06x02 - Every Day I'm Struggling

Episode transcripts for the TV show "blackish". Aired September 2014 - current.*
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A family man struggles to gain a sense of cultural identity while raising his kids in a predominantly white, upper-middle-class neighborhood.
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06x02 - Every Day I'm Struggling

Post by bunniefuu »

DRE: After taking the risk
of not going to college,


Junior was doing
pretty good for himself.


So, now when he comes over
with his new roommates,


it's actually nice.

Hey! What's up?

- Hey!
- Hi, guys!

- What's going on, young fella?
- Hi.

Junior was finally taking after me.

For the first time in his life,
he was cool.


I could see myself
hanging out with Junior...


in public.

I'd be willing to take pictures
and everything.


- I have to confess...
- Mm-hmm?

I am so proud of the man
that Junior has become.

- So am I!
- I know, I know!

- Two Black friends at the same time?
- Two.

Two!

Oh, we've waited for this!

- Whew.
- Uh, hey, babe?

- Yeah.
- I bought some bubbly water yesterday.

- Did you move it?
- Unh-unh.

- Look behind the orange juice.
- I can't.

There isn't any orange juice.

- What?
- There isn't any cheese,

- and the soy sauce is missing.
- Unh-unh.

I bought soy sauce yesterday, babe.

Wait a minute.

Baby, there's... there's no cereal,

there's no honey.

What?

And is the sponge missing?
Where's the soap?

Where's the... where's the...

Baby, check the laundry room.

Okay, okay, okay, I'm checking.

There's nothing down here!

The only thing in here
is a sock and dryer lint.

Where'd everything go?

♪ Every day I'm hustling,
hustling, hustling ♪

It was an "Ocean's Eleven" -style set up

from the jump.

- [Watch beeps]
- And his boys were in on it.

Hey, guys!

Those friendly smiles
were just to disarm us.


♪ Every day I'm hustling ♪

♪ Who you suckers think
you're tripping with? ♪

♪ Yes, I'm the boss ♪

It was an inside job.

Junior knew exactly
where we kept all the stuff


broke kids never buy.

Toilet paper, canned goods, cinnamon.

♪ We keep on coming back ♪

♪ I'm into distribution ♪

♪ I'm like Atlantic ♪

They basically grabbed
the kitchen by the ankle


and shook it.

♪ I know Pablo ♪

- ♪ Pablo ♪
- ♪ Noriega ♪

♪ The real Noriega,
he owe me a hundred favors ♪

- I've got to give it up to them,
- ♪ Every day I'm hustling ♪

- they were smooth.
- ♪ Every day I'm hustling ♪

Babe!

We've been jacked!



- When did they go upstairs?
- I don't know.

My in-shower moisturizing gel
is missing.

Do you know what that means?

That your feet are gonna
cut me in the night?

No, that means they went "in shower"!

How did they know
I wasn't up there naked?

Because you were down here.

- I still feel violated.
- Okay.

They took the dried mangos.

Oh, no, man, nah.
That wasn't part of the deal.

What are you talking about?

[Sighs]

I wasn't gonna snitch,

but now I'm eating
plantain chips like a jerk,

so screw it.

Junior lost his job with the Migos.

- What?
- [Door closes]

He can tell you.

You lost your job?

They took the mangos, didn't they?

Ya think?

I swear...

Hey, Junior, when did this happen?

Uh...

Like, a couple of weeks ago, I guess.

I mean, there wasn't really
any paperwork.

Offset kind of just walked up to me

and said, "Whomp, whomp,"
and patted me on the back.

So, you were lying to us?

Well, I thought I was gonna
find something else by now.

But I have not.

So you steal my almond-oil
moisturizing gel?

How am I supposed
to exfoliate my back, son?

With my hands?

Like the cavemen did?!

Okay, feels like you guys
are putting out an energy

that says I should give you some space,

so I'm gonna be out by the pool.

