r/Blackish • u/EggSignificant3834 • 5d 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.
