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The Upshaws
- 193 statements
- 37 feature instances
- 5 referencing feature instances
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The Upshaws is an American Dom Com created by Regina Y. Hicks and Wanda Sykes for Netflix. It's about the Upshaws, a black working-class Dysfunctional Family in Indiana. Bennie Sr. (Mike Epps): Bumbling Dad and car mechanic Regina (Kim Fields): Antics-Enabling Wife, Bennie's high school sweetheart Lucretia (Wanda Sykes): Regina's older sister, Maiden Aunt and additional parental figure to the kids Bernard Jr. (Jermelle Simon): Regina and Bennie's adult son from a Teen Pregnancy Aaliyah (Khali Spraggins): Regina and Bennie's somewhat Bratty Teenage Daughter Maya (Journey Christine): Regina and Bennie's adorable youngest daughter Kelvin (Diamond Lyons): Bennie's other son, the same age as Aaliyah, who he co-parents with his former fling Tasha (Gabrielle Dennis)The show is characterized by a duality of of cheesy sitcom jokes with a Laugh Track, and some brutally realistic characters and emotional dynamics. | |
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The Upshaws / int_13b7c384 | type |
Pizza Boy Special Delivery | |
The Upshaws / int_13b7c384 | comment |
Pizza Boy Special Delivery: Downplayed Trope. Bernard is a handsome fit young man who works as a UPS driver, and his short shorts are remarked upon. | |
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The Upshaws / int_264a140b | type |
Fat and Skinny | |
The Upshaws / int_264a140b | comment |
Fat and Skinny: Bennie has 3 employees at his auto shop: Tony (thin), Davis (fat) — and Duck (muscled). | |
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The Upshaws / int_266a9dd6 | type |
Heel–Faith Turn | |
The Upshaws / int_266a9dd6 | comment |
Heel–Faith Turn: Bennie's friend Duck went to prison, found Jesus while he was in there, and came out a changed man. | |
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The Upshaws / int_306faf0d | type |
Close to Home | |
The Upshaws / int_306faf0d | comment |
Close to Home: Because Bennie cheated on Regina with Tasha, Regina is livid when he finds out Lucretia is The Mistress to Captain Cam, a married man. | |
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The Upshaws / int_33d5c59d | type |
Relationship Revolving Door | |
The Upshaws / int_33d5c59d | comment |
Relationship Revolving Door: Played for Drama with Bennie and Regina. They've been together for 30 years, and during that time their relationship has been rocky, but pretty consistent. Regina has taken Bennie back, time and time again, after numerous rounds of his bullshit. This means Bennie can depend—accurately—on her eventual forgiveness, and he has little reason to change. When she throws him out near the end of season 1, even Lucretia—who would love to see Bennie gone for good—says Regina will probably forgive him eventually. | |
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The Upshaws / int_3e378863 | type |
Last Het Romance | |
The Upshaws / int_3e378863 | comment |
Last Het Romance: Bernard had sex with a woman once: his high school girlfriend Monique on the night of graduation. He regards her very highly, even a decade later. Afterwards, he didn't tell her he was gay, and she didn't tell him she was pregnant. | |
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The Upshaws / int_4548bae | type |
Teen Pregnancy | |
The Upshaws / int_4548bae | comment |
Teen Pregnancy: Regina got pregnant with her eldest son, Bernard, when she was 16. That was a long time ago, and in some ways it's settled, all's well that ends well. In other ways the shadow of it still hangs over everything. | |
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The Upshaws / int_460ffa29 | type |
Transparent Closet | |
The Upshaws / int_460ffa29 | comment |
Transparent Closet: Zigzagged with Bernard. Some people are somehow innately aware he's gay, while others are oblivious to the fact. Lucretia says she'd known since Bernard was a young flamboyant kid. Kelvin says he and Tasha are very aware because Tasha (a stylist by trade) can tell Bernard has well tended eyebrows. His high school girlfriend Monique suspected he was gay, and also cited his eyebrows as evidence. His parents, in contrast, are surprised to find out. | |
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The Upshaws / int_4781adbb | type |
Jerk with a Heart of Gold | |
