

My new all-time favorite Black-ish line is now "My blue collar job put your black ass through college".  You tell 'em, Pops!

[OnceSane]

1 hour ago, DearEvette said:

For someone like that, with his upbringing,  a massage in a fancy spa would be so far out of his comfort zone as to be like it landed on the moon.  Add the fact that Dre is really a man-chld who over-reacts to literally everything, this is the result.

I'd agree with this if he wasn't just fine with the idea when he thought a woman would be his masseuse.

[SmithW6079]

2 hours ago, OnceSane said:

I'd agree with this if he wasn't just fine with the idea when he thought a woman would be his masseuse.

And even titillated that it would be a lady massaging his wife.

Did they say why he couldn't have a masseuse and Bow a masseur?

Edited November 19, 2016 by SmithW6079

[ExplainItAgain]

Did not enjoy this episode - the acting seemed really off for some reason.

[xander874]

Count me in as being surprised that Lorraine Toussant is actually older than Fishburne. I was put off for a second when she called him baby brother, but alas it was true.

And also count me in being annoyed by the male masseuse thing. That was stupid. He's not gonna grab your junk!

And finally, when Bow came out of the bathroom and leaned against the wall, she looked so much like her mom. The hair and the satiny outfit made me finally see the resemblance!

[Black Knight]

On 11/18/2016 at 10:15 PM, SmithW6079 said:

And even titillated that it would be a lady massaging his wife.

Did they say why he couldn't have a masseuse and Bow a masseur?

Dre didn't want a man massaging Bow. Bow got irritated by that and said that then she should feel the same about him having a woman give him a massage. So it was a "Fine, if you insist on me having a masseuse, then I'm going to insist that you have a masseur" thing. She may have thought Dre would back down and then they could both have who they wanted, but of course that's not Dre.

[GHScorpiosRule]

❤️❤️❤️??Shambala Green!!!!!!!❤️❤️❤️??

Ahem.

Sorry, Lorraine Touisant will always be the awesome and passionate Public Defender Shambala Green  from mothership Law & Order for me. I will always be disappointed that her character and Anderson's detective never appeared together.

Of course the best parts were with Pops, Ruby and AV.

I literally ???when the show tried to tell me that Junior actually thinks the ? landing was a hoax. What's next? Apollo 13 never happened? President Johnson was behind JFK's assassination?

[readster]

2 hours ago, GHScorpiosRule said:

❤️❤️❤️??Shambala Green!!!!!!!❤️❤️❤️??

Ahem.

Sorry, Lorraine Touisant will always be the awesome and passionate Public Defender Shambala Green  from mothership Law & Order for me. I will always be disappointed that her character and Anderson's detective never appeared together.

Of course the best parts were with Pops, Ruby and AV.

I literally ???when the show tried to tell me that Junior actually thinks the ? landing was a hoax. What's next? Apollo 13 never happened? President Johnson was behind JFK's assassination?

Sometimes I think the writers but debunked or current conspiracy theories in a hat and then pull them out and go from there. Even when they are ones that would not be something Junior would even care about or along the lines of: "This happened before I was even born, who cares." Similar to Diane is "evil" and go to very illogical ways to enforce it. 

[SmithW6079]

On 11/12/2016 at 11:22 PM, SanDiegoInExile said:

They created the pregnancy because it will give Dre another couple dozen topics to pontificate about during Seasons 4 and 5.  

You mean topics that will threaten whatever thing is fragile to his ego this week so we can see him overreact, act like a petulant man child and lash out, and "learn" a lesson that will be forgotten next time.

[jhlipton]

On 11/18/2016 at 7:52 PM, SmithW6079 said:

I found Dre's gay panic to be repulsive. Yet another example of his childish, disgusting attitude that we're supposed to forgive and overlook.

On 11/18/2016 at 10:33 PM, OnceSane said:

I'd agree with this if he wasn't just fine with the idea when he thought a woman would be his masseuse.

Totes agree.  The gay panic totally ruined the get-away.  If Baby-Dre couldn't handle getting touched by a man (ewww, cooties), he could have sat in the lobby while Bow got hers.  But, no, he's too damned self-centered for that.

 

On 11/24/2016 at 9:25 AM, GHScorpiosRule said:

President Johnson was behind JFK's assassination?

Gee, duh.  I thought everyone knew that!

[OnceSane]

Quote

Bow urges Dre to use his connections and secure Zoey a fellowship, but he doesn’t want his daughter relying on nepotism. When Bow finds Zoey a place at the hospital, Dre balks at the idea and successfully pulls some strings at Teen Vogue. Meanwhile, Junior loses his first job at an arcade pizza joint that the twins love after he reports their unclean practices to corporate, and they shut it down.

[Unclejosh]

The blue-collar/white collar discussion reminded me of something that happened within my group of friends back in the early 90's.  A very attractive female cousin of one of the female members of our group was hanging out with us on one of our weekly drinking get together.  Somehow the discussion turned to dating and we were joking that she should date one of the guys in our group.  Now bear in mind that we had all been friends since high school so they both knew each other at least in passing.  She got all offended and said she only dated White Collar Guys.  Now my friend was an accountant in a management position at his family's accounting firm plus was a millionaire (on paper) due to multiple real estate holdings that he owned and rented out to various businesses. There was literally an hours long argument that his job was white collar and she refused to believe it.  

She ended up marrying a soccer coach a few years later.

This episode reminded me of the issues some people have with white collar vs blue collar jobs and why it is all so stupid.

[Unclejosh]

On 11/10/2016 at 10:41 AM, Arcadiasw said:

As a woman, I appreciate a man who can fix things and when something small breaks or stop working, his first instinct isn’t to call a guy. His initial thoughts are, “I know what to do.”

