Season 3 Discussion

[LydiaMoon1]

3 hours ago, DearEvette said:

Lucy actually voting for him because Hilary wasn't the first woman she wanted to be President didn't make a lot of sense though.  When she put it in context with Barack being the right first black president and questioning whether black people would have actually voted for any black candidate that part made sense.  But her actually voting for him as protest didn't.  It would have been smarter for her to not have voted at all, which most people I know who felt the same way did.

See, I understood Lucy's position.  Maybe that's because I talk to Trump voters all the time.  How can I not?  I live in the rural South. They're all around me.  Lucy is the type of person who voted for Obama because she wanted things to change, and for her it didn't.  Now she's disillusioned, but she still wants change. Hillary only promised more of the same.  So, she rolled the dice and voted for the Orange One.  Now, do I think that was a good gamble?  No, but disaffected people like Lucy thought otherwise.  It didn't help that establishment democrats massively underestimated how deeply people on the Right and the Left despise the Clintons.

Edited January 13, 2017 by LydiaMoon1

[shura]

3 hours ago, Trace said:

I watch(ed) this show to be entertained, not to be preached at. It's called at Situation COMEDY for a reason.  Since they obviously don't care about the people in their audience that don't necessarily agree with their dogma, why should we continue to watch. In fact, all of Hollywood has pissed me and a huge majority of people I know the hell OFF.  They all need to get a serious grip!!!

The episode was about how people who don't like and are afraid of the election outcome need to find a way to live with it, peacefully and trying to understand the other side. Where's the dogma that you don't like?

[buckboard]

6 hours ago, LydiaMoon1 said:

Lucy is the type of person who voted for Obama because she wanted things to change, and for her it didn't.  Now she's disillusioned, but she still wants change. Hillary only promised more of the same.

Actually, if you were paying attention, Hillary didn't promise more of the same.  She presented a plan for free college or retraining coal miners for other jobs or fixing some of the problem areas in ACA.  Trump promised to kill Obamacare, keep coal miners digging in non-existent mines and making people pull themselves up by their bootstraps without any government help.
   
As for Dre and Bow not caring about people  with less income because they are upper middle class and never taking action to improve Black lives, first, as has been said, Dre remembers growing up poor and his father and mother remind him all the time and they've marched and protested a number of times.  Secondly, since when do you have to be poor or an immigrant or uninsureable  (because of a pre-existing condition) or Black or whatever to understand that we supposedly live in a country where all people should be treated equally, even if you yourself are not a member of that particular group.  

I LOVE it when the show addresses serious issues.  So few do.  Doesn't mean there is no humor involved.

[Cosmic Muffin]

I thought this was very well done, and I appreciated the balance between dealing with real issues and humor. I liked LATEEN-OHS too.

[mtlchick]

8 hours ago, Trace said:

I watch(ed) this show to be entertained, not to be preached at. It's called at Situation COMEDY for a reason.  Since they obviously don't care about the people in their audience that don't necessarily agree with their dogma, why should we continue to watch. In fact, all of Hollywood has pissed me and a huge majority of people I know the hell OFF.  They all need to get a serious grip!!!

I was too young when All In The Family came on the air, but with recent channel changes with my subscription, I can now view it.  Recently I saw the episode where Edith almost got raped and the after math.  It was heart breaking, terrifying AND still managed to find humour.  Which is why I wrote earlier that most scripted shows (at least on broadcast TV) are not doing that anymore, and you get your political and topical humour on more non traditional outlets.  What's so bad about a scripted show tackling a subject that for the most part, is dividing people in a social media world?

[OnceSane]

Keep it to the show; snarking your fellow posters is not okay.

[nicepebbles]

Just saw the episode and I just can't with Lucy. I'm donew with her. I loved her character and always felt so bad for her. And I wanted her to come back. She go away again. I just can't get behind her reasoning. I've read article after article after article and my mind just doesn't accept the why any reason for voting for Darth Cheeto. Most of the reason has to do with what Dre said. I forget who linked the Charles Blow piece. Thank you and it was spot on.

