mixed-ish

Rainbow Johnson’s parents decide to move from a hippie commune to the suburbs to better provide for their family. As her parents struggle with the challenges of their new life, Bow and her siblings navigate a mainstream school in which they’re perceived as neither black nor white.

For Rainbow and Alicia, fitting in at school and standing out at work are hard enough; but with the added pressure from stay-at-home-dad Paul to make the world a little better every day, it might just be impossible.

After a teacher tells Rainbow to make sure her hair is “neat” for picture day, she becomes self-conscious and begins a complicated relationship with her hair. Meanwhile, Johan and Santamonica struggle with their own hair identity.

When Rainbow is tasked with a school assignment that requires her to trace her roots, she learns that history is more complicated for her mom’s side of the family than it is for her dad’s. Meanwhile, Johan struggles to balance his new love of ice hockey with what his friends think is cool.

It’s time for the Johnson kids’ first school dance, but before Bow can dance the night away, she’ll have to consider the social impact of her date choice. Johan finds an outfit for the dance and discovers his love of fashion, while Santamonica spends some time with Harrison.

The popular girls at school ask Rainbow to join their group Halloween costume as Tootie from “The Facts of Life.” She thinks this is finally her opportunity to fit in, but Denise views the situation differently. Meanwhile, Alicia doesn’t want the kids to go trick-or-treating after Harrison and his colleagues tell her about all the dangerous things that can happen.

After finding out Johan has been pretending to be a different race, Rainbow gets mad, and Alicia and Paul try to find a way to encourage Johan to be proud of being Black.

Alicia and Denise bicker over who is the stronger Black woman, and Paul and Harrison come up with a new way of showing affection. Meanwhile, Rainbow is put in charge of Johan and Santamonica and she struggles to maintain control over them.

Paul surprises the family by inviting one of his students to live with them, and Paul and Alicia compete to be his mentor. Meanwhile, Rainbow has a crush on their new house guest.

Bow takes an interest in going to church with her friends, much to her parents’ dismay. Meanwhile, Santi and Jonah try to prepare for hell.

It’s not all fun and games when Paul wants to crash Denise and Alicia’s neighborhood Spades match, so they teach him about the cultural and racial significance of the game. Meanwhile, Santi, Johan and Bow learn about divorce after watching a movie, so Harrison tries to teach them that divorce can be cool.

Alicia and Denise realize they've been boxed into Black women stereotypes at the law firm, and Harrison's attempts to help ends up causing more harm. Meanwhile, Paul worries his new job is taking time away from spending time with the kids, so he makes an overzealous effort to connect with each one individually.