Season 3 Discussion

[vibeology]

I was cheering when Dre finally gave in and embraced nepotism. In some ways it's a problem, but if everyone else is benefitting from it no point in keeping your own family back so they can put in the work. And there are two sides to nepotism. In part, it's networking. Dre helped connect Zoey and Teen Vogue and she is going to end up as useful to them as they will be to her. Zoey might have gotten help getting her foot in the door but she'll do the work and excel on her own merits. Stevens and his son are something different. The son being there has nothing to do with talent or what he can offer the company. That's the insidious side of nepotism. Dre will never run the company because his boss will always favour the son.

Still, Dre is awful and the way he acted once he got Zoey the internship was horrible. There's making Dre flawed but this season especially, he's just been awful and that's not fun to watch.

[lallalla]

Is Bow even pregnant???!!!

What?!

Dre is very often over the top, this episode was on the less so episodes, in my opinion, the season opener was an example of his over-the-topness.

[Tara Ariano]

14 hours ago, Runningwild said:

Lasted all of 15 seconds. The Bushes and the Mannings are not definitions of nepotism.

lol yeah the Bush sons definitely earned everything they had totally on their own and without any benefit from their father's having been PRESIDENT.

[monakane]

33 minutes ago, lallalla said:

Is Bow even pregnant???!!!

What?!

Dre is very often over the top, this episode was on the less so episodes, in my opinion, the season opener was an example of his over-the-topness.

I'm glad they acknowledged Dre's behavior when Bow added living with a "man baby" as part of her stress.  I'm guessing they'll have the baby being born as the season finale because no sitcom has every done that before.  Yawn.

Edited December 8, 2016 by monakane

[tominboston]

29 minutes ago, lallalla said:

Is Bow even pregnant???!!!

 

Really, it's looking like they have just let the pregnancy story line go away. That's fine with me. I don't see how a baby would add anything useful to the family dynamic.

Speaking of which, I loved Dre's talk with Zoey at the end. Yes, he's often over the top, but he clearly loves his sometimes headstrong kids and wants the best for them.

[lallalla]

1 minute ago, tominboston said:

Really, it's looking like they have just let the pregnancy story line go away. That's fine with me. I don't see how a baby would add anything useful to the family dynamic.

Speaking of which, I loved Dre's talk with Zoey at the end. Yes, he's often over the top, but he clearly loves his sometimes headstrong kids and wants the best for them.

Yes, I was one saying last season I didn't see how it added to the story, so if they tossed it away, I'm fine with that.

I did love his talk with her at the end. :-) <3

[Madding crowd]

This was a so-so episode for me. It bugs me that Bow's pregnancy isn't talked about or shown. I cant imagine a show saying someone is pregnant and then forgetting about it. Usually when a sitcom character is pregnant, that is all you hear about (morning sickness, mood swings, weird cravings). As usual for me, Charlie stole the show with his age comment (I'm somewhere between 39 and 72). I do think Dre wants the best for his kids, but he would be exhausting to br around. 

Edited December 8, 2016 by Madding crowd

[shura]

2 hours ago, vibeology said:

Still, Dre is awful and the way he acted once he got Zoey the internship was horrible.

Yes, what was up with that? Why was he insisting that she be treated as the lowest of the low? Because that would ensure somehow that she'd earn whatever she was going to achieve at this internship? 

What was the thing Stevens' son was wearing on his head when he was taking a nap at the desk? It looked like something specifically designed for the activity (so to speak) - it even had built-in muffs! Is that something real?

[Dee]

It helps that Zoey is Andre's favorite.

Prior to this episode, I would've said Rainbow would've reacted the same way with Junior, but after the backhanded slams about Pizza Possum and her drive-by later, who knows now.

[tennisgurl]

Bow was right. Dre really is a big man baby. I can see him wanting Zoe to work for what she gets, but that isn't how that always works! Getting her foot in is alright, as long as she works hard and does well in the job itself. And Zoe has never been stupid or incompetent, shes just dis motivated and a bit spoiled. She isn't Haley on Modern Family. Telling people to treat her like crap and saying how much she sucks to her bosses face isn't the best way to handlel things. Dre seriously overthinks everything, the guy needs to do yoga or get a hobby. 

The Junior plot was hilarious though, and it was nice to see Dianne acting like a kid, and not the spawn of Satan. Johan was annoying when he first showed up, but now I think he is hilarious. I really liked his plot here, he was used really well. Poor Junior. I have no idea why, but Junior in the mirror with that scary looking guy in a possum mask glaring at him in the background made me lose it. 

