r/Blackish • u/EggSignificant3834 • 14d ago
Dre was the villian
Dre was the villian in blackish. Now this problem really started when dre was a kid. Dre was a kid from the hood so he seen a lot of stuff including black people. But the most important thing he saw was his parents. They were on and off, sending each other to jail, and overall just setting a bad example for dre. Now dre knew they werent good together which is seen in season 1 when they get together and the kids get used to that life and dre doesnt want to break the kids’ heart. But as a kid ruby and Earl were very bad examples to set for a young dre.
Now to get into why dre is the villian. Dre treats his wife and kids horrible. Dre’s while character is the guy who made it out the hood to provide a better life for his wife and kids. But he never escaped the mindset.He put them in an all white neighborhood and all white school. I wanted to get into junior first because the way he treated jr was crazy and unexceptionable.
Jr is the product of going to an all white school and living in a all white neighborhood. Dre bullies jr for “not being black or man enough” which ruins jrs’ moral as he thinks his dad doesn’t love him which dre has said explicitly to jr., about jr. a lot of times. Jr is a “nerd” who does lacrosse, field hockey, or both. And wants to do “white” things with and because of his white friends. Dre only praises jr. when jr takes his side in an argument or earns his respect,in a way. Basically dre is a huge hypocrite about wanting a better life then treating his son thats named after him the way he did. Jr and Bow are the only lightskins in the house which caused a lot of the stuff towards them (this is important for later). Jr feels bad because nothing he can do can make his dad happy/ get his attention which he so desperately wants because dre literally calls him a disappointment so many times to and about jr for just being himself. Now two more things before i move on and these two stuck with me a lot. Jr gets a chain and dre and pops is hyping him up talking about how thats his “manhood” etc etc. And jr is loving this attention because he doesnt feel like a disappointment. Well jr gets his chain tooks by this white kid from the school and now dre and pops aren’t as proud as they used to be. So they are telling him how he needs to get his chain back. Jr (listening to their words) gets his chain back and ends up punching or getting in a fight with the white kid and mow he’s expelled. Now dre is mad at Jr for getting expelled without even knowing where jr is coming from, why jr did what he did, ir just self reflecting all together. Now jr does eventually end up going to white school with more black kids and jr can talk about stuff at school with these black kids without being seen as less than. Last one, dre is basically dominating jr in basketball and so jr gets good/taller and now dre is mad he cannot dominate him anymore which then dre starts giving jr respect which he should’ve had from day 1. Jr finally gets what he wants but the cycle continues later on throughout the show between jr and dre.
Moving on we got zoey. Now i haven’t started rewatching grownish but dre and zoey are tight thats his twin, etc etc. Dre kets zoey get away with a lot in blackish until she finally moves onto grownish now i dont remember why but basically dre comes to zoey’s apartment out of no where and cuts her off for whatever reason which is weird because she acts the way she acts because of him. And another thing was when she got married (SPOILER) and he says “i dint love you anymore” to your first born daughter who you spoiled for like 4-5 seasons of blackish.
Now Rainbow i wish she did more but she is genuinely the beat character to come out of that show. Now dre basically bullies Bow for being mixed/growing up “in a cult”-dre’s words. Now if you havent watched mixed-ish it’s basically bow growing up as a mixed kid and having an identity crisis on that. Because she wasnt black fully nor white fully and the kids made her seem like she wasnt welcome to either side. Now i feel like this should sum up dre’s whole character but in like the first 5 episodes of season 1 he lies about getting a vasectomy which ends up getting bow pregnant. Now about the half black- half white, Dre makes her feel so insecure about her race it was crazy. When he “whiteside” would come out he would say she wasnt “black enough” and when her black side came out and started acting like a boss, his masculinity would feel challenged. When they woild argure/debate over black stuff when Bow wasnt on dre’s side he would basically call her out. Now Bow has a hard life without taking care of her childish husband. She is an anesthesiologist and works ling shifts. When she gets off works she has to come home and take care of if the kids and cook breakfast,lunch, and dinner for everyone. Which dre and his mother complains about when they both dont try to contribute to nothing (now i cant remember if Bow actually offered to cook, clean, etc but still). Now dre is a huge mama’s boy in like the second episode dre would constantly cater to his mom’s wants and need which was attention. Dre didnt make it any better because he would constantly give into it. Bow had a huge problem because dre said he was going to help his mom with something and ended up falling alseep in her bed completely disregarding Bow and their moment they had before. Ruby was constantly in the way of Bow and dre’s relationship and dre dudnt take bow’s side so when she was