I loved the interaction between Pops and Junior. I absolutely can not stand how they've made Junior an idiot and social misfit. It was nice that he wasn't presented like such a loser. And Pops is actually capable of doing a good job with the kids. More of this please.

I was born in 1979 and discovered All in the Family and Maude (love that show). Even as a kid I appreciated the humor and tackling of serious topics. Nobody complains when dramas have funny moments or funny episodes. 

[Pollock]

12 hours ago, Empress1 said:

They do seem to be all over the place with him. Same with his son, who was MUCH less of a fool this episode.

The episode wouldn't have worked that well (for me) if the caricatural traits of their characters were front and center in my opinion. It's too easy to paint Trump's voters with the brush of their most crazy factions. I liked the fact that the Boss voted for Hillary for the reasons exposed: Trump's not a republican, he's not what you want your president to be when he represents you outside your country... and he wants to deport the people working for less! Two good reasons and a shitty one. Seems legit for him! 

I loved that episode, preachy and all. Even if you're not ready to talk to the reasonnable people who still voted for Trump, staying open to the possibility of a conversation one day is good. But what I loved most is the hope they placed in the Youth. Junior and Zoey will vote in four years, as will the rest of a generation who got robbed again of a possibly brighter future coming sooner. Zoey's optimism laked realism (probabilities are things will be really hard for minorities before the possibility of turning it around comes again) but it was a welcome raft to cling on while swimming in that ocean of shit. 

Every single thing during GrandPa and Junior's scenes was made of pure diamond. That was brilliant. And "I'm not feeling that scarf on you" still makes me laugh thinking about it. 

On another note, I just wanted to thank you for this forum. I'm not participating often (I think I posted once) because I see the episodes later so I really don't have something to add to the conversations but I'm always grateful for the posters here who share their experiences of being Black in America in this century. One thing that I never suspected and stayed with me was the fear Obama could be killed during his walk the day of his inauguration(s). I don't know... that was heartbreaking to know and spoke volumes.

[EarlGreyTea]

1 hour ago, nicepebbles said:

Just saw the episode and I just can't with Lucy. I'm donew with her. I loved her character and always felt so bad for her. And I wanted her to come back. She go away again. I just can't get behind her reasoning. I've read article after article after article and my mind just doesn't accept the why any reason for voting for Darth Cheeto. Most of the reason has to do with what Dre said. I forget who linked the Charles Blow piece. Thank you and it was spot on.

See, I eyerolled through most of what Lucy said, but I think you can still love her because it seems clear to me she was brought back only to act as devil's advocate. They needed someone to play off of, and for some reason the writers decided not to make Dre's boss that person this week (that was weird, by the way. I have no problem believing Dre's boss would be a Trump voter, given what we've seen of him in the past. Although the post right above mine does a great job explaining why they probably went that route, so scratch that lol).

On a different note, everyone laughing/cheering the day of the election when Dre's boss was like, "it's going to be an uneventful election night, get some sleep" made me howl. In terror. But mostly laughter. They hit every note right in this episode when it came to expectations about the election and the crash down to reality.

And finally, Bow donating to various causes hit me right in the gut. For Christmas, I made contributions to Planned Parenthood on behalf of my two friends instead of getting them gifts. So that one was also hysterically accurate.

Edited January 14, 2017 by EarlGreyTea

[Court]

I am surprised they didn't have anyone who didn't vote for either. I know several people who voted 3rd party, me included. 

If people don't want Trump reelected in 4 years, I'd caution people to stop dismissing all Trump voters as racist, dumb, misogynist, and whatever else name people keep throwing at them. That's a broad paintbrush there. 

[pookat]

I never liked Lucy. Her rationale is what I have heard from Trump voters, but still makes no sense to me since unemployment benefits were extended under Obama and opposed, IIRC, by the GOP.

This episode was what I like best about Blackish. The conversations and feelings conveyed were spot on. I completely believe that Dre's boss and Josh supported Hillary because at the end of the day, even though they hold some highly questionable beliefs, if I am being generous, neither one wanted a madman in charge of the country. They knew it would be in their own self-interest to vote for the reportedly Wall Street friendly Hillary, much to the chagrin of progressives.

