08x09 - And the Winner Is...

Episode transcripts for the TV show "blackish". Aired September 2014 - current.*
Watch/Buy Amazon


A family man struggles to gain a sense of cultural identity while raising his kids in a predominantly white, upper-middle-class neighborhood.
Post Reply

08x09 - And the Winner Is...

Post by bunniefuu »

DRE: The American Dream
is founded on the idea

that starting from the bottom
and working your ass off

will get you what you deserve.

Well, it had taken years,

but all of my hard work
had finally paid off.


That's right... Andre Johnson got an ad

in the Super Bowl.

These ads are cultural touchstones.

They get the biggest
budgets, the biggest stars,


and the biggest audience.

Just getting one on air is
advertising's highest honor.


♪♪

Andre Johnson?

Okay, I lied.

I'm Andre Johnson.

Advertising's highest honor

is getting an Ad World Award nomination.

Aah! Yeah! I told you, boy!

- I told you, you could do this, Dre!
- [CELLPHONE RINGTONE PLAYING]

I told you, you could do this!

Oh. Hey, Stevens.

Really?

Me?

I had no idea the
nominations came out today.

[DING!] _

Look, you know me.

I'm in it for the love of the game.

I'm not into it for the awards.

[CHUCKLES] No!

I'm just trying to stay humble.

I don't want any of
this to go to my head.

All right. Thanks, Stevens.

Bow!

Run me another bath, babe!

I'm about to get sticky.

Cra-a-azy!

Whoo!

Whoo-aah-ha-ha-ha-ha!

To Dre.

- Ahh!
- Yes!

Your first ad was for
a check-cashing joint.

- [LAUGHTER]
- Now...

you've been nominated for a car

that people actually want to be seen in.

- Mm-hmm!
- Yes! This is a house of winners!

Yep. Take note, kids.

If you're thinking about bringing an "L"

up into this house,
you best to think again!

Mm. She's talking to you.

- I know.
- I know.

- Finally, I'm being recognized.
- Mm.

You know, I had a plan.

I put in the long hours
and the early mornings

on this campaign, and now this.

I hope this goes to show you
that if you put your mind to it

and you stick to your grind,

- anything is possible!
- [LAUGHTER]

Not for you guys.

- I know.
- I know.

- Babe...
- Yes?

Are you ready to walk the red carpet?

- Oh.
- You and me.

- Yes.
- Imagine... heads turning.

- Mm-hmm.
- "Oh, look.

Is that the man who did the ad?"

- Oh.
- "And I think that's his wife.

They say she's a doctor,
but she looks like a model."

- So true. You really do, Mom.
- Well, wait, wait.

Wait, doesn't... doesn't Devante

have his spring concert
the night of the ceremony?

Eh, he does, but you know what?

We'll just find somebody
else to take him.

Yes. Because, you
know, your father and I

only get to go out as
adults twice a year,

and I'm not missing this.

Well, I can't take Devante.

My girl is coming into town.

Mm. Trying to save
the relationship, huh?

Very funny, Diane.

We may be long-distance,
but we're making it work.

- BOTH: Okay.
- You know what?

I'll take Devante.

- What?
- What?

Yeah. It's a blessing
to be able to create

these memories with my grandchildren.

Hmm.

Plus, Ruby's out of town,

and I have no idea where
she hides the remote.

♪♪

Ooh. Yes.

- Hey, Dre.
- Hmm.

Congrats on the nomination, man.

Thanks, man.

You know, I still haven't come down yet.

Oh, I'll bet. They say the
first award is the best.

Yeah.

Although, for me, I
think it was my third.

The sixth, though, a very close second,

so I guess if I had to rank it...

let's see, it would be third, sixth,

first, fifth, fourth, second.

You've won six times?

Huh. Well, I guess I have, man.

I-I really don't keep
track of that kind of stuff,

but I tip my Yerba to you, sir.

Oh. Namaste.

