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Black-ish works in the Kaepernick storyline

By Michael Bibbins

BLACK-ISH - "Stand Up, Fall Down" - Junior hasn't been doing much at home during his gap year, so Dre decides to put him to work as an intern at Stevens & Lido. Junior is astonished to see Dre's co-workers say offensive things and Dre letting it slide. Meanwhile, Bow lets Ruby watch Devante after the nanny quits; and Ruby has a hard time following Bow's rules, on "black-ish," TUESDAY, NOV. 27 (9:00-9:30 p.m. EST), on The ABC Television Network. (ABC/Ron Tom)MARCUS SCRIBNER, ANTHONY ANDERSON, PETER MACKENZIE
BLACK-ISH - "Stand Up, Fall Down" - Junior hasn't been doing much at home during his gap year, so Dre decides to put him to work as an intern at Stevens & Lido. Junior is astonished to see Dre's co-workers say offensive things and Dre letting it slide. Meanwhile, Bow lets Ruby watch Devante after the nanny quits; and Ruby has a hard time following Bow's rules, on "black-ish," TUESDAY, NOV. 27 (9:00-9:30 p.m. EST), on The ABC Television Network. (ABC/Ron Tom)MARCUS SCRIBNER, ANTHONY ANDERSON, PETER MACKENZIE /
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After the controversy surrounding ABC refusing to air the kneeling episode last season, Black-ish finally got back around to the Kaepernick storyline.

When we started the season, Black-ish quickly established that Junior would be staying home and taking a gap year. This week, Dre has finally had enough of his son sitting around trying to “find himself.” After a montage of Dre leaving for work as Junior works on his podcast and magic tricks, Dre finally tells him that he’s taking him to work in the morning. He introduces him to his co-workers as an intern and Junior embraces the experience.

However, things quickly change when he realizes the tone of the meeting. A restaurant is moving into the “urban” market (Dre’s division) and they need to come up with a campaign to appeal to this new audience. His co-workers quickly get onto a path of stereotyping. They start out with the idea of renaming all of the menu items after rappers and Dre doesn’t push back much. Junior calls him out after the meeting, saying that he guesses it’s different for a strong black man at work and walking away disappointed.

At home, Dre relays what happened to Bow and it’s clear that Junior got to him. Bow helps talk him down a bit but the next day we see a new Dre. His co-workers have now gotten around to the idea of a “sassy” black woman spokesperson and it’s only getting worse. Dre finally shuts it down and lets his co-workers know that their suggestions are offensive.

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After the meeting, Junior and Dre are relishing in the moment but then Dre’s boss walks in. He tells Dre that they’ve decided that their idea is the way they should go and that they’re going to move on to the pitch without him.

Junior is surprised by the move but tells his dad that at least he doesn’t have to be part of the racist pitch. Dre tells him that this move is just the beginning and it could quickly turn into him not getting any more projects. Junior didn’t think about the consequences of standing up in that moment. Dre references Kaepernick and Muhammad Ali as people who stood up for something and faced consequences because of it. Junior blames himself for this turn of events but tells his dad that he’s proud of him for taking the stand knowing there’d be consequences. Dre thanks Junior for making him realize that the time was right for him to take the stand.

The tables turn

Later in the episode Dre’s boss returns and is offering him all kinds of gifts. Dre asks what happened and his boss lets him know the pitch didn’t go well. They then show Dre’s 3 white male co-workers acting out a scene where they pretend to be their new spokeswoman, Auntie No-no. Complete with bad imitations of a woman’s mannerisms and sassy black woman talk, it’s hard to watch. So hard to watch that the client simply disconnects the video conference after the disgusting display.

The boss realizes that they probably should have listened to Dre and put him back on the project.

Other storylines

There were two smaller stories in last night’s episode as well. One followed the Johnson’s losing their nanny and Ruby stepping into that role. It doesn’t go smoothly as Bow tries to impose her rules and ends up firing Ruby, but after realizing that Ruby is great with Devante she decides to hire her back.

Elsewhere, Jack cracks the code on the parental lock on the tv in order to watch Unfriended. Diane decides to monetize this and invites their classmates over for a viewing of IT, but Jack has lost the code and they can’t get to the movie. She ends up just telling the kids about the one time she accidentally saw part of an episode of Ballers. 

Next. Black-ish recap: Bow mourns her father. dark

It was great to see the Black-ish writers get back around to the idea of protesting and the consequences. Though it wasn’t quite as direct as it appeared  the episode last season planned to be, the message got across.

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

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