History YMMV / BlackIsh

* WhatDoYouMeanItsNotSymbolic: In "Lemons", Zoey makes it clear to Bow that the lemonade she's making for her friends is JUST lemonade. It isn't a ShoutOut to {{Beyonce}}'s album or "When life gives you [[TitleDrop lemons]]" or anything, it's just lemonade. Bow is annoyed by this.

* AwesomeMoments: The entire episode "Lemons," instantly hailed as a highly moving and meaningful discussion of the issues that arose during the 2016 presidential election, and pegged by many as likely to be seen by future generations as an icon of the period's entertainment.
** Bonus points for the fact that instead of painting the people who voted for Donald Trump as a bunch of bigots, the episode took a balanced approach. At least one of the characters who voted for Trump was given very sympathetic reasons and the show pointed out several of the flaws that Hilary Clinton had as a candidate, with the episode ending with the message [[SomeAnvilsNeedToBeDropped that people on both sides need to stop calling each other names and try to understand each other so the country won't stay so divided]].

** In season 2's "Chop Shop" When Ruby takes over the family's Christmas card shoot and sets up an ''Series/{{Empire}}''-themed one, with herself as Cookie and Bow as "[[TokenWhite the white girl]] (Rhonda)" - meant to illustrate her contempt for her daughter-in-law [[spoiler:and [[KilledOffForReal guess what happened to Rhonda later on...]] OUCH)]].

* ValuesDissonance: In Season 3's Halloween episode, Mischief Night is portrayed as overblown delinquent chaos, with Ruby and Janine playing it up as comparable to ''Film/ThePurge'', and Bow strongly advocating against it. To East Coast viewers, (particularly ones from the New Jersey/New York/Pennsylvania area) for whom the tradition is a completely normal occurence, the overreaction is rather {{Narm}}-ish.

* HarsherInHindsight: In season 2's "Chop Shop" When Ruby takes over the family's Christmas card shoot and sets up an ''Series/{{Empire}}''-themed one, with herself as Cookie and Bow as "[[TokenWhite the white girl]] (Rhonda)" - meant to illustrate her contempt for her daughter-in-law [[spoiler:and [[KilledOffForReal guess what happened to Rhonda later on...]] OUCH)]].

* AwesomeMoments: The entire episode "Lemons," instantly hailed as a highly moving and meaningful discussion of the issues that arose during the 2016 presidential election, and pegged by many as likely to be seen by future generations as an icon of the period's entertainment on the same level as ''Series/{{MASH}}'' was for the Vietnam War.

* AwesomeMoments: The entire episode "Lemons," instantly hailed as a highly moving and meaningful discussion of the issues that arose during the 2016 presidential election, and pegged by many as likely to become an icon of the period's entertainment on the same level as ''Series/{{MASH}}'' was for the Vietnam War.

* AwesomeMoments: The entire episode "Lemons," instantly hailed as a highly moving and meaningful discussion of the issues that arose during the 2016 presidential election, and pegged by many as likely to become an icon of the period's entertainment on the same level as ''Series/MASH'' was for the Vietnam War.

* HarsherInHindsight: In season 2's "Chop Shop" When Ruby takes over the family's Christmas card shoot and sets up an ''Series/{{Empire}}''-themed one, with herself as Cookie and Bow as "[[TokenWhite the white girl]] (Rhonda)" - meant to illustrate her contempt for her daughter-in-law [[spoiler: and [[KilledOffForReal guess what happened to Rhonda later on...]] OUCH)]].

* ValuesDissonance: In Season 3's Halloween episode, Mischief Night is portrayed as overblown delinquent chaos, with Ruby and Janine playing it up as comparable to {{Film/The Purge}}, and Bow strongly advocating against it. To East Coast viewers, (particularly ones from the New Jersey/New York/Pennsylvania area) for whom the tradition is a completely normal occurence, the overreaction is rather {{Narm}}-ish.

