History YMMV / BlackIsh

* AbusiveParents: 'Under the Influence' sees both Dre and Bow completely overreact to Diane kissing a boy at her school dance, to the point of screaming at her, throwing her clothes on the floor, removing her bedroom door so she can no longer have any privacy and by breaking her phone. It's not surprising she felt she had to hide the fact she had a boyfriend from them when they reacted so violently. It's also really uncomfortable to see Dre pinning Jack to a chair and screaming in his face because he wanted to know who Diane's boyfriend was, threatening to ban him from any screen time for six months unless he told. And then bans Jack from screens for ''eight months'' when Jack finally crumbles under the pressure and confesses. While Dre and Bow see the error of their ways and offer a rather weak apology to Diane, they don't exactly offer to make amends, and Dre never apologises to Jack for his behaviour.
** Not to mention Dre's usual treatment of Junior.

* InternetBackdraft: Many fans were ''furious'' at the show giving a guest spot to Music/ChrisBrown, long after he became far more famous for harassing and assaulting women than for his music. The episode even adds insult to injury by explicitly being about how the few powerful black people in the entertainment industry have a responsibility to put their best face forward since, unfair as it may be, they're in the position of representing their entire race.

* BaseBreaker: Ruby, a constant barrage of MyBelovedSmother and conservative strawman gags. Some fans think Jenifer Lewis' performance is enough to salvage it, but others just find her ungodly annoying, especially since she never, ever gets any comeuppance.

* ValuesDissonance: Season 3's Halloween episode "Mischief Night" is portrayed as overblown delinquent chaos -- with Ruby and Janine playing it up a la ''Film/ThePurge'', and Bow strongly advocating against it. To East Coast viewers (particularly ones from the New Jersey, New York and Pennsylvania areas), for whom the tradition is a completely normal occurrence, Bow's overreaction is rather {{Narm}}-ish.
** Justified since it doesn't count as SoCalization if the show is very explicitly set in LA.

* ValuesDissonance: 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 and Pennsylvania areas), for whom the tradition is a completely normal occurrence, Bow's overreaction is rather {{Narm}}-ish.

** In season 2's "Chop Shop", when Ruby takes over the family's Christmas card shoot and sets up an ''Series/{{Empire}}''-themed one. She casts herself as Cookie and picks Bow as "[[TokenWhite the white girl]] (Rhonda)", which is meant to illustrate her contempt for her daughter-in-law. It becomes even harsher after [[spoiler: Empire killed off the character of Rhonda later on...]].

* ValuesDissonance: 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 areas), for whom the tradition is a completely normal occurrence, the overreaction is rather {{Narm}}-ish.

* BrokenBase: The Dre and Bo separation arc. Either a well written story about marital differences, or cheap, ratings boosting drama fodder.

* EnsembleDarkhorse: Charlie quickly became perhaps the show's most popular character, with his CloudCuckoolander behavior and hints of his bizarre past. This was even enough to get him on the main cast of both the original show and its spin-off ''at the same time''. Which means that he is no longer a "darkhorse" at all.

** 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)", which is meant to illustrate her contempt for her daughter-in-law. It becomes even harsher after [[spoiler: Empire killed off the character of Rhonda later on...]].

* InternetBackdraft: Many fans were furious at the show giving a guest spot to Music/ChrisBrown, long after he became far more famous for harassing and assaulting women than for his music. The episode even adds insult to injury by explicitly being about how the few powerful black people in the entertainment industry have a responsibility to put their best face forward since, unfair as it may be, they're in the position of representing their entire race.
* {{Narm}}: "Blue Valentine" cranks the melodrama to Series/ThisIsUs levels. Complete with muted color palette, no music and characters acting way out of character for the sake of drama.
* TakeThatScrappy: Bow finally tearing into Ruby in "Mother Nature". Even mama's boy Dre doesn't try to defend her.

** 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/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 occurrence, the overreaction is rather {{Narm}}-ish.

* 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 on the message that [[SomeAnvilsNeedToBeDropped 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]].
** Bow finally [[TheReasonYouSuckSpeech standing up]] [[GetOut to Ruby]] in "Mother Nature."

* EnsembleDarkhorse: Charlie quickly became perhaps the show's most popular character, with his CloudCuckoolander behavior and hints of his bizarre past. This was even enough to get him on the main cast of both the original show and its spin-off ''at the same time''.

* DarknessInducedAudienceApathy: The fourth season concluded with a 4 episode arc about Andre and Bow's relationship problems which promptly had the fanbase in a revolt due to the [[CerebusSyndrome sudden tonal shift from quirkly gag-laden sitcom to a character-focused drama]] with 3 out of the 4 episodes having a DownerEnding. Thankfully the story ended happily AndTheFandomRejoiced.

* DarknessEnducedAudienceApathy: The fourth season concluded with a 4 episode arc about Andre and Bow's relationship problems which promptly had the fanbase in a revolt due to the [[CerebusSyndrome sudden tonal shift from quirkly gag-laden sitcom to a character-focused drama]] with 3 out of the 4 episodes having a DownerEnding. Thankfully the story ended happily AndTheFandomRejoiced.

* CriticalDissonance: The series is loved by critics, yet the general reception of audiences is mixed.

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

* 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 occurrence, the overreaction is rather {{Narm}}-ish.

** 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)", which is meant to illustrate her contempt for her daughter-in-law. [[spoiler:[[KilledOffForReal Guess what happened to Rhonda later on...]] Ouch]].

* FamilyUnfriendlyAesop: Some fans took issue with "Jacked O'Lantern" basically giving the lesson "It's okay when kids get bullied because it toughens them up."

* WhatDoYouMeanItsNotSymbolic: InUniverse: 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.

* WhatDoYouMeanItsNotSymbolic: InUniverse: 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.