After a week-long break, "grown-ish" finally returned to our screens. The last episode focused on Zoey's internship (and her budding rivalry/romance with Luca), and this one focuses on Vivek's own occupation and the dangers that come with it. An article from The Good Men Project hinted that things were going to get serious in this episode, so let's see how accurate their statement is:
Who got shot and the aftermath it causes
Zoey talks about the three major components of college: sex, drugs, and music (rock and roll for some, trap music for others).
She emphasizes that there's a dark side to drug culture, and that's when Aaron calls Zoey, sparking an entire group conversation about a dealer getting shot. They go to the scene of the crime after Luca speculates that it was Vivek who got killed. However, he shows up at the scene of the crime too. Crisis averted...for now. Vivek explains that it was Arturo, another popular dealer on campus (his girlfriend was pissed about his cheating ways). Zoey and Nomi tell Vivek that if he's stressing or scared, they're there for him, but Vivek plays it off and says that he's not worried.
In the meantime, half of the campus begins to go on an anti-drug campaign to prevent another incident like this happening again.
The Dean reveals to the angry crowd that there will be surprise drug checks and testing. Aaron believes that only blacks and other minorities will be targeted, and is already not liking this new change. As for Ana, she's team protest. She shows up with an anti-drug shirt and tells the girls that she admires what the Dean's doing (calling him a modern-day Ronald Reagan), and Zoey admits that she sees both sides of the situation.
Once again, Zoey is concerned for Vivek and asks him if he's going to lay low for a bit if he won't quit. Vivek tells Zoey what she wants to hear, but his smirk tells us everything we need to know. He becomes the most popular dealer on campus, which increases his social standing with others.
He's gone from a lovable, but questionable decision-making nerd, to an in-demand drug dealer. What could possibly go wrong, right?
Zoey and Vivek go to The Box and the twins and Aaron go to the pharmacy
At a VIP section at Titanium (that wasn't there before Vivek's popularity), everyone questions what's going on. During their hangout, Balty Winthrop, the richest kid on campus (and a legacy student due to his great grandad being the founder of the school), wants Vivek to hang out with them at "The Box." Vivek invites the others to come along, but they turn him down...except Zoey, who accepts the once in a lifetime invite.
Once there, Zoey's taken in by this A-List Celeb type of party, but even more, she is impressed by how well Vivek fits right in with the crowd.
He wants to show her around but is snatched up by Balty (who practically ignores Zoey after Vivek introduces her), leaving Zoey to fend for herself. Zoey begins to look around as she tries to find Vivek, and looks behind a red curtain. Rather than a "pay no attention to the man behind the curtain" scene, we see Balty and his entourage prepping to do lines of coke. Balty points out Zoey to Vivek, and he merely responds by closing the curtain in her face as she looks on disapprovingly.
With our subplot, Aaron and the twins run into each other at a pharmacy where they need (legal) drugs to help cure themselves of a bug that's going around campus. They have no clue what to buy though, as their parents are the ones who usually handle this.
Back on campus, this bug really has spread around as other students are sprawled out on couches and walking around hunched over. It looks like a scene from one of those movies that includes the beginning of a deadly virus turning its victims into zombies.
A crisis and an epiphany
The next day, Zoey tells Vivek that she doesn't like him selling coke. He replies that she has no problem taking "addy" (also known as Adderall), and that they're one in the same. Skeptically, Zoey asks if he'd deal her some then, but he says yes. He then says Balty has been giving him lots of money, and she warns that a legacy student won't get expelled for getting caught with drugs, but the young man of color who sold them the drugs would.
Vivek isn't trying to hear it, claiming he doesn't want to feel like the "poor kid" anymore. Zoey stands her ground, saying all the money in the world will still make him the "Cab Driver's son." Annoyed, he tells her that he'll do him, and she'll do her (a.k.a. back off). It's late at night when Zoey gets an urgent call. She gets out of bed and gets dressed right away.
We see her run straight to the hospital, where we see a viciously beaten up Vivek. Black eyes, cuts, and a broken arm. He says that he was rushed in the middle of a deal, and Zoey's simply glad it wasn't worse than what it was. Vivek apologizes for becoming so cocky. Before they can talk anymore, Vivek's parents show up, wondering what's going on and if drugs were really involved.
Zoey covers for him, lying that they were out together in a "wrong place, wrong time," kind of scenario. It seems like the crisis is averted...until it's revealed the next day that Vivek now has people helping him with his dealing. She's mad, but Vivek tells Zoey that he'll always have her back just like she had his. Regardless, Zoey tosses her Adderall, stating that she doesn't want to end up doing lines like Balty.
In the meantime, Aaron bonds with the twins over soup as he talks about his trouble with making friends. The girls forgive him, and all is right with this trio.
In the end
Aaron rejoins the twins, and all three of them are much healthier than before. They question how they got sick, and we see a flashback about the Dean messing with birds, not washing his hands, and offering the students mints from the beginning of the episode.
Aaron takes them, and then high fives the twins later. Mystery solved! Tonight's episode of "Grown-ish" was rather timely, due to its shooting-related incident, but also gave insight into the dark side of the drug world. It closed a storyline that was started back in episode 2 and paved the way for more potential stories down the road with Vivek.
During the week break, some information dropped that fans of the show's star will certainly love. According to Variety, Yara Shahidi is in talks to be the lead in the best-selling Young Adult novel, "The Sun is Also A Star" from author Nicola Yoon. It looks like Yara's star is on the rise as the actress will undoubtedly begin to take on more projects. Catch another new episode of "Grown-ish" next week at 8PM on Freeform.