History Recap / TheBoondocksS2E12TheStoryOfCatcherFreeman

* ClicheStorm: Lampshaded in-universe; Robert's story about Catcher Freeman sounds a lot like a generic Hollywood action-adventure movie, featuring such overused tropes like a OneManArmy ActionHero, a DistressedDamsel LoveInterest, etc. Riley complains about all this, [[GenreSavvy and is able to predict exactly what happens next in the climax]].

** He also has an actual photo of his version of the story's Thelma and Catch-a-Freeman.

* CompositeCharacter: In-universe, it turns out that the so-called "Catcher Freeman" wasn't a (completely) real person. He's actually based on two very different individuals: [[ActionGirl Thelma]], the true hero of the story, who personally led the slave revolt against Colonel Lynchwater; and [[DirtyCoward Tobias Lynchwater]], who ''accidentally'' killed his own master/father at the very end of the battle, and subsequently exploited this moment by [[FakeUltimateHero taking full credit for saving the day]].

* CrazyAwesome:[[invoked]] Riley doesn't seem to care how racist Ruckus' telling of Catcher Freeman is, he just finds his incredible feats awesome to hear.

* UnreliableNarrator: Due to the many [[RashomonStyle different]] [[ShroudedInMyth versions]] of the Catcher Freeman story, Robert and Ruckus aren't really aware of what actually happened, only repeating tall tales that have been heavily distorted by word-of-mouth over the past century-and-a-half. So it's up to [[OnlySaneMan Huey]] to set the record straight like usual.

* BriarPatching: In Robert's telling of the story a slave tricks their master into whipping Tobias repeatedly by pleading how much the others don't want him to do it.

* ZombieApocalypse: During the slave revolt scene in Ruckus' version of the story, the slaves (for some weird reason) have morphed into vampiric zombie monsters who viciously murder the slave owners. Though of course, this lines up with Ruckus' racist views of black people being animalistic savages who are prone to unreasonable violence.

* CompositeCharacter: InUniverse, It turns out that the so-called "Catcher Freeman" wasn't a (completely) real person. He's actually based on two very different individuals: [[ActionGirl Thelma]], the true hero of the story, who personally led the slave revolt against Colonel Lynchwater; and [[DirtyCoward Tobias Lynchwater]], who ''accidentally'' killed his own master/father at the very end of the battle, and subsequently exploited this moment by [[FakeUltimateHero taking full credit for saving the day]].

* ZombieApocalypse: In Ruckus' version of the story, during the revolt, the slaves, for some reason, have morphed into vampiric zombie monsters who viciously murder the slave owners.

* ZombieApocalypse: In Ruckus' version of the story, during the revolt, the slaves, for some reason, have morphed into vampiric zombie monsters who viciously murder the slave owners.

* UnreliableNarrator: Due to the many [[RashomonStyle different]] [[ShroudedInMyth versions]] of the Catcher Freeman story, Robert and Ruckus aren't really aware of what actually happened, only repeating tall tales that have been heavily distorted by word-of-mouth over the past century-and-a-half. So it's up to [[OnlySaneMan Huey]] to set the record straight like usual.

* DecompositeCharacter: [[spoiler:It turns out that the so-called "Catcher Freeman" wasn't a (completely) real person. He's actually based on two very different individuals: [[ActionGirl Thelma]], the true hero of the story, who personally led the slave revolt against Colonel Lynchwater; and [[DirtyCoward Tobias Lynchwater]], who ''accidentally'' killed his own master/father at the very end of the battle, and subsequently exploited this moment by [[FakeUltimateHero taking full credit for saving the day]].]]

** Huey finally sets both of them straight with the true version, ''from the Internet'', which reveals that: [[spoiler:The so-called "Catcher Freeman" was actually based on Tobias, Massa Colonel's illegitimate mulatto son, who was a [[FakeUltimateHero cowardly opportunist]] who takes credit after he ''accidentally'' kills Massa Colonel (he meant to shoot Thelma, the real hero of the story, who actually led the slave rebellion); and Colonel Lynchwater was a fairly reasonable master, who was willing to grant Tobias his freedom (and maybe even recognize him as his son) as part of a business deal.]] This leaves Robert and Ruckus, who are both bewildered by these revelations, in an agreement to disagree with each other, but more so with [[CassandraTruth Huey]].

* CrazyAwesome: Riley doesn't seem to care how racist Ruckus' telling of Catcher Freeman is, he just finds his incredible feats awesome to hear.

* SlaveLiberation: All of the Catcher Freeman stories revolve around a violent slave rebellion in the 1860s, in which a Southern planter named George Lynchwater was killed. Exactly how and why it happened is a matter of fierce debate however.

* ShroudedInMyth: Catcher Freeman, who is quite the legendary figure. There are many different, conflicting stories of his life; and within Robert's story, field slaves claim that "he's 14 feet tall, got trapezist muscles... and he can fly, underwater". After Robert and Ruckus tell their own tall tales about Catcher, Huey does some searching on the Internet to find out what ''really'' happened. The truth about Catcher turns out to be far more boring and mundane however.

"The Story of Catcher Freeman" is the 12th episode of the 2nd season of ''The Boondocks'', and the 27th episode overall. It originally aired on January 28, 2008.

The story of Catcher Freeman is told in the perspective of Robert, Uncle Ruckus, and Huey.
!!Episode Tropes:
* ActuallyIAmHim: As it turns out, ''Tobias'' was the real Catcher Freeman.
* AlternativeCharacterInterpretation: (InUniverse) The stories portray the characters in different ways, but most notable is Catcher himself.
** Robert's version: A muscular man who risks his life saving slaves.
** Uncle Ruckus' version: A man animal that was traded to ''hunt'' escaping slaves, putting him in a HeroAntagonsist role.
** Huey's version: The true version is that Catcher was actually Tobias.
* ButtMonkey: Tobias is punished in all three stories, even the one where he's Catcher!
* CassandraTruth: Initially, Riley refuses to hear out Robert because the latter has lied to them in the past about famous ancestors (in one instance Robert claimed that Jackie Mason was related to the Freeman's and).
* ClicheStorm: Robert's version is full of this. Damsals, one man army, etc, that it eventually led to Riley breezing through the climax due to how predictable it was.
* VillainProtagonist: The slaves in Uncle Ruckus' version are portrayed as this.