A Huey Freeman Christmas
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| The Boondocks episode | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| "A Huey Freeman Christmas" | |||
 Huey walking away from his teacher, Mr. Uberwitz (voiced by Judge Reinhold) |
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| Episode no.: | 7 | ||
| Prod. code: | 109 | ||
| Airdate: | December 18, 2005 | ||
| Writer(s): | Aaron McGruder | ||
| Director: | Seung Eun Kim | ||
| Guest star(s): | Quincy Jones Sam McMurray Judge Reinhold |
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"A Huey Freeman Christmas" is the seventh episode of the Adult Swim animated television series The Boondocks. It originally aired on December 18, 2005.
[edit] Plot
After spending some time teaching the class about the traditional Kwanzaa Harambee salute, Mr. Uberwitz, Huey's culturally sensitive teacher, approaches Huey in private and offers him the chance to direct the school's Christmas play. Initially skeptical, Huey guardedly agrees after demanding creative control "in writing". Huey decides to seize the opportunity by drafting an entirely new play and crafting it to adhere his unique vision.
Riley, meanwhile, rekindles an old grudge he has against Santa. He attacks him with a chair and a golf club at the local mall before writing a letter threatening more action if Santa continues to refuse to "pay what he owe" — a threat he follows up on in the form of a later assault with airsoft pistols.
By the next day, Huey has his entire class working efficiently in an office-like setting and brings in Quincy Jones to co-produce the play. Huey's classmates, though, decide to take some time out to have fun. Upon discovering this, Huey reacts with extreme rigor, firing all the kids. He decides to hire a casting director to help replace the kids, eventually deciding on such figures as Denzel Washington and Angela Bassett as replacements. He ignores all the protests from the PTA who object to their children not being involved.
Near the premiere, Huey has a meeting with his school's principal regarding some of the contents of his script. Most notably, the Principal insists that Jesus not be portrayed as black, despite the name of Huey's play being "The Adventures of Black Jesus". Stymied and demoralized, Huey abandons the project the night before the play, giving Mr. Uberwitz the decision of whether to alter the play according to the wishes of the administration or to leave it adherent to Huey's original vision. He chooses the latter, a decision the costs him his job, and Huey's play goes on without one word being changed. Though it wound up receiving outstanding praise from the viewing audience and the local newspaper, the PTA boycott prevented more than a few people from seeing it.
[edit] Trivia
- There are several references to A Charlie Brown Christmas. The music used in the background, the urge for the characters to give their version of the "true" meaning of Christmas, Riley's letter to Santa appearing above his head as he writes, and the sound effects are all direct references to the Peanuts classic. Also, Huey is shown to be explaining his version of the history of Christmas to Granddad, but the latter portion of his discourse is muffled much like the teacher's voices of the Peanuts cartoons. Charlie Brown himself is also mentioned in the episode.
- Though some prominent Hollywood actors are mentioned in the episode, none are ever seen on screen with the exception of Quincy Jones, who did his own voice work.
- When reviewing possible candidates for the role of Mary, on the table is a mugshot of Angela Bassett whose name is incorrectly spelled "Basset".
- Huey makes a statement about Jesus being black, stating, "In addition to Arabs, the Middle East has always been home to people of African descent, whom you would consider black." This is a reference to one of Malcolm X's statements upon his return from Mecca.
- The Detour on Teletoon's website lists this episode as "Merry Christmas, Huey Freeman".
- Though no significant portion of Huey's play is shown, certain specific details about it are revealed throughout the episode. For example, it is shown that the play contained a dog fight scene, a scene in outer space, and a kung-fu battle, the latter of which could reference creator Aaron McGruder's love of anime and kung-fu movies.
- Riley attacks the mall Santa several times, repeatedly yelling that Santa "gonna pay what you owe!" During the episode, he explains that this grudge is because he once asked for rims, "not even a whole car." This legacy of animosity toward Santa on Riley's part actually originated in the strip, in which there have been arcs involving Riley asking for jewelry ("ice"), threatening that he and Santa would "have some beef" if Santa didn't comply. He is also thwarted on attempts to get a Playstation 2 and an Xbox 360 on separate occasions.
