The latest episode of Black-ish titled "Survivors Remorse," opens with a scene clearly and fittingly invoking imagery of the classic, Boyz N Tha Hood. This episode centers around Dre's need to lift up the members of his childhood crew after one of them suddenly dies.
After his longtime friend Sha get the call that their boy Tony has died, he and Dre begin making plans to attend the funeral. Upon being reunited with the rest of the crew, Ronnie, T Will and Ledarius, Dre decides he doesn't want to wait until the next funeral to see his crew. Following the funeral Dre invites them all to come to his house to watch the game together.
Meanwhile, Junior is taking up another nerdy endeavor. This time looking to become a certified peer counselor. Rainbow, jealous of her kids preference to Ruby's cooking and other motherly duties, declares that from now on whenever the kids need anything they should ask her. Jack then uses this declaration to ask his mom to ask Ruby for some more pie. Well that backfired quickly. Rainbow's plan backfires once again when she basically coerces Dianne to request Rainbow's help in making a homemade potato costume. The result is a hideous creation and Junior seizing on the opportunity to break down Dianne to admit that kids called her mean names like "Poo-tato." Needless to say Rainbow learns the hard way that mothers don't need to do everything for their children.
Getting back to the main story, Dre goes to work in good spirits following his childhood crew's reunion. Even his co-workers "daily dose of racism," as Dre puts it, isn't enough to ruin his good mood. However, after sharing that he only bought flowers for the funeral, his co-workers guilt him into feeling the need to do more for his boys. Especially since Dre is the successful one in the group. In Charlie's words, Dre needs to "Get his Kevin Garnett on" and put on his "O.B.F"(official block family). Dre begins to go out of his way to be generous to his block family. This includes buying diapers for T Will's twins, getting Ledarius a job and paying for multiple surgeries for Ronnie.
Unfortunately, his plan to put them on begins to backfire when he feels he isn't getting the gratitude he deserves. When the crew decides to make a toast to their deceased friend Tony instead of Dre, he blows up and yells "F**k Tony."
In the end they all make up and Dre realizes it's okay to do good for his boys but he doesn't have to try nearly as hard as he was. And trust me he was trying hard. Although this episode doesn't offer biting social commentary like many others this season, it serves as a good reminder to enjoy your friends and their friendship before it's too late because you never know when they'll be gone.