The Upshaws is an American Dom Com created by Regina Y. Hicks and Wanda Sykes for Netflix. It's about the Upshaws, a black working-class Dysfunctional Family in Indiana.
- Bennie Sr. (Mike Epps): Bumbling Dad and car mechanic
- Regina (Kim Fields): Antics-Enabling Wife, Bennie's high school sweetheart
- Lucretia (Wanda Sykes): Regina's older sister, Maiden Aunt and additional parental figure to the kids
- Bernard Jr. (Jermelle Simon): Regina and Bennie's adult son from a Teen Pregnancy
- Aaliyah (Khali Spraggins): Regina and Bennie's somewhat Bratty Teenage Daughter
- Maya (Journey Christine): Regina and Bennie's adorable youngest daughter
- Kelvin (Diamond Lyons): Bennie's other son, the same age as Aaliyah, who he co-parents with his former fling Tasha (Gabrielle Dennis)
The show is characterized by a duality of of cheesy sitcom jokes with a Laugh Track, and some brutally realistic characters and emotional dynamics.
Tropes
- Affair? Blame the Bastard: There is a tense relationship between Regina and Kelvin, her husband's son with another woman, conceived under "we were on a break" circumstances. Intellectually speaking she's trying to avert the trope — she knows it's not Kelvin's fault — but emotionally speaking the situation is still fraught. While she wouldn't say it to Kelvin's face, she very flippantly calls him Bennie's bastard when he's not around.
- Antics-Enabling Wife: Alongside Bennie's Bumbling Dad, Regina's role as the long-suffering wife is also played with. She is definitely the more stable, responsible parent, who holds their household together, but she's no saint. The show is very blunt about how Regina is a major player in creating the difficult situations she finds herself in. Regina is not trapped in this marriage — Lucretia would love to help her leave, and the relationship itself is a somewhat rocky one. There's blame aplenty for Bennie for being a poor husband and father, but there's also blame for Regina, who keeps keeps taking Bennie back even though she knows damn well what he is. She's made her own bed here.Regina: I don't even know why I let you back in.
Bennie: Cause you a mess too. And we the only people that we can be with. - Bait-and-Switch: Season 1 ends with a little girl arriving at the house looking for her father, Bernard Upshaw. This turns out to be Bernard Jr, conceived via his Last Het Romance.
- Blame the Paramour: Bennie and Tasha briefly got together over a decade ago when Bennie and Regina were "on a break". The fact that Kelvin was conceived then keeps the incident very much alive in Regina's memory. In episode 2.6, Tasha calls Regina out on how unfair it is for her to deflect the resentment of the situation onto Tasha, rather than placing it on Bennie where it belongs.Regina: I'm waiting for a damn, "I'm sorry."
Tasha: Apologize to you for what? Sleeping with some guy who didn't tell me he was married? Getting pregnant? Keeping the kid? Asking the daddy to act like a daddy? Like — where did I go wrong? You gonna have to draw me a map, because I am so lost. - Bumbling Dad: Bennie is a layabout car mechanic and a Manchild who never grew up, in a frustrating but realistic way. Played with, in that show is tonally ambiguous about him. The family lives under the constant threat of Bennie's backsliding. Sometimes it really does frame him like a deadweight they should cut out, and other times that is walked back.
- Bunny-Ears Lawyer: Downplayed Trope in Tasha, who is loud, colorful, and can be annoying at times, but owns her own business and appears to run it pretty well.
- Close to Home: Because Bennie cheated on Regina with Tasha, Regina is livid when he finds out Lucretia is The Mistress to Captain Cam, a married man.
- Commonality Connection: In 1.06, Bennie gets a man to give him more time to fix his car by bonding with him over adultery.Duck: Here, let me try to explain it. All right, so his baby mama needed a car. So, he went behind his wife's back to get her a car. She took the car and hit you with it — the baby mama, not the wife.
Man: Well, between you and me... this Saab is my girlfriend's. The one my wife doesn't know about.
Bennie: That's what's up, man. You know what I mean? See, you feel me. You know what I mean? Game recognize game.