Frankly, I thought Hillary would win exactly because of the Joshes and bosses in this country. It was a real eye-opener that a huge portion of people I work with (the Lucys) voted for Trump. It never occurred to me that decent people would even consider voting for that man after everything he has said and done.

I can better understand the frustration of third party voters and I agree that it would have been nice to have that view represented. I could have seen Josh, Charlie or Lucy voting third party. Even Pop or Dre could have made a decent argument for voting third party given a number of policies enacted during the Clinton years when Dre was a teenager.

But I believed that even the Hillary haters would suck it up and vote for her to prevent the great orange apocalypse. What I learned was that 53% of white women apparently hated Hillary so much that they voted against their own self-interest. Lucy represented exactly that. As uncomfortable as it was to watch, Lucy is exactly who elected Trump and still has no remorse except for the social stigma that's attached.

ETA: Call it preachy if you want, but if we learned anything from this election, it's that people don't care about facts or real journalism. They care about entertainment and whatever supports their own beliefs, so preach away, Blackish. Maybe someone will consider this viewpoint since their fake news bubble won't offer it.

Edited January 14, 2017 by pookat

[msani19]

23 minutes ago, Court said:

If people don't want Trump reelected in 4 years, I'd caution people to stop dismissing all Trump voters as racist, dumb, misogynist, and whatever else name people keep throwing at them. That's a broad paintbrush there. 

 

It's interesting that you say that categorizing Trump voters as racist, dumb, misogynist etc is a broad paintbrush. Isn't that exactly what Trump does? Like all the time? The deeply offensive remark about Mexicans that started this freak show seemed like a pretty disgustingly broad brush. Saying that all African Americans live in hell with terrible schools and no jobs was a pretty broad brush. But let's not stereotype Trump voters...although I get the sentiment it's still quite frustrating to hear.

[Court]

53% of white women don't agree with all white women. I am baffled how many people seem to think all women must hold the exact same views. Just maybe other issues were more important to them. 

I didn't say Trump wasn't a racist. I said that people categorizing all Trump voters as racist is a broad paintbrush. They are not the same. Go ahead and keep dismissing them as such and we'll have 8 years of this man. I certainly don't want that. It is possible to understand why people voted for him and disagree. Not all of them are racist.  If no one tries to genuinely understand without attacking the other, then we'll end up right back here.  That goes for both sides. 

I'm a registered independent. I vote both parties. So many people told me I had to vote for Clinton because we share the same plumbing. No, I don't. I don't hate my gender or myself. I also wasn't voting for Trump for many reasons.

Many people from both parties felt the same way and threw their support elsewhere like I did. Or jumped party lines.

[pookat]

I think there is a fine, but important distinction in saying "Trump voters are racist," which I have not and acknowledging that for those who voted for him, racism, misogyny, antiSemitism, Islamophobia, anti-immigrant sentiments were not dealbreakers.

That worries me. Whether or not we have 4 more years of him as president, the veil has been ripped off and tolerance of discrimination and hatred is out in the open. It's not dismissive of Trump voters to say this. It is the reality of all marginalized groups in the US and a key reason why this episode spoke to so many of us.

[EarlGreyTea]

50 minutes ago, pookat said:

ETA: Call it preachy if you want, but if we learned anything from this election, it's that people don't care about facts or real journalism. They care about entertainment and whatever supports their own beliefs, so preach away, Blackish. Maybe someone will consider this viewpoint since their fake news bubble won't offer it.

Yeah, I've never quite understood the dislike of mixing comedy with politics, particularly on sitcoms. Sitcoms tend to make touchy topics more palatable by adding humor. It's more enjoyable and palatable for many people than watching straight political commentary shows or dramas. For me, as a minority (non-black), this episode gave me a lot of food for thought as to how different minority groups are going to experience the next few years fairly differently. There are a whole lot of people who should be watching Black-ish for these reasons, but will write it off completely. Too bad. There's some great work going on here, both creatively and in terms of acting.

[auntiemel]

15 hours ago, Trace said:

I watch(ed) this show to be entertained, not to be preached at. It's called at Situation COMEDY for a reason. 