There he is! Whoo!

Congratulations, Dre!

Wow. Congratulations, Dre.

Boy, you really smashed through
that Black glass ceiling,

which we all thought was always
a terrible, terrible thing.

Now there's Black glass
all over the floor.

You did that.

That's because I had a
plan and I stuck to it.

- Ooh.
- And because of that,

I am now breathing in the
sweet smell of success,

and when I win, Josh,
you can no longer wear

open-toed sandals, because
of that Black glass.

[CHUCKLES]

- Ah, Dre.
- Yeah.

You're not gonna win.

Of course I'm going to win.

My ad was fire.

- Yes.
- Sure.

Dre, it was very strong,

but everyone knows that that
ad from Donahue and Baker,

the one with that little
girl and the talking horse...

I'm sorry, but that's
the one that's gonna win.

- What?
- JOSH: It really was a perfect ad.

The way they balance humor and emotion.

And then, at the end, when
that gospel choir kicks in...

Man, you think you can save the world.

Dre, my mother called me
for the first time in years

to ask if I knew the little girl.

I panicked and said yeah.

But, hey, at least now I'm
back in the will, right?

That horse ad has
nothing on my commercial,

and if you ask me, it's
emotionally manipulative.

People only liked it because they were

trapped inside their house
for the last year and a half.

I'm gonna win that trophy,

assuming that it's a
trophy and not a plaque.

But whatever it is, I'm
gonna wear it around my neck.

♪♪

Mm! Mm-mm-mm!

Dad told you to stop
buying flowers for Mom.

It makes him look bad.

And I told him that he doesn't dictate

the way I love my mother.

- Mm.
- But these are for Olivia.

She's supposed to land in a few hours,

and I just want the day to be perfect.

I just need my woman to get here.

It's been a long two months,
but whenever we're together,


everything just clicks.

♪ You make it look like it's magic ♪

♪ Oh, yeah ♪

♪ 'Cause I see nobody,
nobody but you, you, you ♪

♪ I'm never confused ♪

♪ Hey, hey ♪

♪ I'm so used to being used ♪

The two of us just have a rhythm.

♪ So I love when you call unexpected ♪

It's a dance only we know.

- ♪ 'Cause I hate when the moment's expected ♪
- Set to music we make.

- Together.
- ♪ So I'mma care for ♪

♪ You, you, you ♪

♪♪

♪ I'mma care for you, you, you, yeah ♪

This is the saddest
thing I've seen him do.

If we leave now, we won't
have to look him in the eyes.

Yeah.

♪♪

Sitting at the Ad World
Awards amongst my peers,


I knew I was exactly where
I was supposed to be.


I was the heir to the throne,

and I wasn't going to leave
here without my crown.


ANNOUNCER: Ladies and gentlemen,
your host, Isaiah Mustafa.


[CHEERS AND APPLAUSE]

Good evening, everyone,

and welcome to the Ad World Awards.

[APPLAUSE] Let's kick this thing off.

The nominees for Best
Experiential Activation

for a Consumer Event are...

"Virtual Factory Tour" by DW Global.

"Destination of Choice" by GGR.

And Donahue and Baker's

"Little Girl with Talking Horse."

[APPLAUSE]

And the winner is Donahue and Baker.

- "Little Girl with Talking Horse."
- [CHEERS AND APPLAUSE]

I'm telling you, it's
gonna be their night.

Hey, they have one award.

Three Mafia has one award.

Once again, it's Donahue and Baker.

"Little Girl with Talking Horse."

[APPLAUSE]

♪♪

And the award for Best
Visual Effects goes to...

Donahue and Baker.

"Little Girl with Talking Horse."

[APPLAUSE]

DRE: This is garbage.

It is gonna be the
talking horse's night.


And now,

for Outstanding Individual
Achievement in Advertising...

Oh, okay.

... the nominees are...

Andre Johnson of Stevens & Lido

for "Hyundai Ioniq Life."

