After the first few episodes of the Boondocks this season almost completely focused on deep political and social concerns, it couldn’t have been too long before the show’s creator, Aaron McGruder, endeavored to write up a slightly less pedantic offering.

That might be a bit misleading seeing as “The Red Ball” still retains enough cultural critique to pass it off as almost political, but framing the entire thing within the realm of kick ball was a wise move, even if some folks didn’t particularly care for the episode.

So, for whatever reason, the millionaire grandfather, Ed Wuncler saw fit to wager a huge sum of money against a business associate from China. Compounding the oddity of the show’s premise, it’s all hung on kick ball – I still can’t get over that. But working to reconcile the more adult interests of the Freeman kids with the fact that they’re still, well, kids may have necessitated the move.

Choosing China as Huey’s opponent isn’t too big a surprise, and is actually where that cultural criticism thing comes in. The States' economy, regardless of its recent and relative upswing, shouldn’t really fool Americans into thinking that everything’s alright. Granted, the economy here is basically and endless up and down, but folks are still curious to see what’s going to happen.

China obviously plays a huge role in that seeing as the country is the single largest holder of America’s debt. So, defeating us in a game of kickball could be perceived as being the final blow resulting in an ultimate re-alignment of the new world order. Whatever the case, Huey’s coaxed out of kickball retirement, but has to cobble together a team from folks he knows. And the universe of a preteen isn’t that large. Tom and Granddad get tapped as does Riley, who gives the most hilarious performance on the field.

The younger brother’s fist time up to the plate finds him calling his shot – and yeah, he thinks it’s gonna be a homer. Unfortunately, he strikes out, hinting at the potential ending to the game.

It’s interesting that Boondocks, forever indebted to j-anime, has ratcheted up fight scenes and the like which could be thought of as homage to the cartoon form. Either way, the show pitting Americans versus the cultural other grants McGruder a good opportunity to exploit his fandom resulting in endless shots of Huey as kung fu fighter amidst whatever kick ball theatrics he’s involved in. The swirling colors denoting movement are pretty pervasive over the duration of the show once everyone’s arrived on the playing field. Somehow, it doesn’t get tiresome, even though, it’s clearly contrived. But much in the same way that Black Dynamite aped a form, updated it to a certain extent and came out the other side as a success, Boondocks does roughly the same.

Successful or not, though, it’s pretty certain that at least a few more episodes this season not tied directly to politics will crop up. It’s just up to McGruder and his writing which one’s are most successful.