If you've never seen The Boondocks, here's what you need to know. Based on a cartoon strip created by Aaron McGruder, it follows the Freeman family; Huey, Riley and their granddad Robert. Huey is the main protagonist and is a political activist and borderline militant who regularly reflects on current events. Riley, his younger brother, is highly impressionable and embraces the gangsta lifestyle. Granddad is the legal guardian of Huey and Riley and fails to take any responsibility for his actions and never learns anything.
The show is about race and doesn't hold back and attacks politicians and celebrities of all races, constantly uses the N word and deals with everyday life brazenly. Just give it a watch and you'll know what I'm talking about.
'A Huey Freeman Christmas' isn't a traditional Christmas story. If anything, it attacks Christmas. It's plot is wound around holiday anger and frustration and features dual plots. Riley has tasked himself to make Santa 'pay what he owes' because he never delivered the gifts Riley asked for when he was living in the hood.
Huey is asked to write and direct the school Christmas play by his culturally sensitive teacher Mr. Uberwitz (voiced by Judge Reinhold), despite making it very clear that he doesn't give a damn about Christmas.
Riley a.k.a The Santa Stalker, torments and beats the mall Santa in front of loads of children and writes him a threatening letter.
Huey's play is met with protests and anger before it is even staged, due to the fact that he casts a black Jesus, and fires all of the children in favour of a production team worthy of Hollywood including Quincy Jones (Quincy Jones actually does the voice), Angela Bassett and others.
There's little warmth in this Boondocks episode. Granddad recites a Christian hymn with tears in his eyes and Huey immediately tells him that Christmas is a Pagan holiday and Jesus hates him for celebrating it.
It mocks people's uncertainty of why we celebrate Christmas; Jazmine, a friend of the boys, has a dream where she delivers a sermon about Santa, who she confuses with Jesus.
Huey's message is about the misunderstood origins of Christmas and racial identity. The episode also references the 1965 animated Christmas special 'A Charlie Brown Christmas', which is obvious from the episode title. The children, while supposed to be rehearsing for the play, dance like the kids in A Charlie Brown Christmas, and Huey even shouts, "Do I look like Charlie Brown?!". Hint taken.
Now although I love this episode I'm not saying I hate Christmas, I love Christmas. I just enjoy the episode on it's effort to lambast Christmas and it's stone cold hard assery. And of course Boondocks does it hilariously. It pays homage to the past whilst creating an updated, original story for a contemporary audience. Definitely give this a watch, and the rest of The Boondocks for that matter, it's a pretty good TV show.
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