The pool is for people who live here,

and you chose not to live here.

But, Mom, I'm... I'm trying...

Junior, you made a decision.

You said you could
handle the real world,

so it seems like
you shouldn't be swimming,

and you should be working on your life.

And you will learn

that an in-shower moisturizer

is a working man's pleasure.

Get out of here, Junior.

Go.

[Sighs]

Look at you and me,

on the same page

for an old-fashioned Junior takedown.

- [Laughs]
- Ah! You had my back.

Mm.

Even though it's not exfoliated.

Earl, you need to hear this.

If this is about
that "Hamilton" soundtrack,

I'll say it one more time...

everyone doesn't have
to like everything.

Jack, tell the old man what you told me.

- I had this crazy dream last night.
- Mm-hmm.

So, I'm at a Lakers game,

and LeBron was wearing the number .

- That's not his number.
- Exactly!

And then I saw there were
people on the court.

And then there were
people in the stands,

which is not enough people.

That's a lot of s.

Earl, you know what this means?

I think he's got The Gift.

You mean... The Gift?

- What is this "gift"?
- RUBY: Okay.

In my family, every few generations,

there's someone who has the gift

for predicting the future.

The last one to have it

was my Aunt Georgia.

She predicted the Miracle on Ice.

I was the first Black man
to make money off hockey.

There's your headstone.

All right, Earl,
now, you need to take this,

find Loose Craig, and put it all on .

I ain't played the ponies
or the numbers in weeks.

I'm off gambling.

Lynette has me wanting
to be a better man.

Not just on the inside.

On the outside, where the laws are.

Earl, come on, think of the good times!

I'm sorry, Ruby, I can't do it.

All right, suit yourself.

I'll find Loose Craig on my own.

- All right?
- All right.

Is he still selling those phone cases

down at the swap meet?

- How am I supposed to know?
- Ah, yeah, I'll find him.



So, we sent Junior home.

Then I sent him a picture of me
in the pool just to rub it in.

Charlie, I don't even know how to swim.

[Both laugh]

I tell you, all that chlorine,

it'll... it'll change you.

I remember when I first started
living on my own.

I had four roommates, man.

My bedroom was a closet.

There were weeks
that I survived on nothing

but a pound of burger meat
and two cans of beans.

Well, aren't you fancy?

- [Chuckles]
- Beans and meat?

Yes.

All I had was toast.

- Damn.
- Yeah.

Makes you appreciate it

when you finally make it, though.

- [Laughs] Yeah, it does.
- Uh-huh.

[Toaster pops]

Oh! [Laughs]

Yeah, I'm glad those days

are way, way, way, way behind us.

[Both chuckling]

- Must suck to be Junior, huh?
- Ah, sure does.

Yeah, he isn't gonna know
what's coming at him.

No, he doesn't.

Yeah, he's gonna crash and burn,

stop that Johnson generational wealth

right in its tracks.

Okay, Charlie,

Junior is not going to
crash and burn, okay?

He is going to grow and learn, like us.

No, he is not.

Junior didn't grow up broke.

He's a tender bird.

Like one of those penguins
whose parents die

so it gets nursed to adulthood by humans

until they think he's big enough
to go out on his own.

So they set him free on the ice,

and then a seal eats him on day one,

then Morgan Freeman tells us

it's just the way of the world
and we shouldn't cry.

[Voice breaking] But Morgan
doesn't know my emotions.

O... Okay. Uh...

Junior isn't ready, Dre!

You got to protect that boy!

You got to save him in a way

that Morgan couldn't save Pongo.

Who?

They fed him out of a baby bottle, Dre!

- Okay.
- Like... like, why would you...

why would you do that?

Excuse me.



So, Charlie made me think

that perhaps Junior wasn't prepared

for a life of syrup sandwiches.

Which is why I invited him over
to give him a few pointers


to help him survive life on the ice.

You know, now that I don't have a job,

how am I supposed to buy furniture?