The word "comedy" is in the phrase, but so is the word "situation." Sometimes a sitcom creates a situation in service of setting up the comedy, and sometimes it uses the comedy to draw attention or bring clarity to a situation. I don't think either invalidates the moniker, just two different ways of looking at it.

[mansonlamps]

7 hours ago, Court said:

I am surprised they didn't have anyone who didn't vote for either. I know several people who voted 3rd party, me included. 

If people don't want Trump reelected in 4 years, I'd caution people to stop dismissing all Trump voters as racist, dumb, misogynist, and whatever else name people keep throwing at them. That's a broad paintbrush there. 

I couldn't agree more.  And I am certainly no Trump supporter.  

I actually hated Dre's speech, definitely too preachy for me, but enjoyed the rest of the episode, especially Junior and Pops.

[Rockstar99435]

11 hours ago, nicepebbles said:

Just saw the episode and I just can't with Lucy. I'm donew with her. I loved her character and always felt so bad for her. And I wanted her to come back. She go away again. I just can't get behind her reasoning. I've read article after article after article and my mind just doesn't accept the why any reason for voting for Darth Cheeto. Most of the reason has to do with what Dre said. I forget who linked the Charles Blow piece. Thank you and it was spot on.

Me too. Sorry Lucy but knowing that a politician and/or policy would have disastrous for people of color and then voting for it anyways because it's better for your financial bottom line is almost the definition of racist. 

[readster]

On 1/13/2017 at 8:44 AM, Empress1 said:

I didn't grow up poor but I agree with this. Microaggressions are constant. The last person to call me the n-word was a cop. A couple of months ago, my graduate-degree-having, retired-from-the-C-suite, suit-wearing father was escorted out of an office building by security when they couldn't find his appointment in the calendar; they refused to call the person he was scheduled to meet with (who is also Black) to confirm that he had an appointment. (Once outside, my dad called the guy and told him what had happened. The guy was mad on his behalf and came downstairs and they met offsite. Turns out the guy's assistant dropped the ball and forgot to put it in the calendar; she apparently got a severe dressing-down from her boss.) We walk around knowing that we are one encounter with the wrong cop away from becoming a hashtag. One of my best friends is an Iranian immigrant (moved here when she was five) and she's had security and cops called on her for being on the phone in public speaking Farsi. She adds time to her airport travel for "random" searches, because she always gets searched. I've flown with her a bunch of times and every time, to a one, she's pulled out of line. I think that's been a major thread in the show, that while the privilege that Dre and Bow have given their kids will shield them a bit from the harshness of racism (money can solve a lot of problems in this country), they need to be aware of what's out there, and what's out there isn't always pretty.

I didn't even know that was a thing! I guess it makes them easier to juice.

They do seem to be all over the place with him. Same with his son, who was MUCH less of a fool this episode.

 

 I agree, the writers want to write them to make the plot work, when it can be a really bad, bad plot point. I mean Junior's thoughts on what was the truth behind Pops, Ruby and their great aunt was so off the wall, even for Junior. As for Dre's boss, yes, sometimes he makes sense and other times you go: "How does this guy run anything or function in life?" Similar to Charlie, there is being oblivious but there are times when I'm surprised that Charlie can function as a person and I love Charlie. 

[RedHawk]

14 hours ago, nicepebbles said:

Just saw the episode and I just can't with Lucy. I'm donew with her. I loved her character and always felt so bad for her. And I wanted her to come back. She go away again. I just can't get behind her reasoning. I've read article after article after article and my mind just doesn't accept the why any reason for voting for Darth Cheeto. Most of the reason has to do with what Dre said. I forget who linked the Charles Blow piece. Thank you and it was spot on.

...

 

I have several (white) "Lucys" in my family and all through the election season I read their Facebook posts and tried to understand their viewpoint. As Lucy seemed to be saying, their vote for Trump was almost 50% a vote against Hillary and the Democratic platform. They are afraid of Muslim immigration after reading news reports about the immigrant situation in Europe and the attacks in our own country. Like Lucy, many live in or come from small towns that are dying and they see those around them losing career jobs at age 50-55 and having little hope of finding other ones, or ones nearly as good. They helped their kids or grandkids through college and now the young people are having trouble finding decent jobs unless they move 5 states away to an expensive city. 