Dre, get it together.

All right, just smile when
they announce the winner.


You may not win, but at
least you can hide your rage.


That's right. Fix your face, sucker.

And the winner is...

Andre Johnson.

"Hyundai Ioniq Life."

- [APPLAUSE]
- Aw, I'm sorry, babe,

but, you know,

it was an honor just to be nominated.

- Dre, you won!
- I won?

- Yes!
- Yes! You won!

- I did! I did!
- Yes!

- Aah!
- I won!

Mnh!

- Yeah! I won!
- Yeah!

- Ohh!
- Oh, my God!

Yeah, okay.

Oh, thank you, bro. Thank you, bro.

Okay, uh, let's see.

I have a speech. Uh...

Um...

I want to thank Black Jesus and my mama

and my beautiful wife, Rainbow.

That's me. Hello!

Ooh, I can't forget
my partners at Hyundai.

Uh, I'd like to thank the
streets that raised me.

Uh, Forest Whitaker, you
know what you did, all right?

- [SCATTERED LAUGHTER]
- And uh...

R.I.P. to Nipsey Hussle.

You know, I emulate you
in my work every day.

- [SLOW MUSIC PLAYING]
- The marathon continues.

Hey, hey, hey,

why are y'all playing me
off with this music, man?

I've worked my entire life to
get up here for this moment!

You gonna try to play me off?!

Okay, if I was up here talking about

some "Save the Whale" tip,

y'all wouldn't be doing this to me!

Yeah! Oh, no, it's okay. I
got Megan Thee Stallion kn

I can get down here, too. Yeah.

Clipper Nation, baby! Clipper Nation!

Clip City, Chip City!

My upset was a huge win.

This is how Dr. Dre must have felt

when he made "The Chronic."

All of a sudden, everyone
knew the name Dre Johnson,


and everybody wanted a piece.

[CHEERS AND APPLAUSE]

Whoo! I hope you are soaking it up, Dre,

because you, my friend,
have reached the pinnacle.

Oh.

Bow, you must be so proud of him.

Of course I am. Are you kidding me?

He's a great father
to our five children,

and honestly, there's a lot
of great fathers out there.

But only one of them has this award!

[LAUGHTER] Hey, now!

- Bam!
- Oh, are you kidding me?

- I'm gonna go get some dessert.
- Okay, babe.

Dre, you are truly an inspiration.

I used to half-ass things around here.

But now that you showed
me what's possible,

I'm still gonna half-ass
things around here.

But now I might feel bad about it.

- JOSH: Dre.
- Hmm?

After this win, you can
make whatever ads you want.

[GASPS] It's advertising "Mad Libs."

A-list celebrity, plus crazy location,

plus random brand.

Bradley Cooper. Spooky forest. Skechers.

RZA. The Great Pyramids. Snapple.

Mr. Peanut, on a jar
with other peanuts...

W... w... wait a
minute. What am I doing?

What? You... I'm off work.

Stop using my brain
and not paying for it.

♪♪

Oh!

I can't believe you're actually here.

[SQUEALING]

Oh, neither can I. I'm
so excited to see you.

- Oh.
- Mm. How was your trip?

Ooh, my trip was terrible.

I had to wake up super
early and then catch a train

to the airport, and
then once I got there,

my flight was delayed.

I'm just... I'm wiped out.

But none of that matters,
because I'm here with you now.

Well, you can relax because I
have planned your whole stay.

- So, first...
- Okay.

... we have a swan boat
ride at Echo Park Lake,

then dinner at your favorite taqueria.

- Mm.
- Ooh, and I got you something.

It's not much, but I thought
it would be nice to...

... have.

[SNORING]

[WHISPERING] Hey, uh, babe,
I think you're on my phone.

♪♪

Man, I remember when I won my first.

I was so afraid to take my eyes off it,

I slept with it for days.

It's crazy, man.

