Boondocks Season 4 Episode 1 Review

Would it make you feel old if I told you season 3 of Boondocks ended two months before My Little Pony FiM premiered? I sure know I would.

Yes, after painful four year long hiatus from TV, over-the-top and satirical series The Boondocks finally returns with its 4th season in the series. For those of you who aren't aware, I'm a very big fan of this series. I have watched every episode multiple times and to this day can recall countless lines, scenes, and episodes, as well as consider Boondocks to have some of the funniest and most clever comedy and satire in modern TV... even if not all of it is very current. Some shows take a long time to make, what can I say?

In any case, Boondocks is a very love it or hate it show for most people, no denying it. Many people consider it crude, offensive, ugly to look at, unfunny, or just plain hard to sit through. Now, this may just be the dumb White boy in me talking, but I've been able to look at the show's stereotypical and often racist nature as so extreme it's just funny, the fact they don't exclude any one group also makes it more evened out. Not to mention the other jokes and well done action moments give this show a kind of edge not many have.

But I'm not here to talk about the show as a whole(you read the title, right?). With the show's return, I've decided to review my thoughts on the newest episode. Its pros, its cons, and if overall it matches up to the rest of the show. It should be noted that the series creator, Aaron McGruder, was not involved with the creative process of this season whatsoever. But MLP has been doing fine without Lauren Faust, so that will not be an acceptable excuse for any lack of quality. They had four years to work on this and if it sucks, then that's just silly.

But onto the review of the episode "Pretty Boy Flizzy"! While I won't go into the plot too deeply, those of you wanting zero spoilers should go watch it now... Do it.

Now, this episode follows a satire of Chris Brown known as Pretty Boy Flizzy as he gets in trouble with the law. This causes him to hire Tom Dubois, the neighbor and friend to the show's main characters, the Freemans. Tom is also a known defense attorney in the town of Woodcrest. The problem is Tom's marriage is in a rough spot with his wife Sarah feeling like her husband's a pushover and needs to learn to take charge. Sarah also happens to be a big fan of Pretty Boy Flizzy. This makes Tom believe Flizzy, who is known for seducing women, will steal his wife away. But it's just the opposite. If Tom takes the case, Flizzy will help Tom win Sarah back. With little option, Tom accepts and hijinks ensue.

Now, this episode already has a few red flags just from the plot synopsis. Firstly, the fact that, after a four year long break, the season premiere doesn't even star the show's main characters, or even the show's most possible secondary character, Uncle Ruckus. Oh, they all briefly show up, but that's just it, briefly, and only for a few quick jokes.

The other big issue is that this episode shares a few elements with episode 2 of season 2, "Tom, Sarah, and Usher." The title alone should be raising some eyebrows. In the episode, Tom is worried about Usher, after meeting him at a restaurant, will seduce his wife away. So to fix it, he gets help from someone to teach him to be more assertive to win her back.

I will say that while the plots do share similar conflicts, they both handle it very differently. The newer episode takes its time more and feels more fleshed out with its characters than the one from season 2. Tom also goes through some nice character development in this episode that the previous didn't have. But also like that episode, Sarah still feels like she has little purpose in the show other than to be a plot device to drive Tom.

The humor is definitely what makes or breaks any episode. While not every joke hits a bulls eye, many of them are still creative enough to make you keep watching and give off that air of cynicism that the series is known for. The egotistical and self-servicing character of Pretty Boy Flizzy is also a well implemented side character that makes for a good foil to nice, innocent guy Tom.

The animation is also another thing that can be seen as good or bad by some. The show is animated in Korea and is heavily influenced by anime in its art direction. They do at times get very odd facial expressions or angles that can turn some viewers away. I feel the animation helps the show in defining its characters by giving them all very distinguishable looks that add to their personalities. The voice acting is also very well delivered with a lot of flavor for each character that makes every line feel like it has weight and further gives them a three-dimensional personality.

Overall this episode goes to prove the long wait for this show's revival will be worth it. The characters are still solid, the writing humorous, the performances and animation top notch, and the lines and scenes memorable. I recommend anyone that's a fan of the previous seasons to give it a watch, and I cannot be more excited to see what the creators have in store for us.

This is Blue Breeze signing off.