Black-ishpushed comedic boundaries throughout its run, but the show’s Halloween specials surpassed evenBrooklyn Nine-Nine’s notorious Halloween Heist episodes. The Heists started as a spontaneous Halloween bet to see who was the better detective, and over the seasons,Brooklyn Nine-Nine’s Halloween Heistsescalated to absurd proportions. The Halloween Heists are always fun, but they use the holiday of Halloween as a backdrop without embracing the specificity of Halloween to the same degree thatblack-ishdoes.
Black-ishaired at the same time asBrooklyn Nine-Nine, and the Johnson family goes all in for Halloween.Black-ishdid not achieve the same level of recognition for their Halloween-themed episodes asBrooklyn Nine-Ninesquaddid, butblack-ishdoes a better job of embodying the mischief and fun and idiosyncrasies of Halloween.
All The Ways black-ish Honors Halloween
It’s A Key Part Of The Sitcom
Black-ishembraces Dre Johnson’s zeal for Halloween. In the season 1 Halloween episode, Dre opens the episode with a montage of decorating their Thousand Oaks lawn for Halloween. Season 2 addresses the reality that in Los Angeles, kids from less privileged neighborhoods will travel to wealthy areas, and Dre is proud to be a kid from the former now living in the latter. His wife and children have adopted Dre’s spirit for Halloween, and the Johnson family goes all out for their annual group Halloween costume. By season 5, the Johnsons are doing full dress rehearsals.
All seasons of black-ish are streaming on Hulu and Disney+.
Becauseblack-ishis a family comedy, the sitcom has the opportunity to wild with Halloween set pieces. When a neighbor introduces the idea of a “Mischief Night” in season 3, Grandma Ruby co-opts it into a Neighborhood Purge. In Season 5, Dre and his wife throw a Halloween party for the twins featuring a haunted house that is so spooky it backfires and ruins the party. When baby Devante Johnson’s first trick-or-treat is ruined in season 6, the Johnsons pull together a mini version at their house where Devante gets to knock at everyone’s bedroom doors.
Brooklyn Nine-Nine’s Halloween Heists Fall Short In This Way
Difference Between Pranks And Heists
Brooklyn Nine-Nine’s Halloween Heists are fan favorites, with people debating who won season 5’s HalloVeen Heist to this day. Still, ultimately the sitcom uses Halloween as a device to get to the heists, which isn’t inherently tied to Halloween. The heists get increasingly elaborate, and certainly costumes are used to great effect, but the heists could take place at any time of the year. This is proven to be true inBrooklyn Nine-Nine’s final seasonwhen the final Heist takes place over several holidays. Conversely,black-ish’s Halloween episodes are quintessentially infused with the spirit of Halloween, and could not be set at any other occasion.
Every Brooklyn Nine-Nine Halloween Heist Episode, Ranked
The Halloween Heist episodes of Brooklyn Nine-Nine are a high point of each season, but which heist was the best in the popular sitcom?
Black-ish’s Halloween episodes do dabble in pranks. In fact, the season 1 episode is titled “The Prank King.” Pranks feel more inherently Halloween than heists, because it’s about tapping into the other person’s fears instead of being crowned the Ultimate Detective/Human/Genius. Season 1’s prank preys on Dre’s biggest fear, “the thoughts of [his] kids growing up” when they pretend to have outgrown pranking.black-ishSeason 3 has a prank where Dre convinces his son that his gift of deluxe nuts to Dre’s workplace killed Dre’s coworker, leading to a fun haunting runner throughout the episode.
Black-ish
Cast
Black-ish is a television series that premiered in 2014, focusing on a family man navigating cultural identity in a predominantly white, upper-middle-class neighborhood. The show explores themes of race, class, and family dynamics as he balances his roles as a father and husband.