Just to think, seven years ago,

I was the Black guy they
hired to come over to do

the ads that they
needed a Black guy to do.

After winning this,
Tim Cook knows my name.

- It's crazy, right?
- Mm-hmm.

Anyway, I was listening to
this podcast with Tom Brady...

Ah.

Of course you're a Brady guy.

What can I say, man?

- I love a guy who's k*lling it in his s.
- Okay.

Anyway, he was saying how some people,

they win, you know,
they get what they want,

they start to lose their edge,

but for him, every title
just made him hungrier.

- Yeah.
- You know, more competitive.

I get that.

You know, after winning
something like this,

having a taste of that,
it's hard to give up.

Mm. You don't have to tell that

to a guy who's won six of these.

And to be honest, I haven't
even started trying yet.

Okay, well, just letting you know,

I'm coming for you, all right?

And you're gonna have to go through me,

because this guy is lonely.

He's gonna need some friends.

[CHUCKLES] Well, challenge accepted.

I just... you know, I feel so bad,

you starting so far behind and all.

Yeah, that's where I
am, but you should know,

no one's gonna out-work me.

I'm talking hours
a day, days a week,

days a year.

Dre, I got a feeling
this is gonna be fun.

Oh, it is. All right.

They said iron sharpens iron.

So Griffin and I are gonna
sharpen each other up.


- Time to go.
- Why?

Just saw Charlie dip a shrimp
in the chocolate fountain.

[SIGHS]

He said he was gonna do that.

- It's disgusting.
- Mm-hmm.

♪♪


[DOOR CLOSES]

Huh.

♪♪

Your girlfriend flew in
from , miles away,

and you're setting up tea trays?

Hey, shouldn't Jack and
Jill be going up the hill

to fetch a pail of water?

I don't know what that means,

but Olivia is taking a nap right now,

and this is because I decided

to surprise her with her
faves when she wakes up.

So, we've got macarons
from Bottega Louie,

we have got tuna
sandwiches from Bay Cities,

and Fatburger fries.

Uh-huh.

Why are you overcompensating

like a bald White man
driving a Corvette?

I don't know.

I-I guess we just haven't
seen each other in person in,

like, two months, and
we've missed so much

about each other's lives.

Half of her stories are about
people I don't even know.

I guess I-I thought it
wouldn't be this hard.

Junior, being in a relationship is hard,

even when you're in the same city.

What you and Olivia are trying to do

is damn near impossible.

But I can tell you this...

I walked out on your
grandmother when things got hard,

and it was one of the worst decisions

I ever made in my life.

Really?

Yeah.

That, and investing in my cousin's

drive-thru soup restaurant.

You need two hands to eat soup.

- Thanks, Pops.
- Mm-hmm.

Oh, whoa.

You do not wanting her eating these

before tonight, though.

Trust me.

Tuna fish kisses?

What were you thinking?

♪ Understand, I'm just
tryna be the daily ♪

With my award in hand, I
had a taste of winning,


and I was never going to stop.

I was ready to chase GOATs
until I was the GOAT.


You gotta turn that down or
you're gonna wake the baby.

- [MUSIC STOPS] What...
- What is...

Well, you would've woke
him if I hadn't kept him up.

Pops, it's well past his bedtime.

- What's up with that?
- I know. I know.

I-I could've sent a video,

but I thought y'all
might want to see this.

Okay, Devante, go ahead.
Show them what you got, kid.

Let's see.

["MARY HAD A LITTLE
LAMB" PLAYING ON KEYBOARD]

♪♪

I couldn't take my eyes off of Devante.

All you want as a parent
is for your kid to find


something that brings them joy,
and he had clearly found it.


It sounds really good.

Look at his face, babe.

Look how happy he is.

I had no idea that Devante loved
playing the piano like this.

How could I miss this?

Oh, it's not your fault, Dre.

You just got delinquent daddy syndrome.

We all got it. There's
nng you can do about it.

Anyway, um...

he should be in bed right now.

