Can I Tell You My Side of it Though? - The Boondocks Season Premiere Review

We live in a country where R. Kelly probably is a serial rapist, Woody Allen imported a kid then married the kid and people still purchase Kells albums and watch Woody Allen movies without thinking twice.  Yup, straight like that.  So Chris Brown, who has more charges than hit records

(count 'em) was definitely fair game for "The Boondocks", the comic strip turned anime-stylized satire that very rarely pulls punches  on who and what they go after.

UNCANNY.

Enter Pretty Boy Flizzy, a chiseled, handsome R&B Heartthrob (complete with an ex-girlfriend named Christianna!) that all the women want, despite his raunchy lyrics and mile long rap sheet.  In an effort to fight the charges against him, he enlists the aid of local lawyer Tom Dubois.  Now, to an extent, we've seen this before - Tom's shortcomings as a man are only made more evident by the guest character opposite him.  Like the first time they did this.  With Usher.

You've seen this before.  A few times.

 Michael B. Jordan  does a great job as Flizzy, using a very even, but dialed back tone to rationalize the character's numerous errors.  When asked about the many crimes he's been accused of, he retorts "can I tell my side of it though?",  an excellent way to show that even with a hint of doubt, things like the "team breezy" movement will latch onto, and diefy someone they feel gives them a feeling of happiness.  Flizzy has song titled "Titty Telethon", and few of his bars go "baby grab ya ankles, you know what's next...".

You have my full attention.

With all this said, I have to say this was a letdown.  For one, it looks like the show's budget has been cut significantly.  Sure, it still has the same great voice acting, but there are was less actually frames of animation, and they try to make up for this by having the characters almost play caricatures of themselves, with way overblown facial expressions.  it's like that last season of X-Men all over again (thanks Weez) where it just seems like less of an effort was put into the actual aesthetics.

Relegated to a cameo.

 Also, for a Season Premiere of a show that's been on such a long hiatus, you'd like to see at least one of the three central characters play a big role in the episode.  Save for one extended scene, there was VERY LITTLE Granddad, Huey or Riley.  While the Tom-Alpha Male formula was definitely worked in the past, this episode felt like a very heavy retread of something that didn't need revisiting.  The allegory of Chris Brown being untouchable was good, and Tom was probably the character to cast him against, but there wasn't enough variation from the advice he got from A Pimp Named Slickback years back.

I still have high hopes for the show, but people worried that Aaron McGruder's exodus would take some of the edge off of the show are for now justified in their beliefs.  This is one of the least memorable episodes so far.

Final Rating - 6/10  (it was cool...)

Best Quotes -
 "Mixed Race Quadroon Nigga Children!" - Uncle Ruckus
"Can I tell you my side of it though?" - Flizzy
(on multiple occasions) "Man, I was fucked up!" - Flizzy
"A woman would rather be with a guy that beats them to death than bores them to death.  Beleive me, I know!" - Flizzy
"If I can just stay in the right amount of trouble..." - Flizzy
"I guess hitting a woman is ok if you have abs, is that it?" - Tom
"I know sometimes bitches step out of line!  I know I do!" - Sarah