The Boondocks: Season 3

I was excited when this season was announced about a year ago, but found it more tiring than rewarding to watch it at midnights on Sunday nights (Monday mornings) last summer. Yes, I had DVR, and could have watched the episodes the next day, but I also didn't have any kind of work the next morning for the majority of the episodes. I was left disappointed by this season, and I attributed that to higher-than-warranted expectations and also my own sleepiness getting in the way of the show's enjoyability. Flash-forward to the present, where I've spent the last week watching that same season on DVD, and I can confirm one of my attributions of disappointment causation but must reject the other one. Yes, I was too sleepy during many of the episodes to originally enjoy them to their fullest extent. There were at least three or four episodes that I remembered having seen before when watching the DVDs, but of which I had no recollection of the ending. So, good. But, even with my reduced expectations and raised awareness and enjoyment, the sum total of these fifteen episodes simply didn't compose a season that could match either of the animated comedy's first two; it was still a disappointing season. But why? There's no simple answer, but I think the simplest one is too much emphasis on Granddad and Uncle Ruckus and not enough on Huey and Riley. Many of the series' best episodes have centered on Huey's radical views and Riley's idolizing all of the "wrong" parts of African-American culture (gang violence, showy basketball, and obscene hip-hop lyrics and gestures, for example). One of the highlights of this season was an episode in which the boys went to prison as part of a "scared straight" movement. Riley made shivs and did his best to impress the inmates with his toughness, while Huey took it upon himself to instruct the prisoners on how to effectively use hostages to barter for better treatment and more basic human rights. It wasn't the funniest or greatest episode of the season, but it was a simple and effective combination of both characters and the proper utilization of their personalities. But that episode came in the midst of a stretch of four other episodes that were, effectively, "Granddad joins a Tyler Perry-like figure's cult," "Granddad's long-lost son imposes himself on Granddad," "Granddad has a beautiful new girlfriend but can't stop getting in his own way," and "Granddad smokes a lot of weed." I like Granddad, and none of these episodes could aptly be described as terrible, but the whole season just felt a little stagnant. There was also a lot less topical parody this season; in the past, the show has cleverly covered things like the R. Kelly trial and Hurricane Katrina, while also spoofing a great deal of contemporary urban culture. This season, there was an entire episode about Uncle Ruckus writing racist songs. In general, it just felt easier and lazier this time around. There was also a slight thematic shift, perhaps representative of show (and original strip) creator Aaron McGruder's feelings, in which Huey insisted that he was now "retired" from his life as a domestic terrorist and radical activist. His final quote of the season is a seeming renunciation of his former ways: "You can't fight the future; don't waste your life trying." Some fans have even read into this enough to suggest that, even if offered another season, The Boondocks is finished. I'd be disappointed if that was the case. Even though I thought Season 3 wasn't as good as Seasons 1 and 2, there's too much potential left in the characters (and in all of the yet-to-be-satirized aspects of the world we live in) for the well to be all dried out. I guess only time will tell.