TVSquad

(S02E21) Boy, did this episode speak to me.

Like Chris, I've never been very good at math. This is an example of how my brain tries to solve a basic math problem:

Problem: x + 9 = 18 - 2x

My Brain: I haven't had Corn Flakes in a long time.

See? It's like it doesn't even try. If numbers are involved, my brain pretty much shuts down and starts playing elevator music. Perhaps if I had been offered pizza like Chris' class I would have done better, but I doubt it. At least Chris had some outside help from his mother and grandmother. I also had outside help from a tutor, but despite her efforts, she just couldn't get through to me.

(S02E15) When you get older and have to actually drive to work when the winter weather gets bad, it's easy to forget just how much you loved those days when you were a kid and didn't have to go to school. My school was always the last to close on snow days, and my father, who drove a school bus, was often already headed into work before they'd announce it.

(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.

The second season of Everybody Hates Chris kicks off on October 1 at 7pm. Here's a brief look at what you can expect in the season opener, "Everybody Hates Rejection," and no worries, I'm not going to give anything away.

First of all, Whoopi Goldberg guest stars as the family's new nosy next door neighbor, Louise, but you already knew that. Louise and Chris' mom Rochelle are at odds over how to deal with the escalating crime in the neighborhood while Chris finds himself attracted to Evette, a new girl at school who turns out not to be the angel he imagined her to be.

When you're young and a grandparent passes away, it can be a surreal experience. You see weird relatives you never see normally, and people bring all kinds of food to your home, as if stuffing your face with tiny ham sandwiches is better than talking about your feelings. What can be especially disconcerting, though, is watching your parent deal with their own parent's death. They're no longer the stalwart pillars of authority they once appeared to be. In a word, they become human.

Last night UPN managed to sneak another new episode of Everybody Hates Chris on the air, and this one dealt with the death of Rochelle's father, played by Jimmie Walker. When the extended family descends on their home, Rochelle becomes more aloof and detached, finding respite and solitude in her box of Turtles chocolates. Chris becomes concerned for his mother, and begins to lash out at family members who give her a hard time.

Given the subject matter, this wasn't going to be the funniest episode of the season, but it managed to delve deeper into the character of Chris' mom, which I appreciated. When the show opens we're treated to a montage of Chris' mom yelling at each of her kids and her husband. It ends with her actually yelling at herself in the mirror. The scene is funny enough, but it's in stark contrast to the mousy person she becomes once her family shows up. If a funeral episode seems trite and cliche, you're right, it is. But at least it gave us a chance to pull back yet another layer of one of the characters.