Summary
Poppa’s House still isn’t very funny in Episode 14, but the introduction of a completely new character — played by yet another Wayans family fixture — at least adds a new dynamic.
After a week or two off, the return of Poppa’s House doesn’t exactly feel like a tantalizing proposition. Having said that — and despite reaching its most tedious point yet — the most recent episode offered a glimmer of hope, redirecting focus into more fruitful areas. And I think Episode 14, “Melvin”, falls into this category as well, introducing a completely new character to shake things up and proving my private theory that the inclusion of Marlon Wayans generally makes everything better.
Marlon’s playing Melvin, Poppa’s heretofore unmentioned brother and Junior’s favorite uncle, despite the fact he’s apparently notoriously bad with money and inherently dishonest. Poppa expects him to arrive in his usual manner and is thrown for a loop when he appears to be a changed man, but his idea for a new business that will require “investment” sets all kinds of alarm bells ringing, suggesting that he isn’t anywhere near as reformed as he claims.
Because Poppa forbids anyone from going into business with Melvin, Junior and Ivy are immediately inclined to. This is fine for Ivy, who sees through Melvin’s facade immediately, but Junior is a sucker by nature and immediately decides to sell his anime collection to drum up the seed money Melvin claims he needs.
I’ve got to be honest — most of this works. It’s not very funny, which is a given with this show by now, but it does at least excuse some nice moments and character examinations that feel a bit more meaningful than usual. It’s a very nice detail, for instance, that Poppa and Melvin still refer to their father as “Sir”, but both responded to his discipline in entirely different ways. Poppa listened to his father and heeded his advice, whereas Melvin rebelled and tried to hustle his way through life, and you can tell they both see aspects of the other that they appreciate; Melvin sees Poppa’s success and responsibility and wants that for himself, Poppa sees Melvin’s likability and charisma and wonders if perhaps he’d have a better relationship with Junior, who idolizes Melvin, if he shared some of those qualities.
In a frank conversation, Poppa instructs Melvin to tell Junior the truth about his “business”, which turns out to be a scam setting up a special purpose acquisition company to defraud investors of their assets (a SPAC is a real thing that isn’t quite as dodgy as Melvin’s version but is nonetheless pretty close.) Junior is crestfallen, but not entirely surprised, since this isn’t the first time Melvin has tried to pull the wool over everyone’s eyes. But it does seem like the first time he has admitted he’s pulling a fast one ahead of time, so that’s progress of a kind.
And it creates progress between Poppa and Melvin too. They’re able to have a nice brotherly moment when Melvin reveals that he kept the watch he stole from Poppa back in the day as a keepsake, hoping that it might rub off on him and make him more like his big brother. Poppa lets him keep it, telling him it still might. It’s not Shakespeare, but it’s a small moment that works, and it’s enhanced by the fact that there’s obvious natural chemistry between Damon and Marlon Wayans.
Poppa’s House Episode 14 isn’t perfect, for sure, but it’s another small reminder that there’s a bit more potential to this show than it usually bothers to capitalize on, which is enough — for once — to justify me having to write about it every week.