The Upshaws / int_4781adbb | comment |
Jerk with a Heart of Gold: Bennie is an asshole as Lucretia constantly points out, and she really isn't wrong, as his immaturity and incompetence almost always put a strain on his relationships, but at the end of the day, the man truly does love his wife and children, and while he constantly screws up, he always makes a genuine effort to do right by them. Lucretia too, albeit to a lesser extent, being a much more responsible and decent woman than her brother-in-law Bennie is. She's undoubtedly a stubborn, smart-alecky woman who isn't afraid to speak her mind (no matter how hurtful) to people, but she loves her family more than anything and does almost everything she can for them, even when it affects her own life. In fact, while her friends express concern that she does too much for her family, Lucretia still doesn't hesitate to do whatever she can for her family. | |
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The Upshaws / int_4a6e9fd9 | type |
Obnoxious In-Laws | |
The Upshaws / int_4a6e9fd9 | comment |
Obnoxious In-Laws: Regina's husband Bennie and sister Lucretia hate each other and are constantly sniping. They have occasional Aw, Look! They Really Do Love Each Other—at the very least, they both love Regina and will rally together for her when the need arises. | |
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The Upshaws / int_509e8f83 | type |
Affair? Blame the Bastard | |
The Upshaws / int_509e8f83 | comment |
Affair? Blame the Bastard: There is a tense relationship between Regina and Kelvin, her husband's son with another woman, conceived under "we were on a break" circumstances. Intellectually speaking she's trying to avert the trope — she knows it's not Kelvin's fault — but emotionally speaking the situation is still fraught. While she wouldn't say it to Kelvin's face, she very flippantly calls him Bennie's bastard when he's not around. | |
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The Upshaws / int_60985aa7 | type |
In with the In Crowd | |
The Upshaws / int_60985aa7 | comment |
In with the In Crowd: Aaliyah is obsessed with popularity, and becoming friends with Steph Greene. She loses her old best friend Savannah in the process. At least temporarily. | |
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The Upshaws / int_612f2a40 | type |
Hates Their Parent | |
The Upshaws / int_612f2a40 | comment |
Hates Their Parent: Bernard openly resents his father Bennie for being largely absent during his younger years. | |
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Bunny-Ears Lawyer | |
The Upshaws / int_61b8f9e2 | comment |
Bunny-Ears Lawyer: Downplayed Trope in Tasha, who is loud, colorful, and can be annoying at times, but owns her own business and appears to run it pretty well. | |
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The Upshaws / int_65e25170 | type |
Gym Bunny | |
The Upshaws / int_65e25170 | comment |
Gym Bunny: Downplayed Trope. Bernard is a fit young gay man who's into boxing. | |
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Epiphany Therapy | |
The Upshaws / int_6861146e | comment |
Epiphany Therapy: Downplayed Trope. Regina has a breakthrough in 4.02 and it's a turning point, although not a cure-all. | |
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The Upshaws / int_6bda9a30 | type |
Meaningful Name | |
The Upshaws / int_6bda9a30 | comment |
Meaningful Name: The Turner sisters' names all hold a specific meaning that fits them perfectly. Eldest sister Althea's name 'means' healer', which is fitting for a lady who works as a preacher and often inspires people with her words of healing (unless it's towards her sisters of course). Lucretia means 'auspicious' or 'wealth', which is all too meaningful as the sister who dotes and provides for her younger sister's wealth by paying their bills, giving them money and emotional support. Regina means 'queen', which itself is a fitting name for the only sister with a family of her own and being known as the reliable matriarch despite being the youngest sister. | |
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The Upshaws / int_6da937c | type |
Fake High | |
The Upshaws / int_6da937c | comment |
