Episode Report Card Sara M: D+ | Grade It Now! YOU GRADE IT Annie's BlocKKK Party
By Sara M | Season 8 | Episode 7 | Aired on 11.02.2003
Inside the house, Annie's putting the last touches on what appears to be a Carmen Miranda-style fruit hat when the doorbell rings. She opens the door, and the camera pulls in on her horrified, shocked face. What COULD it be? The suspense is putting me to sleep. Seriously, though, when I first saw this scene I really thought, judging by Annie's reaction, that there was a burning cross in the front yard or something. And speaking of burning crosses, my next-door neighbors are in the Ku Klux Klan and they're STILL better behaved than the entire town of Glenoak when it comes to having neighbors of different cultural backgrounds. Also, my family doesn't take it upon ourselves to teach them about tolerance as if we're the only good people in the world.
Again in the backyard, the Duprees tell RevCam not to be upset about the party's lack of people because they don't need all those people to feel welcome, even though this whole episode all they've been talking about is how they need every single person around them to be completely accepting of their religion in order to come out of their house once in a while. Mrs. Dupree says that the Camdens have made them feel welcome on their own.
Peter walks up to Chandler and says that he's okay with him dating his mom, although he'd better treat her right since she's been messed around with before, by "first [Peter's] dad, and then…Dick." Yes, it's still funny. Peter says that as long as Chandler treats Paris right, he'll be happy.
Suddenly, Annie throws the back door open and shouts, "Look, everybody! I've got something to show ya!" The only thing that could justify the way she said this line is if she's Jed Clampett and what she wants to show everyone is the black gold she found while out hunting. Anyway, it is, of course, the entire neighborhood, who found the siren song of Annie's chicken fingers and beans to be ultimately irresistible. They flood the backyard as Annie, as someone in the forums pointed out, claps her hands three times and then pumps both fists in the air. Best celebration dance EVER. I'm totally going to do that now. People continue to pour into the yard from every orifice. Look -- there's Fred! And there's a black person! And there's BBG, who walks up and officially welcomes the Duprees to the neighborhood. They're ever so glad to have his blessing, so much so that Mo tells him to call him "Mo." "Mo!" BBG repeats, laughing at how silly and foreign-sounding it is. Mrs. Dupree and Jill introduce themselves as well. BBG gives Jill an especially warm smile, probably because her familiar "American" name makes it easier for him to see her as a real human being. "Let's get the party started!" RevCam says lamely. We see many crowd shots of people meeting each other, and pick up snippets of their conversations: "I have an irrational hatred of the Polish!" "I don't much like Hindus." "Australia didn't help us out in WWII. So I hate them and every single export from the country." "Antarctica? More like "Ant-fart-ica!" We see Mrs. Bink and Fred getting along famously, of course. We hear RevCam and the Duprees talking about some kind of "exchange." Please do not let this turn into an episode where RevCam preaches at a mosque. Happy barks for help, because the chicken tenders she was force-fed are slowly and painfully tearing her digestive system apart. Jill apologizes to Ruthie for being wrong about her neighbors (even though, really, she was totally right about them; they really did hate her family because they were Muslim), and Ruthie apologizes for not telling her parents about Jill's Muslimity (even though there's nothing wrong what Ruthie did, either). Then they hug. Ruthie walks up to RevCam and thanks him again. He responds by lifting her up and kissing her, to which I was initially like, "Awww, that's sweet," but then I was like, "Hey! She's thirteen! Ewww!" As the closing strains of The Piano and Soprano Duet of Multi-Cultural Togetherness play, we see RevCam and Det. Michaels give each other a high-five. I guess their once-faltering friendship is back on track. Phew!