"Family Reunion": Is Mazzie Gay...um, I mean Musical?

 

Family Reunion (2019) on Netflix is a throwback to the TGIF sitcoms of yesteryear that I never watched because I was living in West Hollywood, and had better things to do on my Friday nights than watch nuclear families erase gay people.  It seems to be a remake or reboot of an earlier series -- every episode title asks us to "remember" something from the past -- but I can't find the reference.

A TGIF sitcom?  No way will it have any gay representation.

The premise: An African-American family headed by Cocoa (Tia Mowry) and Moz (Anthony Alaby) travels from the South to the Pacific Northwest for a family reunion, and like it so much that they stay. 

A TGIF sitcom about an African-American family?  Hollywood assumes  that all gay people are svelte white men living in Manhattan.  Absolutely no way will it have any gay representation.

Plotlines involve mostly conflicts at school and church.

A TGIF sitcom about a religious African-American family.  Hollywood assumes that all gay people are anti-God, and all religious people are homophobic.  Absolutely, positively no way will it have any gay representation.

But I check the episode guide anyway.  One of the girls is upset because of a breakup with "Royale."  Obviously a girl's name.  She must be gay or bi or pansexual, from a new, inclusive generation of TGIF sitcoms.

Nope -- Royale is played by Tyler Cole.  Just a boy with a girl's name.

Later another girl or the same one is forced to hang out with "Keith," which she hates, but they become friends anyway.  

An internet fan blog suggests that the character of Mazzie is gay.  Is that the girl hanging out with Keith?  They suggest the episode "Remember Macho Mazzie."  Ok, I'll give it a shot.

Intro:  The family gives their names and chief character traits.  Mazzie is a little boy (played by Cameron J. Wright, 14 years old in 2021).  The announcer states: "Family Reunion was filmed in front of a live audience."  That brings back memories!  I'm getting verklept.

Scene 1: Moz and his wacky sitcom friend Daniel (Warren Burke, below) are watching the Big Game.  Grandma comes in and criticizes them for being loud and rowdy. and gives Daniel the TGIF standard "Go home, Urkel."

Daniel asks if Mazzi will be going out for football this year.  

Moz: No, he's not that kind of kid.

Daniel: Well, what kind of kid is he? 

Mozzie enters in an apron and asks "Who wants cookies?" in a feminine lilt.

Daniel: Got you. (Winks).

Mozzie protests that he wants to go out for football, but Moz insists that he should stick with what he's good at, like singing and baking.  

Scene 2: The B plot about the daughter competing in a beauty pageant.

Scene 3:  The football try-outs.  As Mozzie happily skips toward the starting line, an embarrassed Daniel tries to distance himself: "That poor kid.  I'm glad I'm not his uncle."  Coach Adkins assures Moz that he won't be giving Mozzie preferential treatment because his Dad is a famous football star.  

Mozzie gets the ball, and leaps and side-steps his way across the opposing team to the end zone (translation: he's good).  He explains that got his skills from modern dance class.  The other kids on the team laugh at him, but Coach Adkins berates them: "You all need to take that modern dance class and learn his skills."

Scene 3: The B Plot.

Scene 4: Moz is making celebratory pancakes.  Cocoa comes in, and hears that Mozzie made the team.  She's surprised...he's so...um...you know...little.

Scene 5: The C Plot, about Grandma doing yoga.

Scene 6:  Another football practice.  Mozzie's band club friends are cheering him on, but the football jocks advise that he shouldn't hang out with them.  He blows them off, but feels guilty.

Scene 7: The B Plot.

Scene 8: Moz, Daniel, and Mozzie watching the Big Game.  Mozzie is getting a big head, and acts disrespectful to his mother: "Get me a root beer."  "What's the magic word?"  "Now."  She banishes him to his room, and complains "If this is what football is turning Mozzie into, I don't like it."

She specifies: he's become affected by toxic masculinity, "overly aggressive, misogynistic, obsessed with his manly status."  She doesn't mention being interested in girls.

Scene 9: The C Plot.

Scene 10:  Moz and Cocoa at football practice. Coach Adkins complains that Moxie is being overly-aggressive and "needs to channel his energy into a more positive direction."  He growls and knocks over all of the cups of Gatorade.

Scene 11: The B Plot. By the way, Telma Hopkins plays Grandma's friend, and there are a lot of other familiar faces from sitcoms past in other episodes: Jaleel White, Garrett Morris, Tempestt Bledsoe, Jackee Harry, and of course Tahj Mowry, Tia's brother.

Scene 12:  Mozzie in his room, doing homework.  Moz comes in.  Mozzie criticizes a teammate for being "musical" (is that code for gay?).  

Moz: That's not a nice thing to say.

Mozzie: You and Uncle Daniel said it about me.  And you were right. I had to get tough.

Turns out that he just tried out for football so his Dad would think he was a "real man" (not gay?).   Dad says that they were just being dumb; "real men" can be fashion designers and musicians (so, they can do feminine things; that don't mean they're gay).  TGIF hug.

Scene 13: The C Plot.

Scene 14: The B Plot.

Scene 15:  All of the players in the three plotlines are sitting on the porch, eating the cookies that Mazzie baked and discussing the B Plot.

My Verdict:  It wasn't as awful as I expected.  I liked that Dad was ok with his son being feminine, but I didn't like the implied difference between "real men" and gay men: "real men" can do all sorts of feminine-coded things, including play music, without being "musical," which is an insult.  

And why use code, anyway?  If you don't like gay people, just say so.  Don't beat around the bush.

In a later episode, Mazzie gets a crush on a girl.

See also: The Coming Out Episode of "Family Reunion"