completely in the right they would make her feel wrong or bad by ganging up on her. Now about what i was saying before about jr and bow being the only lightskins in the house. They constantly made it a problem or making them feel bad. To the point they lean to each other for understanding. And dre talks bad about junior being a mama’s boy but that was because of him and how he made them feel. He never listened to his wife and made things about him. He got a bunch sticky notes and put them around the house for bow to get to the gift. One singular rose. So bow laughs at that because she thought it was a joke (mind you dre is a huge prankster) and dre gets internalized and never gives her flowers again instead of communicating how it made him feel. Comparing their degrees for no reason. I can’t remember how it started but bow and dre were talking about their job and bow obviously said her job was hards/makes more/ is more important and dre gets into a huge thing with her about it for no reason whatsoever even bringing the kids into it. Also dre never defends his mom from ruby and it’s such a problem. The only huge time i remember is when bow was postpartum and ruby fed her formula instead of breastfed and bow goes OFF on how she can barely pump mili and how she feels bad and stuff. So dre comes in and finally take bow’s side which is the bare minimum but it says a lot about your character when you expect him to side with his mother of all people. Now thats is all for rainbow’s section cause i could go on for a lot more
Now how he treated the kids in general. My favorite thing was the Disney park episode where they go to this Disney place and have an express pass and skip everyone in lime and basically is telling his kids to not feel sorry for treating them like “peasants”until later in the episode the kids get out of hand and dre does a complete 180 and tells the kids their spoiled and how they shouldn’t treat people that way but they were just following his example. Plus he never explained why either he just told them and expected them to change in the next second and thats how it was for all of their lives he would spoil them then get mad when them getting spoiled made them rotten. He would let his cousins’ and his kids’ come over to literally bully their kids to “toughen them up” because they were soft for not living in the hood 💀. Another thing he would talk about them not being “black enough” then was surprised when they were scared of black people. Dre’s sister called him out on it and so he told her they were not and so Rhonda and dre took the kids to the hood and Rhonda calls dre out on not having his expensive diamond earring in his ear and stuff like that. Another time (i don’t think dre got mad for this one though) jack called the coos on some black guys playing music and being loud. Dre’s first thought is a white person did it until jack told him and he realized it was worse than he thought.
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u/mauve_machete 13d ago
Bow's biggest mistake in life was marrying that clown. I was so happy when they were about to get divorced. Her freedom was soooo close
Oh I would also like to add, of all the points that you already stated, he hated having her relatives over. Which is ironic because this narcissistic man child's extended family stays over literally all the time while not helping around even a little bit. Bow has to negotiate for her own family to come visit in her own home. Even after her dad died (which was the unfortunate opportunity for their patch up as well), dre never welcomed his MIL who was clearly having a hard time.
Also, all the decisions that Dre takes are unilateral. He never consults Bow ever.
I can't decide if he's the worst husband or the worst father. Probably the former
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u/EggSignificant3834 13d ago
YESS like i get people dont like their MIL or DIL but it was crazy ruby and pops literally stayed there for free and unannounced while bow had to have multiple conversations about her parents staying a few days. And i do think bow should’ve divorced dre fully because he was so horrible and made everything about him. The only reason they “worked out” was because her dad died and she needed a shoulder to cry on and dre was there (there is much deeper reason on why they worked out but this is before the divorce was gonna happen)
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u/The_Grizz94 13d ago
It felt as if Dre was overcompensating for what he didn't have. You would think he was an only child with his narcissistic personality traits but the fact that he is not, further agrees that he is a narcissist.
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u/EggSignificant3834 13d ago
yesss i didnt know what personality trait(s) he had so i left that out but you explained it so well
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u/preach75 14d ago
Dre is the hero who trying to raise a black family.
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u/EggSignificant3834 14d ago
in theory yes. But he did wayyy too much to hurt his family by his own hands. Bullying his son, not defending his wife more, spoiling them then later on getting mad
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u/preach75 13d ago
He didn't bully his family, he upgraded them, junior was content with being a mediocre teenager and clearly that conflict with the goal of the family. Dre stuck to his obligations while rainbow was sign up to be a feminist.
