Review: The Boondocks “Freedomland”

This was one of the more uncomfortable episodes yet. Find out why after the jump.

Spoilers Below

I’ve gone to some lengths to avoid dropping the N-Bomb. I know I offend people, but there’s some things I won’t say, especially when it revolves around slavery.

The broke bitches are sitting at home, watching tv. Of course, Granddad gets antsy for the hoes on television. Huey starts the in with the Wuncler conspiracy theories, bringing in cheap food and television. The pizza guy comes, but Huey sends him away. Granddad goes to the door, but Ruckus is there, eating the pizza. He’s there to bring the Freemans Wuncler, but that didn’t work out as well as the cops coming next.

They’re at the junior Wuncler’s place, because he has a living history park, wrapped around the most painful moment in black history. They all got dressed as slaves, even Tom, somehow.  The group is hitting hard times during this, especially when Ruckus tells them to act like slaves for the white man. Riley gets loud, until Ruckus brings the whip, which shuts him up real quick.

Robert and Tom get to keep their names, while Huey and Riley have to change theirs. Huey gets “Nigger One”, and Riley gets “Nigger Two”. They get shortened to One and Two, and Huey refuses to do work. One of the attractions are kids getting tied in sacs, and kicked down a hill. Ruckus is the MC for the stage, and is reveling in all of this. He’s here to introduce an interactive game.  Huey and two kids are in boxes, to get shot by kids with water guns. Robert grabs Huey, and they try to walk out. Ruckus and the Wuncler police didn’t get that memo, though.

The rule breakers are brought to the stockades, where Ruckus is practically jacking off with pleasure. Ruckus finally let on that there is more to the park than originally thought. There are people of all races picking cotton. Tom brings up the Emancipation Proclimation, but that just puts Tom and the Freemans into solitary. Tom is losing it, but brings it in just in time for Sara to buy his freedom, so he bails.

Ruckus finds this as his chance to live through slavery, and show that he isn’t like any of the other blacks there. Riley pleas to Huey to have a plan, and he does, but it’s dangerous. Huey gathers some people to talk about the plan. He tells the plan, and evedryone is on board. Junior Wuncler is now dressing like a slave owner now, and his board wants him to expand the plans. Eddie gets Huey inside, and he is trying to get a deal done to get him to get on board. Huey wants freedom, but Eddie isn’t taking it. We get a slave pow wow, with a bunch of singing and chanting, where everyone gets hyped for the break.

The next day, Huey is tied up to a whipping post, about to get tarred and feathered, until Eddie tries to cut his foot off. That gets both of Huey’s feet into Eddie’s face. More importantly, the slave revolt is in full swing. Freedomland is in the middle of a full tear down. While Wuncler PD is busy with the masses, Riley overloads the plumbing and causes a bunch of explosions. Huey finally kicks some ass, going full on ninjas on the security. This little dude takes on four security guards on at once. Meanwhile, Ruckus gets Eddie out. On his way out, Ruckus asks Huey what’s better than Freedomland, and Huey responds with freedom.

This was the episode I was afraid of. This was the episode where the writers just decided to take things over the top just to take it over the top. I get that there were all races, but still. The only thing worse than Ruckus going “Sam Jackson in Django Unchained” on the Freeman siblings would be if Wuncler did. I know that the writers did it to make it not as bad, but god damn. This shit just made me feel uncomfortable, and I am very hard to offend. The idea of a living museum that went back to the days of slavery is pretty terrible taste.

One bright spot among the overly black on black racism, was that Huey and Riley finally got some time to shine this season. Huey got more of the time, but they both got ample screen time. Huey was a little bad-ass taking on all of the security. Everyone banded together, except for Tom. It also speaks to Tom’s character for bailing on the Freemans, who he felt like were the cause of all of this. So much for friends, right?

All in all, I was having trouble getting into this episode. While the episode had its high moments, the first half of the episode just put me in an uncomfortable spot. They had a great streak going with the episodes, but this just kind of killed it for me. Huey and Riley inciting a slave riot can’t save the rest of the episode.