Freedomland is the seventh episode in the fourth season of The Boondocks.
Summary[]
The Freemans find that Eddie Wuncler's new slavery theme park "Freedomland" may be a bit too authentic, when they are trapped there and forced to be slaves. Huey must find a way to uproot them from this situation.
Plot[]
The Freemans are all sitting on the couch in boredom with Riley finding entertainment from VH1's "Basketball Wives" and reminds everybody why Malaysia will always be a fan favorite from the franchise.
In the midst of being 'bored',they get a message from Uncle Ruckus that Wuncler wants to meet with them but Grandad sees no point. Huey reminds him of the deal he made with Wuncler and persuades him otherwise. Once they get to Wuncler's, he offers them a job at a theme park. The theme park is called 'Freedomland' that looks like a scene straight out of movie denoting slave times but with amusement added for comical purposes.
Tom joins in to help but ends up right along in trouble with the others. Uncle Ruckus shows up on a white horse which has a slight irony to it along with a whip that he uses just like how Jesus could make things happen with a 'snap of his finger.' So with Ruckus basically acting like Samuel L. Jackson's character in 'Django,' Huey is called 'N-word' number one and Riley becomes number two. Tom, of course, thinks the whole thing is inhumane and remains in disbelief that he's witnessing this. When Huey decides he'll take a stand to help Grandad, he subjects himself to being put in a box dressed in clown make-up while patrons use guns filled with water to shoot at him and two others; Ruckus enjoys this.
Grandad doesn't like that at all and threatens to whoop the kids behinds if they don't stop. The others get Huey out of the box and wipe the make-up off him and this is where we see that Grandad really does care for the 'boys' as he calls them. So right when they are ready to leave, Ruckus has ten guards all lined up horizontally at the gates refusing to let the quad go.
Ruckus takes them on a tour of 'Freedomland' where they see cotton pickers and forced tap-dancers before he locks them up in a room. Tom reminds him that the whole setup is unconstitutional for the enslavement of people at the amusement park but the pleas of Tom phases Ruckus none. Tom got more aggressive, however, that changes the minute Ruckus comes back to inform Tom that Sara 'bought his freedom.' He leaves quicker that Kim Kardashian running away from a marriage. Riley then hopes that Huey has a plan, and he shows great confidence and acknowledgment in his brother openly when he says, "You always got a plan." We know their brothers but this episode showed some maturity for Riley despite the censor being off when he was cursing. While Huey is having a meeting late night with the others held captive, Wuncler has a meeting of his own where he dresses up like George Washington. The committee uniformly tells Wuncler, 'Look, it's time to pull the plug' but Wuncler ain't having that either.
After Wuncler's attempt at negotiating with Huey even including '40 acres and mule' proves to be a failure, Huey decides the attack to gain back their 'freedom' must happen soon. Huey ends up on platform, barefooted and hand tied, where Wuncler takes an ax ready to chop off Huey's feet and then...all hell breaks loose and the fight starts. Compared to the time Huey was getting his behind whooped by Bushido Brown and Stinkmeaner, Huey's fighting skills were a lot better for this episode and it was cool to see him take someone down by himself. Now, Huey and the captors end up winning but Wuncler, who suffers a beat-down as well, ends up retreating via who? Ruckus.
Continuity[]
- This is the second appearance of Ed Wuncler II.
- This episode follows on from "Good Times", when the family sold themselves into slavery to get out of debt.
Cultural references[]
- Riley says you can call him Toby, Obama or Cleveland, a reference to Roots, Barack Obama, and Family Guy.
- Wuncler offers Huey forty acres and a mule.
- Huey paraphrases Mark 8:36, "For what shall it profit a man, if he shall gain the whole world, and lose his own soul?"