The Passion of Reverend Ruckus

"The Passion of Reverend Ruckus" is the fifteenth episode of the Adult Swim animated series, The Boondocks. It originally aired on March 19, 2006. It is the final episode of the first season.

Plot

The episode starts in Uncle Ruckus' dream in which he goes to Heaven. He is met at the gate, not by St. Peter, but by Ronald Reagan. Reagan tells Ruckus that this is "White Heaven" and that there are several separate, but relatively equal Heavens, one for each type of person. Reagan seems to be hinting that White Heaven is the best. Ruckus, being a self-hating black man, asks what he has to do to come to White Heaven. Reagan tells him that spreading the message of White Heaven and White Jesus will earn Ruckus a place in White Heaven. Ruckus looks at his reflection in a nearby pool and sees that he has been transformed into a blond, blue-eyed white man (but still with the wildly disproportionate eyes and overweight figure). Ruckus awakes from his sleep and sets out to spread the "good news."

Meanwhile, Huey and Jazmine are having a meeting to discuss plans to visit Huey's friend Shabazz K. Milton Berle, who is on death row. Shabazz had worked as an intern for the Black Panther Party years ago and had been doing some paperwork when he heard gunshots outside his window. Shabazz then heard a man shout that he had committed a murder, identifying himself and dropping the weapon at the scene (with his fingerprints clearly marked in chocolate frosting from the donut he had been eating, and with the registration tag attached). A court stenographer happened to be there to record this oddly specific confession, as well as the dying man's last words, which also implicated the killer. An amateur home video of the act confirmed this as well. Despite all of the evidence that cleared Shabazz of any wrongdoing, the jury convicted him and sentenced him to death.

Huey tells Shabazz that he has been sending anonymous emails to the governor, insisting that Shabazz be set free and threatening to expose the governor's gay lover if the demands weren't met. Shabazz wonders aloud whether this plan has any chance of working, to which Huey says that it's probably got about a 5% chance (reasoning that 50% of married people have an affair and 10% of people are gay), but that's better than nothing.

Shabazz says that his death date has been moved up and that he will die very soon. Huey goes home to concoct a plan to spring his friend with this new timetable in mind.

Ruckus, meanwhile, has started preaching. He will park his car in front of passers-by and tell them that if they are white, they will go to Heaven. Being that most of the population of the town are white, this message goes over quite well. Robert and Tom hear the message and ask Ruckus if he's feeling alright. Ruckus says that he has a tumor on his back and that soon he will die, but in his remaining days he wants to spread the word about how black people can redeem themselves and gain admittance to White Heaven through hating their own blackness. Robert tells Ruckus to stop being stupid, but the message spreads and Ruckus gets on television and even gets his own revival meeting at the local sports coliseum.

Huey is still working on what he calls "Operation Black Steel" (despite Jazmine's insistence that it should be called "Jazmine and Huey's plan to get his friend out of jail"). Huey expects to die in the attempt to free Shabazz, but feels that the cause is greater than his own life. He hugs his brother goodbye, (prompting Riley to comment, "Nigga, you gay.") and climbs down the stairs to meet with his destiny.

His plan is thwarted at the last minute when Robert tells him he can't give Huey a ride to the prison. He is, instead, going to Ruckus' revival to try to stop the insanity. Huey shouts that he's just trying to save his friend. Robert says "That's what I'm trying to do." He tells Huey that the best thing he can do is pray for his friend, to which Huey replies, "What makes your god any less made-up than his?" referring to Ruckus.

Huey walks out in the rain, lamenting that his plan was a failure and that Shabazz K. Milton Berle will die, all because he couldn't get a ride.

Robert and Tom enter the packed coliseum, watching Ruckus preach the gospel of racial hatred. As he works himself into a fervor, scenes from the prison are interspersed.

Huey praying for Shabazz's life. This is also the only instance in the series in which Huey has been shown to cry.

Meanwhile, Huey stands on a hill overlooking the city. As a last resort, he drops to his knees and begins to pray for Shabazz's life. It was the first time in the series that Huey has been shown to cry.

In the governor's office, an aide rushes in screaming, "They found out about Raoul!" Back at the coliseum, Ruckus bellows, "If any of my words don't come directly from the almighty God himself, then may I be struck by lightning right this very instant! Hallej-" and from on-high, the lightning does strike Ruckus. Most of the city is blacked out from the force of the blast, including the prison. Shabazz is saved at the last minute. As the lights come back on, the phone begins to ring. Shabazz calmly says, "Would somebody like to get that? I think it's for me."

Ruckus has lost his flock, no one willing to follow a man who God himself seems to have branded a liar. The lightning cured Ruckus' cancer as well.

The episode closes with a final narration from Huey. In it he says, "And maybe there are forces in this universe that we don't understand. But I still believe we make our own miracles."

Cultural references

• The governor being gay is an obvious reference to former New Jersey Governor James McGreevey who resigned after it was revealed he had an extramarital homosexual affair.
• The case of Shabazz K. Milton Berle has several parallels to the case of many prominent Black activists who have been convicted of murder and other felonies, such as Mumia Abu-Jamal.
• Several people throughout the first season have referred to Jesus as "White Jesus" before this episode.
• Riley calls Huey "Morpheus" when he sees him in a long coat before Huey heads out of his room to ask Granddad for a ride to the prison. This is a reference to Laurence Fishburne's character in The Matrix movies.
• The title of the episode is a parody of Mel Gibson's film The Passion of the Christ.
• The song played during Ruckus's speech/Shabazz's execution/Huey's prayer is "Say I Believe In It" by Isabelle Antena.
• This episode portrays Huey crying for only the second time ever. It is the first and only time he cries in the show and the first time since he did so in a Sunday strip that ran on July 9, 2000, when he was shown mourning a recently deceased friend.
• Operation Black Steel could be seen as a reference to the Public Enemy song "Black Steel in the Hour of Chaos"
• During Huey's description of Operation Black Steel, he mentions how Granddad would remain in the car and watch Friday. This is in reference to John Witherspoon's (Granddad's voice actor) role as Mr. Willie Jones in the movie.
• Operation Black Steel is reminiscent of Hannibal Lecter's escape in The Silence of the Lambs.
• Armstrong Elders, the conservative black media personality who provides Ruckus with publicity for his idea of "white heaven," is a direct reference to Armstrong Williams and Larry Elder. The character's body is modeled after Williams while the mustache is similar to Elder's. McGruder has had well-publicized confrontations with Elder in particular, referring to him as an embarrassment to black people in his strip.
• Riley talking to an unknown inmate in prison about relationship problems while his brother Huey speaks to a more central character is similar to a running gag on My Name is Earl, where Earl speaks to the character he has come to visit while Randy talks to whomever is convenient.
• When Huey is hosting the meeting to free Shabazz while talking about what to feed him at jail, a Che Guevara poster is shown.