Man: Look, man, I get your situation. I can give you one more day. - Dom Com: The Upshaws draw upon sitcom tropes from The '90s, like the bumbling husband and long-suffering wife.
- Epiphany Therapy: Downplayed Trope. Regina has a breakthrough in 4.02 and it's a turning point, although not a cure-all.Regina: What we did [having Bernard] changed everybody's lives. What I did changed everybody's lives, and I see it like that. What I did. I slipped up, and I was never gonna let that happen again. So I did what I've been doing for 30 damn years. I take control, and I push, and I push. Had to get you set up. Had to get me set up. Had to finish school 'cause that's how you get a job. Had to go back to school 'cause that's how you get a better job. Finish raising the baby and then have two more. And then adjust to a third. And make peace... with the third. Can't slow down. Don't slow down.
- Fake High: In episode 1.09, 13-year-old Aaliyah steals a beer from the fridge to drink with her friend Savannah, not knowing that O'Doul's is nonalcoholic beer. They start speaking of the effects they're feeling after mere sips, and Savannah mixes up her drugs and says she's getting the munchies. When Regina catches them, she starts laughing hysterically. She uses it as a teachable moment, an opportunity to teach Aaliyah about the dangers of drinking, and doesn't tell her the truth. Aaliyah goes on to experience a psychosomatic hangover.
- Family Theme Naming: The Turner sisters have Roman names: Althea, Lucretia, Regina.
- Fat and Skinny: Bennie has 3 employees at his auto shop: Tony (thin), Davis (fat) — and Duck (muscled).
- A Girl in Every Port: Downplayed Trope. Lucretia has a boyfriend, Captain Cam, who's a pilot. He has a wife at home, and an ongoing affair with Lucretia when he flies in.
- Gym Bunny: Downplayed Trope. Bernard is a fit young gay man who's into boxing.
- Hates Their Parent: Bernard openly resents his father Bennie for being largely absent during his younger years.
- Heel–Faith Turn: Bennie's friend Duck went to prison, found Jesus while he was in there, and came out a changed man.
- High-School Sweethearts: Why Bennie and Regina are together is a perpetual question. The simple answer is that they're High-School Sweethearts who had a Teen Pregnancy, and that tied them together. However, given how flaky Bennie is, and how eagar Lucretia would be to help Regina leave Bennie, it's very easy to imagine a scenario where they didn't stay together, suggesting there might be something more to the reason they did.
- Innocent Inaccurate: The parents' rocky relationship is such a staple of life in the Upshaw family that their daughters parody it with this little sketch. Aaliyah (13) knows her parents' fights end with makeup sex; Maya (6) thinks they end in some sort of conciliatory dance parties.Aaliyah: [playing Regina] Bennie Upshaw, I can't keep telling you this stuff.
Maya: [playing Bennie] But I'm bad with my words.
Aaliyah: Kiss, kiss, kiss, hug, hug. Blast music in your bedroom like it's not obvious what you're doing.
Maya: Yeah. And quit locking the door. Other people might want to come in and dance, too. - In with the In Crowd: Aaliyah is obsessed with popularity, and becoming friends with Steph Greene. She looses her old best friend Savannah in the process.
- Last Het Romance: Bernard had sex with a woman once: his high school girlfriend Monique on the night of graduation. He regards her very highly, even a decade later. Afterwards, he didn't tell her he was gay, and she didn't tell him she was pregnant.Bernard: See, we kinda hooked up on Grad Night. Sleeping with Monique is how I knew for sure I was gay.
Lucretia: Never tell her. The wokest woman in the world would run you down with they car.
Bernard: No, she doesn't know. I kind of ghosted her. I'm not proud of it. I loved her. Just not in the way that she thought. - Lower-Class Lout: One of the things Regina criticizes Tasha for is being trashy, but part of the reason Tasha is that way is because she's a Struggling Single Mother, a situation Regina intensifies by not liking Bennie to be too involved in that family.