Hey, man, if you got
milk crates and plywood,

you got furniture.

- Cool.
- Mm-hmm.

What's a milk crate?

- [Door opens]
- Bad news for your fantasy team, Dre!

What?

I did surgery on your running back.

Mm.

What is he doing here?

Um...

he's just hanging out.

Can I talk to you for a second?

- Sure, babe.
- Okay.

[Clears throat] Excuse me, son.

I thought we were on the same page, Dre.

[Sniffs]

For fun, um,

could you remind me
what page that is again?

The one that says

that he will not treat our home

- like the Four Seasons.
- Okay.

We should be bucking him up,
not giving him room service.

- Okay, okay, same page.
- Thank you.

- United front.
- Thank you so much.

All right. Uh, son.

- Mm-hmm?
- Uh, thank you for coming by

for this short visit

that's ending with you
still broke and hungry.

- Oh, cool.
- Okay.

All right. Yeah, all right.

Thank you, man.

- Is that cash?
- Huh?!

Oh, my God. Really?

Babe! Okay!

Okay, babe, I'm sorry,
it's the boy's fault!

Man, how do you mess up
the dap cash pass, huh?

How do you pay your barber?

Venmo.

What?

Junior, get out of here!

Get out of here, Junior!

Get out! Get out!!



I thought we agreed about
how we were gonna handle this.

Babe, I was talking to Charlie...

That's not how convincing
arguments start.

Junior is not built for this.

What?

You bought organic his entire life.

One package of Top Ramen

is gonna send his body into shock.

I know what happens to young men

who don't have a lot of boundaries.

- Mm-hmm.
- Look at my brother Johan.

He still thinks that hitchhiking

is a legitimate form of transportation.

Mm-hmm.

We got to hold the line with Junior.

- We got to hold the line, babe.
- Okay, babe, I...

- I will hold the line.
- Thank you.

I will no longer love Junior.

- Dre...
- Huh.

Well, that went down easy.

All leather, all day.

Look at that.

Top, bottom, and inside.

Hey!

Each panel from an Italian cow

raised on wine and Sinatra. [Chuckles]

Damn, these fakes are getting real good.

Is this a Doobey and Durke?

How dare you besmirch
a gift from The Gift?

- [Chuckles]
- Jack's dream number hit.

Wait, my magic got Grandma a purse?

Oh, honey, not just a purse.

Look at that.

Hey!

Well, damn.

So, Jack got lucky once.

- Stop hating.
- I...

Listen to me.

Did you have another dream last night?

JACK: I did.

Okay, so, look, I'm a giant hot dog.

Mustard, ketchup...
I'm talking the works.

So no one's gonna say anything.

I'm the jerk?

Okay, look at this. Look at this.

There are three horses in this race

named after hot dogs.

Oscar Mayer, Weiner's Circle,
and Pork 'n' Beans.

Now, with three horses,
you could win the...

The Trifecta!

I could pay for the wedding with this!

Yeah, and not have to have a cash bar.

Nope.

Nope.

I'm living clean.

If you need me for something else,

I'll be in the back having a drink.



So, for the sake of my son,

I needed to treat him like a stranger.

Unfortunately, Junior still
knows where I work.


Hey.

What are you doing here?

Well, you know, I haven't been
to the office in a while,

and I just wanted to say what's
up to the crew. [Chuckles]

- Mm-hmm.
- Hey, guys!

Hey! Why didn't we deactivate
his passcard, huh?

Who do I need to fire?

Look, I'm having an emergency.

My car has a flat,

and I just need to borrow
a little cash to fix it.

Son, you know I can't do that.

You're an adult now,

and it's up to you to handle it.

Hey, but in doing so,

you might find out
that you're a lot stronger

- than what you think.
- Wow.

You know, I thought I needed a sandwich,

but it turns out

I just needed one of your pep talks.

Bring it in, big guy.

All right, hey. You know the way out.