They may be middle-class families who had to purchase ACA/Obamacare policies that gave them worse coverage (very high deductibles) and very little of the supplement lower-middle-class or poor folks get, so they don't mind seeing the program dismantled. Yes, they ignored Trump's racism, misogyny, and plain bullying nastiness -- I think maybe because they've seen that economic "winners" in our society and business world often are men who display those same traits, although not so publicly or to such an extreme. They've had bosses who were almost as bad as Trump (Stevens!), and nothing stopped those men from profiting from their behavior. Many of these women are part of traditional marriages where the husband is the main breadwinner and the wife's job is very secondary or she is a stay-at-home-mom. In some of these situations the husband is a small businessman and the wife has a job mainly to provide health insurance for the family.

Weirdly, some of these Lucys are evangelical Christians who believe Trump and the Republicans will "bring prayer back into the schools" and that will save our country. The ones I know watch Fox News and spread "fake news" anti-Hillary items via Facebook because they aren't very well-educated and lack strong critical thinking skills. Their information comes more from soundbites they share again and again rather than their own reading and research. 

And lastly, to these Lucys I know, Hillary came across as an angry schoolmarm who thought she was smarter than everyone else and "deserved" to be President but didn't know how to protect national secrets ("but the e-mails!"), so yes, Trump's "honest" talk [sigh] convinced them that he would be a better leader in these difficult times.

For these reasons, I thought they did an ok job of using Lucy to portray a white woman who voted for Trump. These Lucys are the women the Democratic party needs to reach out to over the next 4 years.

Edited January 14, 2017 by RedHawk

[DearEvette]

I know this episode is political and as such the discussion can't help but go there, but I sincerely hope the discussion can just keep  contextualizing it within the show and not go the route of getting a litany of posts about our own personal politics?  I avoid the political forums like the plague and muted people on twitter and FB because I am not interested in the back and forth.  At least here if we can keep with this episodes and the characters as the touchpoint it makes it more objective and not so personal. And hopefully keeps the discourse fun.

In regards Lucy, I think my stronger issue is that her specific character -- not white women in general -- but she specifically doesn't seem like she should have voted Cheeto.  She has to worked with Stevens and Dre and their conversations have always been sexist.  In previous shows she has always struck me as the person in the room who we are supposed to root for in the workplace: who values competency and skill over old fashioned boys club.  She has called them on it, heck she even sued to get her job back.  So it strikes me as odd this particular woman who has fought against her own disenfranchisement would so blithely vote for someone whose talking points have been largely about disenfranchisement of many types.

Like I said in my previous post, I get that she didn't want Hilary to be her first woman president.  Her reasoning for that is sound but it is one thing to vote against Hilary and another to vote for Cheeto.  Like others have pointed out, it probably would have made sense for her to vote Stein.

The only thing I can imagine is that the writers were making a specific point about her in that if she is supposed to be the in-room representation for that 53% of white women then it is somehow a reminder? cautionary tale?  that by and large white women, even white feminists,  when confronted with a variety of issues will align with so-called white interests even before women's interest and that the word 'male' in the term white male privilege is sometimes absent?  And that in making Lucy the one who explicitly vote the way she did, the one we've liked and rooted for, the one who was supposed to make the system work, we feel that disappointment all the more keenly.

Edited January 14, 2017 by DearEvette

[Granny58]

On 1/12/2017 at 0:30 PM, gesundheit said:

now millions more people know what it feels like to wake up in this country and be black" angle.

I didn't understand this.  what does this mean?

[BoogieBurns]

7 hours ago, Granny58 said:

I didn't understand this.  what does this mean?

As in you didn't watch the episode? Or that specific person's post? Within the episode, Dre meant it as loving a country (or at least participating in a democracy) that may not represent you at all, or living in a country that isn't designed to make you feel welcome. 

Not sure if it helped because I'm not sure of your question. 

Edited January 15, 2017 by BoogieBurns

[GHScorpiosRule]

I just finished watching and I really, really enjoyed it. It made me laugh, made my eyes bug out in reaction to Lucy's reasoning for her vote, made me teary-eyed. Dre's speech to his office mates and boss, resonated with me. I'm not Black, but I am a woman of Color. So, just like Bow, I am scared to death what the next four years will bring.

