#blackish is going all out for the final season! We are honored to have trailblazer @MichelleObama join us as an upcoming guest star. pic.twitter.com/UhHAxamlpL
— black-ish (@blackishabc) October 28, 2021
The eighth and final season of Black-ish premieres January 4th. And the season kicks off with fireworks! Because the episode’s guest star is none other than former first lady Mrs. Michelle Obama. As per usual with such dignitaries, Michelle will be playing herself. The premise of the episode sounds good. The Johnsons meet Michelle at a fundraiser and she accepts an invitation for dinner at their home. And then the whole family tries to get themselves invited.
Guess who’s coming to dinner? For Dre and Bow Johnson (Anthony Anderson and Tracee Ellis Ross), it’s none other than former First Lady Michalle Obama, who stops by on the upcoming season 8 premiere of Black-ish.
So what’s Obama doing in the Johnsons’ neck of the woods? Well, Bow ropes Dre into attending a fundraiser for When We All Vote in hopes of making some new couple friends and, of course, doing their part to increase voter turnout. Dre’s expecting nothing but dud husbands, but lo and behold, the special guest of the evening is Mrs. O.
When life puts Michelle Obama in your crosshairs, you gotta shoot your shot at an informal hang, which is exactly what the Johnsons do. And to their surprise, the ex-FLOTUS accepts their invitation to dinner at their house. The rest of the Johnson clan, however, has every intention of crashing this historic meal.
Since its 2014 premiere, Black-ish has made several references to the first Black First Family. The Johnsons dressed up as the Obamas in season 2’s Halloween episode, “Jacked o’ Lantern,” and the 2016 episode “Hope” used archival footage of Barack Obama’s inauguration. There’s more than a hint of poignancy in Michelle Obama (finally) pulling up a seat at their table for the show’s eighth and final season.
The episode has already been written and shot so I won’t spend too much time rewriting it here with my theories. When I read the headline, I was going to say that I wish these high-profile luminaries would play someone other than themselves. Otherwise, the storylines all kind of play out the same, with the show characters fawning over the person and the guest star graciously putting up with the adoration. But this premise sounds fun. I could see Dre and Bow freaking out about what to serve and how the house looks. And of course the other characters, especially Ruby and Pops, would try to muscle in on the evening. Plus, there’s the whole reason behind why Michelle would agree to go to their home. What if it’s because they promised her decent pizza in California (which they will not be able to provide)? Or she’s tired of hotel food> Or she’s dodging her publicist – something kind of zany but not disrespectful. Maybe once there, she wants to be treated like any other houseguest and they just can’t. What if she’s complains about her husband always being underfoot since retirement? I know they have it covered, I guess this is just my wish list of jokes.
As the article pointed out, the Obamas have been a large part of the show even before Michelle stepped on to the soundstage. I have no doubt that will come up and will be handled with poignancy. I got mad at Black-ish a while back over Bow’s decision not to go back to work so I’ll need to catch up over the break. Because I won’t be missing this episode, not with the Most Admired Woman in America guest starring.
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I miss her so much.
So. Much.
I used to watch Black-ish and really enjoyed it . . . until I found out that Anthony Anderson has been investigated for rape MULTIPLE times. Those started before the Me Too-era, as well.
Needless to say, I don’t watch anymore.
(And this lifelong Law & Order obsessive – thanks for that, Grandma! – won’t be watching the reboot for as long as he’s one of the detectives, either. Neither will my aforementioned grandmother. If they’ve truly gotten Sam Waterson on board, I might just cry – but I still won’t watch.)
I’m excited for this. Like you, Hecate, I was disappointed that they dropped Bo’s professional career from the show (she’s my absolute favorite character though Ruby steals every scene she’s in!), and only watched intermittently after that. But I’ll definitely tune in for this!
I’ve seen every episode of black ish and I’m confused by this post and one of the comments–when did they drop Bow’s professional career? She worked as a doctor during the pandemic, there were several episodes last season that either outright featured that or alluded to it. There are times when she is filmed not at work or in scrubs, but it has never been said that she no longer works as a doctor.
I thought Bo’s character went back to work. Wasn’t there a few storylines with her back in the hospital during pandemic?
I really liked Michelle’s book Becoming, and the Netflix documentary on it. I liked a lot of her insights and perspectives on her White House years, and how she’s adjusting to post-Whitehouse life. I thought she would be more involved in public policy, not necessarily bare knuckle politics, but more policy driven issues. She really connected with people on her book tour. I love seeing her and Obama’s charity appearances, their political speeches, etc. because they’re so charismatic. Wasn’t crazy about her children’s show she did, only watched the first episode but she seemed very uncomfortable with the scripted material. I like Blackish, used to like it a lot more, so hopefully this will be fun.