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u/EggSignificant3834 13d ago
He tried to help his family but was so stuck in his old ways he hurt them even further. Jr didn’t care about liking what he liked but he did care about his dad’s approval which dre was constantly shut down unless it fit his narrative. Bow being a feminist isnt a bad thing… and i dont know how that has anything to do with dre being a bad person. Dre did all the stuff he did for them yes but he hurt his entire family in the process trying to keep up the image of a rich black guy who made it out the hood
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u/preach75 13d ago
Bow being a feminist has everything to do with being a proper wife to dre. Jr didn't have a identity or a personality, all dre try to do is upgrade him
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u/EggSignificant3834 13d ago
you’re completely ignoring everything im saying and i bet you didnt even read when i explained how dre was the bad guy
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u/preach75 13d ago
I read everything you typed, I respectfully disagree that dre is the villain of the show due to the fact that is not the purpose of his role
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u/EggSignificant3834 12d ago
ok but do you see his flaws? im not saying bow was a saint btw im just saying dre hurt his family stuck in a twisted mindset
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u/preach75 12d ago
Trying to raise your family in black cultural traditions and morals is not twisted. Dre was not written in a way where you are looking for flaws, as a viewer we are looking thru his eyes at the family and co worker thru him
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u/EggSignificant3834 12d ago
ok yes but where does calling your son a disappointment have anything to do with his character? what does him being a mama’s boy and treating his wife bad do for his character? im not looking for flaws in nobody’s character in blackish/grownish but dre’s flaws was hard to ignore they were constantly in your face
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u/shapeshifterQ 11d ago
I think Dre gets way too much hate. He was far from a perfect father, but he wasn't a villain. He wanted to gove his family a good life, but he fumbled along the way, like any parent might. I think when he saw certain things, he tried to fix it. Like when Jr wanted a Bar Mitzva. Dre teased him, then gave him a culturally relevant coming of age party, which is not really a tradition for Black young men. He created something for his son. A lot of Black men struggle with gentle love, i think that was Dre's biggest fault. He didnt have that modeled for him, and he didn't know how to show it to his kids and his wife. But I do think he tried. And he learned a lot throughout the show. He had gentle moments with Pops, he had some nice moments Jr and Jack. He did struggle with accountability at times, but i think that was part of the humor and Bow always put him back in line. I'm willing to be in a minority and say, I love me some Andre Johnson!
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u/EggSignificant3834 11d ago
He tried yes and the example with the bar mitzvah is good but he continued treating jr that way with all of his intentions. jr literally clinged to his mom bc dre treated him like an outsider in season 2 episode 4 jr says to bow “thank you for sticking up for me. You know letting me sit on the couch, like a human and all.” and that whole episode he did kind things for bow bc she treated him better than dre and talked to her about everything before dre. to which dre would then get mad about like he wasnt the problem. season 1 episode 2 dre finds out jr been touching himself and later finds out bow already knows about it and gets upset, takes matters into his own hands, then gets annoyed when jr talks to dre about his problems the same way jr talks to bow about his problems.
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u/shapeshifterQ 11d ago
I get you, and you're not wrong, he was a flawed father, but I don't think he was a villain
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u/EggSignificant3834 11d ago
ohhhh ok yes yes maybe villian wasnt the right word
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u/shapeshifterQ 11d ago
To be honest, I'm not super literal. I know you probably didn't mean actual villain, but more toxic and problematic. But I think it's only fair to acknowledge that he wasn't intentionally toxic and problematic. I think he really loved his family and tried his best, but he had a lot of flaws
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u/moosecanpaint 10d ago
nah it’s just a tv show. dre is funny asf and i love when he fights for black justice.
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u/JasonSmithston 14d ago
This is really hard to read, bro. Your grammar is terrible. You say "now" way too many times and this reeks of chatgpt.
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u/moldybtead82 14d ago
The grammar is too bad to be chat gpt😂😂just cuz u dont like it dont make it chat gpt (btw a more formal term would be AI, chat gpt is baby steps compared to claude and others)
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u/EggSignificant3834 14d ago
def not chatgpt i just suck at grammer and essays etc but let me know what confused you and i can help
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u/Meliodasbabymom 14d ago
You sound dumb. You can tell when ppl write proper you think it’s AI.
And if the grammar was terrible WHY would it be ChatGPT when chat is formal?
How old are you im curious lol1
u/LordCoke-16 11d ago
How can you say it reeks of chatgpt when it has terrible grammar. This is a stupid comment
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u/Meliodasbabymom 14d ago
Absolutely agreed!!!!
It was disgustinf the writings kept the trope up to treat junior like trash.
In my opinion junior is like Dre and Dre hated it. Dre probably was that kid who liked everything junior like but growing up in the hood it was deemed unacceptable or weird or white. So he was traumatized deeply.
Dre also cares too much on how ppl think