Since "Black-ish" came out on ABC, I have been OBSESSED with Yara Shahidi.

So when I found out that Freeform was doing a new show about college students where she was the main character, I was EXCITED. Back when I used to watch "Pretty Little Liars," "The Fosters," and "Switched at Birth," Freeform used to be ABC Family. However, in 2016, it officially switched to Freeform, which is geared to an older audience (say, 16 to 30-year-olds), and therefore, it can deal with more topics that the prudish ABC Family couldn't tackle before. I decided to do a full review of Freeform's "Grown-ish" to give my personal opinion about the show's hype.

The Opening Credits

I always say that a good ass TV show always has a KILLER opening. It can either be extremely minimalistic (see: "Black Mirror") or a whole orchestral piece (see: "Game of Thrones"). Since I had high expectations for this show (I'm really not sure why though because of a lot of TV shows on this channel have been canceled within the first season), I figured that the theme song would be great too.

I thought the opening credits were really cute. In the beginning, you see Zoey (played by Yara) opening her eyes to a new day as she ventures into the college atmosphere. The first thing I thought was, why doesn't she have a bonnet or a headscarf on? The theme song echoes, "Mama, look I'm grown now," which I guess could be a little bit of foreshadowing. After all, the show is called grown-ISH, not grown. So maybe, in the beginning, Zoey doesn't have her life together (like any college student), but by the end of the series, she will have learned some valuable lessons for the "real world" and can proudly say that she's "grown." Becuase isn't growing what college is all about?

If you can't tell, I'm being completely sarcastic. College is about institutions inflating our tuition prices, taking our money and spending it all on their crappy football teams, and sending us out into the real world with no actual idea of how it works.

I'm not a pessimist or a conspiracy theorist, haha. Moving on.

I thought the end of the credits was cute when Zoey and all her newfound college friends were sitting and dancing around. You can really see the diversity of the group and how hard Freeform tried to make it as realistic as possible. *slow claps*

The Opening Credits Rating: 7/10

The Plot/Realism

In the beginning, scene where Zoey is changing for class, I thought it was great that she mentioned that her institution was founded by a slave owner. I talked about this in a previous article of mine. And I thought it was a good move to shed light on the fact that most of these universities these days were founded by people who probably would have beat me into being their wet nurse or mammy. Also, props to the show for showing a gender-neutral bathroom for transgender and non-gender conforming students. Freeform is really getting progressive, huh?

Next, I've never heard of a midnight class and I'm way too lazy to even look up if any institutions have any, so I'm just going to say that... no, these do not exist. Especially not ones with prostitutes and meth addicts. So I deduct points for an un-realistic classroom setting. But I add the points back for crazy Professor Charlie with no real credentials because let's face it... some of these professors out here really are crazy. Now, I've had my fair share of crazy professors, but one thing I've always noticed is that even though people say that they're crazy if you really listen, you'll find that they're pretty damn intelligent. They're like Kanye West intelligent. And yes, I did just coin that phrase myself. Remember when he made that whole big speech at one of those VMAs and he seemed to be talking complete nonsense? Well, he was actually spitting some real stuff. And if you really listen to those so-called "crazy" professors, they really do shed some light on situations.

I think that the day party fiasco was a good start in Zoey's college career. Hahaha, just kidding, that was actually scarring. You never EVER leave a drunk girl at a party, especially after she threw up all over herself. It's kind of sad that Zoey wasn't apologetic about it, but I guess she didn't realize the weight of her actions until everyone told her how bad they were. Again, that in it of itself is dumb because... why would she think that was okay? Because she was embarrassed? But I guess it's not common sense. People do it all the time without a second thought. It IS embarrassing and you can get sick of your messy drunk friends, but you have to stick with them all night, no matter what. It's your duty as their friend, whether you're an old friend or new. I also hated how Zoey took all the attention away from her friends spilling their secrets. Sure, it was a real "Breakfast Club" moment, but it just seemed too sudden and the writers wanted an easy way to make it about Zoey again.

At the end, we see that Zoey's new roommate is actually Ana. Ahhhhh... let the war of the roommates BEGIN.

Plot Rating: 9/10 (ONLY FOR THE BREAKFAST CLUB REFERENCE)

Realism Rating: 6.5/10

The Characters

I also really liked the characters they scripted for this show, my favorite being the two-twin, track runners with locs. I also thought Aaron was pretty cool, but they really need to cut the ducktail off of the back of his neck. Other than that, I hope he becomes one of the characters that helps Zoey realize the impact of her blackness in this diverse school and not just another love interest like in every other teenage show. I'm also a big fan of Luca's laid-back personality. I aspire to be a lot like him because of a lot of the time in college, I get really stressed out due to my A-Type personality. Maybe I should loc up my hair and let it get wild... like The Weeknd.

Yeah, that's a real sign of rebellion.

Next, we have Vivek and Nomi... I'm SO happy that we finally have a brown guy on the cast and even if the girl who doesn't play Nomi in real life isn't Jewish or bisexual (I'm not sure to be honest), I'm loving the representation. I'm not sure how Vivek got into the drug dealing business but... a guy's gotta make some money somehow, huh? Also, Ana is really cute and really pretty. I won't get into my political spiel here, but I thought it was so cute when she kissed that picture of Obama, because honestly, I do that every night too, in the hopes that he'll return.

The Characters Rating: 9/10

The Comedy

Okay, I'm a sucker for reference comedy. If you make a reference to something as a joke, best believe that I will be DYING. It's just fun to know that people know about the same things that I do, so I love making references to pop culture, literature, history, etc. I find that this show has a LOT of this, so I found myself chuckling a lot.

I think I expected this show to be more drama filled, like its counterparts on Freeform (i.e. Pretty Little Liars, Switched at Birth, etc), but I sometimes get so tired of all the mindless drama. I love the comedy on the show because it shows that the writers are actually very well-rounded and try to stray away from things that are overused.

The Comedy Rating: 6.5/10

The Makeup/Clothing/Hair

As I said, the twins with the locs ARE LITERALLY HAIR GOALS!!!!! I also applaud the person who does Zoey's hair every episode because her braids in Episode Two are literally to die for. I like the clothing choices too because they're REAL. Everyone was wearing sweatshirts or regular shirts and sneakers. That's literally the epitome of college apparel. I like how the makeup looks really natural too, because even though, yes it's makeup, it shows that we don't have to go out every day and look like we're about to be "RuPaul's Drag Race." College isn't a fashion show. But I do think if you want to do your makeup or fun outfits every day, that's totally okay. Some people just like that.

The Wardrobe Rating: 10/10

* * *

All in all, it was a pretty good first episode. I saw on Twitter somewhere that the best way to judge a show is the first episode. I beg to differ. A lot of shows ended up being really great after horrible first episodes (I'm looking at you, "Black Mirror"). And a lot of shows ended up losing my interest after an amazing first episode (sigh, "Big Mouth"). I still have high hopes for the show. I just really hope it doesn't end in the early seasons (I WANNA SEE ZOEY GRADUATE) and I hope it doesn't fall into the same drab storyline that every other Freeform show ended up becoming. Overall, I give the show an 8/10, and let's hope it stays that way.