"...Or Die Trying" is the 1st episode of the 2nd season of The Boondocks, the Season 2 premiere, and the 16th episode overall. It originally aired on October 8, 2007.
Robert, Huey, Riley, and Jazmine sneak into a movie theater to watch Soul Plane 2: The Blackjacking; but Huey has his reasons for not wanting to go see the movie with Granddad. At the theater they do their best to avoid Ruckus, who is fervent about reporting them to the authorities; while Jazmine feels guilty for sneaking into the movies, forcing Robert to persuade her to not turn them in.
Tropes:
- Aside Glance: When Ruckus of all people reveals he's skilled in the use of nunchaku with an elaborate martial arts routine, Huey takes a break from the fight to shrug bemusedly at the camera.
- Blatant Lies: Robert tells Jazmine that the movie they are going to isn't as offensive as her parents claim, this being the main reason she initially wasn't allowed to go. He also claims that he bought tickets online, but Ruckus doesn't buy that for a second.
- Break the Cutie: Poor Jazmine.
- Brick Joke: Before leaving to the movie theater, Huey warns Jazmine that this will be the "worst day in her life". After getting caught sneaking into the theater without paying, Jazmine says this word-for-word.
- Celebrity Paradox: The cast of Soul Plane 2 includes John Witherspoon and Gary Anthony Williams, the voices of Granddad and Uncle Ruckus.
- Complaining About Shows You Don't Watch: In-universe, Huey does this when he says that the first Soul Plane was as funny as a lynching. He justifies it by saying that he's also never seen a lynching, but he knows they're not funny. (Granddad then tries to argue that he does know of a funny lynching, but that's neither here nor there.)
- Complaining About Things You Haven't Paid For: Robert complains about movie tickets in spite of having snuck in. This clues Ruckus into the fact that Robert snuck in without paying.
- The Corrupter: Robert to Jasmine. Huey even outright calls him a "bad influence".
- "Could Have Avoided This!" Plot: Huey offers to pay for everyone's tickets. If Robert had accepted his offer, they wouldn't have ran into a suspicious Uncle Ruckus. Then again, Riley bringing outside food and a camcorder didn't help much.
- The Danza: 50 Cent appears as "Air Marshal 50 Cent" in Soul Plane 2.
- Digital Piracy Is Evil: Parodied with a Scare 'Em Straight PSA shown during the previews, which compares watching "stolen" movies to robbing and murdering an old lady. This terrifies Jazmine.
- Felony Misdemeanor: The anti-piracy ads call piracy a felony, and claim that it's as bad as robbing and murdering the elderly. One of them proclaims that anyone who pirates movies is "a terrible, awful human being that no one will ever love." Jazmine is driven to tears.
- Foreshadowing: Huey warns an excited Jazmine at the start that going with them to the movies is a terrible idea, based on past experiences. She is dejected and almost gets in trouble near the end.
- Ironic Echo:
- On their way to the theater:Jazmine: This is gonna be so much fun!Huey: This is going to be the worst day of your life. I'm bringing nunchucks.
- Fast forward to the end, and note that Jazmine was already dragged into the Freemans' antics.Jazmine: This has been the worst day of my entire life.Huey: Told you.
- On their way to the theater:
- I Know Kung Fu: When Huey confronts Ruckus, who has just confiscated the former's nunchaku, the latter reveals that he is skilled in the use of this weapon. Cue a martial arts fight.
- Karma Houdini: Thanks to an offscreen union protest from the theater staff, and mass firing and shutdown from the higher-ups, the place is closed before Robert and the kids can face punishment for sneaking in. Ruckus is not pleased by this.
- Movie-Theater Episode: The whole plot and setting of this episode is at a local cinema in Woodcrest.
- Nice Job Breaking It, Hero: Huey encourages a dejected theater worker to form a union. Unfortunately, everyone in the staff is fired as a result.Huey: Power to the people?
[Former] Worker: Fuck you! - Noodle Incident: We don't hear much about the last time the Freemans went to the movies, except that it resulted in them getting shot at and arrested.
- Real Trailer, Fake Movie: The episode opens with a trailer for Soul Plane 2: The Blackjacking, a fictitious sequel to Soul Plane that only exists in-universe.
- Right for the Wrong Reasons: Ruckus is his usual racist self, believing that black people aren't capable of handling computers, but he's absolutely right that Robert snuck in without paying for a ticket.
- Rule-Abiding Rebel: Robert keeps talking about how he's this, but it's justification for his skinflint ways.
- Spoof Aesop: Acknowledged by Huey at the end. Don't sneak into the movie theater; instead, buy pirated DVDs or download the movie like everyone else.
- Take That!: Several, as per usual for this show:
- To Soul Plane and it's heavy use of black stereotypes.
- To over the top Digital Piracy Is Evil PSA's that were prevalent at the time the episode aired.
- 50 Cent is depicted as a wooden actor, his delivery of the title line is especially bad.
- Uncle Tomfoolery: The reason Huey is really pessimistic about seeing the Soul Plane sequel. Jasmine is also reluctant because of the "types of stereos".
- Unknown Rematch Conclusion: Huey attempts to destroy the film reel for the movie Soul Plane 2: The Blackjacking. He is caught by Ruckus who works in the theatre as an usher and defeats Huey in a fight. As Jazmine and the Freemans are leaving the theatre in the epilogue, Huey sees Ruckus again and decides to have a rematch. The final shot is a freeze frame of Huey and Ruckus lunging at each other.
