…Or Die Trying

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The Boondocks episode
“...Or Die Trying”

Huey preparing to duel Uncle Ruckus.
Original airdate October 8, 2007
Season no. 2
Episode no. 16
Production no. 205
Director Seung Eun Kim
Writer(s) Aaron McGruder
Yamara Taylor
Guest star(s) Snoop Dogg
Mo'Nique
The Boondocks - Season 2
October 8, 2007 – ?
  1. ...Or Die Trying
  2. Tom, Sarah and Usher
  3. Thank You for Not Snitching
  4. Stinkmeaner Strikes Back
  5. The Story of Thugnificent
  6. Attack of the Killer Kung-Fu Wolf Bitch
  7. Shinin'
  8. Ballin'
  9. Invasion of the Katrinians
  10. Home Alone
  11. The S-Word
  12. The Story of Catcher Freeman
  13. The Story of Gangstalicious Part 2
  14. The Hunger Strike †
  15. The Uncle Ruckus Reality Show †
† Canada-only
← Season 1

"...Or Die Trying" is the first episode of the second season of the Adult Swim animated television series The Boondocks and the sixteenth episode overall. It originally aired on October 8, 2007.

[edit] Plot

Granddad, Riley, Huey, and Jazmine sneak into a movie theater to watch Soul Plane 2: The Blackjacking! Huey only tentatively accompanies them, having experienced his grandfather’s stingy moviegoing tendencies firsthand. He warns Jazmine that by going to the movies with his grandfather, she will have the "worst day of [her] life."

After stuffing their pockets with meatloaf, mashed potatoes, etc., they manage to sneak by the ticket taker (voiced by Adam Wylie) with some unintended assistance from Huey, who had engaged the young ticket taker in a conversation about unionizing the theater employees. Huey, actually, had previously offered to pay for everyone’s ticket just to avoid a potential conflict. Granddad denied this offer because he has had a grudge against the movie theater industry for years, and this was his way of getting back at them. Huey notes that his grandfather's enmity against the industry was due more to his cheapness than to any political inclinations.

Jazmine, who had gone with them knowing she did not have permission from her parents to see the movie in question, is distraught when they sneak in and sit down without having paid. Her fears are intensified when a preview likens stealing movies to felonies such as stealing from and murdering the elderly. Sobbing with guilt and fear, Granddad threatens to tell her dad that they went to see the movie that he explicitly forbade her from seeing. This quiets her for a time.

Uncle Ruckus, working as an usher in this episode, has an apparent aptitude with nunchucks.
Uncle Ruckus, working as an usher in this episode, has an apparent aptitude with nunchucks.

Huey notices Jazmine crying and asks his granddad what’s wrong with her, but he is too distracted by the hilarity of the movie to answer. Huey, fed up with his grandfather and having seen enough of the movie, decides he needs to teach Granddad a lesson, and so goes to destroy the movie reel (he considers this to be killing two birds with one stone). After sneaking into the projector room, he accidentally trips an alarm that alerts the security guards. Huey, left undefended because he carelessly left the nunchaku he had brought with him in the men’s room, improvises a weapon from a broom handle, with which he manages to subdue two guards. He then runs into Ruckus – working as an usher/security guard – who found Huey’s nunchaku in the men's room and demonstrates his competence with them by engaging Huey in a fight which he, apparently, wins, as Huey is seen later with Jazmine in an office with Ruckus, awaiting punishment from the manager. Jazmine admits that the experience indeed amounted to the worst day of her life, to which Huey responds "Told you".

Granddad and Riley, who had been videotaping the movie, decide to bail out after Ruckus became aware that they hadn’t paid. They were originally going to leave Huey and Jazmine behind, but Granddad’s conscience gets the better of him and he goes back to take responsibility from Huey and Jazmine. They’re all let off the hook after Ruckus is informed that the employees have walked out (i.e. unionized) and that the corporate office, as a result, has shut down the movie theater.

In the final scene, Huey engages Ruckus in the parking lot over his nunchaku, of which Ruckus was still in possession. They both jump up high into the air, kicking. Just before they make contact, they freeze in midair as the episode ends, leaving the result of the battle unresolved (Which is shown in the theme clips).

[edit] Cultural references

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Please help improve this article by adding reliable references. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. (January 2008)
  • The title of the episode is a reference to the film Get Rich or Die Tryin', which is referenced numerous times throughout the episode.
  • Cast members John Witherspoon (Granddad) and Gary Anthony Williams (Uncle Ruckus) reprise their roles as the blind man and Flame from Soul Plane.
  • When Huey tried to break in to the movie reel room, music from Bruce Lee's Enter the Dragon is used. This is later used in the episode Attack of the Killer Kung-Fu Wolf Bitch.
  • Ruckus and Huey's fight pays homage to the Bruce Lee movie Enter the Dragon, especially the nunchuck scene, in which the sound effects of the spinning nunchaku are the exact same as they were in Lee's film.
  • When Granddad gets the food out of the trunk of his car, the camera angle employed seems inspired by Quentin Tarantino's trademark use of the Trunk shot.
  • Beginning in this episode, the tuba piece "Jabba's Theme" (from Return of the Jedi) is used as a musical theme for Uncle Ruckus, drawing a parallel between the grossly fat and repulsive Star Wars character and the similarly repellant Ruckus. This use continues in subsequent episodes when he appears.
  • The movie advertisements are a parody of real movie advertisements warning not to steal movies, which are often taken to a ludicrous effect, and at times attempt to dehumanize those who bootleg films.[neutrality disputed]
  • At the end of the episode, the final confrontation between Huey and Ruckus that ends in a jump kick makes direct reference to the first battle between Shin and Kenshiro from the anime Fist of the North Star.
  • The beat that plays during the two fights between Huey and Ruckus contains a sample from "Loving You - Losing You" by Phyllis Hyman
  • The Acronyms "CPT" and "NWA" pay homage to the Gangsta Rap group N.W.A.
  • The setting of the city where the airport is located is a replica of Los Angeles.
  • The setting of the movie theater in which they see "Soul Plane 2: The Blackjacking" is an exact replica of The Grove Theatre in The Grove at Farmers Market located on 3rd Street and Fairfax Avenue in Los Angeles, CA.
  • Uncle Ruckus makes a reference to Lando Calrissian, a Star Wars allusion.
  • The ticket-taker makes a reference to Karl Marx's theories of capitalism and oppression.


Preceded by
“The Passion of Reverend Ruckus”		 The Boondocks episodes Followed by
“Tom, Sarah and Usher”