black-ish: Season 2
Season 2 Lore Primer
Key plot threads, lore context, and character stakes you need to remember before diving into this season.
- Directly follows the overarching narrative developments of black-ish Season 1.
- Faction dynamics and core character alliances shift under escalating external stakes.
- Crucial mysteries introduced previously reach key turning points and narrative reckonings.
- Sets up serialized story arcs that build directly toward the climactic season finale.
Episode Guide
Season 2 Progress Shield
The Word
Sep 23, 2015
Jack performs the song “Gold Digger” at a school talent show and when he sings a lyric that includes THE word, it leads to his possible expulsion from school. Dre and Bow work toge
Rock, Paper, Sissors, Gun
Sep 30, 2015
After a break-in down the block, Dre talks about getting a gun, and Bow is not comfortable with the idea. Which leads everyone to debate — there are many different ways to protect
Dr. Hell No
Oct 7, 2015
After Dre gets his yearly physical and comes home traumatized, Pops explains his generation's strong aversion towards healthcare and admits that he hasn't seen a doctor in years. S
Daddy's Day
Oct 14, 2015
After another lackluster Father's Day overshadowed by graduation parties and summer vacations, Dre and his colleagues decide to come up with a holiday initiative entitled “Daddy's
Churched
Oct 21, 2015
In the Johnson home, Sundays involve SAT prep and sports, so when the family is invited to Church on Sunday by the neighbors, Dre goes against his instinct of always saying “no” an
Jacked o' Lantern
Oct 28, 2015
Ever since he was a kid, Dre has loved Halloween. Now that he lives in one of those “good candy neighborhoods,” kids come from all over the city to trick-or-treat, including Dre's
Charlie in Charge
Nov 11, 2015
While Dre and Bow take Zoey on a trip to visit Bow's alma mater, Brown University, Dre battles with his fear of flying through a little pharmaceutical assistance to get him through
Chop Shop
Nov 18, 2015
While Bow prepares for the Johnson family's annual Christmas card shoot, Dre takes Junior and Jack to the Barber Shop to get a hair cut from his lifelong Barber, T. When Junior dec
Man at Work
Dec 2, 2015
Dre has always looked out for the crew he grew up with, but when his childhood friend Sha comes to stay at the house for a few days, Bow thinks he is taking advantage of Dre's gene
Stuff
Dec 9, 2015
Dre thinks Christmas has become commercialized and is all about “stuff,” and no one loves “stuff” more than his kids. Pops and Ruby think they have forgotten the true meaning of Ch
Plus Two Isn't a Thing
Jan 6, 2016
Dre's childhood best friend Gigi Franklin is in town, and Bow feels like an afterthought whenever the two of them are together. Dre and Gigi are like brother and sister, but it doe
Old Digger
Jan 13, 2016
Dre has never had a problem with Pops dating, but when it comes to Ruby, he won't let anyone come between them. When Ruby invites Dre and Bow to meet the new man in her life, Dre i
Keeping Up with the Johnsons
Jan 20, 2016
After a month of heavy spending, Dre and Bow start to question if they are living too large. Dre's crazy accountant, James Brown, has always been their go-to money guy, but when th
Sink or Swim
Feb 10, 2016
After Dre notices that his neighbor Janine has never invited his family to any of her pool parties, he assumes she is racially stereotyping them as a family that doesn't swim. The
Twindependence
Feb 17, 2016
Jack and Diane are tired of being twins, and after much pleading, Dre and Bow give in to letting them explore their lives as individuals. Meanwhile, Dre buys Zoey her first car, an
Hope
Feb 24, 2016
When the kids ask some tough questions in the midst of a highly publicized court case involving alleged police brutality and an African-American teenager, Dre and Bow are conflicte
Any Given Saturday
Mar 16, 2016
Jack and Diane are doing biography projects about each other in school, and Diane decides to shoot a documentary on Jack's budding basketball career. Jack is the star of rec ball b
Black Nanny
Mar 23, 2016
Dre and Bow start to slip on the kids' activities and chores around the house, so Bow persuades Dre to hire a nanny. After several interviews that don't go well, they meet Vivian,
The Leftovers
Apr 6, 2016
When Dre and Bow realize they don't have a legal guardian for their kids, they make it their mission to find replacement parents should anything happen to them. Meanwhile, Zoey and
Johnson & Johnson
Apr 13, 2016
Dre's sister, Rhonda, is getting married to her girlfriend, Sharon, and the upcoming nuptials lead to a conversation on tradition. Dre finds out that Bow is against the patriarchal
The Johnson Show
Apr 27, 2016
Dre has always strived to mirror his life after the model families he grew up watching on TV. When news spreads that Stevens & Lido is going through layoffs, Dre panics that his fa
Super Rich Kids
May 4, 2016
Dre has always felt his older son was never like him, but when he finally meets Junior's cool friends, Dre is all in and happy that his son may have the opportunity for an actual s
Daddy Dre-Care
May 4, 2016
The flu is going around the Johnson household, and with things in flux at work, Dre tries to avoid catching the bug at all costs. Dre has to step up and take care of the whole fami
Good-ish Times
May 18, 2016
Dre is left exhausted after wrestling with a lot of stress at work and while at home, he drifts to sleep watching a TV marathon of Good Times – cue the dream sequence. The Johnson