But my favorite parts were definitely with Pops and Junior.

Not to get off topic, but since it was mentioned on the show, I couldn't wrap my brain around Lucy's statement that she didn't know what Hillary stood for. And like the other dude, whose name I keep forgetting said, she's the most qualified and has a life history of public service, and has always been a proponent and fighter of human rights.  

I've saved this episode so I can watch it again.

[nicepebbles]

Redhawks, you didn't post anything I haven't already read so many times in explaining why a non-(insert word ending in "ist" of your choosing) voted for Darth Cheeto. You summed it up quite nicely for someone who hasn't come across this info. I still don't understand how anyone could vote for Trump even with all that they are going through.

Maybe it's because I'm black and feel like Dre, welcome to our America. Where you don't think either will make your life better but for damn sure you not voting for the one that will make things worse. 

If the roles were reversed and there was a angry man of color saying make "white people pay for the wrongs they've committed" because they're so bad, nasty, and, by the way, "I can get you a job I'll be terrific" without one iota of detail, and this man had a coalition of every minority group in the USA and some white people and he won, the "losers" would be protesting and saying not my president. I have yet to read one article from a Trump supporters or about them see where the other side is coming from. 

So the ending of the episode didn't sit right with me. I'm not there yet and will probably never be. 

I forgot to mention in my first post that this show takes place in the real world so it would be weird for this type of show to not discuss the election. I think they would be doing a disservice to their audience. 

[charmed1]

I can only imagine the reaction if "A Different World" aired in the age of social media. "black-ish" is completely tame in comparison.

I think my favorite laugh out loud moment was Stevens calling his son, "Pumpkin."

Edited January 14, 2017 by charmed1

[OnceSane]

While the characters' reactions to the election occurred within the episode, this is not the place to rehash the issues, problems or news vs. "news" of the election.

[ShowsILoveToHate]

On ‎1‎/‎13‎/‎2017 at 8:49 PM, mtlchick said:

I was too young when All In The Family came on the air, but with recent channel changes with my subscription, I can now view it.  Recently I saw the episode where Edith almost got raped and the after math.  It was heart breaking, terrifying AND still managed to find humour.  Which is why I wrote earlier that most scripted shows (at least on broadcast TV) are not doing that anymore, and you get your political and topical humour on more non traditional outlets.  What's so bad about a scripted show tackling a subject that for the most part, is dividing people in a social media world?

I was thinking of the same exact thing! 45 years ago (give or take) I watched that episode as a child and was surprised and confused why the comedy show that I liked was about something so horrible?!  It's because even though all of these tv show characters aren't real, to some extent at least, they represent real people. 

The "Black-ish" characters are more real than the caricatured characters of All In the Family, but it's the idea that writers take great opportunities in these sit-coms that I've grown to love and appreciate, no matter how uncomfortable the child Me felt at the time.   

I'm not sure if I'm making my point clearly or not due to medication, but this episode immediately reminded me of that AITF episode all those decades ago!

[Corgi-ears]

My issue with the episode is how dramaturgically unimaginative it was. It's an old and boring trick to have a bunch of characters, each representing a point of view, sit around and debate each other. Likewise and within that, to then have one character accuse another of "not caring" so that the latter can then go off on a speech that's therefore set apart instead of being part of the rabble -- it's like the worst kind of community theater.

[Inquisitionist]

On ‎1‎/‎12‎/‎2017 at 8:10 PM, EarlGreyTea said:

Dre's speech was a tad heavy-handed, but "Strange Fruit" playing softly in the  background was a nice touch.

I did not know this!  I will pay attention on rewatch.  Thanks.  :-)

On ‎1‎/‎13‎/‎2017 at 5:55 AM, CaptainCranky said:

He has no idea of the life of poor people who aren't living the good life like he is.

He has lived it, too.

