Before my fingers could hit the keys of my keyboard, I got texts and IMs about how last night’s “The Boondocks” pailed in comparison to the first two hard hitting outings from the past two weeks. I had to replay the episode due to me laughing hysterically at the bloodiest game of kickball I have ever seen played and missing any hidden message McGruder was probably throwing at us this week. During the second viewing, I managed to pick up some nuggets of a message hidden behind the kickball plot, but then I sat down and thought for a good minute on two other thoughts that manifested themselves into my assessment of the episode. These secondary thought impulses, along with my original notion of the episode, combined to form three different ways I felt that I could come at “The Red Ball.”
1) Satire on Tensions Between The U.S. and China
The whole set up at the beginning of the episode between Mr. Wuncler and Mr. Do, and even throughout the rest of the episode, dripped of culture clash that could be seen as a mirror to the age old rivalry between the two nationalities. The rest of the episode played on this theme on infinite levels, but it could prove fruitless trying to tie all the snippets thrown about here and there in the episode to come up with a concise theory. I could be oh so wrong and will be the first to admit it if brought to my attention.
2) The Ugly Side of Capitalism
In that same scene at the beginning, Mr. Do mentioned Mr. Wuncler as being one of the few business people who got a bail out from the government. Then later Wuncler mentioned how he bet the entire financial futures of the residents of Woodcrest on a simple game of kickball. Sounds a little like the homeowners crisis doesn’t it? You know… Gambling money you don’t really have? Seems like McGruder had something to say there…
3) It Is What It Is…
Which is just a fun entertaining episode for us to laugh our asses off at and for McGruder to really show off his love of anime. The scene between Huey and Ming in the forest was a nice little homage to anime epics from the small details of the sudden gust of wind that is followed by pans and tilts; to the dialogue, which seemed to have come out of an episode of “Naruto” or “Dragonball” to name a few. And did you NOT see that Kickball game?!?!? That mofo was serious on an epical scope. I have to say kudos to McGurder for converging anime and kickball, turning both into one memorable game of kickball that solidified the game as a bona fide blood sport in my eyes from now on.
So, was the episode weak? Not at all. I think we look for “The Boondocks” to have a huge, deeper meaning behind each episode, but sometimes the meaning isn’t as glaring and takes a back seat to the story at hand. This could be one of those episodes, which is just good, “clean”, American fun.
What did you guys think?
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Completely agree. I loved the episode, McGruder got to show off some of the great animation that the series was delayed for in a Shaolin Soccer tribute with Huey kicking all ass. And really, how often does Huey win fights against anyone other than Riley? But have to say, was a bit frustrating seeing Rummy but not hearing Sammy J.
And oh yeah, bonus points for Uncle Ruckus and the Blazing Saddles reference.
Just adding to 1) Satire on Tensions Between The U.S. and China…The money Wuncler owed to o was a reference to China owning ridiculous amounts of the US debt. Do/China was asking for the debt to be paid which is a fear of the US in real life.I completely agree with your points. Great episode.
dude tht was the funniest episode ever it topped stewie wuppin brians ass on family guy and it topped the kanye rap battle on the clevland show
Man, the kickball game is the most gutta animated battle I have ever seen! One for the record books…
This was a great episode. i would argue that it was one of the more symbolic episodes and actually had more of a message than an ordinary Boondocks. A couple points:1) Racism plays a huge role in the episode. Huey naively believes that the players from the other team will be tortured if they lose because they are Chinese. The Tibetan national relies on racism to join a struggle that is not truly his. the Chinese winning the game is equated with internet censorship for no logical reason. Lin is supposedly taken from her parents at age three to be kick ball trained. There is an obvious satire on America's bias on China.2) The game, in reality, does not matter. While throughout the episode money is a supposed motivation for the Woodcrest team to win, the issue is skirted at the end of the episode. Both business men just revel in the sport. It is a blatant commentary on the global economy and its creation of a new elite class. 3) Nationalism. It is everywhere in this episode. The crowds cheering, the songs sung, the dialogue used. It makes the kickball game very much a satire of war and the propaganda used to perpetuate it. Instead of walking away when it makes sense, all the characters insist on staying because they "don't want to pussy out" or other such excuses which typically are heard as excuses to continue on in war. It becomes even more symbolic when Wuncler leaves his injured troops after the game saying they can just bask in the moment.3.1) if you want to delve deeper into war imagery, look at the original team which Wuncler chooses. Special ops agents and 3rd world children. It is only after those options fail that the regular characters, representing the American civilians, are put into harms way.4) Huey. He represents a more ambiguous motif. My personal opinion is that he is a manifestation of Aaron McGruder. He both sees the falsity of Wuncler, yet cant help but play into his hand. He is driven to be the best, but by doing so is also being forced to contradict his morals. I would see it as the fact that McGruder tries to spread revolutionary doctrine through his cartoons, but he is still affiliated with Adult Swim which is owned by Cartoon Network which is owned by Turner Broadcasting. Basically, he works for the man.Cheers
I applaud this response and cosign it, especially with the final point. I always viewed Huey as McGruder, or at least one third of McGruder with Riley and Granddad serving as the other two thirds, and felt with news that this is the show's final season and the "It's A Black President, Huey Freeman" episode that McGruder was fed up with people not really getting his message. It reminds me kinda of the Dave Chappelle fallout, but I don't want to count my chickens just yet. Just know that an article is in the drawer about this very situation… ;)
I believe this episode is a tribute to an episode of Samurai Champloo that has a similar plot, except in SC, the deadly game is baseball. Of course, in the context of SC, the game is being played about 200 years before it was even invented, so the absurdity starts right out of the gate. The episode is called "Baseball Blues", and I think you'll see the similarities if you get a chance to compare them. MacGruder borrows a lot of the anime style of SC, purely in tribute, not plagiarizing, but I think you'll see the influence. Two great shows.
This is my favorite episode of the Boondocks. it is a copy of one of my favorite episodes of Samurai Champloo (Samurai Champloo: Episode 23) and the story is kind of a copy of The Simpsons season 3: Homer at the Bat. but all that is okay I love those episode of those shows. It's a great funny episode and and I like to see Boondocks sticking to the anime like nature that the sires has always had,it seems like they added a lot more to this season then the others.