Recap / Everybody Hates Chris S 3 E 4 Everybody Hates Blackie

• Broke Episode: In a way. Someone breaks into the Rock household, leaving them without many of their utilities. About halfway through the episode, the family eats "dinner", comprised of eggs, bacon, and unpeeled bananas with sporks, on paper plates. Drew and Tonya get their TV fix by peeping in people's homes and watching their TVs, eventually settling for reading TV Digest, then resorting to prank calls. Julius also decides to buy a family photo from a fire sale for cheap.. only they're not just a completely different family, naturally; they're a white family.
• Comically Small Bribe: Julius actually tries to bribe Manny with a penny, then upgrading to the much steeper-priced nickel. Manny entertains it.

  Julius: Look, I want information, and word on the street, is that you got it.

  Manny: Where'd you hear that from, a radio or something? You ain't got no damn TV, or so I've heard.

  Julius: ..Maybe you should talk to Mr. Lincoln.. (hands Manny a penny)

  Manny: (stares at it in disbelief) ..A penny?! You can keep the penny, man, I don't know nothing, man! I haven't heard anything! No one told me anything! Zero!

  Julius: Hey, hey, hey, wait, wait, wait, you sure? I mean, maybe we wanna talk to Mr. Roosevelt, too? (hands him a nickel and smiles)

  Manny: (smirks) ..You know what? I would love to talk to Mr. Roosevelt! (puts the nickel to his ear) Yes, Mr. President! Yeah! Julius is standing right here! Yeah, yeah! He ain't got enough money! No, he's really short on money! (Julius grimaces) Yeah, he's still standing here! I will tell him, Mr. President, okay, I'll tell him, bye-bye! (hands Julius the nickel back) Um, he says to go talk to Kill Moves, because Kill Moves has his ear to the street!

• Imagine Spot: Chris imagines turning Blackie into an actual guard dog, where he even goes as far as to tear off Jerome's arm when he robs Chris of a dollar per usual. The actual Blackie is the polar opposite, to say the least.
• Language Barrier: Blackie was raised around Puerto Ricans, and therefore only responds to Spanish.
• Laser-Guided Karma: Drew and Tonya make prank phone calls. When Rochelle finds out, she prepares to deliver one of her hundred recipes of ass-whooping to them
• Literal Metaphor: Julius goes to Kill Moves because "he has his ear to the street".

  Julius: What do you hear, Kill Moves?

  Kill Moves: ( is literally lying down on the ground with his ear to the street) Four rioters, two on ponies.

  Julius: No, about my place getting robbed!

  Kill Moves: ..I ain't hear anything about that! But don't say I didn't warn you about the incoming Indian attack! Aiyeeeeyiyiyi!

• Police Are Useless: A cop stops by to "investigate" the break-in at the Rock household. He ends up just giving them a report to fill out, to which Narrator!Chris wastes no time pointing out that the authorities will not pursue the case any further. At least he suggests getting Blackie.. which is Double Subverted when Blackie ends up virtually useless anyway.
  • Somewhat subverted when a cop comes to the house to inform Rochelle of the prank calls Drew and Tonya made.
• Race Lift: There's a whole Puerto Rican version of Bed-Stuy. with Latino versions of familiar characters we know from the actual Bed-Stuy.. except for Kill Moves, who looks just like the actual one, wrapped in a big Puerto Rican flag. Knowing him, it might actually be the same one, who thinks he's Puerto Rican.
• Rage Breaking Point: Julius grows steadily impatient with Blackie (who never really liked him either anyway), but he really gets set off when Blackie sits in his chair, and then has the nerve to eat his bacon when shooed out.
• Throw the Dog a Bone: While the episode ends with Chris being chased by Blackie, the scene before this has the police inform Rochelle about the prank calls. Rather than immediately blame Chris for the prank calls, she asks if he knew about them, and when he denies it, she believes him.
• Training Montage: Rocky-style, no less. Justified knowing Chris' fondness for the franchise. Subverted as Chris trains, but Blackie mostly just acts like an oblivious dog.