Boondocks hits its stride

Aaron McGruder recently turned his daily comic strip The Boondocks into an animated series on the Cartoon Network's Adult Swim. I watched the first few episodes, but, to be quite honest, I was a bit underwhelmed. If I missed any especially good bits, it's probably because I was fast-forwarding to get past some really slow stretches. That said, I kept coming back to check in on the tv series, because the strip occasionally shows some serious depth and because I've been impressed with McGruder's appearances on shows like Real Time with Bill Maher.

I have now been rewarded for my patience. The most recent episode, "The Reality," running again at midnight and again at 3 a.m.[but if you're reading this more than six hours from now, you'll just have to catch it in the spring], is finally an example of what I had hoped this show would be.

The guest voice this episode is Samuel L. Jackson, which is already a good sign. [With the exception of the Star Wars movies, I've been pretty keen on Jackson's work, and I don't blame Mace Windu for the fact that the only Force driving the last three films was George Lucas' megalomaniac ego.] The plot turns around the prevalence of anal rape in prison, the unequal treatment of blacks in the criminal justice system, terror alerts, and George Bush — oh, and a mini-mart, but with someone who doesn't look much like Apu Nahasapeemapetilon behind the counter. Oh, and Jin Rummi, the character voiced by Samuel L. Jackson, is blond.

I'll leave you with just this one quote from early in the action:

local newscaster: And in other news, city police are reporting tonight that they have arrested a suspect in connection with the murder of Antoine Michaels, a 17-year-old who was apparently killed over a game of Madden 2006. The police are not releasing the name of the suspect, who is a black male, approximately bl'ahh blah-blahh.

federal spokesman: And so, we're raising the terror alert level to intense orange-red based on very credible, detailed information about a non-specific threat. Could it be a hijacking? Absolutely possible. Chemical or biological agent? You bet it could happen. Suicide bomber? Hey, you never know. But what we do know is that it's absolutely, positively going to happen today, maybe.

You have to see this show, and season 3 of Dave Chappelle.