Black-ish Review: Public Fool (Season 4 Episode 5)
Black-ish Season 4 Episode 5, “Public Fool,” is back to tearing into meaty social justice issues, with a sweet and salty bite. Its exploration of private and public education is at once illuminating and funny.
Black-ish once again manages to shine a light on something real and really important, without making the audience feel like it’s in an interrogation room. The light is a lot softer than that.
Junior is expelled. The chain of events (ha ha) leading to his expulsion stem from Junior’s attempt to wear confidence and pride. The manifestation of this confidence is The Chain.
MARCUS SCRIBNER
Dre loses his mind over Junior and The Chain. For Dre, wearing a chain is a gesture of masculinity. Once he received the masculinity signal from Junior, Dre is finally able to relate to him and accept him.
Dre’s machismo and dismissal of his son’s personality is a running joke on Black-ish. It brings some laughs, and hilarious facial expressions from Bow, but ultimately Dre’s continued inability to see past his own ego in order to embrace Junior is sad.
The Chain and its thorough description, however, is pure delight.
When Junior has to take The Chain off during gym class, refusing to refer to it as a necklace, he opens his locker and we see a necklace bust waiting to hold The Chain. It is a joke well-played as each of the family members relates the extra care and attention paid to a special accessory.
TRACEE ELLIS ROSS, ANTHONY ANDERSON
But The Chain is really just a sub-plot that gets us to the main topic of the episode, private and public education for families of color.
Other than the cape burial (and later resurrection) sequences, the strongest piece of the episode is when Dre explains the history of segregation and education in a Dre rant with the styling of a School House Rock video.
The history lesson provides the shocking and true fact that our schools today are every much as segregated as when the Supreme Court of the United States ruled for integration. It is also visually compelling.
The segment doesn’t sacrifice any of its entertainment value as it covers profound information, a hallmark of Black-ish in Season 5.
The surprising outcome that Junior loves public school and has found a place where he doesn’t have to wear The Chain to be confident, he can just be himself, is quite the revelation.
ANTHONY ANDERSON, TRACEE ELLIS ROSS, MARCUS SCRIBNER
It pulls the family to question assumptions about public schools and what is best for Junior.
The main, and perhaps only, fault of the episode is that it doesn’t dig very deeply into the significant issues in public education. The school-to-prison pipeline, charter schools, school police and other current topics are ripe for discussion.
A follow-up episode where all the Black-ish kids decide to attend public school would be a continuing plot line worth championing. It would be off the chain.
What did you think of this episode of Black-ish? Share your thoughts with us in the comments below!
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Black-ish airs Tuesdays at 9/8c on ABC.
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Janelle Ureta
Janelle Ureta is equal parts Veronica Mars, Raven Reyes, and Rebecca Bunch, but she aspires to add some Tammy Taylor to the mix. An attorney turned teacher, Janelle believes in the power of a well-told story. She is currently exploring how to tell short stories, 140 characters or less, on twitter. She loves to talk about TV, and right now she can't shut up about Timeless, Dear White People, Crazy Ex-Girlfriend, The 100, or Younger.