Emmy Episodes: Black-ish

It’s always my policy to watch every Emmy-nominated episode each year, which leads me to sample a handful of shows that I don’t tune in to on a regular basis. For the sixth year in a row, I’m making a special effort to spotlight each of those installments to offer my perspective on shows that I don’t review each week.

Black-ish: Season 7, Episode 4 “Our Wedding Dre” (B)

I don’t watch this show often enough to know if certain characters are first-time guest stars or more known recurring players, and so I assumed that we had seen Danny Glover’s Uncle Norman before when he showed up in the middle of quarantine to attend this wedding. After episodes one and three really focused on the pandemic and conversations around systemic racism, this show leaned much more into its characters’ existing universe and forgot about all that, with a printed-out test that wasn’t even confirmed as real somehow satisfying Dre’s concerns. The bigger issue then became, of course, that Dre didn’t want people he barely knew – or anyone – using his own bathroom or cramping his space in general. It was interesting to see how Pops stepped in to confront Norman when he felt that Dre was being taken advantage of, even if Dre was perfectly happy to help. Having Norman show up just as the wedding was starting was a sweet acknowledgment that family does sometimes triumph over enduring disputes. I enjoyed that Bow was somehow considered a plus one for Dre even though she was hosting the wedding, and for some reason Ruby wanted a family photo without her, something she was resigned to accepting even though it was ridiculously offensive. I think my favorite part was Jack asking if Pops was telling him to get out when he shouted at everyone to leave, and Diane responded to him that he was. He’ll really do anything she has, and she’s well aware of the power she has over the poor guy.