TVSquad

(S02E02) I still love this show, so let me get one minor negative thing out of the way right now: is it just me, or did the character of Rochelle, Chris' mom, seem like a real bitch in this episode? I understand she's a high-spirited "ghetto snob" with a tendency to overreact, but this is the first time watching the show when I actually started to dislike the character. When Julius comes home from the doctor and tells her he has high blood pressure and needs to find ways to reduce stress, she goes off on him about the fact that she's the one who's stressed, not him. Julius, as always, just goes along with it, not wanting to exacerbate the situation. Typically, this dynamic is hilarious, but in this episode it just didn't work for me, and Rochelle just came across as cruel while Julius seemed like more of a milquetoast than usual. Of course, another way to look at it is that I'm becoming more involved with the characters, which could be seen as a good thing. Like everything else, it's all in how you frame it.

Anyway, let's get to the meat of the episode, Chris running for class president. Chris is not the most popular kid in school, but he's tired of always being seen treated badly and decides to take a stand. I love the opening scene where he gives a dollar to a guy on the street before the guy can even take it from him. Chris reasons that he wasn't robbed, he gave the money to the guy. I also liked it when Chris' teacher, the one who always tries to speak to Chris in a manner she believes is fitting for a young black kid, tells him he's in a "psychological ghetto" and needs to get out of it to get the number of signatures he needs to be put on the ballot. Chris' desire to win causes him to dump Greg as his running mate, but in the end he realizes how selfish he's being and the two join forces again.

This season takes place in 1984, the year Michael Jackson's Thriller debuted. My sister had this record, and it was permanently affixed to our family stereo. I remember all of us trying to figure out how to moonwalk, which made the scenes where Drew tries to teach Tonya Michael Jackson's signature dance move all the more funny. Even funnier is that Tonya insists it was Billy Ocean who invented the move, and that in the future everyone will remember Billy Ocean and have no idea who Michael Jackson is. I have to admit that "Caribbean Queen" is a guilty pleasure of mine.

Favorite moment: A cut-away gag where Rock talks about his family eating everything out of a can, including bacon and eggs in a can, hamburger and fries in a can, and ice cream and birthday cake in a can.