People watching on Netflix and wondering where this episode is. This is one of those removed by the 'blackface' ban hammer without considering context and just how it was used
[9.2/10] I expected this to be a pretty straightforward “here’s a bunch of story threads” episode of IASIP. It seemed to be setting that up. Charlie was trying to mentor a young Juggalo (and his quickly-acclimated status as “The Professor”, replete with high fives from the students and eating trash oranges was hilarious on that front). Dee was subbing for her old drama teacher and was trying to make a field trip to Broadway happen. And Mac, Dennis, and Frank were having an extended, terrible, and hilarious debate about the appropriateness of blackface, with that perfect IASIP banter that is both funny and revealing of the awfulness of the show’s character.
But then, rather than each of these stories proceeding on their own separate tracks, they crescendo together into one glorious bit of ridiculousness with The Gang’s homemade attempt at Lethal Weapon 5.
And man, it has everything. It has all the charm and crappiness of fan films in its production and “effects.” It skewers the clichés of action movies generally and the cornball Lethal Weapon flicks in particular. It has Danny DeVito halfway reprising his role as The Penguin from Batman Returns. It has what I can only surmise is an homage to The Room in DeVito’s awkward, extended sex scene. It has video proof that Dennis and Mac’s horrid misunderstanding of how offensiveness black face is, is not just theoretical. And somehow it pays off all three storylines in peak ridiculous fashion.
The closing scene, where Dee and Charlie are fired by the genial but clearly in-over-his-head principal is the perfect button. Between the Juggalo kid now using makeup to make his skin look brown, to Charlie and Dee admitting they shouldn’t have been hired in the first place and will probably cost the principal his job, to Charlie going back for one more trash orange, the show wrings the comedy from how utterly idiotic and misguided all of this was.
Overall, one of the most unexpected and hilarious left turns this already demented show has ever taken.
Why is a movie like White Chicks allowed to still be shown (on Netflix of all places), which is white-facing, if that's even a term, yet any use of black face is an instant no-no, despite the context. Yes, there's several hundred years of race supremacy and lack of equality that is still being worked out, even in modern society, but that history should not dictate that white face is okay, yet black face is not. Can't have it both ways.
Lethal Weapon 5 is one of the highlights of this show.
I can’t believe Netflix removed this episode, they are having a debate and then using it ironically, this isn’t offensive
Shout by shmosbyVIP 4BlockedParent2023-10-12T04:53:11Z
I find it fascinating that this episode has been deemed not fit for viewing, while "A Serbian Film" is streaming free with ads on Vudu.