Welcome to Retro Television Reviews, a feature where we review some of our favorite and least favorite shows of the past!  On Thursdays, I will be reviewing South Central, which aired, for 10 episodes, on Fox in 1994.  The entire show is currently streaming on YouTube!

This week, Andre is nearly killed while riding the bus and Joan is embarrassed by her new employer.

Episode 1.3 “RTD”

(Dir by Stan Lathan, originally aired on April 19th, 1994)

It’s Andre’s day to watch Deion but when Joan sees Andre’s report card and discovers that Andre failed one class and came close to failing several others, she orders him to go all the way to Inglewood to see his “mentor,” Ray (played by Ken Page).  Because Joan has to go to work and there’s no one around who can drive Andre all the way across town, she gives Andre permission to ride the bus.  However, she also orders him to sit in front, where it’s safe.  Joan then tells Tasha that she’s going to have to give up her day to look after Deion.  Tasha gets angry, wondering why she’s the one having to give up her freedom when she’s also the one who actually gets good grades and “doesn’t need a mentor to keep (her) from messing up (her) life.”

I have two thoughts about this.

First off, Tasha is absolutely right to be upset.  Why did Joan adopt Deion when she was already financially struggling and she had two children to raise?  The show suggests that Joan adopted Deion because she needed a replacement for Marcus but still, it does seem like the responsibility for looking after Deion falls on Tasha much more often than it does on Andre.  When Tasha says that she feels that she’s punished for being responsible, she has a point.  Obviously, someone has to look after Deion but Joan could, at the very least, acknowledge that the whole situation isn’t easy for Tasha.

Secondly, I have to admit that I’ve always taken the idea of riding the bus for granted.  Of course, it’s not something that I do on a regular basis but, whenever I have been on a bus, I’ve felt safe and the only thing that really worried me was dealing with motion sickness.  One of the things that South Central did so well was it showed how the experiences that I, as someone living in the suburbs, take for granted (like being able to safely ride a bus) are far different for people living in neighborhoods that are dealing with poverty and crime.

Andre and his friend Rashad, for instance, defy Joan and sit in the back of the bus, where they are eventually confronted by two gang members who steal Rashad’s radio.  When Andre tries to stand up to them, one of them pulls a gun on him.  Rashad escapes by jumping out the bus’s back window and probably the only thing that saves Andre’s life is that the gunman’s friend recognizes him as being Marcus’s brother.  In the second episode, a friend of Marcus’s gave Andre money.  In this episode, another one of Marcus’s friends saves Andre’s life.  Marcus may be dead but his name still carries some power and it’s hard not to compare the respect that Marcus commands with Joan having to take a job bagging groceries just to keep her home.

Andre finally does reach Ray’s home and is immediately impressed with Ray’s big house, his big TV, and his stereo equipment.  (He is less impressed with what’s playing on Ray’s radio, asking Ray why he’s listening to “white music.”)  Ray tells Andre that the only way he’ll ever have a decent home is if he improves his grades and goes to college.  Andre, however, is more interested in Nicole (Maia Campbell), who comes from a wealthy family and who works, “after school,” as Ray’s administrative assistant.  When Andre hears that Nicole wants to go to Princeton, Andre decides that he wants to go there too.

Ray is hesitant to give Nicole’s number to Andre, which Andre takes to mean that Ray thinks that Andre isn’t good enough to date a girl from an upper class family.  However, the next day, Ray has a change of heart and invites Andre to come to church with him and Nicole’s family.  An excited Andre agrees but, unfortunately, this means taking the bus once again.  When the guy who previously pulled a gun on him sees Andre on the bus, he not only beats up Andre but also steals his good church shoes.

Andre shows up at Ray’s house, bloody and barefoot.  It’s not the best way for Andre to meet Nicole’s parents.  When Nicole promises that she’ll check on how Andre is doing after church, Nicole’s mother responds, “No, you won’t.”  Ouch!

Ray takes Andre home where Joan announces that Andre is no longer allowed to ride the bus, regardless of how he feels about Nicole.  Andre, having paid Nicole’s cousin five dollars for her number, calls Nicole and promises her that they’ll see each other, regardless of what their parents think.

This was a strong episode.  It can be easy to get annoyed with Andre, who tends to talk a big game but, watching this episode, it’s obvious that he’s perhaps the most naïve character on the show.  The only male role model that he has in his life is Ray and, as this episode makes clear, Ray is well-meaning but doesn’t exactly understand the realities that Andre has to deal with on a day-to-day basis.  I mean, what’s the point of having a mentor if there’s a good chance you’re going to get killed trying to visit him?  Andre refuses to surrender and rides the bus a second time in order to see Nicole and he gets mugged for his trouble.  With the whole world seeming to be against him, who can be surprised that getting good grades isn’t his number one concern?

Episode 1.4 “CO-op”

(Dir by Stan Lathan, originally aired on May 3rd, 1994)

It’s a big day for all the members of the Mosely family!

Andre manages to get a ride into Inglewood, where he shows up unannounced at Ray’s office and finally gets Nicole to agree to go out on a date with him on Friday.  I have to admit that I cringed a bit at the scene where Andre showed up, if just because I worked as an administrative assistant when I first got out of college and I know how annoying it is to have some jerk show up and try to keep you from getting your filing done.  If the previous episode was about revealing Andre’s hidden depths, this episode was all about his immaturity.  Nicole’s decision to kiss Andre and make a date with him honestly felt more like her rebelling against her parents than actually being attracted to Andre as an individual.

While Andre is getting a date with Nicole, Joan is getting humiliated on television.  When Bobby (Clifton Powell) arranges for the local news to come do a live spot from the Ujamaa Co-op, he introduces Joan as being someone that he (and the Co-op) saved from having to go on welfare by hiring her to bag groceries.  When Joan snaps that Bobby humiliated her, Bobby challenges her to tell him what was inaccurate about anything he said.  Joan points out that, for someone who claims to be all about sacrificing for the community, Bobby certainly has the money to afford “a new dashiki.”  And Joan does have a point.  Bobby is one of the more interesting characters on the show, mixing a sincere desire to improve his community with a healthy ego that prevents him from realizing just how condescending he can be when spreading his message.

Of course, with Andre and Joan both occupied, it falls on Tasha to once again sacrifice her plans so that she can take care of Deion and make sure that he goes to his therapy session.  Deion, who doesn’t converse but does often yell, strikes Tasha at one point and, by the time Tasha arrives at the therapist’s office, she’s sick of dealing with him.  The therapist (CCH Pounder) sends Deion to play in another room and then talks to Tasha.  Tasha finally gets to talk about how unfair it is that, because she’s the responsible one, she’s the one who is always expected to give up her plans.  This really was Tasha Scott’s showcase episode and she did a great job showing how difficult it is to have to carry the weight of the world on your shoulders.  This episode works because it not only acknowledges Tasha’s anger but it also admits that there isn’t an easy solution.  The therapist doesn’t come up with some perfect turn of the phrase that makes everything better.  Instead, in the end, Tasha takes some comfort in the fact that the now calm Deion briefly reaches out towards her, showing her the first real appreciation that she’s received in the series.

Next week, Tasha and Andre’s father briefly returns to their lives.