Question which I hope does not offend as I am genuinely curious and not trying to make a point or cause any issues, however I am a man who is generally not handy and would rather call a guy to do most things.  Even things I may know how to do and this statement stood out to me because it is the equivalent of the following if you change the gender roles and it bothered me.  I have gotten into arguments with my friends because my now ex-wife would do yard work or clean the gutters or shovel the driveway, whatever tasks some people traditionally consider "man/husband" work.  I was also a stay at home dad for years.   I grew up in a home with 4 females and no males and they did everything or called someone to do the things they didn't want to do like shovel the driveway on big snowstorms or do the lawn at times.  Don't get me wrong, we all did that stuff too but sometimes it was easier to pay someone to do it.

"As a man, I appreciate a woman who can cook and when we are out of food, her first instinct isn't to order takeout.  Her initial thoughts are "I know how to do stuff in the kitchen"

Maybe I am just being overly sensitive due to my own personal experiences in being called "not a real man" because I didn't do yard work (other than mowing the lawn as I enjoyed that) or was handy around the house.

[Arcadiasw]

1 hour ago, Unclejosh said:

Question which I hope does not offend as I am genuinely curious and not trying to make a point or cause any issues, however I am a man who is generally not handy and would rather call a guy to do most things.  Even things I may know how to do and this statement stood out to me because it is the equivalent of the following if you change the gender roles and it bothered me.  I have gotten into arguments with my friends because my now ex-wife would do yard work or clean the gutters or shovel the driveway, whatever tasks some people traditionally consider "man/husband" work.  I was also a stay at home dad for years.   I grew up in a home with 4 females and no males and they did everything or called someone to do the things they didn't want to do like shovel the driveway on big snowstorms or do the lawn at times.  Don't get me wrong, we all did that stuff too but sometimes it was easier to pay someone to do it.

"As a man, I appreciate a woman who can cook and when we are out of food, her first instinct isn't to order takeout.  Her initial thoughts are "I know how to do stuff in the kitchen"

Maybe I am just being overly sensitive due to my own personal experiences in being called "not a real man" because I didn't do yard work (other than mowing the lawn as I enjoyed that) or was handy around the house.

I get what you’re saying about gender roles but my comment on appreciating a man who can fix things stems from me not always wanting to do everything myself and not wanting to pay someone else to do the work. If there’s something we can do, I rather we do it ourselves than pay someone else. That extra money saved can go to savings, vacations, gifts, etc.

I have no problem with anyone paying someone to do work for them like Bo and Dre do. My problem was Bo and Dre’s snootiness that their white collar jobs makes them better than people who do blue collar work and if Jack chooses a blue collar profession, that’s going backwards.

[Quickbeam]

I just loved this ep. Beau Bridges, bringing it home. 

[msani19]

I really enjoyed this episode. So many hilarious lines! I could have lived without the beyond obvious Microsoft Surface commercial - they certainly got their money's worth with that buy.

What I enjoyed:

• Ruby harassing Bow's brother. His line about he wasn't sure that it wasn't going to happen - loved
• Diane's line "Fine, delta airlines" in response to Zoe only having $62 to redo their room. Sorry Jack, no American Airlines lounge design for you.
• Jack saying "that's what the J is for"! That kid
• Every phrase Charlie used to describe his "talent" with white women - the John Mayer tickets! But not Dave Matthews tickets, because that woman is too white! Dead!
• Dre saying Bow's brother had bangs..."these are tendrils"! Shut up! Too funny! Then he closes by calling him Corbin Bleu. I fell over.
• Bow’s voice over about the struggle of being bi-racial in America and her conversation with her Dad. That was really well done.
• Wanda Sykes didn’t bother me as much this episode, so that’s a win!
• I have a jet!
• What’s French for stab victim!

[Dee]

Diane celebrating being removed from the "No Fly" list had me HOWLING.

Edited December 1, 2016 by Dee

[Dee]

Also, more of Daveed Diggs in clingy yoga pants please. For reasons.

[Tiger]

This episode was everything I want this show to be every week.  

[Aileen]

I thought this was the strongest episode of the season. 

[greekmom]

Wonderful episode. Just was wondering where was Bow's mom when Bow and Dad were having the conversation?

Best one liners of the season so far.

Dre acting all "British proper" when the Microsoft woman was around. 

[Deanie87]

This was a great episode, and I am so happy that I am enjoying the show so much again.  For awhile there, I felt that the show was falling into the sitcom trap where they take a character quirk and ramp it up to 11 to the point where it isn't funny anymore (Diane's ruthlessness, Ruby's obnoxiousness, Dre's cluelessness), but everyone was in character here, but not too much so.  That kind of nonsense has ruined a lot of sitcoms for me (Modern Family, Will and Grace and I'm afraid to say that You're the Worst may be headed in that direction as well.)  So I'm glad to see Black-ish reign it in because I love this show.

Also, John Mayer?  Really?!?  C'mon man, that's low.

[monakane]

"The White Walker, Snow J Pimpson , Anglo-Saxon Jackson, John Mayer but not Dave Matthews"   Charlie, please don't ever leave us again!

I loved this episode especially Bow's talk with her father.

[DearEvette]

This one had me laughing right out the gate!  What a good one.  Poor Jack and his 'C'

They let Steven go back to just being a clueless rich white privileged guy and not a frothing racist.  His 'You know how I get women, I say that's my jet' was perfect.  This Stevens is the one we like, not that other guy.

Charlie, of course is the MVP.  Snow J. Pimpson!  Ha!

When Bow saw Megan for the first time and the Ironside theme played and everything went into slo-motion I cracked up because it reminded me of the movie Kill Bill. Everytime the Bride (Uma Thurman) saw one of her enemies she went into a red-fugue state with the Ironside theme.