- Maiden Aunt: Regina got pregnant when she was in high school. Lucretia dropped out of college and broke up with her world-traveling boyfriend, Frank, to take care of her sister and new baby nephew. Lucretia has dated since then, but never seriously. She never married or had children of her own, and instead devoted herself to being the backstop keeping Regina's family safe. The Deconstruction is that the resulting family dynamics can be messy. In a practical sense, this is Lucretia's family — this is the family she's spent decades taking care of; she's their financial safety net; she practically raised her nephew Bernard. But it's not officially her family, and this changes how her contributions are viewed. For example: money. If this were her family, providing financially would just be providing for her family, not worth commenting on. Because it's not, providing financially is alternatingly seen as very charitable, or a controlling-the-purse-strings power move. In a fight between the sisters, this gets pulled out:Lucretia: I know that your family couldn't function without me.
Regina: Oh, is that right? You wouldn't have a life if I didn't have a family! We're your hobby.
Lucretia: [...] But maybe I would have a full life if I wasn't stuck raising your children and paying your bills. - Not Me This Time: Discussed in relation to Sydney. When she shows up on their doorstep looking for her father, everyone assumes she's Bennie's daughter. Bennie is offended by this assumption. Regina and Lucretia argue he has no grounds to be, considering Kelvin.Lucretia: How this fool gonna get mad at being accused of some shit that he's actually done, but just not this time?
- Obnoxious In-Laws: Regina's husband Bennie and sister Lucretia hate each other and are constantly sniping. They have occasional Aw, Look! They Really Do Love Each Other—at the very least, they both love Regina and will rally together for her when the need arises.
- Pizza Boy Special Delivery: Downplayed Trope. Bernard is a handsome fit young man who works as a UPS driver, and his short shorts are remarked upon.
- Relationship Revolving Door: Played for Drama with Bennie and Regina. They've been together for 30 years, and during that time their relationship has been rocky, but pretty consistent. Regina has taken Bennie back, time and time again, after numerous rounds of his bullshit. This means Bennie can depend—accurately—on her eventual forgiveness, and he has little reason to change. When she throws him out near the end of season 1, even Lucretia—who would love to see Bennie gone for good—says Regina will probably forgive him eventually.Lucretia: She's gonna take you back. Someday. You know, you're like herpes: you never really go away.
- Relative Error: When Kelvin first comes into Aaliyah's life, people don't know he's her brother because 1) he's the same age as her, and 2) she's never talked about him before, leading to the mistake that he's her boyfriend.
- Teen Pregnancy: Regina got pregnant with her eldest son, Bernard, when she was 16. That was a long time ago, and in some ways it's settled, all's well that ends well. In other ways the shadow of it still hangs over everything.
- They Call Me MISTER Tibbs!: When Kelvin first spends time at the Upshaw house, he tries calling Lucretia "Auntie" like his sisters do. She objects. He tries "Lucretia," then "Ma'am." She tells him to call her "Ms. Turner."
- Transparent Closet: Zigzagged with Bernard. Some people are somehow innately aware he's gay, while others are oblivious to the fact. Lucretia says she'd known since Bernard was a young flamboyant kid. Kelvin says he and Tasha are very aware because Tasha (a stylist by trade) can tell Bernard has well tended eyebrows. His high school girlfriend Monique suspected he was gay, and also cited his eyebrows as evidence. His parents, in contrast, are surprised to find out.
- Two-Timer Date: The plot of the pilot involves Bennie running back and forth between Aaliyah and Kelvin's birthday parties. This introduces the fact that they're born less than a month apart.
- Underappreciated Women's Work: Regina has an angry explosion at her Bumbling Dad husband and kids in episode 1.05.Regina: All I've been saying is that I wanted to go back to school, is that I wanna get a better job with more money. I'm trying to better myself, to make life better for all of us. But you ungrateful, selfish asses, y'all don't care. Y'all... Y'all just want what you want, when you want it. 'Cause "Regina got this, Regina will fix it, Regina will hook it up." Well, you know what? Regina's ass is out. She's done! Y'all are on your own! You hungry? There go the bread! Thirsty? There go the faucet! You don't want the faucet? Get the hose outside!
