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| Photo: Curtis Baker/FX |
"North of The Border" ended with the cousins at an impasse: Al's looking to make money moves, and has wisely decided Earn is not the person who can move with him. And as "FUBU" deftly shows, it was almost inevitable that Alfred and Earn would arrive at that point decades later.
The episode opens with Earn and his mother in Marshall's, where young Marks spots a FUBU jersey and begs her to buy it for him. Any self-respecting 80's baby can recall a time when FUBU was the end all, be all of middle school sartorial cool that could make even the cool-deficient *slowly raises hand* at least swag adjacent.
Earn gets what he wants, but spends the rest of "FUBU" in a state of teenage panic, as other kids question whether his jersey is even real the second another classmate, Devin Meyers, walks in wearing the exact same one. Meanwhile, young Alfred's in the principal's office, accused of stealing a calculator he also sold to the same student accusing him of the theft. Alfred points out both acts--the selling and the theft--are write-up worthy, so the principal would have to punish them both. He gets let off with a warning, taunting that the school has snitches, making the girls and even a few adults break out in smirks as he walks out the office.
Those two scenes underscore the fundamental differences in Earn and Alfred's personalities: Earn's naturally anxious, just doing what he can to belong, putting up little to no fight when against adversity. Alfred possesses the self-confidence to not care what others think, and uses that to his advantage. In the years since, Earn's anxiety has curdled into a kind of listless anger, the chip on the shoulder Uncle Willy referred to in the season premiere. He was a smart but otherwise unremarkable kid who grew into an adult who thinks the world owes him simply because of that intelligence. He's good on paper--Van recognized as much when she decided to show him off in "Juneteenth"--but at some point he started to believe his own hype, and began to carry himself like a man who hasn't got his just due, despite not having put in the real work required to receive said just due.
But back to the '99 and the 2000. At the final bell, Earn opts to ignite his flight response, power walking down the halls to avoid the judgement of Johnny Lee, decider of fake name brands. Earn narrowly escapes Johnny's judgement when Al slides in and vouches for his cousin, causing the other kids to turn on Devin. Earn books it, looking on with relief and uneasiness from the back of the bus as two seniors mercilessly mock Devin to point of tears. The next day, Earn's class is told Devin killed himself; his parents were getting divorced and he was taking it very hard. The whole scene is a punch to the gut, in part because of the current national focus on bullying, but also because it came out of nowhere. "FUBU" smartly reels the audience in with memories of notes being passed in class, Aquemini posters and Dragon Ball Z, lulling us into a false, nostalgic sense of security before pulling the rug out.
Earlier, Earn mentions Devin's dad always bought him nice clothes. As a kid, it's easy to read that as "Devin's cool, I'm not, his life is perfect." But looking at the situation with adult eyes, Devin's wardrobe was probably a consolation prize by his dad to make up for his family's problems. Devin's home life may have been wrecked, but at least he had his reputation at school. Now that's been taken away, and while suicide is rarely ever about one thing but a million things, being labeled as the kid who wears bootleg clothes was another blow to an already fragile psyche. Perhaps Earn unconsciously carries some survivor's remorse? Has he ever thought that if Alfred hadn't stepped in, he would taken the roasting and Devin would have been spared the public humiliation?
That's all just speculation of course; we still don't know why Earn dropped out of Princeton, so I doubt we'll ever get a tearful monologue from Earn about Devin. After school, Earn comes home to his and Al's mother Lorraine, who bring up the incident about Devin and instruct he and Al to look out for each other. As we've witnessed over nearly two seasons, Al's been doing that ever since, a task that's likely felt more like an obligation than an act of familial love as he realizes how ill-equipped his cousin is at managing him and managing his life in general.
What will happen now that he's backing away from the arrangement?
Other Thoughts
- The white classmate telling Earn he wore the same shirt two days in a row was a quick but brilliant way of showing the difference between his reality and Earn's. Even now, unless it was a weekend shift, I can count on one hand the times I've seen black co-workers show up to the office in anything less than slacks/jeans and polos, while white co-workers have come in sweats, old shirts and ball caps.
- Part of Earn's fake FUBU stress was rooted in avoiding the fate of Doo Doo Jones, who got his nickname because...well, you know. Incidentally, I also had a classmate who earned the name Big Shitty for a similar lack of bowel control.
- Earn's mom is not a fan of DBZ's Mr. PoPo. You know, dark skin and red lips and all.
- I honestly think I had that exactly same clock that Earn had in his room as a kid.
Those One Liners 'Tho
- "Your underarms smell like ribs."
- "Do you know why you're here today Alfred?" Al: "Racism. Not everyone's gonna like me."
- "Are you sure? 'Cause Erica don't like broke ass niggas."
- "Boy get your feet out that chair." Not witty per se, but the force of black mama realness that was Lorraine really sold for me.
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