With the release of the season two finale, “Juneteenth”, we’d assume that it would be a suitable closure to the return of the Proud Family. I mean, I thought it was a fitting finale to cap off the revival’s exploration of the Juneteenth holiday and its historical impact on society. However, that doesn’t appear to be the case, as its two-year absence wasn’t enough to keep the iconic family down. With the arrival of its long-awaited third season, it begs the question of where the series will go from here. If one of the answers is a globe-trotting spy adventure, you’re pretty much right on the money.
The third season commenced with a two-parter, titled “Proud Family-Verse”, featuring Penny and Dijoney getting caught in a global spy venture with Oscar’s college girlfriend, Betty Davis. Betty is an art major who secretly works as a spy for an organization of supermodel agents tasked with retrieving encrypted data that leads to the flower of eternal life. Despite its title, the two-part premiere doesn’t exactly involve any multiverse elements as we’re initially led to believe, but that doesn’t mean it couldn’t happen eventually. I mean, the series already includes the weatherman genie and time travel, so anything is possible in this wacky yet endearingly dynamic piece of slice-of-life animation. Nonetheless, “Proud Family-Verse” successfully kick-started the new season by providing the wildly fun and cartoony aesthetics of the series to elevate its familiar narrative vibes.
Of course, amid the chaotic shenanigans from its slice-of-life plots and guest stars, the season continues the show’s tradition of exploring specific aspects of the black community and character development through wit, heart, and humanity. One such example is its third episode, “The Shade of It All”, which involves Dijoney confronting the black beauty standards enforced by a strict Miss Rosalie, who only accepts light-skinned brown girls in her sorority beauty pageant. That episode examines one aspect of black beauty that transcends the essence of outer beauty: skin color. Regardless of whether a person’s skin is light or dark, it’s another aspect that defines who they are as a human being, along with their physical appearance. Another example is the fourth episode, “O Mother, Where Art Thou?”, in which Maya discovers that her biological mother is the famous talk show host, Breyana. Despite the other episodes not following up with this discovery, the episode is another occasion where the revival’s new characters shine as bright as its regular cast regarding the show’s heart and depth, primarily Maya’s reunion with Breyana.
However, despite the highs we expected from The Proud Family, the season faces a similar issue to the first season: its two-part strategy. The first season concluded with the first of its two-part episode, “Old Towne Road”, making viewers wait for a year to see the episode’s second half via season two. Season three provided a similar structure to season one with part one of “Wild, Lost and Free”, where Penny and Kareem’s relationship is tested by their parents, who believe their love is distracting them from their studies. The only difference is that this season is one episode shorter than previous seasons, which only made my frustration over its strategy more profound. The “Old Towne Road” two-parter made sense due to Suga Mama’s history as well as its social commentary. On the other hand, “Wild, Lost and Free” seemed like it would’ve been resolved in one episode, given its flat “young love” narrative, whose stakes didn’t seem as high as those of the others.
Fortunately for us, the show has already been renewed for a fourth season slated for next year, meaning we’ll see what happens next after Penny and Kareem ran away from home. If it were to suffer the same fate as “Hailey’s On It” regarding its cancellation on a cliffhanger, I can guarantee that there will be some problems. Besides that, The Proud Family: Louder and Prouder is just as loud and proud as it was in previous seasons, thanks to its wholesome and consistently entertaining third season. It doesn’t quite push the boundaries of its social commentary as it did with the season two finale, “Juneteenth”, and the finale ended on a frustratingly weak note due to its cliffhanger and one-year wait between seasons. But it compensated with the other life lessons like black beauty and misogyny that’ll entertain and inspire generations of viewers, especially those from the black community. Those who appreciated the previous seasons would certainly enjoy another round of proudly chaotic shenanigans.