On ‎1‎/‎13‎/‎2017 at 8:44 AM, Empress1 said:

I didn't grow up poor but I agree with this. Microaggressions are constant. The last person to call me the n-word was a cop. A couple of months ago, my graduate-degree-having, retired-from-the-C-suite, suit-wearing father was escorted out of an office building by security when they couldn't find his appointment in the calendar; they refused to call the person he was scheduled to meet with (who is also Black) to confirm that he had an appointment. (Once outside, my dad called the guy and told him what had happened. The guy was mad on his behalf and came downstairs and they met offsite. Turns out the guy's assistant dropped the ball and forgot to put it in the calendar; she apparently got a severe dressing-down from her boss.) We walk around knowing that we are one encounter with the wrong cop away from becoming a hashtag. One of my best friends is an Iranian immigrant (moved here when she was five) and she's had security and cops called on her for being on the phone in public speaking Farsi. She adds time to her airport travel for "random" searches, because she always gets searched. I've flown with her a bunch of times and every time, to a one, she's pulled out of line. I think that's been a major thread in the show, that while the privilege that Dre and Bow have given their kids will shield them a bit from the harshness of racism (money can solve a lot of problems in this country), they need to be aware of what's out there, and what's out there isn't always pretty.

I didn't even know that was a thing! I guess it makes them easier to juice.

They do seem to be all over the place with him. Same with his son, who was MUCH less of a fool this episode.

I'm so sorry.  I wish I could give your post a teary-face instead of a <3, but thank you so much for sharing this.

[TeapotWakeen]

Thank you, everyone, for weighing in on this episode. I appreciate the thoughtful comments and observations here. I'm actually going to re-watch it, because I responded so strongly to it. Well, and, because... Lawrence Fishburne.

Quote

I didn't know some people make lemonade with cooked lemons. We always made it 100% raw.

I can remember helping my Grandmother make homemade lemonade, where we'd cook the sugar, water, and lemon rind. Boil it down to syruppy mess, and keep it in the fridge in a big glass jar. When it was time to make lemonade, you'd juice a few lemons, add the syrup and some water. It was heaven. She'd also make a batch of the syrup with fresh mint in it, and use it to make "half and half" (lemonade and iced tea with more fresh mint in it). Ah, country living....

[Traveller519]

What I enjoyed about the show, perhaps as cliche as it was to have to give someone the opposing viewpoint was that it seeks to crack open some of the echo chamber. Perhaps Lucy's reasons don't make a lot of sense to a lot of us, but that doesn't mean she doesn't feel them. The show made the point, correctly in my opinion that if we're going to try and come together we need to understand, to find the appropriate middle ground.

That's what Lucy was for me, earnestness in trying to find something to feel good about, which based on a lot of the results, was where the swing votes came in the swing states.

Similarly Dre, Pops, and Zoe all seemed to express how sticking to ones convictions was important, but embracing society on the large was as well.

[Traveller519]

On 1/10/2017 at 0:54 AM, Marley said:

Why is Bow pregnant? It has added nothing to the show. I keep hoping they forget about it or something.

I did not like Bow being a complete moron at work. It's just not funny.

Dre is an idiot but he still cracks me up.

I agree, with all the good material the show can mine, a pregnancy sotry feels so pointless. There's really nowhere to go unless they decide to go a misscarriage route, but I'm not sure the show could survive that.

[pivot]

Man, this line just nailed the election in a nutshell for so many people I know, including myself who voted reluctantly for Hillary:

Quote

Hillary is a white woman's Ben Carson.

Cold, but accurate. Perfect candidate on paper and absolutely cringe-inducing in reality. 

I loved every single second of this show. This show reminds me so much of comedies from the eighties before everyone got too cynical and snarky. 

Edited January 18, 2017 by pivot

[Dee]

Between Rainbow & Andre crying in the closet, Junior running over hot coals & Curtis tackling the janitor, I howled throughout this entire episode.

[Empress1]

Dre calling out the therapist's wig had me howling.

[msani19]

I had this on but other things kept distracting me while I was trying to watch. All I remember was seeing the therapist's hair and thinking that is such an obvious wig. Then Dre's reaction to her hair cracked me up. When she pulled on it and said it's real, dead.

That's all I had. I'll have to rewatch from the beginning.

[MyAimIsTrue]

Jenifer Lewis is a comedic national treasure. 

