The adventures of Andre and Rainbow Johnson's beloved firstborn Zoey (Yara Shahidi) are set to continue in the third season of Grown-ish. And if the first episode is any indicator, Zoey's junior year of college is about to be a wild ride.
Sophomore year was a trying one for Zoey. She moved into her first apartment, truly fell in love for the first time, and made her first big mistake — one that cost her the trust of her parents.
But she's back and she's better, facing her penultimate year of college with a new attitude and a beefed up resume after working as the personal stylist of rapper Joey Bada$$. Zoey returns from a productive summer overseas, greeted by her ragtag group of friends in their brand new off campus home: an actual house, complete with a backyard and grown-up furnishings.
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(Not to be a bitter millennial or anything, but it's just not realistic for undergraduate students to live somewhere this nice. College housing is supposed to be literally just okay — those are the rules. Where are y'all getting money for these nice ass velvet chaise lounge chairs? I need to talk to Financial Aid immediately.)
Zoey's return coincides with a party that her posse has thrown to celebrate the Cal U's Black student body, and in true Zoey style, she obtusely deems it her homecoming party. The soiree is attended mostly by the school's Black population, aside from the few non-Black students that Sky (future Disney princess Halle Bailey) is overcharging for "reparations," but one person is notably missing from the Beychella-themed festivities: Nomi.
Between Zoey's obsessive worrying about her love life and Aaron (Trevor Jackson)'s brownie-induced psychadelic trip, the Grown-ish crew has too much on their hands to worry about their missing friend. But Nomi's tardy-to-the-party arrival definitely throws a wrench in the festivities because she's fully pregnant.
Yes, pregnant. As in, with child, her round tummy poking out from her signature printed crop top.
As shocking as the pregnancy is, the plot device was a long time coming. Grown-ish has never been afraid to take on sex and sexuality. During its run on Freeform, the young adult series has handled conversations about things like slut shaming and rape culture on campus with extreme sensitivity. Nomi's pregnancy kicks off what will no doubt lead to necessary dialogue about safe sex and reproductive rights.
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Freeform has been teasing the plot twist for some time now, starting with a cryptic trailer featuring one of the characters holding a positive pregnancy test. We all had our guesses for who the mystery mama could be; I personally thought it was Jazz (Chloe Bailey), a result of a passionate night with her boyfriend Doug (Diggy Simmons). Others were certain that the hype around junior year was directly linked to a connection between Zoey's adorkable brother Junior (Marcus Scribner) and the tough-to-crack Sky, with the mismatched couple's one-off hookup giving the Cal U crew their first baby.
Nomi being pregnant is the real surprise here. She spent most of her sophomore year on the low, exploring her taboo student-teacher romance with Professor Paige Hewson (Katherine Moennig of The L-Word: Generation Q) until the love line flatlined. It looks like Nomi, reeling from the emotional fallout of her relationship, hooked up with someone else. Our favourite party girl has ditched shots of bottom shelf tequila for prenatal vitamins, and for her friends, the timing just couldn't be worse — no one wants to spend their junior year of college babysitting.
Now that we finally know who is pregnant on the show, there's another even bigger question that needs to be answered: Who's the father?
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