[Dee]

The irony is that Dre was acting the same way toward Zoey's internship as Earl acted toward Andre's career a few of weeks ago.

[Driad]

Zoey was rude to her mother. I don't see why her parents scrambled around to get an internship that they said she should have found on her own. OK, she didn't want to work at the hospital, but when Dre got her the job she did want, what would it have cost her to thank her mother instead of saying how gross it was? Brat.

[Michel]

58 minutes ago, Dee said:

Prior to this episode, I would've said Rainbow would've reacted the same way with Junior, but after the backhanded slams about Pizza Possum and her drive-by later, who knows now.

I really hope Junior is not on the road to becoming like Alex from Modern Family -- being the family punching bag despite having done little to nothing to deserve it.  That would absolutely suck if they are taking him in that direction.

Edited December 8, 2016 by Michel

[Primetimer]

But...Bow didn't go out in that romper, did she?

View the full article

[Joimiaroxeu]

The writer(s) of this episode probably need to look up the word "nepotism" in a dictionary. Nepotism isn't simply helping your relative get a job, even if the job is in the same place or field where you work. It's actually hiring them in a job you have authority over. That wasn't the case for either Dre or Bow wrt Zoe even though Dre seemed to think it was. What they were getting into was the legacies thing where your heirs or relatives get brought in by virtue of your having been there before. There's also cronyism, mutual back-scratching, and plain old social or professional networking. They confused several issues seemingly just to make the point about Dre's boss' useless son.

When Junior's coworker was licking those candles...ugh.

[Pamela]

1 hour ago, shura said:

What was the thing Stevens' son was wearing on his head when he was taking a nap at the desk? It looked like something specifically designed for the activity (so to speak) - it even had built-in muffs! Is that something real?

Oh, it's real.

[Bronzedog]

Every Christmas I give my niece the most ridiculous item I can find along with a decent present.  This year I considered buying one of those power nap head pillows but it's way too expensive for a gag gift, but, to me it fell into my "why is this a thing?" Gift criteria.  

[Traveller519]

2 hours ago, Tara Ariano said:

lol yeah the Bush sons definitely earned everything they had totally on their own and without any benefit from their father's having been PRESIDENT.

But they weren't appointed to the position of Governor is their respective states, or President in Bush 43's case, they still had to be elected. They absolutely traded on their family name. The positions they were appointed to were campaign roles on Bush senior's campaigns, which is standard practice for just about anyone running a campaign with adult children. Runningwild's point is that it's not a big role of nepotism the way someone like Donald Trump is has run his business.

After last week's excellent Bow-centered episode this one felt like a let down. The return to petty Dre in the central role just served to remind us how good it can be when they use him as comic relief to the Bow plot.

[shura]

1 hour ago, Pamela said:

Oh, it's real.

Then it was brilliant. This is how you do product placement!

[Arcadiasw]

4 hours ago, monakane said:

I loved the picture of Charlie with Nixon.  Who knew Charlie is 72 years old?  This episode was definitely a let down after last week's stellar episode.

As they say, black don't crack. I like the Quantum Leap theme playing even though Charlie didn't leap through time and actually lived it. 

38 minutes ago, Joimiaroxeu said:

The writer(s) of this episode probably need to look up the word "nepotism" in a dictionary. Nepotism isn't simply helping your relative get a job, even if the job is in the same place or field where you work. It's actually hiring them in a job you have authority over. That wasn't the case for either Dre or Bow wrt Zoe even though Dre seemed to think it was. What they were getting into was the legacies thing where your heirs or relatives get brought in by virtue of your having been there before. There's also cronyism, mutual back-scratching, and plain old social or professional networking. They confused several issues seemingly just to make the point about Dre's boss' useless son.

As someone mention JFK and RFK fits the definition of nepotism and despite the law against nepotism we might see this in the next administration. Sometimes I think writers just spit stuff out and not expect us to question it. With the exception of the Junior story, this episode was a major setback from last week. The show is slowly becoming a caricature of itself.

When Bo told Dre she has four children and a man baby, I thought, "What about the kid you're carrying?" At this point, I'll believe Bo is pregnant when I see her go into labor.

Bo acted liked Dre in her bullying towards Junior working at Pizza Possum. Is Johan even looking for work?

[peeayebee]

I loved all of Junior's story... well, except for his uncle. I still don't think he fits in very well.

