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 third 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 4, Episode 1 “Juneteenth: The Musical” (B)

I usually enjoy watching a handful of episodes of this show, nominated for Best Comedy Series for the third year in a row, every time Emmy season rolls around. It’s also often a bit much to take, an entertaining enough series that, in my book at least, is far from the best comedy on the air today. Its inclusion this year is notable because it’s officially the only broadcast network series included in the lineup for the first time ever. This is the first of the six submitted episodes in the top category, and I’ll be screening a seventh that serves as lead actress Tracee Ellis Ross’ submission. I feel like I remember hearing about Juneteenth before, and I guess it’s from the season one “Atlanta” episode of the same name. This representation is obviously much more over-the-top, with Dre interrupting his kid’s play to declare racism and then ceding, for once, the floor to someone else to create a peculiar musical take on this less-celebrated holiday. This take on “Hamilton” wasn’t nearly as enjoyable as it could have been, but it was still decent fun. What’s more puzzling about this episode than its inclusion in the six-episode slate for the series as a whole is the fact that it’s also the selection for guest actress Wanda Sykes. Whereas she had an actual showcase last year, she only appears briefly in this half-hour, with one crack about someone eating her Chinese food as her only real line. I would be shocked – and disappointed – if she managed to win with this paltry offering.

What I’m Watching: Atlanta

Atlanta: Season 1, Episode 9 “Juneteenth” (B)

This show is singularly capable of focusing on just one plotline for the entirety of an episode, with just two characters in this particular case anchoring it and driving it forward. No need for Paper Boi in this episode, not the first time in this short season that he’s been present in name only, and instead we got Earn and Van guiding the whole thing. That’s actually a misnomer since the function that they went to required them to go along with a world that never of them live or want to live in. Earn didn’t do a great job at first of turning down his indignation, questioning Rick about the things he said and finding extra ways to be offended by the representation of black culture by a clearly white man. Van snapping at him and telling him that she didn’t want to be there either set him straight, and they actually seemed to have fun pretending to be other people. The compliment that Earn paid Van about doing all the work in their relationship could have been honest and genuine, but she did not seem to take it that way at all, expressing her frustration at his sarcasm. Earn getting recognized by the guys who wanted him to give their sister’s underwear to Paper Boi prompted an unexpected excitement from Craig, but Monique’s crack about Earn not shooting up this party led to a predictable outburst from Earn about how dumb and fake everything was. Ending with Earn and Van fooling around in the car surprised me, but it’s hard to know where this show is going to go at any given moment.