“After four years, it would have been great to bring back the essence of the show, characterized by the clever and timely social commentary and entertaining antics of the Freeman family. One would hope the show would go out with a bang, but if the first episode is any indicator of what’s to come, fans will surely be disappointed.” — Brianna Patterson
After a four year hiatus, the fourth and final season The Boondocks had its anticlimactic debut on Monday at 10:30 p.m. on Adult Swim with an unfortunately mediocre episode.
The adult cartoon, based on a comic strip of the same name created by writer and cartoonist (and university alumnus) Aaron McGruder, is a beloved series following the lives of a fictional black family in a majority white suburbs. Though the show has been criticized for its propagation of stereotypes and heavy use of the N-word, it has taken on the role of a social critic addressing issues in society and the black community with memorable characters such as the militant black power advocate Huey Freeman and his less-enlightened, wannabe gangster brother Riley.
But the season four premiere, which is the first season to produced without the help of creator McGruder, was disappointing. The storyline focused on recurring characters Tom and Sarah Dubois, the Freeman’s neighbors across the street. Tom, who’s always been characterized by his cowardice and lack of masculinity, finds himself yet again being criticized by his wife for being boring and submissive. He seeks advice from his legal client, fictional R&B singer Pretty Boy Flizzy, (voiced by guest star, actor Michael B. Jordan) — an artist who is in and out of legal trouble and notorious for his misogynistic lyrics and abuse of his famous ex-girlfriend Christianna — but finds his wife falling for the singer instead.
This concept is familiar for all the wrong reasons. The fictional singer Pretty Boy Flizzy is an obvious caricature of Chris Brown, with no subtleties in the references to his personality and controversy with singer Rihanna. By this point, Chris and Rihanna jokes are getting old and and stale — not to mention the questionable ethics of turning domestic abuse into a punchline.
And the episode itself lacked originality. It seemed to be a reiteration of a season two’s “Tom, Sarah and Usher.” In both episodes Sarah falls for an R&B superstar, Tom looks for guidance on how to be a more dominating man, the singer goes to meet Sarah and their daughter Jasmine, and Tom ends up punching the guy in a rage that wins Sarah back.
Monday night’s episode followed the same mold.
It seemed rushed and almost undone, Tom’s alpha male “training” montage with Pretty Boy Flizzy produced no real result or transformation, the Freemans barely got any screen time and notoriously racist Uncle Ruckus appeared out of nowhere in the last minutes of the show as if just for comic relief and a name drop.
It produced some quote-worthy lines that got buzz from live tweeting viewers, but aside from that the episode was as safe and boring as the character Tom himself.
After four years, it would have been great to bring back the essence of the show, characterized by the clever and timely social commentary and entertaining antics of the Freeman family. One would hope the show would go out with a bang, but if the first episode is any indicator of what’s to come, fans will surely be disappointed.
