Black-ish season 4, episode 19 recap: Dog Eat Dog World

On last night’s episode of Black-ish, Dre promises to get Jack a dog if he gets straight A’s. The expectation is that it will never happen, but when it does Dre has to consider dog shopping.

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Dre and Bow have made a habit of lying to their kids when denying them things. They either make up stories about why they can’t or give them impossible goals. For example, they tell the kids they can’t have cotton candy because it was picked by slaves. Or, by promising the academically challenged Jack that he can have a dog if he gets straight A’s.

They probably should have stuck with the lying however because the latter promise has just backfired. Though he didn’t actually earn the straight A’s (the teachers hit the powerball and the last teacher simply stamped “A” on his paper without looking at it) he has documentation.

This household is built on broken promises

Dre is shocked but he’s not giving in that easily. He tells Bow that he is not getting a dog. The household is built on broken promises and this will simply be another one on that list. When Bow pushes back he mistakenly says that they already have four kids (they have five). Bow, of course, corrects him but he then flips that into saying that they can’t get a dog if they can’t even keep up with how many kids they have.

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With Dre running out of excuses he goes to his final line of defense. “Real black people don’t mess with dogs.” Right at that moment Bow’s brother Johan (Daveed Diggs) shows up with his emotional support Pug. In Bow’s eyes this is strengthening Dre’s case.

The guys at work

At work, as is usually the case on Black-ish, everybody is against Dre’s point. They’re all dog people and think that they’re a good thing. When Dre says he’s scared of dogs, however, they seem to understand. Lucy (Catherine Reitman) says that it must be a cultural thing, pointing out that Jewish people are afraid of German Shepherds. His other co-workers then rattle off excuses that you’d expect to hear from Dre. One asks if it’s because he grew up in the hood and everyone around him had vicious dogs for protection. Another asks if it was because dogs were released against black protesters during the civil rights era. Josh takes it back to slavery, asking if it is because slave catchers used dogs to track down runaways.

Dre denies all of these points, though he says he’s going to hold onto them for later use. Charlie, who is usually the only one on Dre’s side, is a dog person as well. He actually competes in dog shows.

All is not lost however. Mr. Stevens asks Dre if everyone in the family wants a dog. Which gives Dre an idea.

The vote

Back at the house Dre decides to gather the family for a vote. Jack quickly votes “yes” and Junior then votes, “no.” Junior knows that he’ll end up being the primary caregiver for the dog. Bow votes “yes,” which Dre counters with his own “no.” Ruby then votes “no” as well, saying that since Dre came out of her she votes with him no matter what. This backfires for team Dre as Bow casts a “yes” vote for Devante, since he came out of her.

This leaves us with Diane. Dre thinks she’s going to vote no because he thinks she hates dogs. She takes it further by saying she hates everything, before Dre can finish celebrating she says that she particularly hates peace in the home. She chooses chaos and casts a deciding “yes” vote.

After the vote

With the family decided on getting a dog, Bow takes to the online search for shelter dogs. Dre says that if he is getting a dog he wants a name brand dog. Bow shoots this down as well and later a placement coordinator comes to the home.

Guest star Dana Powell (Cam’s sister on Modern family) stars as the coordinator and she takes her job seriously. She does a thorough inspection of the house, taking photos, and asking questions of the family. When she downplays his bachelors degree Dre has had enough and tells her that he once kicked a dog. Needless to say, that was the end of that.

Dre’s decision

After this experience, Dre has decided that he’s going to put his foot down and there will not be a dog. His family shuts him out, however, and he realizes the error in his ways.

At the very end of the episode Dre shows up with a dog (that resembles Gandalf) and the kids couldn’t be happier. The show has been putting off having a pet for a while so it’ll be interesting to see how the dog plays into the show down the road.

Next: Modern Family Recap: Daddy Issues

Next week

In the teaser for next week’s episode, Black-ish flaunts its propensity for tackling the tough issues. Next week may be the toughest yet for the Johnson family as it appears Dre and Bow may be growing apart. There have been signs of issues throughout the course of the show but they’ve always managed to make things work. Now, with five kids ranging from 19 down to one year-old, perhaps the strings that bound them are wearing thin.

We’ll just have to wait and see.

Black-ish returns next Tuesday at 9/8 Central on ABC.