The Boondocks - Season 1 (Review)

The Boondocks is quite a different Adult Swim show. For one thing, the production values are through the roof, the beautiful animation effectively emulating an anime, unlike most shows on the programming block that characterized by cheap animation. Second, the show runs for a full half hour, whereas most Adult Swim shows runs about 15 minutes. Based on Aaron McGruder's comic strip, the series follows the Freemans, a black family from Chicago that recently moved to the predominately white suburbs of Woodcrest. The Family consist of Huey and Riley, two brothers that couldn't be any more different in their ideas and opinions (Huey is a black revolutionist, while Riley follows the ways of modern gangsters), and their Granddad ,Robert Freeman watches over them with old-fashioned discipline, while also trying to become a ladies man.

The main focus of the series is offering sharp parodies and commentary on African American culture, pop-culture, and political actions. This first season occasionally stumbles with this a bit here and there, often I found it as though they were trying a bit too hard, but even then I still found the show to be incredibly hilarious. I believe it's comparable to South Park in its ability to mix serious commentary with smart and dirty jokes. The great example of this is "The Trial of Robert Kelly", which despite being extremely dated by the time it aired, was a brilliant take on the way race and celebrity work in the justice system. There's tons of humor and some mean spirited jokes aimed at R. Kelly and the way his fans blindly defend him, but it all culminates in wonderful speech by Huey arguing that, while many black men have been charged with crimes they're innocent of, R. Kelly isn't one of them. Another highlight would have to be "Return of the King", a what-if story that finds Martin Luther King, instead of being killed, put in a coma until 2000. When He opposes the invasion of Afghanistan after 9/11, he's labeled an "Al Qaeda Lover" and "commie bastard" by everyone. From there King tries to start his own left-wing political party with the help of Huey. The episode is full of just plain funny moments and although this episode raised a lot of controversy over Dr King's use of the n-word (which is the show's most frequently used word by the way), I found it to be true to life and respectful to King's legacy.

The cast of characters are all surprisingly deep and well defined. Huey, with his self-righteous and smart-ass attitude, can be a little annoying at times but he's still pretty likeable. Riley is oftentimes pretty damn hilarious as he's a bit too over-influenced by hip-hop culture and episodes that focus on him are funnier, but a tad weaker structurally, than the Huey-centered outings. Grandad is a delight and gets some great moments like his fight with an old blind man and his fling with prostitute (although he didn't know she was a prostitute, despite many obvious signs). The most interesting supporting character would have to be Uncle Ruckus, a self hating black man whose every other line is some sort of slam against the black community. He's offensively funny and his character never becomes too uncomfortable outside of the season finale. I think I've said enough about this show now, that's kinda what happens with things I really like. I think the show offers more than simple shock value and shouldn't be ignored... as long you have a tolerance for excessive use of the n-word.