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Recap / The Fresh Prince Of Bel Air S 1 E 22 Banks Shot

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With Aunt Viv away for the weekend, Uncle Phil bans Will from driving to the pool hall, but Will does so anyway. There, he gets hustled and ends up owing more money than he has, putting the car in jeopardy of becoming collateral. Meanwhile, Hilary is left in charge in Aunt Viv's absence and practices parenthood on her siblings.

Tropes:

  • Aside Glance: Will at the pool hall when he realizes how much trouble he's really in for losing.
  • Big Damn Heroes: Played with with Uncle Phil. At first he seems to subvert this by acting like he is bad at pool and his arrival will plunge him and Will in a deeper hole. Then, when he raises the ante to $100 a ball, he plays this fully straight.
  • Chekhov's Gag: Fred is a comical patron of the pool hall and generally treated with irritation, but he's also the one sent along with Will to make sure the debt is paid up. Fred's presence in the house is how Phil learns what's really going on.
  • The Coats Are Off: Uncle Phil takes off his jacket upon going full Big Damn Heroes mode and turning the tables on his opponent.
  • Death Glare: After Will is told by Vivian that she will be away for the weekend and to behave, he looks over and sees Phil doing this. Bonus points for the adjusted lighting and dun-dun-dun sting.
  • Dope Slap: Will gets this from the second devil mentioned below so that he'll pick up the car keys.
  • The Easy Way or the Hard Way: Arriving at the pool hall, Phil intended to handle this as a lawyer by simply threatening to have the pool hall's license pulled for illegally impounding the car. The place not having a license in the first place makes that a no-go, so Phil instead opts to hustle the hustler (which, admittedly, ends up not being that hard for him).
  • Facepalm: Phil's response to Geoffrey wanting to show off moves he apparently learned from Chuck Norris.
  • Good Angel, Bad Angel: Subverted when Will mulls over whether to steal the car keys. Instead of an angel, a second devil appears on his other shoulder to join in coercing him to do it.
  • "Hell, Yes!" Moment: Carlton and Ashley over Vivian returning home, saying Hilary was an absolute nightmare.
  • Hidden Depths: Phil is a very skilled pool player, having picked up a lot of tricks from his days of being in pool halls.
  • Loud Gulp: Will over losing the family car to a pool hustler.
  • Noodle Incident: Geoffrey boasts that he previously worked for Chuck Norris and picked up some moves in the process.
  • Papa Wolf: After collecting the money on the rematch, Phil warns the hustlers to never bother Will again or else they'll be seeing him again.
  • The Talk: Hilary tries to give it to Carlton and the girl he brings home as part of her effort to act like a parent, resulting in considerable embarrassment on Carlton's part.
  • Taught by Experience: Phil acknowledges how, despite forbidding Will to do it, he went to pool halls when he was Will's age. He says that's exactly how he knows it's no such place for one of his kids to be in.
  • Tough Love: Phil reminds Will that all the strict parenting and rules aren't to bust his chops or stop him from having any fun; they're to keep him away from the kind of situations he landed himself into this time.
  • What the Hell, Hero?: Before going to the pool hall, Phil calls Will stupid for all this. After the situation is resolved, Phil covers for him with Vivian, but he privately chastises his behavior and assures him he'll be getting a big punishment for all this.
  • Wounded Gazelle Gambit: Since Will got hustled, Phil returns the favor by acting as inept as possible at pool, begging for a rematch, and then completely crushing it. He walks away with $900 as a result.

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