Review: The Freak Brothers “Bo-Freakian Rap-Sody”

Overview (Spoilers Below)

Gretchen has a charity event for ex-felons, the Freak Brothers get high listening to music at a store run by their friends Chuck and Charlie, and try to score some more weed. They meet a rapper named ScHoolboy Q. and spend time with him. But when Freddy accidentally crashes his golf cart, Q comes back the next day, demanding his money, so the Brothers scramble to get him the money before its too late.

Our Take

This mature animation continues to harp on the same themes as Gilbert Shelton’s underground comic, The Fabulous Furry Freak Brothers, with characters, specifically the Freak Brothers, using and trying to get drugs like marijuana, while critiquing those described as “the establishment” and those in the counterculture at the same time. For instance, at the beginning of the episode, the brothers are shown going into a records store in San Francisco, run by their two friends who sell weed, and are introduced to rap music. They later smoke with him, drink fancy wine, in a scene which almost seems like it is out of a movie, and smoke again with him on his yacht.

This week continued the threads from last week but raises the stakes. After Freddy causes ScHoolboy Q’s solid gold golf cart to drop into a lake, the brothers think everything is fine. But, Q will stop at nothing to get the money, even taking the cats from them. Tensions between the brothers reach a boiling point as Freddy continues to be a fuck-up, and they even plan a raid on Q’s yacht. I did not expect to see Freddy and Kitty team-up, but that made the story that much more interesting, although Q doesn’t seriously threaten Phineas and Franklin, only tells them that if they roll enough joints, they will be fine. I liked that while it seems like Freddy is living up to how his brothers describe him, at first, he ends up saving the day, with his brothers having to apologize to him. While he is still absent minded and doesn’t hear them at all, there was a not-surprising twist to have everything end up happily, in a sense, in the end of the episode.

The series continues to be just as unholy as the mature animated series, Chicago Party Aunt, if not more. This episode made that clear, with Franklin making an offensive joke about Japanese people, with Camille having to clarify that she is Chinese, not Japanese, and Phineas calling out a leprechaun as a “midget.” There’s also occasional blood, swearing, and smoking. The voice acting of this series is still strong, all around, from Tiffany Haddish as a cat, Danny Gendron as a dog, along with Liza del Mundo, Phil LaMarr, Andrea Savage, and La La Anthony. However, the characters voiced by Woody Harrelson, John Goodman, and Pete Davidson have more lines, so they have more of an opportunity to shine than other characters. Schoolboy Q, who voices Q, also had strong voice acting.

Like the previous episode, there is continued social commentary, specifically with Phineas calling rap the voice of the counterculture. It is interesting to see the counterculture of the 1960s and 1970s connected to rap music, a connection I haven’t seen anyone else make. It also points to how much money rappers make and hints that they are corporate, not part of anything equivalent to counterculture at all, as Q calls himself a mogul who is investing in the cannabis industry. There’s also commentary about ex-cons after imprisonment, as Gretchen holds a fundraiser for them, and they are violent and hostile to the guests.

I didn’t laugh as much as the last episode. While I found this episode strong dramatically, I don’t think the comedic moments were as strong as other episodes. The animation was decent and the characters, especially Q and his crew, were given some depth, although the fact they are Black men and are criminals, it tends to use elements of the scary Black man trope. This episode did provide some character development, although I am hopeful that more characters outside of the four protagonists will be developed, especially Gretchen, who is still a bit naive about how the world works. The storylines of the series are simple, but I am confident that the series will keep my interest, as Q survives at the end, declaring he will kill the Freak Brothers, setting up a villain.