Black-ish S3 Ep18: The SSL Review
Blackish, chicken salad, blog posts, etc.
This might be my simplest SSL Review yet, which is good because I want to again post something quick since I'm still not done with the journal article summary I'd hoped to be done with. (Check any of the other journal article summaries HERE in case you're jonesing for one and need it quick). It is possible I didn't get this summary done (it's pretty darn close now) because instead of working on it today, I was watching episodes of Black-ish and eating freshly made chicken salad on crackers while resting after a morning of Pride parade viewing.
The chicken salad in question is the chicken salad recipe of my youth and one that I crave often and make rarely. I recommend it. The chicken should be shreddded not fucking cubed. You should get one of those grocery store whole rotisserie chickens if you don't want to roast one yourself. Meticulously shred all the meat (minus gross fat and gristle) into a bowl. Mix in sliced almonds, halved seedless green grapes, and Miracle Whip to taste. For the love of god don't use slivered almonds, and don't use some bullshit other type of non-Miracle Whip mayo. I will accept the use of light (not fat free) Miracle Whip, the use of red grapes, and the 1/4th-ing instead of halfing of the grapes.
That is the first and maybe only recipe ever posted to the SSL blog, so you're welcome.
An SSL Review
Anyway, the luck of this whole chicken salad eating situation today was that there was a tiny little SSL reviewable moment on a Black-ish episode. Like the above recipe, it is the first and maybe only SSL reviewable moment of this network TV family show. As the loyal readers will know, an eligible SSL reviewable scene, of course, is one that includes depictions and/or discussions of female orgasm and/or masturbation and/or the clitoris (the clitoris part was recently added btw). That's the only thing I care about in these reviews. I don't review the show/movie as a whole. I'm particularly looking for physical realism (if a lady orgasms from toe-sucking alone, I will call bullshit on scientific and basic anatomical ground), and I'm also looking for what part the scene plays in our cultural conversation about female orgasm and sexuality. So, thems the basics.
If you want more TV SSL Reviews head HERE. Want some movie SSL reviews? Go HERE.
The Greatest of Technologies - Black-ish S3 Ep18
So, in this episode the grandmother, Ruby Johnson played by Jenifer Lewis was looking all over for her iPod Shuffle. She was asking all the kids where it was, and they were all like, 'what are you even talking about?' because it's a super old-school device to them. Anyway, she says,
"I'm talking about the iPod shuffle; the greatest non-vibrating technology the world has ever seen!"
So that's it. That's the SSL Reviewable moment. I say this because I'm going to take this as a clear 'discussion of female masturbation.' I mean, she's clearly making a statement here that the vibrator is the greatest invention of all time, and she clearly loves to masturbate if she thinks that. Sure, it's possible that she was talking about a vibrating back massager...but she just wasn't.
After she said it, there was absolutely no reaction to the vibrating comment at all. no side eye or halted beat. Nothing. I can only assume that was because this is network TV, and it was just slipped in there for the grown folk to laugh at without having to explain it to kids.
Cheers to you Ruby Johnson; you and your vibrator.
The Vulva Rating
What I like is that for those who watch the show and got that joke, it was a admission that this grandmother masturbates and loves it...as she damn well should. In the show she is written as super old-school, but a particular old-school type of lady. She's incredibly conservative in some ways and incredibly liberal in others, and as the series progresses, she is clearly written as a sexual woman - but she's certainly not 'the sexual lady character' like Blanche Devereaux or Samantha Jones or Sandra Clark. So, her character is not largely there for sex jokes. She is just a normal older women; sexual but also traditional and motherly, and an admission that she might masturbate joyfully normalizes masturbation for all women, and I'm fo sho about that.
Also, writing that paints the vibrator as the greatest technology the world has ever seen is on point.
This tiny SSL Reviewable moment gets a full 5 vulvas.
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