As much as I love this show and find it extremely humorous I don't often laugh out loud but with this episode I did twice.  Once was at the very end with Diane (and, dammit, I can't remember what it was that she said) and the other with Dre and the therapist's "wig."  Overall it was quite an enjoyable episode.

[DearEvette]

Oh man,  i loved the smallish scene of Bow crying in her car about being such a "people pleaser." Tracee is so funny.

Also, Dre's preoccupation with the therapists's hair was a fun thread through the show.  Was that Mary Kay Place?  I think it was.

I hated that Dre's man-child tendencies were dialed up to 11 in this one, but I will say Anthony Anderson was excellent in that first scene at the therapist' office.  Just the way he went from "i'm fine, all good' to realizing that his childhood wasn't great and he wasn't all fine.  And then his face sort of crumbled. 

I thought this was a middling episode.  Light take on the ideas about therapy and the black community.  I thought it skimmed the surface and relied rather too strongly on the 'angry black' stereotype.  I get what they were going for, given our history black folks should be angry or a lot angrier than they are.  But we've seen them do so many shows where  they manage to throw together a lot of nuance.  And I don't think this one had it.

Also, Steven's son can go any moment now.

[MyAimIsTrue]

5 minutes ago, DearEvette said:

Also, Dre's preoccupation with the therapists's hair was a fun thread through the show.  Was that Mary Kay Place? 

Thank you, I knew she looked familiar!

[mansonlamps]

This was a hilarious episode, I even loved Johan.  And Diane.  The best was the back and forth with the wig, though.  And Traced and the sexist Dr.  Very good.

[MaryMitch]

1 hour ago, DearEvette said:

I hated that Dre's man-child tendencies were dialed up to 11 in this one, but I will say Anthony Anderson was excellent in that first scene at the therapist' office.  Just the way he went from "i'm fine, all good' to realizing that his childhood wasn't great and he wasn't all fine.  And then his face sort of crumbled.

That was a great scene!

[Duke2801]

Definitely some funny scenes this week.  Dre crying in the closet, Bow crying in the car, and the "wig" were hilarious (yeah, I was totally thinking something was off with her hair way before Dre mentioned it!).  Loved the title of the episode too.

However, I continue to despise Ruby.  Coming mainly from Bow's perspective: you're gonna (essentially) live at my house for free, eat all my food, insult me at every turn, and THEN break my shit, too?  Nuh-uh.

[Traveller519]

"I guess Junior's out, too" "Junior was never in"

"Your inadequacies are much greater"

Heh, I enjoyed the whole Johan and the Life coaching bit. His weekly accountability reports and the realization this was all a pyramid scheme were great. 

[RedHawk]

Baby Bump Watch: No BB visible in scene where Rainbow finally went off on Dr. Jerk. I look more pregnant than Bow does.

[Dee]

Yet in the previous episode Rainbow looked like she swallowed a bowling ball.

[ItCouldBeWorse]

If Dre reacted to random people staring at him they way he led us to believe he has, he would have been arrested many, many times.

(Of course, Bow would also be in mandatory counseling after her one episode at the hospital.)

I'm surprised that Dre cares so much what Stevens' son "earns".  It is an obvious nepotism hire, and not much different than if Stevens didn't have him come to work and just gave him the money directly.

[OnceSane]

Quote

When Dre goes back to Compton for a funeral, he is reunited with his old crew and struggles with survivor’s remorse for the friends he left behind. Meanwhile, Bow becomes self-conscious when Ruby criticizes her parenting style.

 

[DearEvette]

1 hour ago, RedHawk said:

Baby Bump Watch: No BB visible in scene where Rainbow finally went off on Dr. Jerk. I look more pregnant than Bow does.

According to the writers, this was aired out of order.  Should have aired earlier in the season. But they had to do some shuffling because of the holidays and the election ep.

[OtterMommy]

I enjoyed this episode more than I thought I would...let's just say I'm definitely a Bow when it comes to confrontation.

Speaking of Bow, she is having the strangest pregnancy I've ever seen.  I know that every woman carries her pregnancy differently, but I've never seen anyone whose baby bump grows...AND SHRINKS...like Bow's!