"The Story of Lando Freeman" is the tenth of the third season of the Adult Swim original series The Boondocks. It aired on July 4, 2010.
Synopsis[]
Grandad gets to know a new handyman who claims that Grandad could be his father.
Plot[]
There's a new handyman in town undercutting Uncle Ruckus. Granddad is at first suspicious of the young man, who introduces himself as Lando, but after seeing what Lando can do with his yard, he invites him in for a drink. A reward for a job well done is a few 20 dollar bills, and Lando even takes Granddad to a strip club, something Granddad has not done in years. The two seem to be hitting it off, until the man declares that he is Granddad's long lost son from way back in the day. He claims that he is the son of one of Granddad's old flings from the 1980s, when Granddad went by the nickname "Lando," after Lando Calrissian of the Star Wars films.
Granddad then comes to dislike the young man, thinking that it was all a scam, despite Lando's protests that he only wants to get to know his father. However, Lando's landscaping business quickly takes off in the neighborhood, and Granddad finds it difficult to avoid him. Eventually, taking Gin Rummy's advice, Granddad goes on the Steve Wilkos paternity test show to prove that he is not Lando's father. This backfires when the paternity test comes back positive, eliciting a joyful reaction from Lando and a violent one from Steve.
Granddad finally decides to take on responsibility and ends up bonding with the boy. However, after Huey reads in the credits that producers reserve the right to falsify, nullify and make any changes to preserve the integrity of the show, it is revealed that Granddad is not actually Lando's father. Granddad and Lando are crushed, but both quickly get over it, with Lando leaving Woodcrest to hopefully meet a woman and start a family of his own before amicably parting ways with the Freemans. Shortly after Lando leaves, Huey asks Granddad if he's alright, and Granddad admits he feels relieved in having "dodged a bullet", but hopes that Lando would one day find his real father.
Before entering their house, a limousine pulls up to the Freemans' house carrying actor Bily Dee Williams (who played Lando Calrissian in Star Wars). To the Freemans' astonishement, Williams reveals that he is actually Lando's father, but was unable to find him until he saw him on The Steve Wilkos Show. The Freemans point him in the direction Lando went, and Williams quickly leaves after him. After a jab from Riley about how he would rather have Billy Dee for a grandfather, Granddad remarks that it is a great day for yardwork, implying he'll punish Riley by making him do yardwork.
Appearances[]
- Robert Freeman
- Uncle Ruckus
- Huey Freeman
- Riley Freeman
- Lando (debut/only appearance)
- Tom DuBois
- Gin Rummy
- Steve Wilkos (debut/only appearance)
- Billy Dee Williams (debut/only appearance)
Continuity[]
- Robert would be at least 53 years old in the 1980 flashback; he does not appear to be with his former wife, although she may have died in the 1970s.
- Riley used the phrase "Smoking with cigarettes", which is said in the episode Smokin' with Cigarettes
- This is the only episode Gin Rummy appeared without Ed Wuncler III.
Cultural references[]
- Lando was conceived in 1980 and named for Lando Calrissian, who appeared in the 1980 film The Empire Strikes Back.
- Robert appears on The Steve Wilkos Show
- Lando says he doesn't want to share rooms with two young boys as he isn't the King of Pop, a reference to Michael Jackson.
Gallery[]
Reviews[]
Leonard Pierce of The A.V. Club gave the episode an "A-": This episode was an odd duck: it was more or less a gentle, family-sitcom-style installment, with very little in the way of social satire, parody of contemporary black culture, or even racial content (Ruckus aside). But strangely enough, it worked for me; it had plenty of funny lines, and I liked the way it encapsulated a dozen or so cliches about family life in the space of a few afternoons of action.