- Hey.
- Yeah?

You comin' up to bed?

In a bit.

Aw!

What's wrong?

Are you mad 'cause Stevens
asked you to bless the statue

with a traditional African prayer?

No.

I mean, yeah, but that's not it.

Look, I spent my entire career proving

that I deserve a seat at the table.

Mm-hmm.

Tonight was supposed to be
the best night of my life.

Babe, but I'm sitting here thinking that

I'm the most terrible
father in the world

because I missed one recital.

Aww.

I know where you're
coming from with this.

Every working mom deals
with this trade-off.

If I'm to chase all of
these new opportunities,

I've gotta do it with more
than the % I've been giving.

- Mm-hmm.
- Which means I'm gonna miss

spring recitals or soccer games

or open houses and graduations.

Then, all of a sudden, I become
the dude that was never there.

That's not a sacrifice
I'm willing to make.

Don't let a scheduling
conflict spin you out, Dre.

You're a great dad.

[SIGHS] Yeah.

And you've always been present
in the lives of our kids.

That is not gonna change.

We'll figure out the rest.

We always do.

- You're right.
- Yeah.

But your boy did do his thing

with that speech tonight, right?

- That was a speech.
- Mm-hmm.

That was a speech. Now, I don't know why

you had to do it a second
time at the afterparty,

but hey.

Well, you ain't never
complained about me

doing it a second time...

Yeah, but it's usually just for me,

which is what I'm waiting for.

- Let's go.
- Oh. Okay. Hold on.

Come on. I wanna hear that speech!

You stay right there.

Yeah, she a little crazy.

Yeah, she's definitely
a little out of whack,

but you know what?

It's my fault for getting
a roommate off Craigslist.

Last week, she accused
me of using more than

my fair share of tap water.

I mean, you should have seen this coming

when she declared : P.M.
to : A.M. "quiet hours."

Ugh. You're right.

But I remember you
saying that you liked, uh,

Kayla from your research seminar.

Why don't you see if
she needs a roommate?

Whoa. I can't believe you
remember me talking about Kayla.

I mean, I can't be in New Haven,

but I still want to know
everything about your world.

I'm really glad we did this.

I gotta admit, it's been pretty hard,

but us, here, together, this works.

Yeah, it does.

But I think that's the problem.

What do you mean?

Being here with you feels great,

but that's not what our life is now.

Our relationship is
texts, missing each other,

never being on the same page,

and hoping we can remember each other's

potential roommate situation.

I know it's hard, but it's
only gonna be a year...

or two, or six if you get your PhD,

but we love each other.

We can figure it out. Right?

I do love you.

But I don't think this is
what either of us really wants.

So are we breaking up?

♪♪

Sometimes it's hard to accept
when things need to change.


♪♪

Well?

♪♪

All right, boy.

Come on, sit down.

But the truth is, without
change, you can't grow.


All right, team, let's, uh,

come up with a strategy
for that new client.

Shouldn't we wait for Dre?

Uh, no. Dre will not be in today.

He's taking a personal day.

Oh.

♪♪

Right now, my son doesn't
care that I won a trophy.


♪♪

♪♪

And neither do I.

♪♪

Oh.

Now, this is the saddest
thing I've ever seen him do.

When was the last time he moved?

I don't know.

Should we poke him to see if he's okay?

My poking stick's in the attic.

[SIGHS]

Let's just go.

We'll spray him with cologne
and rotate him once a day

so he doesn't get bed sores.

Hmm.

[CELLPHONE CLICKS]

Play "Un-Break My Heart."

CELLPHONE: The user you
share this account with


has canceled your subscription.

[INHALES, EXHALES DEEPLY]

Okay.

♪ Don't leave me in all this pain ♪

♪ Don't leave me out in the rain ♪

♪ Un-break my heart ♪

♪ Say you'll love me again ♪

♪ Un-cry these teeeeears ♪
Post Reply