Invasion of the Katrinians

"Invasion of the Katrinians" is the ninth episode of the second season of the Adult Swim animated television series The Boondocks and the twenty-fourth episode overall. It originally aired on December 10, 2007.

Plot

While Robert, Riley, and Huey are having dinner at home, they get a phone call from Robert's second cousin, Jericho Freeman. While he is rambling about having not seen Jericho and Jericho living in New Orleans during Hurricane Katrina, he still has no interest in answering the phone. Shortly thereafter, the doorbell rings and it turns out to be Jericho. Robert and Jericho haven't had any contact in 30-40 years, but Jericho managed to locate Robert after he and his family were displaced by Hurricane Katrina. By guilting Robert, Jericho successfully convinces him to let him and his large family stay.

The house, now teeming with relatives, becomes dishevelled quickly. Huey tries to remain gracious, but Riley becomes annoyed with their mooching relatives, having not met any of them before. Granddad and the boys debate over what to do — Riley insisting that they kick them out and send them back to Louisiana, Huey reminding him that they have no home to go back to in Louisiana — and Granddad's conscience sides with Huey.

While walking in the neighborhood with Robert, Jericho tells him that his insurance didn't cover the damage to his home and that he couldn't find work reconstructing the city despite being in the construction business (illegal Hispanic immigrants took up all the reconstruction jobs). As a result, he and his family are waiting to receive a check from FEMA. Ruckus overhears the conversation and plays a "sad tune" on his violin while offending Jericho by saying that he and all black Hurricane Katrina refugees are lazy, ignorant scam artists. Jericho ends up beating Ruckus, who calls the police and demands the police to press full battery charges. Tom uses his influence to drop Ruckus' charges.

File:Invasion of the Katrinians - Hurricane.JPG

The family tries feigning a hurricane to scare their relatives away.

Weeks after Jericho and his family arrived, Robert and the boys are having more difficulty ignoring how lazy and unappreciative the family has been towards the three of them. Robert decides not to pay the bills, letting the water, cable, and electricity go out, insisting that these things will remain off because he can no longer pay (meanwhile, he flaunts as though the lack of these utilities does not affect him). This ploy backfires when Jericho gets Tom to pay the bills after telling him know how Robert was "too broke" to pay them himself. At this time, even Huey's patience is wearing thin, as the entire Jericho clan does nothing but eat and watch TV all day. As a result, he joins his brother and granddad in a desperate ploy to try to scare them off. They all grab their raincoats and pretend that a hurricane is imminent and that they all must evacuate. Instead of hitting the road, however, Jericho and his family take to the rooftop. Afterwards, Robert speaks to one of Jericho's young children, who senses that they've been a burden on Robert. She explains to him that she doesn't enjoy being a burden while at the same time lamenting her family's lack of choices. She mentions that she misses her home in New Orleans.

Eventually, Robert demands that the adult men (Jericho and Nique) get jobs to help pull their weight. When this doesn't change anything, Robert returns to the ploy of sabotaging the house's services, this time letting the phone bill go unpaid. Robert knows that Jericho needs the phone so that he can reach FEMA to ascertain his check's status. This leads to a struggle for Granddad's cell phone. Finally, Granddad tempestuously insists that they leave immediately and begins herding them out the door.

As they are leaving, the mail man coincidentally arrives with Jericho's anticipated letter from FEMA. Reading it aloud, Jericho reveals that a technicality of improper paperwork is going to delay the check for another six months. When the family laments this horrible news, Huey suggests they return to New Orleans and focus on rebuilding their lives while waiting for the check. Inspired, Jericho and family agree, and begin packing.

After everyone packs up and is ready to leave, Jericho secretly reveals to Nique that the "technicality" was a ruse: the letter actually contained a check for $200,000. Robert, unaware of this, forgives them for their debt. Jericho craftily heaps praise on Granddad's warm heart while subtly getting him repeatedly to refuse to make them pay, just in case he were ever to find out the truth.

Cultural references

• The theme for the Jericho family is a jazzy rendition of When The Saints Go Marching In... — a song often associated with the city and culture of New Orleans.
• Riley is shown preparing roux, a Cajun cuisine.
• A reporter asks Robert if Bill Cosby put him up to the eviction of "poor black people" when he tries to kick Jericho out. This is in reference to Bill Cosby's criticism of "poor blacks" during an NAACP speech in 2004.
• Granddad's expressed desire of wanting to help out Katrina victims and his subsequent reluctance to do so may be an example of NIMBYism.
• The little girl that Grandad talks to is representative of the feelings of the good Katrina victims who just wanted a stable foundation and place to stay that didn't want to be a nuisance.
• Riley states that 'Everyone knows that New Orleans niggas are grimy' this representative of how New Orleans African Americans are seen as trouble makers.
• Grandad is riding in the same car that he had from The Real.
• This episode marks the first time that Uncle Ruckus was assaulted or actually checked on something he said about black people.
• Ruckus' comment about "How come you niggas didn't know that wind came with a hurricane" is a reference to how some New Orleans residence did not want to leave even before the hurricane struck.
• The grandmother's constant yelling of 'Praise Jesus' is a parody of over religious black old women.
• Lil'Wayne's character marks the first time that a rapper voiced a character that wasn't a rapper.