| October 2, 2019 | Michael Foster-Sanders | multimedia editor |
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After a four year hiatus, “Black Jesus” rose for his third season.
“Black Jesus” is back on Adult Swim to take his rightful place as one of the best oddities on late night television.
Starting off as a short on the now defunct Super Deluxe Network, “Black Jesus” came from the mastermind of Boondocks creator Aaron McGruder. The show is about Jesus as a black man in an urban environment like Compton, California and mirrors his stories of the bible while hanging with people who are stereotyped as the dregs of society.
His mission is to try and show his disciples a better way to live than the wild schemes they come up with to survive, and usually he gets caught up in the situation.
This season has had some challenges due to a lot of the core cast of Jesus’ disciples not returning, and with core cast member Charlie Murphy dying in 2017, his character Vic the Landlord’s apartment complex is no longer ground zero for the teachings of Jesus. Changes were needed to progress the story forward.
The show starts off with police chasing Jesus throughout the neighborhood. While running from the police, he bumps into long time antagonist Lloyd the Bum who is played by veteran comedian and actor John Witherspoon. Lloyd asks Jesus to help him with his hangover, so Jesus blesses him with sobriety.
When the cops throw Jesus in jail once catching up with him, Jesus faces trial with a tough as nails judge who believes he is being mentally incompetent for believing he’s Jesus Christ. Jesus gives a speech reminding the judge that she wanted to be a judge to help people and not just to send people to prison. The judge throws the case out, but because Jesus used profanity during the trial, he ends up getting six months in jail.
After helping inmates, which was his plan all along, he’s released from prison to find that things have changed around the neighborhood. The simpleton Boonie played by comedian Corey Holcolmb tries to get Jesus comfortable with life, thus giving Jesus a whole new set of problems that he must face this season.
Gerald “Slink” Johnson, who stole the show in the video game Grand Theft Auto V where he played the character Lamar, takes his acting abilities to the max with his portrayal as Jesus Christ where he gives humanity and compassion as the savior in modern times.
The only fault of the show is the slow start, but if it is similar to the previous seasons then it’s going to pay off in a big way. Tune in and be blessed.
