Douglas Frederick "Doug" Edwards is one of the main characters in the original Freeform series Grown-ish, which is a spinoff of the ABC series, Black-ish.
Character info[]
Doug Edwards was born and raised in Queens, New York. He is an attractive, charming and ambition young man with a lot of goals.
Grown-ish (Season 1)[]
Doug is first introduced when he’s seen with a white girl. He’s approached by Sky Forster about why he’s always seen with them around campus and initially gives her a bad answer. When he sees her with her sister, he apologizes and explains that everyone being so open at Cal U, inspired him to be. He soon begins to date Jazz Forster.
Grown-ish (Season 2)[]
Doug and Jazz are in a committed healthy relationship. He becomes best friends with Aaron Jackson and Vivek Shah. When Jazz starts posting sexualized pictures of herself to get her and her sister more endorsement deals, he shows his disapproval for it. Eventually, their different views on the issue leads to a break up. When Aaron is going through his complicated problem with Ana Torres and Zoey Johnson, he gives him advice. Doug and Jazz slowly but surely find their way back to each other. When Doug picks up on Vivek getting a little too comfortable at Hawkins, he calls him out on culture appropriating. Vivek is hurt by the statement but apologizes and makes it known that it was never his intention to hurt anyone. When Doug feels bad about maybe being a little too harsh on him, Vivek admits he has always struggled with who he is and everything he does is all part of running away from the poor, nerdy kid who never fit in. They come to an understanding and make up. Doug tells Jazz he loves her for the first time and she reciprocated.
Grown-ish (Season 3)[]
Doug starts to make it make it even clearer that he has a strong focus on his future and what he wants to achieve in life. Doug is disappointed when he finds out that he’s distracting Jazz from track. When he finds out, they need to take a relationship break, he agrees to wait for her but is confused with all the rules so he suggests being able to sleep with other people. When Jazz has a one night stand, he can’t handle it. He’s unable to get the thought of her and the guy out of his head so she breaks up with him.
Grown-ish (Season 4)[]
Doug is on vacation in Mexico with his friends and is shown to still hold resentment against Jazz for the ending of their relationship. When he is in a funk over their breakup, Luca Hall helps him forget about it and have some fun with some local ladies. Back at school, he starts a side gig with Luca, in order to get fast money. He meets Kiela Hall, who he quickly gains a romantic interest in before finding out she’s Luca’s little sister. When Luca is pissed off at Doug for being into his sister, he apologizes and promises not to do anything else with her because he doesn’t want to ruin their friendship. Despite this, Doug continue to mess around with Kiela behind back.
Grown-ish (Season 5)[]
Relationships[]
Jazz Forster - Doug meets Jazz after he approaches her and her sister walking around campus. He apologizes for his poor response to Sky’s question the night before about him only being seen with white girls. He makes it clear that college is a whole new world for him and he just wanted to be open like everyone else is, but he doesn’t want them or anyone else thinking that he doesn’t like black girls because it's not true. Doug and Jazz properly introduce themselves with a flirty vibe and Sky picks up on it, causing her to leave so they can continue their moment. The girl group witnesses Doug telling another guy talking to Jazz to leave and when they question if they're a thing now, Jazz happily says yes. Doug and Jazz are a happy and healthy couple for almost the first half of the season. They hit a road bump when Jazz decides to show more skin on her social media with the hopes of more buzz and attention for endorsement deals. Doug can't handle guys seeing his girl like that and the drama that comes with it, considering he had to punch a guy because he touched Jazz's ass at the bar. Jazz has a meltdown on IG live about Doug trying to control what she post on her social media, but she calms down with the help of Zoey. Shortly after, Jazz and Doug break up because he wants her to take down her sexualized content on IG and she refuses to. Jazz accuses Doug of being the one to hack into her page and remove her posts. She apologizes once she realizes it was her father and they become cordial as friends. They begin to flirt again and before long, they’re back together as a couple. Doug does a sweet gesture for Sky at Aaron Jackson’s Black Minds Matter event, so that Jazz won’t stress so much over her sister’s injury. Doug and Jazz confess they love each other for the first time.
