The BEST episodes of mixed-ish season 1
Every episode of mixed-ish season 1, ranked from best to worst by thousands of votes from fans of the show. The best episodes of mixed-ish season 1!
Rainbow Johnson recounts her experience growing up in a mixed-race family in the ’80s and the constant dilemmas they had to face over whether to assimilate or stay true to themselves.
#1 - When Doves Cry
Season 1 - Episode 11 - Aired 1/7/2020
In the wake of the Challenger tragedy, Rainbow and her family handle their grief in different ways. Denise realizes that life is too short, so she vows to right all the wrongs she’s done in her life (and she’s done a lot of bad).
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#2 - You Got It All
Season 1 - Episode 23 - Aired 5/5/2020
In the season finale of “mixed-ish,” Alicia and Paul are both offered jobs to work on Jesse Jackson’s presidential campaign, but Alicia’s law firm makes her an enticing offer to stay. Rainbow struggles to define her racial identity as “mixed” when she’s given a form to answer “black” or “white”.
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#3 - Papa Don't Preach
Season 1 - Episode 9 - Aired 11/26/2019
Paul struggles when Rainbow and Santamonica want to participate in a beauty pageant. Meanwhile, Johan gets teased for crying after a martial arts tournament, and Alicia and Harrison struggle with the best way for him to fight back.
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#4 - It's Tricky
Season 1 - Episode 12 - Aired 1/14/2020
Rainbow wants to battle stereotypes at school after she joins the track team and feels like her friends only see her skin color. Meanwhile, Alicia and Paul battle stereotypes of their own, and Santamonica tries to be cool enough to hang out with Rainbow's friends.
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#6 - Doctor! Doctor!
Season 1 - Episode 19 - Aired 3/24/2020
Rainbow’s friend Rebecca gets mono (“the kissing disease”), and after helping her out, she becomes interested in the medical field. Alicia fibs to Paul about getting a flu shot, and when Denise gets sick, their distrust of the medical community comes to light. Meanwhile, Johan and Santamonica go to live with Harrison while Denise is sick and start to enjoy his lavish lifestyle.
#8 - Love is a Battlefield
Season 1 - Episode 4 - Aired 10/15/2019
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.
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#9 - Say Hello, Wave Goodbye
Season 1 - Episode 17 - Aired 2/25/2020
The Johnsons welcome an African American family that has just moved into their mostly white neighborhood. Santamonica doesn’t get along with the new neighbor’s daughter, until she gives Santamonica attitude. Meanwhile, Rainbow is excited to celebrate her one-month anniversary with Bryce, but he tells her some devastating news.
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#10 - All She Wants to Do is Dance
Season 1 - Episode 5 - Aired 10/22/2019
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.
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#11 - Nothing's Gonna Stop Us Now
Season 1 - Episode 21 - Aired 4/14/2020
After learning that scientists predict the ozone layer will be depleted in 20 years, Rainbow panics and tries to implement Earth Day at school to influence some change. To her surprise, she is met with resistance, forcing her to takes matters into her own hands to fight for the cause.
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#12 - Bad Boys
Season 1 - Episode 20 - Aired 4/7/2020
Alicia and Paul try to deflect Johan’s interest in going to cop camp and one day becoming a police officer. Meanwhile, Rainbow gets her first role as a school safety patrol and quickly realizes that with great power comes great responsibility.
#13 - True Colors
Season 1 - Episode 14 - Aired 1/28/2020
Paul is shocked to hear from his estranged mother who wants to visit for Rainbow’s 13th birthday and soon learns more about why she abandoned him. Meanwhile, Rainbow sees turning 13 as a huge turning point in her life and wants a big birthday party, but Alicia wants to celebrate all the things Rainbow missed out on over the years while on the commune.
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#14 - Puttin' On the Ritz
Season 1 - Episode 7 - Aired 11/12/2019
The kids are excited to learn more about their grandad after Harrison invites the crew to family day at his country club. Although Paul thinks it’s a bad idea, he is eventually overruled. Meanwhile, Alicia attempts to fit in at the country club but ends up fighting with Denise about keeping it real.
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#15 - Let Your Hair Down
Season 1 - Episode 3 - Aired 10/8/2019
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.
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#16 - Do They Know It's Christmas
Season 1 - Episode 10 - Aired 12/10/2019
Alicia and Paul strive to maintain their “Winter Solstice” traditions from the commune, but their parents want to have a more traditional Christmas with the kids. Meanwhile, Alicia’s dad, Lynwood, competes with Harrison to be the kids’ favorite Grandad.
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#17 - She Works Hard for the Money
Season 1 - Episode 16 - Aired 2/18/2020
Alicia gets a bonus after winning a big case and wants to buy a nice car, but having been raised on the “fifty-cent principal,” Denise wants her to buy two cars in lesser condition so she can have one. Meanwhile, Paul tries to teach Rainbow, Johan and Santamonica about the value of money.
#18 - Weird Science
Season 1 - Episode 8 - Aired 11/19/2019
Rainbow’s passion for science deflates when her peers convince her that science isn’t cool. During Career Day, Rainbow code-switches and pursues journalism in order to fit in, only to find that the local news anchor attending the fair has also been hiding a part of herself. Meanwhile, Harrison works to mold a testimony from Denise who struggles to be anyone but herself, and Santamonica tries to steal the spotlight back after Johan suffers an injury.
#19 - This Charming Man
Season 1 - Episode 15 - Aired 2/11/2020
Rainbow is excited to go on her first real date with Bryce for Valentine’s Day, but when her friends weigh in on the rules and expectations, she becomes very nervous. Alicia is wary to let Rainbow start dating and invites Bryce’s parents over for dinner to cross-examine them; and Paul gets into a fight with Bryce’s dad over politics.
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#20 - Girls Just Want to Have Fun
Season 1 - Episode 6 - Aired 10/29/2019
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.
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#22 - Every Little Step
Season 1 - Episode 22 - Aired 4/28/2020
The kids meet a homeless man in their neighborhood, and Paul and Alicia try to have an honest conversation with them about the homelessness crisis. Paul and Rainbow try to help by starting a soup kitchen at Rainbow's school. Meanwhile, Denise has a new boyfriend and Alicia doesn't think they're a match.
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#23 - Becoming Bow
Season 1 - Episode 1 - Aired 9/24/2019
Rainbow Johnson recounts her experience growing up in a mixed-race family in the ’80s and the constant dilemmas they had to face over whether to assimilate or stay true to themselves. Bow’s parents Paul and Alicia 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. This family’s experiences illuminate the challenges of finding one’s own identity when the rest of the world can’t decide where you belong.
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