Charlie is the best. He looked so bizarre as he "danced" with his earbuds on.

[gesundheit]

Didn't they just do a whole story arc about her pregnancy 3 episodes ago? When she and Dre were at the hotel and she was going through all these pregnancy milestones for the last time?

I, too, wouldn't mind if they dropped the pregnancy, but they haven't done so and in the meantime I find it refreshing that it's not a driving throughline of every Bow plot.

[Arcadiasw]

3 hours ago, gesundheit said:

I, too, wouldn't mind if they dropped the pregnancy, but they haven't done so and in the meantime I find it refreshing that it's not a driving throughline of every Bow plot.

I like that too and would prefer it that way as long as they acknowledge the obvious when a woman is pregnant: an expanding waistline.

[TeapotWakeen]

I have a question about Zoe's hairstyles -- they changed a lot in each scene, complicated braids, twists, up-dos, etc. Um, wouldn't some of those styles be hours and hours at a salon to achieve? (and lots of $?)  Yeah, I get that some of the scenes were a week apart in the plot, but would a fashion-conscious teenaged girl be able to do those hairstyles on herself? or spend hours in a chair getting them done? could a talented friend do those? I really liked the safety-pin-decorated one.

I'm fascinated with braids, not being able to do a french braid on myself despite multiple YouTube videos watched. I managed a fishtail braid. Kinda. But taking it out SUCKED.

[Runningwild]

11 hours ago, Tara Ariano said:

lol yeah the Bush sons definitely earned everything they had totally on their own and without any benefit from their father's having been PRESIDENT.

The Bushes never appointed their relatives to any position. Neither did the Mannings. 

[charmed1]

7 hours ago, TeapotWakeen said:

I have a question about Zoe's hairstyles -- they changed a lot in each scene, complicated braids, twists, up-dos, etc. Um, wouldn't some of those styles be hours and hours at a salon to achieve? (and lots of $?)  Yeah, I get that some of the scenes were a week apart in the plot, but would a fashion-conscious teenaged girl be able to do those hairstyles on herself? or spend hours in a chair getting them done? could a talented friend do those? I really liked the safety-pin-decorated one.

I'm fascinated with braids, not being able to do a french braid on myself despite multiple YouTube videos watched. I managed a fishtail braid. Kinda. But taking it out SUCKED.

The safety pin thing was different, but Zoey had her hair out in one scene and cornrowed in about 3 or 4 braids in the other. Depending on how good one's skills are, those styles aren't really complicated or labor intensive. Back before the popularity of natural and African braiding salons, every black family always had at least one cousin or niece we would go to, to braid our hair. I spent many a day on the porch between my older cousin's knees,  holding up that pyramid shaped jar of ultra sheen. Now, my younger cousin does it for the family and she changes up her own hair frequently. Zoey (or Bow or Ruby) is probably the hair subject matter expert for their family. (I remember Marcus Scribner shouting out the real hair stylist on blackish, but I forget her name) The only member of the Johnson family whose hair would've taken hours, is Diane, who had box braids this week.

Edited December 9, 2016 by charmed1

[ElectricBoogaloo]

In theory, I totally get what Dre was saying about nepotism because he wants Zoe to work for what she wants. That is totally reasonable. If he had brought Zoe to his office and created an internship position just for her, that would not be cool. But finding an internship opportunity at a different company isn't nepotism. That's just good old fashioned networking.

He did have a point about having Zoe try to find an internship on her own though. If she needs an internship to make her college application look better, then why isn't SHE looking for one? She lives in Los Angeles which is home to so many companies that deal with fashion that she could have easily found one if she had just made the slightest bit of effort.

And what was with Bow's intern position at the hospital for Zoe? Is that what they're calling candy stripers/volunteers these days? Most hospitals have volunteer programs so Bow shouldn't have had to ask some other surgeon to create this intern position for Zoe.

I know it's tv so they had to give Zoe the opportunity to be fabulous at her internship to prove Dre wrong, but I remember the boring/menial tasks that Lauren and Whitney did as Teen Vogue interns on The Hills.

Hee, I loved Charlie and his nebulous age. The photos were hilarious!

Poor Junior - he did the right thing and his family hated him for it. Diane's rationalization that you don't expect a pizza place to be clean was just nuts. No, girl. You shouldn't have to wonder if someone has sucked on your fries or birthday candles!

