Black-ish Review: R-E-S-P-E-C-T / White Breakfast (Season 4 Episodes 14-15)

Black-ish returns from its brief Olympics hiatus with back to back episodes that both show the complexities and double standards in parenting.

Black-ish Season 4 Episode 14 “R-E-S-P-E-C-T” deals with the double standard in how we react to boys and men having sex versus how we react when girls and women have sex, while Black-ish Season 4 Episode 15, “White Breakfast,” shows Bow and Dre learning to find a happy medium in how they’re raising their children.

Both of these episodes lead Dre and Bow to adapt their parenting styles from the ways they were raised, without abandoning the values they’ve always held.

Dre and Bow discover that Junior is sexually active on “R-E-S-P-E-C-T” and their reactions are wildly different. Sometimes Black-ish does this thing where it plays with stereotypes and takes them to extremes to prove a point.

The same is true for how they treat sexuality on this episode. The clearest contrast can be seen when Dre goes to work the day after he realizes Junior has had sex, and then the day after he realizes Zoe has had sex.

Often in our society men and boys are celebrated for having sex and “getting laid” while women and girls are aggressively shamed for the exact same act. Dre is thrilled to learn that his son is having sex, but devastated when he knows the same about his daughter.

While I dislike the concept of men only learning to treat women as human beings after their daughter/sister/wife/mother is affected by their stereotypes, it gets the job done on this episode.

Dre becomes a better man and a better father when the scales fall from his eyes, so to speak, and he learns that his behavior is harmful. I love the way he immediately seeks to make sure that Junior isn’t carrying on those harmful stereotypes.

Junior being the one to get dumped by Megan also subtly turns another stereotype on it’s head. Women can be just as harmful in how they treat men during and after sex and all people should be conscientious of how they behave toward their partners and how they use sex.

On the second episode Dre and Bow go through a similar, yet not quite as serious experience. When they compare the twins to a pair of white children with seemingly no rules in their lives they come to some conflicting realizations.

These kids, George and Jar, are reckless and rude because of the lack of structure in their lives, but they also have the freedom to think and come up with a great entry to the science fair.

The Johnsons realize that their abundance of structure may be limiting their children. But they go too far in the opposite direction and the kids crash and burn at the science fair.

Parents have to find their own way in how the raise their children and there’s no 100% foolproof “right way” to do so. I’m really enjoying watching Bow and Dre make these discoveries with their various children.

Even though they’ve raised two kids into pretty well-rounded adults there’s still more for them to learn as they continue to raise their younger children.

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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