In this double-helping of Black-ish, Bow and Dre both have to confront the fact that their children are growing up and turning into their own people.
Befitting of the recent news about her spin-off, Zoey’s story ties the threads of both “Sister, Sister” and “All Groan Up” together. Both episodes deal with Andre’s mixed emotions over losing his daughter and his inability to truly bond with his other children. Meanwhile, Rainbow looks back on her regrets during her relationship with Zoey and deals with some family issues of her own.
The connecting theme of the night’s opener is DNA. DNA is what connects many families (but certainly not all of them) together, whether it is through their actual genes or bonding while planting DNA evidence (we didn’t get any more of that creepily delightful story after Connie was cut off).
The episode centers around another wacky family member – Rainbow’s sister, Santamonica (all one word, played by Rashida Jones). As Dre cattily admits in the opening narration, the only thing the two sisters have in common is their dumb names.
Bow and Johan are undeniably siblings. Both have inherited different parts of their parents’ personalities, but both are dedicated to making the world a better place, even if Johan believes this can be done solely through dreamcatchers.
Santamonica, on the other hand, seems like she comes from a different family entirely. She would actually probably get along really well with Ruby, who would be able to appreciate that one time Santamonica threw that drink in that lady’s face.
It seems like just another quirk of Bow’s fame-obsessed sister, but that one drink-throwing incident catapulted her into stardom. Bow isn’t necessarily unhappy about Santamonica’s success, just how she came about achieving it. Bow had to overcome a lot of racism and sexism to achieve her position as a doctor and, as she tells Dre, she saves enough lives. Santamonica, meanwhile, got scouted at a mall when she was little, got to meet Alan Thicke, married an athlete for three months, and got a dumb amount of alimony. Even when Bow encourages her sister to branch out, Santamonica immediately lands a book deal for her memoirs as a “manmade woman.”
Another thorn in Bow’s side is how much their mother encourages this behavior. She is endlessly supportive of all of Santamonica’s endeavors, even when they all seem wrapped around her own vanity and ego. As Bow tells Dre, they have kids. They know that you can’t actually love them all equally.
Except Bow’s mother does.
She suggests the revolutionary idea of loving your children for who they are instead of what they do. Santamonica may not be a rocket scientist, but she has a generous spirit and helps her parents through the difficult times. Bow is told in no uncertain terms that you can't just not like your sister.
Bow takes the words to heart and actually bonds with Santamonica and Johan through their confusion over their mother's texting skills and her weird little dance.
Dre has to learn the exact same lesson. Maybe he should have gone to Bow's mom for advice.
It all starts when Zoey sit him down with pancakes and tells him that she can no longer go get manis with him. She's going to college soon and Dre is going to have to accept that. He has a son he can spend time with instead.
Both Dre and his coworkers are perplexed by this advice. Jack is too small and DeVonte hasn't even been born. It takes them all a while to remember about Junior. Junior, for the most part, is confused when Dre takes an interest in him, but goes along with it. He introduces his father to Game of Thrones. The father-son bonding quickly goes wrong when Junior gets annoyed when Dre talks over every single scene. The two try to watch the show on their own, but decide its worth putting up with the other's little eccentricities if it means watching together.
It's too bad Dre couldn't retain that lesson during the short commercial break between episodes. By the time “All Groan Up” starts, he is once again lamenting the impending departure (for her own spin-off) of his favorite child.
The entire Johnson family is putting a lot of pressure on Zoey when she opens her college acceptance letters. It would have been more than a little embarrassing for her if she didn't get into any school she wanted.
Luckily, that isn't the case. Zoey gets in NYU, University of Miami, Vanderbilt, and Southern Cal. Dre's exuberance quickly turns to shock when he realizes that Zoey is contemplating going to New York. She probably won't be back until at least Christmas. Dre decides that he needs to do whatever he can to make sure that Zoey goes to Southern Cal, even if it isn't even the best school in Los Angeles.
Dre first decides to show her how horrible a New York winter will be, complete with freezing temperatures, snowballs, and Junior yelling at her in an exaggerated Brooklyn accent. When Zoey solves these problems easily with some new winter clothes, Dre turns to his coworkers for help.
Unfortunately, the best suggestion they have is to "Room," her, so Dre goes to plan B. He decides to make the best slideshow ever, designed to tug on Zoey’s heartstrings and make sure that she stays close to home.
Bow and Pops are both against the idea. Bow wants Zoey to go wherever she wants. Pops wants her to go somewhere cool where he can visit, and he definitely doesn't want her to have to deal with Tennessee. Jack votes for Miami based on the abundance of alligators. Diane wants New York so she can fulfill her Sex and the City fantasies. Junior is just bitter about the whole thing.
Bow gets very pro-PowerPoint, very quickly when she sees Junior kissing Megan on the front porch. All her children are growing up and no longer want to spend all their time with their mommy. She understands what Dre is feeling.
It is Pops who finally talks some sense into the two. They sacrificed so much so that Zoey would have these opportunities. They can't stop her from reaching her dreams just because they're scared.
The parents agree, and it doesn't matter anyway. Zoey has been thinking about the same things and wants to be a part of the baby's life after he is born. She agrees to go to a school closer to home - which we will see next week!
What did you think of this double episode? One thing that I haven't mentioned were all the flashbacks in the second episode. I don't think they worked very well. We didn't need them to understand the dynamics of the Johnson family and having a clip show in the third season seems a little hasty. Did you think it worked well? Let me know in the comments!