Fake High: In episode 1.09, 13-year-old Aaliyah steals a beer from the fridge to drink with her friend Savannah, not knowing that O'Doul's is nonalcoholic beer. They start speaking of the effects they're feeling after mere sips, and Savannah mixes up her drugs and says she's getting the munchies. When Regina catches them, she starts laughing hysterically. She uses it as a teachable moment, an opportunity to teach Aaliyah about the dangers of drinking, and doesn't tell her the truth. Aaliyah goes on to experience a psychosomatic hangover. | |
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They Call Me MISTER Tibbs! | |
The Upshaws / int_7a08e8d1 | comment |
They Call Me MISTER Tibbs!: When Kelvin first spends time at the Upshaw house, he tries calling Lucretia "Auntie" like his sisters do. She objects. He tries "Lucretia," then "Ma'am." She tells him to call her "Ms. Turner." | |
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The Upshaws / int_822ff0d7 | type |
Relative Error | |
The Upshaws / int_822ff0d7 | comment |
Relative Error: When Kelvin first comes into Aaliyah's life, people don't know he's her brother because 1) he's the same age as her, and 2) she's never talked about him before, leading to the mistake that he's her boyfriend. | |
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The Upshaws / int_8797239c | type |
Bait-and-Switch | |
The Upshaws / int_8797239c | comment |
Bait-and-Switch: Season 1 ends with a little girl arriving at the house looking for her father, Bernard Upshaw. This turns out to be Bernard Jr, conceived via his Last Het Romance. | |
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The Upshaws / int_8984e5d1 | type |
Commonality Connection | |
The Upshaws / int_8984e5d1 | comment |
Commonality Connection: In 1.06, Bennie gets a man to give him more time to fix his car by bonding with him over adultery. | |
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Two-Timer Date | |
The Upshaws / int_8d08960c | comment |
Two-Timer Date: The plot of the pilot involves Bennie running back and forth between Aaliyah and Kelvin's birthday parties. This introduces the fact that they're born less than a month apart. | |
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The Upshaws / int_958f1f57 | type |
Maiden Aunt | |
The Upshaws / int_958f1f57 | comment |
Maiden Aunt: Regina got pregnant when she was in high school. Lucretia dropped out of college and broke up with her world-traveling boyfriend, Frank, to take care of her sister and new baby nephew. Lucretia has dated since then, but never seriously. She never married or had children of her own, and instead devoted herself to being the backstop keeping Regina's family safe. The Deconstruction is that the resulting family dynamics can be messy. In a practical sense, this is Lucretia's family — this is the family she's spent decades taking care of; she's their financial safety net; she practically raised her nephew Bernard. But it's not officially her family, and this changes how her contributions are viewed. For example: money. If this were her family, providing financially would just be providing for her family, not worth commenting on. Because it's not, providing financially is alternatingly seen as very charitable, or a controlling-the-purse-strings power move. In a fight between the sisters, this gets pulled out: | |
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Not Me This Time | |
The Upshaws / int_95b875b1 | comment |
Not Me This Time: Discussed in relation to Sydney. When she shows up on their doorstep looking for her father, everyone assumes she's Bennie's daughter. Bennie is offended by this assumption. Regina and Lucretia argue he has no grounds to be, considering Kelvin. | |
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The Upshaws / int_9acd7704 | type |
Dom Com | |
The Upshaws / int_9acd7704 | comment |
Dom Com: The Upshaws draw upon sitcom tropes from The '90s, like the bumbling husband and long-suffering wife. | |
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The Upshaws / int_b9c3de84 | type |
Bumbling Dad | |
The Upshaws / int_b9c3de84 | comment |
Bumbling Dad: Bennie is a layabout car mechanic and a Manchild who never grew up, in a frustrating but realistic way. Played with, in that show is tonally ambiguous about him. The family lives under the constant threat of Bennie's backsliding. Sometimes it really does frame him like a deadweight they should cut out, and other times that is walked back. | |
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The Upshaws / int_c5249b29 | type |
Nice Guy | |
The Upshaws / int_c5249b29 | comment |
