Created by Kenya Barris, ‘Black-ish’ is an American television sitcom that made its debut in the entertainment industry in September 2014. It has successfully delivered six seasons to date and is currently airing its seventh season. The show revolves around Andre “Dre” Johnson and Dr. Rainbow “Bow” Johnson, a well-to-do couple belonging to an upper-middle-class family African-American family. It reflects around the lives of their family and how they struggle to gain a respectable position amidst the cultural issues in a predominantly white neighborhood that acts as a barrier in their lives and the upbringing of their kids.
Black-ish aired its 8th episode of Season 7 on 2 December 2020 that was the winter finale. The entire episode was full of wholesomeness, but still, there were some elements that pricked the eyes of the audience. By the end of the episode, the audiences were confused if the makers have completely forgotten about the existence of the ‘bookend’ kids – Zoey and Devante. According to the narration, Zoey is still there for her grandparents’ wedding, but there has been no reference to Devante, and the viewers felt he is gone forever.
But they finally breathed in the air of satisfaction when Zoey and Devante were addressed via voice cameos. So this means that the two are still part of the show. The episode deals with gender bias issues in a more homely and relatable manner. The twins, Diane and Jack, secretly open a social media account, and their parents come across their accounts. Both Dre and Bow, on this discovery, lash out at Diane, but their reaction towards Jack is very mellow. Seeing a different set of reactions towards their boy, Diane points out how her parents are discriminative when it comes to parenting her and how liberal they are towards Jack.
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She says that Jack poses shirtless and posts it over social media and even tries to get women home so he could make out with them. On the other hand, Diane gets scolded for just posing and posting a picture in a hoodie. After hearing what is hurting their daughter on the inside, the couple realise how wrong they have been all throughout these years and how they’ve unknowingly discriminated between the parenting of their kids. So they come up with equal restrictions for both the twins in order to put an end to the gender biases. The kids are grounded, and it’s amazing to see how Diane successfully puts forward her point.
The Johnsons experience a black out so of course Dre…buys out the grocery store? 😅 #blackish is back on a new night and new time this Tuesday! pic.twitter.com/0MUoHsIW6N
— black-ish (@blackishabc) January 24, 2021
The show is loosely based on the creator’s own upbringing in a contradicting environment and how it felt to be ‘adjustive.’ The onscreen relationship between Andre “Dre” Johnson and Rainbow “Bow” Johnson is also partly inspired by his relationship equation with his wife and his marriage. When asked about the connectivity of the plot with their personal life, Dr. Barris said that some elements of the storyline had come directly from the situations that have arisen in her life. She further elaborated on this statement and said that the sequence in Black-ish Season 4, where Bow experiences postpartum depression after the birth of her fifth child, has been taken from her real-life situation. She also said that in the same season, when the couple’s marriage was on the verge of collapsing, it hasn’t been a direct depiction of her marital life but a reflection of all the hard times that have occurred in the past. The shows shed some light on the challenges every couple goes through and how they put in all their efforts to work out their relationships.
Starring Anthony Anderson as Andre “Dre” Johnson, Tracee Ellis Ross as Dr. Rainbow “Bow” Johnson, Yara Shahidi as Zoey Johnson, Marcus Scribner as Andre “Junior” Johnson Jr, Miles Brown as Jackson “Jack” Johnson, Marsai Martin as Diane Johnson and August and Berlin Gross as DeVante Johnson in lead roles, Black-ish present season will air it’s the ninth episode on 26 January 2021.