Review: Legends of Chamberlain Heights “Child Please”

Okay, taking over on this series for an episode, so this’ll be a change of pace. I’m gonna assume readers have seen the previous review which covers the initial premise of the show.

I just watched the final episode of The Nightly Show with Larry Wilmore, which replaced The Colbert Report just over a year and a half ago. Wilmore covered an array of topics in the news that reached across many communities that had a severe lack of representation and voice on the American news stage while being pretty damn funny along the way. I’m sad we won’t be able to see him and his team cover the upcoming insanity that is the next presidential election, but I understand the ratings were far too low to continue.

I’m not sure Legends of Chamberlain Heights is really the best substitute.

SPOILERS

So, since this show doesn’t really plan to venture more than picking standard high school situations out of a hat, and they already did the “get into the big party” story last week, this week is all about Egg Sitting, as in taking care of an inanimate object as if it’s a baby. Milk is paired with Shamal (Jamal’s sister), Jamal is with Medina who was already practically stalking him last episode, Randy is with Ledante (who’s apparently taken this ten times now), and Grover is paired with love interest Cindy, much to Randy’s chagrin. Milk and Shamal end up taking the anti-vaxxer approach which gets their baby sick instantly, Randy is forced into the mom role under a dominant Ledante, Grover is too concerned with impressing Cindy and playing in the next basketball game to actually care for his fake child, and Jamal and Medina…actually do a pretty good job until the baby gets smashed under her at a party. Not that it helps that the rest of the babies get sick from the un-vaccinated one, so everyone passes because the teacher wants the summer off.

As per usual with these types of stories, this involves the given cast getting paired with characters they normally don’t interact with, as well as putting them in the role of parent, which forces them to deal with responsibilities they haven’t faced before. Usually other shows are smart enough to do something different or interesting with this, like Danny Phantom and Batman Beyond’s addition of the superhero dynamic to it, or Comedy Central’s own South Park making a statement about gay marriage.

However, as stated, this show isn’t really looking to raise the bar or push the envelope on this front, so we’ll just have to stick with the standard approach, which does actually offer some insight and development regardless. Randy is the school jock that is forced to be in a position of inferiority, Grover thinks with his dick to highlight his developmental flaws, Milk is used for comedy relief, and Jamal continues to realize more about his reluctant chemistry with Medina.

Overall, this show is probably not for me, but I can at least admit it’s competent in its structure. At only its second episode, that’s really all we can expect, but it would’ve made this an easier watch if they had bothered to inch even a little outside the box.