Nice Guy: Aaliyah's friend Savannah is a loyal, forgiving friend who not only calls her out for saying some pretty harsh words to her own brother Kelvin, but also forgives her and takes her back after she ditched her for popular girls. | |
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Blame the Paramour | |
The Upshaws / int_cad80e66 | comment |
Blame the Paramour: Bennie and Tasha briefly got together over a decade ago when Bennie and Regina were "on a break". The fact that Kelvin was conceived then keeps the incident very much alive in Regina's memory. In episode 2.6, Tasha calls Regina out on how unfair it is for her to deflect the resentment of the situation onto Tasha, rather than placing it on Bennie where it belongs. | |
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Underappreciated Women's Work | |
The Upshaws / int_de15965f | comment |
Underappreciated Women's Work: Regina has an angry explosion at her Bumbling Dad husband and kids in episode 1.05. | |
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The Upshaws / int_e502e268 | type |
Family Theme Naming | |
The Upshaws / int_e502e268 | comment |
Family Theme Naming: The Turner sisters have Roman names: Althea, Lucretia, Regina. | |
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The Upshaws / int_e58a7b9f | type |
A Girl in Every Port | |
The Upshaws / int_e58a7b9f | comment |
A Girl in Every Port: Downplayed Trope. Lucretia has a boyfriend, Captain Cam, who's a pilot. He has a wife at home, and an ongoing affair with Lucretia when he flies in. | |
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The Upshaws / int_e598d4ac | type |
Innocent Inaccurate | |
The Upshaws / int_e598d4ac | comment |
Innocent Inaccurate: The parents' rocky relationship is such a staple of life in the Upshaw family that their daughters parody it with this little sketch. Aaliyah (13) knows her parents' fights end with makeup sex; Maya (6) thinks they end in some sort of conciliatory dance parties. | |
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The Upshaws / int_f34a4c1e | type |
Lower-Class Lout | |
The Upshaws / int_f34a4c1e | comment |
Lower-Class Lout: One of the things Regina criticizes Tasha for is being trashy, but part of the reason Tasha is that way is because she's a Struggling Single Mother, a situation Regina intensifies by not liking Bennie to be too involved in that family. | |
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The Upshaws / int_f81d8982 | type |
High-School Sweethearts | |
The Upshaws / int_f81d8982 | comment |
High-School Sweethearts: Why Bennie and Regina are together is a perpetual question. The simple answer is that they're High-School Sweethearts who had a Teen Pregnancy, and that tied them together. However, given how flaky Bennie is, and how eagar Lucretia would be to help Regina leave Bennie, it's very easy to imagine a scenario where they didn't stay together, suggesting there might be something more to the reason they did. | |
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The Upshaws / int_fb5ebbc8 | type |
Antics-Enabling Wife | |
The Upshaws / int_fb5ebbc8 | comment |
Antics-Enabling Wife: Alongside Bennie's Bumbling Dad, Regina's role as the long-suffering wife is also played with. She is definitely the more stable, responsible parent, who holds their household together, but she's no saint. The show is very blunt about how Regina is a major player in creating the difficult situations she finds herself in. Regina is not trapped in this marriage — Lucretia would love to help her leave, and the relationship itself is a somewhat rocky one. There's blame aplenty for Bennie for being a poor husband and father, but there's also blame for Regina, who keeps keeps taking Bennie back even though she knows damn well what he is. She's made her own bed here. | |
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The following is a list of statements referring to the current page from other pages.
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Blame the Paramour / int_63e46d83 | |
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Maiden Aunt / int_63e46d83 | |
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Relationship Revolving Door / int_63e46d83 | |
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Series of the 2020s / int_63e46d83 | |
The Upshaws | hasFeature |
Underappreciated Women's Work / int_63e46d83 |
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Copyright of data TVTropes.org contributors under Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 Unported License.