* HarsherInHindsight: In season 2's "Chop Shop" When Ruby takes over the family's Christmas card shoot and sets up an ''Series/{{Empire}}''-themed one, with herself as Cookie and Bow as "[[TokenWhite the white girl]] (Rhonda)" - meant to illustrate her contempt for her daughter-in-law [[spoiler: and [[KilledOffForReal guess what to Rhonda later on...]] OUCH)]].

* {{Flanderization}}: Dre's white co-workers gradually slide from blissfully clueless about racial issues to openly racist.
* {{Tearjerker}}:
** Dre and Pops taking what may be their last walk together before Pops has an operation, scored with "I'll Be Missing You."
** [[spoiler: Charlie]] leaving at the end of "Men at Work".
** The entire episode "Hope," in which the family discusses the huge amount of police violence against black people. The episode pulls no punches with several real cases being discussed, and climaxing with [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rA9QBZr8WEg Dre's speech]] about every black person's fear that Obama would be assassinated as he took his first walk to the White House.
** Bow's miscarriage scare when a sonogram takes an unnervingly long time to find her baby's heartbeat.
* TheyWastedAPerfectlyGoodPlot: The show completely skips the kids learning about Bow's pregnancy, which could definitely have led to some great material.

* ValuesDissonance: In Season 3's Halloween episode, Mischief Night is portrayed as overblown delinquent chaos, with Ruby and Janine playing it up as comparable to {{Film/The Purge}}, and Bow strongly advocating against it. To East Coast viewers, for whom the tradition is a completely normal occurence, the overreaction is rather {{Narm}}-ish.

** Zoey's apparent lack of faith in God provided a wonderful opportunity to start a conversation about variance in religion, atheism, and spirituality, and their ability to peacefully coexist. Instead, Zoey is merely shown to be a repentant, lapsed Christian.

* TheyWastedAPerfectlyGoodPlot: The show completely skips the kids learning about Bow's pregnancy, which could definitely have led to some great material.

** The entire episode "Hope," in which the family discusses the huge amount of police violence against black people. The episode pulls no punches with several real cases being discussed, and climaxing with [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rA9QBZr8WEg Dre's speech]] about every black person's fear that Obama would be assassinated as he took his first walk to the White House.

** The entire episode "Hope," in which the family discusses the huge amount of police violence against black people. The episode pulls no punches with several real cases being discussed, and climaxing with [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rA9QBZr8WEg Dre's speech]] about every black person's fear that Obama would be assassinated as he took his first walk to the White House.

** The entire episode "Hope," in which the family discusses the huge amount of police violence against black people. The episode pulls no punches with several real cases being discussed, and climaxing with Dre's speech about every black person's fear that Obama would be assassinated as he took his first walk to the White House.

* {{Tearjerker}}: Dre and Pops taking what may be their last walk together before Pops has an operation, scored with "I'll Be Missing You."
** [[spoiler: Charlie]] leaving at the end of "Men at Work".

* {{Tearjerker}}: Dre and Pops taking what may be their last walk together before Pops has an operation, scored with "I'll Be Missing You."

* EnsembleDarkhorse: Charlie quickly became perhaps the show's most popular character, with his CloudCuckoolander behavior and hints of his bizarre past.

* AcceptablePoliticalTargets: One episode deals with Junior revealing he has an interest in being a Republican. And then it's subverted, when the show has Junior ask [[ArmorPiercingQuestion why black people have to be Democrats]], and neither Dre or Bow are able to come up with a decent answer. By the end of the episode , they've come to realize that ''they're'' actually the ones who are somewhat bigoted.

* AcceptablePoliticalTargets: One episode deals with Junior revealing he has an interest in being a Republican. And then it's subverted, when the show has Junior ask [[ArmorPiercingQuestion why black people have to be Democrats]], and neither Dre or Bow are able to come up with a decent answer. By the end of the episode , they've come to realize that ''they're'' actually the ones who are somewhat bigoted.