Man alive, Dre.

Your son has that
"I just got cut off" look.

Like when my second wife realized

there wouldn't be another ferry
off the island.

Yeah. You know what? Bow and I decided

- not to give him any more handouts.
- Mm.

But I worry about Junior.

Oh, my God.

Am I worried about Junior?

Oh, wait, I have an idea.

Okay, you know, there's a...
a tiny social media project

that just came across my desk.

Too small for us,

but Junior, I think,
would be great for it.

Hmm. I, too, have a lot of work

that I don't feel like doing

and could perhaps benefit
your son's journey.

- Okay.
- For example, my gutters.

That driver's test.

Finding out how far behind I am

with work as Dean
of a local university...

Charlie's crazy, but Josh's idea

to give Junior a leg up
instead of a handout


just might be the thing

to keep Bow and me on the same page.

Hey, babe, I fixed Junior.

All right? There's this client at work

that has this terrible project,

and I'm gonna help him get it

so we don't have to worry anymore.

When are you gonna stop helping Junior?

Oh, see, babe,
I'm not "helping" helping.

[Stammering]

Like... It's like
we're moving a table, right?

And you're wondering
if I'm even lifting up my side.

Don't you see that
he's playing you, Dre?

We're in a position
to ease the way for him, Bow.

This is what progress looks like.


No, Dre.

This is kicking off
a lifetime of laziness.

So, what am I supposed to do?

Just sit here and do nothing?

That's what I've been telling
you to do the whole time.

Well, I don't think I can do that.

- Oh, my God.
- We've always said

we would do whatever it takes
to help support our kids,

and now that he actually needs our help,

you want to abandon him?

[Doorbell rings]

[Sighs] Who is this?

- Ahh...
- Oh.

Ah.

Hey, guys!

You might want to come
take a look at something.

[Snoring]

Are you happy now?

He's homeless.

Yeah. I am.



Oh, I see!

It's just your son sleeping in the car

like a homeless person,

not an actual homeless person. Okay.

Okay, I got to go amend my NextDoor post

because I...

[imitates typing]
I went crazy on you guys.

So, son, how did you end up
sleeping in your car?

Uh, so, it's a long story.

JUNIOR: I got a parking ticket,
which wasn't my first.


[Sighs]

Then I had to use my rent money
to get that boot off,


which led to Rickey and Isaiah
kicking me out.


And since I didn't want
to hit you up anymore,


I decided to sleep in my car.

Like a man.

[Whispering] Hello, ?

It's Janine again.

Yeah, we've got a situation.

No, I promise this time it's real.

And Black.

So, I guess it wasn't
that long of a story.

Well, I'm gonna get caught up
with your mother.

Head upstairs and take a shower.

Whew. Thanks.

I need it.
You know, there are some things

that you cannot wash in a sink.



- DRE: Bow?
- Mm-hmm.

What the hell is going on?

You're happy that your son
is on the street?

Your smile was bigger than Janine's.

Yeah, he needs this
so he can hit rock bottom.

He's sleeping in his car.

How much more rock bottom do you need?

I don't know, maybe he spends
a couple more nights in his car,

and he will regret
not having gone to college.

So that's what this is about.

Hmm?

Because he didn't go to college,

you're rooting for him to fail.

Dre, I'm not rooting for him to fail.

I just want him to struggle to the point

that things don't work out for him,

and his stupid hopes and dreams
are crushed.

Mm.

Oh.

Oh, my God.

I'm rooting for him to fail.

Mm-hmm.

[Sighs]

That's not me.

I know.

That's you.

I know, and it's so weird.

That's very weird.

My God.

Are you okay, babe?

I'm worried, Dre.

I'm worried that he's
throwing everything away

that he worked for,
everything that we worked for.

Mm-hmm.

All for some dream that
I do not understand at all,

and he's... he's struggling
through it all.

You got to let that go.

You can't control his decisions.

But they scare me.

