While Chris is allowed to stay in his normal classes, he still ends up fighting a lot of his normal battles. Throughout the year, Chris will have his best friend (okay, only friend) Greg (Vincent Martella) spend the night, try to be one of the cool kids and get suspended, quit his job at Docs because of minimum wage laws (and go back after being mistreated at his new workplace) and many other adventures.
A favorite of mine was "Everybody Hates Gretzky" where Drew (Chris' younger, but generally "better at everything" brother) decides to skip school to get an autograph from the famous hockey player. Of course, when Chris realizes this, he tags along to make sure he doesn't get into any trouble. Let's just say, things don't go as planned when the schools call Chris' parents to ask why they aren't in class.
Another good episode is "Everybody Hates Kwanzaa" where their dad, Julius (Terry Crews) learns of the new holiday that is sweeping the hood, and decides that they should follow it instead of Christmas. Despite his family's suspicions, he claims it isn't because of the lack of gift-buying that goes along with Kwanzaa. Meanwhile, in an attempt to do a good deed for the holidays, Chris helps Kill Moves (the neighborhood homeless/crazy person) find his estranged mother and there is a nice little twist at the end of this episode that really makes it worthwhile.
Chris also spends a significant amount of time chasing after his neighbor, Tasha (Paige Hurd), who moved last season. He tries everything from a spin-the-bottle competition to inviting her over to watch some Richard Pryor video, but as always, Chris' luck never lets things work out just the way he hopes. Oddly enough, the series makes quite a few references to Tasha's grandmother, but we never actually see Whoopi Goldberg's character.
The season ends on a somewhat sad note that leaves viewers wondering what will happen next season. I don't really want to talk about it since it will give away a pretty big plot twist, but suffice it to say that Chris' first year in high school could be even more trouble than he thought.
Everybody Hates Chris really is a fun, family-friendly show. Even if you aren't a fan of Chris Rock's normal comedic style, this show is full of great laughs that pretty much everyone should enjoy. Most people's problem with Rock seems to be his language (which is not apparent in the series) and his racial humor (which is highly toned down), so it is definitely worth checking out. And while having knowledge of the previous two seasons is a plus, it really isn't necessary. All of the information you need to know becomes pretty evident early in the season, like Chris being the only black student in his school, or the family's constant money problems.
