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This week we're talking about the film Judas and the Black Messiah and the finales of The Stand and Your Honor. But first, Elaine starts talking about how she went out for a ride last week and how COVID-19 numbers are down, and before ya know it, she was in a full-blown political rant. So buckle up for that.  But political outrage turned out to be a perfect segue into our first topic this week.
Judas and the Black Messiah (HBO Max) is the story of the life and events leading up to Black Panther Fred Hampton's death. With knockout performances by Daniel Kaluuya and LaKeith Stanfield and a supporting cast including Jesse Plemons, Martin Sheen, and one of our favorite actors from The Deuce, Dominique Fishback, Judas, and the Black Messiah is a likely shoo-in at Oscar time.
The real players
We learned a lot from this film, even though we thought we knew the history. And, like we always do, after seeing a "based on a true story" movie, we dug a little deeper. Here's a side-by-side featuring the real people next to the actors who portrayed them. (see our site )
What the movie doesn't tell you.
In the movie, Hampton and O'Neal are played by Kaluuya and Standfield, 31 and 29 years old. Hampton was only 21 years old at the time of his death.  But, what people don't know is that William O'Neal was only 17 years old when the FBI sent him in to infiltrate the Black Panthers. We think this is important and may impact how people judge O'Neal, who took his own life on MLK day after PBS aired his interview on Eyes on the Prize.
Hampton's widow and son. Deborah Johnson gave birth shortly after Fred Hampton's death. She was 19 years old. She named the baby Alfred Johnson, but at the age of 10, changed his name to Fred Hampton jr. She changed her name to Akua Njeri.Njeri is still active in the civil rights movement today.  Hampton Jr is Chairman of The Black Panther Party Cubs.  As we mentioned on the show, Fred Jr has a Go Fund Me to help restore his father's childhood home. Check it out here.
We promoted The Stand so hard on this podcast. And we try hard not to steer our listeners to anything that we didn't like ourselves. So now we find ourselves in the awkward position of having to say Oooops!!  We're sorry!
On the flip side, we were delighted with the Showtime limited series's finale, Your Honor. Some people are calling the finale "poetic justice."  We don't exactly see it that way.  Shakespearean, yes.  Just, Nah! For anyone who gave a couple of episodes and gave up, we say, give it another chance. It pays off!