In Its Second-Season Premiere, Black-ish Addresses An Ugly Word In An Adorable Way

In case you worried that, in its sophomore season, ABC's Black-ish might end up backing away from the kind of tough subjects it addressed in its first (if you'll recall, the episode on corporal punishment of children was episode 5), you can officially exhale: tonight's season premiere revolves around an incident that finds Jack getting in trouble for using the "N" word at school.

Other than the part where it makes either of the twins interesting for the first time ever -- yeah, I said it! -- this sounds bad. And, you know, any time someone uses a demeaning slur, it's not great? But you can exhale yet again, because once you see how Jack gets to his misapprehension that it's an okay term to use, it's kind of tough to stay mad at him.

Having watched the episode this morning, I can report that it's as even-handed as it is hilarious, and that when Dre inevitably raises the matter at work, Charlie has some choice thoughts to share. I think I've missed that dude most of all.

And if this indicative of what we have to look forward to in the weeks to come, Season 2 is going to be great.

Black-ish premieres its second season Wednesday, September 23, at 9:30 PM ET on ABC.