Monsters of Television

“The first rule of fund raising: I don’t give nothing to nobody. Period.”

Well it’s an improvement.

After last week’s terribly disappointing episode I was hoping we could get the season back on track. “The Fundraiser” didn’t wow me like previous episodes but it didn’t fill me with rage either. It had it’s moments but once again the overall failed to deliver what I’ve come to expect from the show. Simply put: it was meh. But at this point is falling somewhere in the middle good or bad?“The Fundraiser” told a very Scarface inspired story about Riley taking over the school candy selling fundraiser and turning it into a business for his own personal profit. An enjoyable premise to be sure. However it fell sort of flat, once again a victim of adhering very closely to its source material. It feels as if McGruder is just writing fan fiction now, filling his favorite films and TV shows with characters of his own creation. It’s entertaining, sure, but it lacks chutzpah (and comedy as of late as well).

I didn’t hate the “The Fundraiser”. I’m always happy anytime Jazmine is utilized in an episode. Her naivety (she thinks they’re going to give all of the money to help animals) makes her illegal dealings all the more amusing. Cindy McPhearson makes a return as the muscle in Riley’s operation and the funniest part of the episode. Her badass, overly-violent approach to everything was the primary source of humor in the episode. Cause who doesn’t love to watch little white girls cussing and talking about killing other kids?

Scarface aside, there were some other pop culture references I enjoyed. The head of World’s Ultimate Chocolate, the candy suppliers Riley was ripping off, was a great nod to Brick Top from Snatch. At one point WUC kidnaps one of Riley’s sellers and dips him in chocolate and ships the very carbonite-like package to Riley as a threat. How Empire Strikes Back.

So it wasn’t that funny. Again. And it wasn’t that original. Again. But it did offer up one good piece of social commentary. Early on in Riley’s scheming, Huey tells him it’s the worst idea he’s ever had. He says he knows how all of this will end. Riley claims that by watching enough gangster films and learning the mistakes made in the movies that his plan can’t fail. Huey gives him a bulletproof vest just in case. Good thing he did too because in a final confrontation with both rival gangs and the FBI Riley gets shot, Huey’s vest saved his life. So I guess the moral of this story is don’t imitate what you see in movies. Or else you’ll get shot. If you do decide to try and become a gangster though, hopefully your brother has a bulletproof vest he’ll let you borrow.

It’s a slow crawl, but hopefully The Boondocks can achieve former glory again soon.

Final Thoughts:

• Who needs money when one of the school fundraiser prizes is a Hannah Montana keychain?
• The one thing this season has done consistently is remind us how amazing the supporting cast of characters is.
• In the end Jazmine donated all of their earnings to PETA. She thought that was the plan all along. Classic Jazmine.