Things are going great between them for a good while, until their relationship starts to affect Jazz’s focus with track. This causes a ton of conflict between her and her sister, who thinks she doesn't put track first anymore. Jazz admits to Doug that their relationship is a real distraction for her and she can't balance it and track while she's training for the Olympics, so she asks him to wait for her. After Doug accepts, Jazz keeps up with him by being at the same places he's at and wondering what girls he's talking to. Doug is confused about the rules of the break and confronts Jazz about it because it's getting too complicated. Jazz apologizes because the whole thing is unfair to him and Doug is the one to suggest being able to sleep with other people. Her only request is that he doesn't fall in love with someone else over the next five months and he says he can manage that. During this break, Jazz struggles with not being able to talk, joke and hang with Doug like before but she trains and focuses on track regardless. Doug tries to find a girl to hook up with at Titanium but they were either druggies, thieves or complete weirdos so he gave up. Jazz has a one night stand with a guy named Ricky on her track team. She doesn't think of it as a big deal until she sees Doug and Ricky standing next to one another in front of her. Doug talks to Jazz about Ricky being into her but she awkwardly brushes it off as nothing to worry about. Doug sweetly sends Jazz flowers and a card because of how proud he is of her, which makes her guilt ridden. Jazz goes to Doug's dorm to tell him the truth and he doesn't take the news well and closes the door on her, heartbroken. Jazz cries as her girls comfort her later in the night. The next time Doug sees Jazz, he’s very disrespectful towards her; even going as far as calling her a toss. Jazz is later crying in her room alone when Doug comes to apologize and she doesn't want to here it at first but gives him a chance to speak more. Doug tells her how much he loves her and that they can get past this. They almost have sex until Doug sees Ricky on her bed, taunting him. Doug stops and makes the excuse of how they should wait because their break is almost up and Jazz understands. Unfortunately, she does not make the Olympics… making the break between her and Doug almost pointless. Jazz tells Doug how much she loves him at Aaron's graduation party and that she's ready to press un-pause on their break and officially 'thank him' tonight. Doug is very excited about this but ruins it for himself by getting super drunk and bringing up her one night stand with Ricky. Jazz tells Doug what he said the other night and he comes clean that he can't get the thought of her with the other guy out of his head, which disappoints her. Jazz says she's gonna do what he has been too scared to and breaks up with him, for good.
Jazz and Doug are on the same vacation with friends after their breakup, which causes awkwardness and tension. They exchange some jabs to one another over who’s to blame for the end of their relationship. It’s revealed by Jazz that she and Doug made amends during Quarantine when he got keystones and thought he was gonna die. Jazz defends Doug against Kiela Hall who accuses him of being a bad black person, due to him throwing a party soon after the death of another unarmed black man. Jazz is unable to completely focus on Des because she still has feelings for Doug. Jazz is saddened when she sees Doug kissing Kiela, so she decides to kiss Des in an effort to move on.
Kiela Hall - Doug meets Kiela when he goes to her dorm to tell her to keep her music down. She apologizes but is also caught with weed in her place and when she asks him not to snitch, he instructs her not to do it again. Doug and Kiela flirt with each other and he hangs out at her place, getting high with her. Doug talks to Luca about the girl he met at Hawkins who he’s really into, when Kiela approaches them and Luca reveals that she is his little sister. Doug is shocked and nervous from this revelation, because he was romantically interested in the sister of one of his best friends.
When Kiela sees Doug being tone deaf by promoting a party he’s hosting after the discovery of an unjust killing of another unarmed black man, she confronts him and he brushes off her frustrations. She takes it upon herself to let people in his party for free, as long as they sign the petition to arrest the cops who killed Marcus even after Doug told her no. Kiela expresses to Doug that turning a blind eye to the issue makes him a bad black person. When it’s announced that the cops who killed Marcus Jennings are getting no charges brought against them, Kiela sadly leaves, believing that everything Doug said was right and none of it matters. Doug goes to Kiela’s dorm to let her know that he doesn’t want to be right. He opens up for the first time about his real thoughts on the issue and how he pushes it all down, as a means to survive. He feels like he has to push it all to the back of his mind, so he’s not paralyzed and doesn’t break. Kiela comforts Doug and unexpectedly kisses him. She apologizes for the sudden action but he tells her not to and they kiss again.
Doug and Kiela continue to flirt with each other and soon, Luca finds out about their romantic interest in one another when he finds their texts. When Doug sees how upset he is over it, he promises not to mess around with Kiela anymore because he doesn’t want to ruin their friendship. That said, it’s revealed Doug and Kiela are still seeing each other when they’re seen making out by Jazz Forster. Kiela makes it clear to Doug that she doesn’t want to sneak around anymore because she finds it ridiculous. He assures her that it’s not possible because of Luca’s negative feelings about it and doesn’t want to mess up things between the whole trifecta. Kiela is disappointed hearing this and walks away from him.
Quotes[]
- "Look, I don’t want her or you or anyone thinking that I don’t like black girls ‘cause that’s just not the real. I don’t know where y’all from, but I’m from Queens. When I came here, it was a whole new world. Everybody’s so open, so I figured I’d do the same.” Doug to Jazz and Sky in It's Hard Out Here for a Pimp
- "Every new wave of artistry that shakes up culture is always started by a black person. We innovate. Not appropriate.” Doug educating Vivek in In My Feelings
- "I get it. Black people fly as f**k, man.” Doug to Vivek in Strictly 4 My...
- "I mean, look at me. I got on a fucking bald cap, man.” Doug to Sky in Age Ain't Nothing But a Number
- "Another round, but I’mma need like, a different color of liquor this time. ‘Cause I’m talking lights, darks, neons, the works. I’m trying to get my immune system confused tonight. Thank you.” Doug to the bartender in Who Do You Love?
- "I ruined the relationship, but not you trying to get friendly with the hurdle jumper’s nut-sack, right?” Doug to Jazz in Ugh, those feels again
- "So, the truth is, for Black men or, shit, Black women or Black people, is that any place is the wrong place… at any time, every damn day.” Doug to Kiela in A Boy is a Gun
Trivia[]
Gallery[]