Tonight we take a trip to the Harlem Renaissance for some Johnson family history! Preview the black-ish season finale, “Pops’ Pops’ Pops”, airing at 9:31pm ET|PT on ABC.
Last week’s black-ish (“Elephant in the Room“) dove into a semi (perhaps fully) uncomfortable topic of Black Republicans. FACT: Black people aren’t Republicans…but when Junior (Marcus Scribner) shared that he was joining the Young Republicans, Dre (Anthony Anderson), Bow (Tracee Ellis Ross), and Mama Ruby (Jenifer Lewis) were in disbelief (member of the Irish Republican Army, a publican, LOL) and then full-on distressed! However, I think the more interesting part was when they couldn’t really justify their disdain for the Republican Party. Dre and Bow believed in hard work and personal responsibility, Mama Ruby and Pops (Laurence Fishburne) were gun-owners, so what was the problem?
Dre was slightly mollified when he found out that Junior was interested in the Young Republicans because he was interested in a girl…Hillary Montgomery (Camryn Hamm), who was also a black Republican. Dre and Bow were still worried about Junior being unduly influenced by his new girlfriend (Dick Cheney = hero/pimp and running for president of the Young Republicans) and decided it was time to meet Hillary’s parents. Unfortunately, the dinner took a nasty turn when Bow and Dre disagreed with the Montgomery “family first”/stay-at-home mom POV (“LET ME TALK!”). Ultimately, they decided that they best way forward was to be more balanced in how they presented things. But it was really Zoey (Yara Shahidi) who saved the day by hooking her brother up with one of her liberal friends “Republican? We just don’t do that.”
In other developments, when Zoey needed glasses, Diane (Marsai Martin) was thrilled. Now, their Dad would stop calling Diane Gurkel (girl Urkel) and give Zoey the nickname. But when Zoey and Dre bonded over the Gurkel thing, Diane had second thoughts. She reclaimed Gurkel, but things went awry again when Dre started calling Zoey “butterfly”. When they decided Zoey should get contacts because glasses were uncool, Diane realized she played this all wrong.
In tonight’s season one finale “Pops’ Pops’ Pops'” written by Vijal Patel, directed by Jonathan Groff, and guest-starring Sean “Diddy” Combs as Elroy Savoy, Mary J. Blige as Mirabelle, and Jenifer Lewis as Mama Ruby/Rosey:
THE JOHNSONS TAKE A TRIP INTO 1920S HARLEM WHEN POPS TELLS THEM THE HISTORY OF THEIR FAMILY—Jack and Diane look for clues about their roots for their class assignment, a history of the Johnson family. But when they can’t find anything out about the family’s past, Pops comes to the rescue with the colorful story of how “Pops’ Pops’ Pops’” great-great grandfather, Drexler Johnson, bet the future of the Johnson family against a ruthless gangster, Elroy Savoy, during the 1920s Harlem Renaissance. (via ABC)
This episode already sounds EPIC! Take a look at THREE clips from this upcoming show. In the first, the kids, Pops, Mama Ruby, Bow, and Dre sit around enjoying some family history. In the second video, we take a trip back to the Harlem Renaissance with Mirabelle performing a Mary J. Blige classic and Great-great Grandpops Drex lamenting that he can’t have the woman he loves, Bea. And in the third, Drex gets into trouble with Elroy Savoy when trying to make plans with Bea:
UHOH, how will Great-great Grandpops Drex get out of this one?! Also, can we talk about Elroy/Diddy’s dancing? LOL!
Take a look at these images from “Pops’ Pops’ Pops'” and remember to tune unto ABC at 9:31pm ET|PT for the black-ish finale. I’ll be live tweeting so come join me while we take a trip through Johnson family history!
