"Freedomland" is the 7th episode of the 4th season of The Boondocks, and the 52nd episode overall. It originally aired on June 2, 2014.
Continuing from the events set forth since "Good Times", the Freeman family are forced to become literal slaves to Ed Wuncler II; who decides to make them work in Freedomland, a theme park styled after a 19th century plantation, and humiliate themselves while entertaining park guests. Huey and the other slaves decide they've had enough of this, and plan to win back their freedom.
Tropes:
- Amusement Park of Doom: Freedomland, a theme park staffed by literal debt slaves who've been forced to give up their human rights and dignity to Wuncler Industries.
- Barefoot Captives: Faithful to history, Huey, Riley, Robert, and Tom are not allowed to wear shoes as slaves.
- Big Bad: While Uncle Ruckus may seem to be this, it's actually Ed Wuncler II. Rather, Uncle Ruckus is just his second-in-command.
- Boomerang Bigot: Uncle Ruckus takes this to even greater heights than before.
- Comically Small Demand: A pizza chain tried to sell Robert 2 cheesy-crust pizzas for only $2, but Huey shoos away the pizza delivery man. Later on, that same pizza man sells Ruckus one of those pizzas for only $1.
- Conspiracy Theorist: Huey claims that the government attempts to placate people like sheep through emotionally comforting television and super cheap, tasty (if not addictive) junk food. It's far of a stretch to say the government is behind all this so much as it is the mega-corporations and conglomerate executives.
- The Dragon: Uncle Ruckus to Ed Wuncler II.
- Equal-Opportunity Evil: Ed Wuncler II is a greedy asshole, but he's not racist. His collection of slaves are racially diverse.Ed Wuncler II: (to Huey) I'm progressive enough to force all races to re-enact your painful history if they owe me money.
- Give Me Liberty or Give Me Death!: Huey persuades all the slaves (even the ones too scared to rebel) to retaliate against Ruckus and Wuncler to get their freedom back.
- Insult Backfire: This exchange.Tom: Ruckus! This is inhumane!Ruckus: Who the hell said niggas was human in the first place?
- Ironic Nickname: Freedomland, the slavery-themed amusement park itself. Also the Freemans being forced into slavery, as well as Uncle Ruckus naming his white horse "Nigger" just for having wide nostrils.
- Karma Houdini: Even though Ed Wuncler II gets kicked in the face by Huey, he's able to escape the park and live another day. Meanwhile, Uncle Ruckus is left without a scratch and perfectly fine as the episode ends.
- Made a Slave: Huey, Riley, and Robert, because of Robert falling behind a mortgage. Also Tom, because he signed up thinking he'd only have to be pretend and act like a slave instead of actually being one.
- Never My Fault: Tom claims it's the Freemans' fault that he's become enslaved. Actually, Tom's the idiot who signed himself up for Freedomland, saying that he's a history buff.
- Screw the Rules, I Make Them!: Uncle Ruckus, naturally being the slave master and he points this out stating "I can do whatever I want to, slave!"
- Screw This, I'm Outta Here:
- Tom and the Freemans attempt to escape from the theme park by simply walking out the exit. The police blockade makes that a no-option.
- After Tom makes a speech saying "I won't be free until we're all free!", Ruckus comes in telling Tom he's free to go because Sarah just paid for his freedom, and handing over his certificate of freedom. Tom grabs it and runs away.
- Sins of Our Fathers: The child slaves of Freedomland are being punished by Ed II for not what they did, but what their parents did: owing money and falling into usury traps by Ed.
- Skewed Priorities: Riley caring more about how much his feet hurt, than the mere fact he's just been enslaved and stripped of all human rights at the mercy of Uncle Ruckus who is armed with security guards and a slave whip.
- Slave Liberation: The slaves liberate themselves by revolting against Ruckus and Wuncler in the climax. They chase all the guests out of the park, fight with the security guards, and burn the whole place down.
- Work Off the Debt: The Freemans, along with every other slave in Freedomland (except for Tom, who volunteered), are required to be slaves there in order to waive their debt to greedy loan shark Ed Wuncler II.
- Would Hurt a Child:
- Freedomland outright exploits child labor and encourages its attendees to kick children stuffed in potato sacks down a hill, squirt water guns at children chained inside boxes, and force children to tap dance to harmonica music. Matter of fact, Freedomland might have just as much or even more child slaves than adult ones.
- In the climax, Ed II gets fed up with Huey's disobedience and tries to punish him by cutting off his foot with an axe. Fortunately, Huey just gives a hard kick into Wuncler's face.
- You Are Number 6: Complaining that "Huey" and "Riley" are aggressive names, Uncle Ruckus renames them Nigga 1 and Nigga 2 respectively.