Don't you think it's scarier
being years old,

feeling your parents don't support you?

[Sighs] My God.



[Character screeching]

No! What?!

Hey, Jack, there you are!

Hey, listen, I've been thinking.

You had any more of them
crazy dream leads lately?

I... I thought you didn't
gamble anymore, Pops?

Yeah, that's what I thought, too,

but since you got The Gift,
it's not really gambling,

it's more like an investment.

I don't know if I'd trust a hedge fund

managed by Loose Craig.

You know, you need to go ahead

and play that video game, little girl.

Now, listen, go ahead,
take a little cat nap,

and if it helps at all,
I'm looking for something

that's related to the Broncos
laying / .

Well, I'm in.

- Uh, just let me get some NyQuil.
- My man.

RUBY: Jack, don't bother.

It was all a fluke, Earl.

I lost big on those horses.

They didn't win, place, or show.

Pork 'n' Beans never even
made it to the starting gate.

Just ran wild through the beer garden.

Wait, they didn't win?

What happened?

You don't have The Gift, baby.

Hey.

If you don't have The Gift,

that means I almost made
a terrible mistake.

Yep.

You could've blown up
your relationship with Lynette

over nothing.

Oh, I got to go call her.

Let her know I was thinking about her.

Yeah, you do that.

Now, Jack, this is very important.

Don't you ever tell your dreams
to anyone again.

- You hear me?
- That's cool.

Not like I was super excited about it.

Oh, uh, if you will excuse me,

I have to go call Mason and tell him

it's safe for him
to go to the zoo again.

I knew The Gift wasn't real.

You sure?

Because sometimes,

there's more magic in the world
than you know.

Dang, Grandma!

So, if I looked up
the names of those horses,

would I see that they won?

You could,

but just know

sometimes the best way to love someone

is to lie to 'em.

Oh, yeah.

Nice bracelet.

If you have to smell it, it's dirty.

Don't worry, I'm not taking anything.

And I've convinced my roommates

to let me sleep upright
at the kitchen table.

Junior, I just wanted to come down here

to tell you that I love you,

and I support you unconditionally.

I know it may not seem like it

because it has been
really, really hard for me

to wrap my head around
your decisions of late,

but I wanted you to hear it from me.

Okay?

Okay, Mom.

And I know I've let you down
a lot lately.

And I put all of my eggs
into a no-college basket,

and I kind of just kicked that basket

right down the stairs,
which was really stupid,

because I just put all of
my eggs into that basket,

and I really need those eggs, Mom,

because I believe in myself,

but things, they could go terribly.

They could go so bad.

I mean, like "starting to take
SATs for rich kids" bad.

Okay, okay, okay.

Come here, sweetie.

Oh, it's okay.

It's okay, honey.

I love you.

Okay?

Thanks, Mom.

You can stay here
until you get on your feet.

Because that way you can
focus on all of the great things

that I know you are gonna accomplish.

Okay.

But I promise I'm only gonna
stay here for a little bit.

And while I'm here, I'm gonna pay rent.

Okay.

Oh. Oh.

Uh... okay.

I... I kind of just thought
that was gonna be a slide-by.

- [Laughs]
- You know... you know,

when I, like, reach for the check, but

- you know I'm not gonna get it, right?
- Right.

[Both laugh]

- I get it.
- Right?

Cash, check, Venmo,
whatever's easiest, okay?

All right, sweetie. I love you, honey.

Well, I'm screwed.

♪♪

Why are you in my fridge, playboy?

[Chuckles]

Oh, you ain't heard?

I live here now.

What?

Yeah. Mom patched things up
with her special boy.

Seems real happy about it, too.

But we had you out.

Shh.

Might want to talk
to your girl about that.

Oh, and by the way,
here's the rent, playboy.

$ wouldn't even pay
for my moisturizer!

♪♪

Now that he lives here,

I kind of hate him again.

Whoo! We're back.
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