15x02 The Gang Makes Lethal Weapon 7

[6.7/10] The Gang’s attempt to make “Lethal Weapon 6” was an underwhelming follow-up to one of the show’s signature big swings. Their attempt to make “Lethal Weapon 7” follows in those less-than-hallowed footsteps.

I can appreciate the motivation here. IASIP’s heart is in the right place. There’s a reason to go back and address this bit, given the recent public reckoning over comedy shows using blackface, including shows like this one that were at least attempting to use it ironically.

The show using those conversations as fodder for both self-reflection and comedy, and poking fun at various “white savior” tropes in the process is a solid idea. I particularly like the gags about Mac, Dennis, and others pausing awkwardly for applause and praise when they do something even marginally anti-racist.

But the episode is all over the place. The attempts to do more Lethal Weapon shtick is another case of diminishing returns, even if it’s a treat to have the guy who plays Donovan McNabb/Tiger Woods/Don Cheadle back in the fold. The attempts to satire white folks trying to be woke are pretty umbled. At times the episode seems to devolve into tired “You can’t say anything anymore” tropes even as it’s trying to parody them. It’s just kind of a mess, without a lot of solid laughs.

I do appreciate the cravenness of Dennis’s anti-racism bent here. Characteristically, it’s to bed young women, and the mercenary nature of his rationale for being sensitive to racial issues is true to form, fitting into the show’s “Can you believe these terrible people?” mode in which it works best. But too much of the “filmmaking” parts of the episode and the “Let’s talk about a renewed racial sensitivity in Hollywood” parts come off too confused and contradictory to really have force.

I appreciate IASIP for coming back to this topic given how it impacts past outings from the show itself, but the results just weren’t up to snuff.