[TeapotWakeen]

thank you, charmed1.  I forgot about Ruby. I knew Bow wouldn't have had time to help Zoe change her hair so much. I did love Diane's hair this week, too. Yes, I spent too much time thinking about this, LOL.

[attica]

11 hours ago, Runningwild said:

The Bushes never appointed their relatives to any position.

Well, you know, except for the whole Air National Guard thing. But not for nothing, defining nepotism so narrowly fails to account for its generally accepted colloquial meaning, 'looking out for one's one.' And that includes accepting favors from people who want to curry favor with your dad, like all the investors W rounded up to buy the Texas Rangers, for just one example.

I really want Diane's glitter booties.  

[Tiger]

Aside from Diane wanting to buy brass knuckles with her Chuck E. Cheese tickets, and Bow's interactions with that other doctor, this episode was awful.  

Whereas whoever wrote last week should be put in charge of the show, whoever wrote this week should be fired. 

ETA: I wonder if Yara is as tired of the 'Zoey is dumb/lazy, her future is in jeopardy, oh wait she's great at fashion' stories as I am.  This is at least the 5th or 6th time they've done this story and we're not even midway thru third season.  

Edited December 10, 2016 by Tiger

[Mrs OldManBalls]

Loved Junior's terror at his uncle almost eating the chopped salad. 

[kat165]

Besides Charlie, the best part of this ep for me was NO RUBY!!!

[jhlipton]

On 11/30/2016 at 10:33 PM, msani19 said:

Dre saying Bow's brother had bangs..."these are tendrils"! Shut up! Too funny!

Those "tendrils" are a plot-point in the book that won the Hugo this year, Binti (great book, BTW)

On 12/1/2016 at 10:47 PM, mtlchick said:

Especially since we've seen the family hooked on their Apple products.

The family may love the Apple but the ad agency will work for whoever pays the bills.

Product Placement is here to stay.  At least her the context makes sense.

On 12/2/2016 at 4:02 PM, megsara said:

[M]aybe that was some subtle twist on the “magical Negro” trope? 

My next band is going to be called "The Magical Crackers"!

[shksabelle]

a head full of safety pins.  Really???  I like this show and characters very much but, please, keep your personal politics out of it

Edited December 11, 2016 by shksabelle
edited because i omitted a word

[TeapotWakeen]

4 hours ago, shksabelle said:

a head full of safety pins.  Really???  I like this show and characters very much but, please, keep your personal politics out of it

I mentally went through the timing of that, and I think it's a fashion statement/coincidence, not a political statement. These episodes have to have been taped before the election. Unless you mean Brexit, and that's probably not the reference either.

[peeayebee]

12 hours ago, shksabelle said:

a head full of safety pins.  Really???  I like this show and characters very much but, please, keep your personal politics out of it

I didn't even think of that! But like TeapotWakeen said, the ep was probably done a while ago. Maybe.

[attica]

When I saw the safety pins, my first thought was to this photo of trendy-teen Willow Smith in a pose for W magazine last summer, which is, as the fashion mags say, is on brand for Zoey.

[Nordly Beaumont]

2 hours ago, attica said:

When I saw the safety pins, my first thought was to this photo of trendy-teen Willow Smith in a pose for W magazine last summer, which is, as the fashion mags say, is on brand for Zoey.

I thought of Willow as well. Also Kelly Osbourne used safety pins in her hair a couple years ago. 

[Irlandesa]

On 12/8/2016 at 3:21 PM, gesundheit said:

Didn't they just do a whole story arc about her pregnancy 3 episodes ago? When she and Dre were at the hotel and she was going through all these pregnancy milestones for the last time?l

They did.  As for why they're not showing the pregnancy,  I remember reading something last season after the reveal that said this season wasn't going to be Bow's baby bump season which gave me the impression we weren't going to see it.   I'm fine with that, if pregnancy and baby stories don't add much, then the less they focus on it, the better.  Heck, it's even nice to see a pregnant woman's life so little about the pregnancy .   By baby 5, that might be more realistic .   I don't need to see a baby bump until the birth ep.

[ElectricBoogaloo]

Re: the safety pins - I'm pretty sure that this episode was filmed before the election, but even if that's not true, "keep your personal politics out of it"? That seems counter to a show that has done episodes about issues like being biracial, the N word, black Republicans, gun control, white cops killing black teenagers, and Obama. 

[kat165]

I am not political at all (frankly, it makes me ill). I don't get the significence of the safety pins in relation to the recent election results. Can someone clue me in? Thank you!

[Pollock]

9 minutes ago, kat165 said:

I am not political at all (frankly, it makes me ill). I don't get the significence of the safety pins in relation to the recent election results. Can someone clue me in? Thank you!

http://www.nytimes.com/2016/11/14/fashion/safety-pin-ally-activism.html
After the election and to react the behavior of some Trump supporters, bullying, insulting, molesting People "different than them" (the specter is so broad : women, POC, Muslims, migrants, LGBT, known Clinton supporters... sometimes hitting the jackpot with all of the above...), or just tagging churches with swastikas or letting racists messages on dorm's doors spreading fear in the hearts and minds of those targeted populations... some adopted the safety pin as a sign for the minorities to know that they were in presence of people safe for them to be with or to whom they could ask for help if needed, in case a real life remake of The Purge was coming. A little bit like the red ruban against AIDS but against hate,

I think It was abandonned quickly, if I'm not mistaken because there was rumors (I didn't verify them, I'm just reporting it) that some winners at life decided to put those on too to create a false sense of safety and wanted to use it to lure people into a beating. The movement didn't get as big as some hoped because of that (again, I could be wrong about that, I didn't go in depth with it). 

I truly think that episode was filmed before that so my brain didn't even make the connexion with it but this show is very political anyway, I don't see how it couldn't be with the central theme of dealing with being Black in America in 2016. Trump's election is an event, whatever you want to think about it, dodging it in the context of the show seems oddly harder to do than forget Bow's pregnancy! 

[mansonlamps]

 Wow, so "people different than them" is who exactly? Male KKK members?  Seems like a teeny minority, ironically.

[Irlandesa]

7 hours ago, Pollock said:

I truly think that episode was filmed before that so my brain didn't even make the connexion with it but this show is very political anyway, I don't see how it couldn't be with the central theme of dealing with being Black in America in 2016.

Right. I don't think it had anything to do with her fashion choices because later she had some kind of gray thingies in her hair. I think she was just trying different looks because of where she was working. 

While safety pins can represent a protest of the results, like you said, they have much broader implications.  Wanting to convey that women, LGBT people, and various religious and racial minorities are worthy of feeling emotional and physical safety in a time that they've been targeted isn't politics. It's humanity. Blackish can be a silly comedy but it doesn't shy away from social issues.

Edited December 13, 2016 by Irlandesa

[kat165]

Thank you, Pollack, for taking the time to explain & for the links. And also for not
coming down on me for my unawareness.

[jhlipton]

On 12/8/2016 at 0:29 PM, Michel said:

I really hope Junior is not on the road to becoming like Alex from Modern Family -- being the family punching bag despite having done little to nothing to deserve it. 

He's been the family punching bag pretty much since the show started.

On 12/8/2016 at 2:19 PM, shura said:

Then it was brilliant. This is how you do product placement!

I don't usually care for the word "synergy" but that's really what this episode and Teen Vogue had.

[Tara Ariano]

In case you missed it, here's the Previously.TV post on the episode!

Zoey's Teen Vogue Internship Makes For Some Exceptionally Memorable Looks On Black-ish

But...Bow didn't go out in that romper, did she?

[Mama No Life]

Too much.

I love that Dre wants to bond with Zoe, but crossed too many lines with Junior tonight just to be funny.  And it wasn't.

The only time I laughed was when Jack wondered if the unopened box was a trampoline, and Diane witheringly answered, "without seeing it, it's not." 

[Arcadiasw]

Finally, we have a Bo pregnancy sighting! But boy was she a snob to Gigi's methods of parenting. No wonder Gigi was so reluctant to confess to Bo how hard it is for her to be a Mom.

I don’t know why they make Dre so incompetent at times. You always light the tree first before putting gifts under it. I've seen holiday scenarios where the gifts are burned but I felt underwhelm by this version. However, Dre hiding food around the house was funny until the bathroom scene with Bo.

Johan is definitely that relative you don’t want around during the holidays. Other than the Bo-racial episode, I'm still trying to warm up to him.

[monakane]

3 hours ago, Mama No Life said:

Too much.

I love that Dre wants to bond with Zoe, but crossed too many lines with Junior tonight just to be funny.  And it wasn't.

The only time I laughed was when Jack wondered if the unopened box was a trampoline, and Diane witheringly answered, "without seeing it, it's not." 

I hate the way Dre treats Junior.  I know it's played to be humorous, but it comes off abusive.  They need to tone down Dre.  They're making him unlikeable.

Pops and Ruby were pure gold.