South Side (HBO Max), from series creators Bashir Salahuddin and Diallo Riddle (Sherman’s Showcase), returns for its third season with more laughs and hustles set and filmed in Chicago’s Englewood neighborhood, where Sultan Salahuddin and Kareme Young, as furniture repossessors for Rent-T-Own, run into all kinds of personalities and misadventures around town. South Side debuted on Comedy Central in 2019 but has called HBO Max home since season two.
SOUTH SIDE SEASON 3: STREAM IT OR SKIP IT?
Opening Shot: “Just relax,” Officer Sandy Goodnight (Bashir Salahuddin) is saying. “I want everybody to go home from this OK, right?” The situation he’s facing, we soon learn, isn’t something that happens every day. It’s not even something the neighborhood kids have seen before. But don’t ask them about the culprit. “Oh, we don’t know her. That’s Kanika’s play cousin from Olympia Fields.”
The Gist: Goodnight thinks the situation with their police cruiser might never have happened in the first place were it not for his partner Sergeant Turner (Chandra Russell) wanting to stop for a snow cone. And elsewhere in the neighborhood, Simon James (Sultan Salahuddin) and Kareme “K” Odom (Kareme Young) are still working for the Rent-T-Own store managed by K’s brother Quincy (played by Kareme Young’s real-life brother Quincy Young). But with their arrival at the store after another repo, a new problem emerges. Their coworker “Greg the Marine” (Landre Idewu) has been lying about his past. He’s actually AWOL from the army. And the MP’s who want him back are banging on Rent-T-Own’s door.
What ensues is a hustle built off the original hustle. While “Greg” searches for allies amongst the staff, a group that includes Stacy (Zuri Salahuddin) and Keisha (Nefetari Spencer), Simon concocts a story about a bed bug infestation so that Quincy can keep the army guys outside. But now they’ve gotta actually go find some bedbugs, an adventure that includes a motel which makes false promises about cleanliness, its breakfast buffet of questionable quality, and a discussion about the technical specifics of polyamorous partnerships.
Turner and Goodnight have arrived at the public impound lot, an infamous place with a depressing waiting area in a trailer and walk-up window gatekeeper. And Simon and K just might have saved the day back at Rent-T-Own, even if they had to consume some ripe and soupy clam chowder to do it. All in a day’s work, right?
What Shows Will It Remind You Of? Speaking of shows with a certain civic pride, and shows that were once broadcast by Comedy Central, South Side shares its manic rate of jokes-per-second with Detroiters, Sam Richardson and Tim Robinson’s brilliant comedy that can now be found on Paramount+. And as for sitcoms set in Chicago that get the details of location, language, and food right, South Side and FX’s The Bear deserve medals.
Our Take: It can be bewildering and euphoric to start having laughs inside of your own laughs, and that’s what often seems to happen whenever South Side is on. From Turner and Goodnight’s hectic life on the beat, where their contrasting styles create situations that escalate in every direction, to the situation down at Rent-T-Own, where one employee’s decision to unlawfully shelter in place sets off a hilarious string of suggestions about where he actually should have hid, not to mention his list of known aliases (“Michael C. Jordan,” “Scottie Pippen of the Shire,” Dennis Rodman Clinton…”), South Side is always setting the table for its next spread of bits.
What hits most in South Side, too, though, is its underlying current of sweetness. There are entire conversations between Simon and K we never hear, as they drive around in the Rent-T-Own truck, given the limitations of run time. But what we are privy to becomes a heartening essay on their friendship, like when a repo job hits home for Simon (“Damn, broke-ass Gustav really got you in your feelings, bro”), or the two friends continuing discussions about their efforts to elevate and better themselves. It’s the kind of central relationship that not only gives a sitcom a motor, but a heart, too.
Sex and Skin: Nothing here beyond “Greg the Marine” doing a few histrionic simulations with the aid of a sawhorse.
Parting Shot: “Pull over for me so I can get out.” Turner, now serene, having managed to recover their police cruiser in spite of Goodnight’s blustering, isn’t listening to her partner’s protestations to be let out of the secure rear seat area. “This is good.” She isn’t stopping. “Turner, pull over right there. Turner. Turner!”
Sleeper Star: Local guy and Chicago Bull Ayo Dosunmu makes a charming cameo here as himself, but also just another customer at the impound, forced to wait his turn for access to the walk-up window. (Chicago-connected celebs are a regular occurrence on South Side – past cameos have included Rhymefest, Jeff Tweedy, Dreezy, and Chance the Rapper.)
Most Pilot-y Line: “Damn, I’m hungry,” Sergeant Turner says to the guy in the impound lot’s walk-up window. “I only ate a half a pickle today. Wait, does Portillo’s deliver down here?” And the guy says that the Chicago street food favorite does, but with a caveat. “Just make sure you order from the Portillo’s on Ontario. The one on Taylor Street be stingy with the peppers.”
Our Call: STREAM IT. South Side is the kind of second-by-second hilarious where seemingly every line is telling its own joke. And at a breezy 30 minutes, you can fill out the hour laughing.
Johnny Loftus is an independent writer and editor living at large in Chicagoland. His work has appeared in The Village Voice, All Music Guide, Pitchfork Media, and Nicki Swift. Follow him on Twitter: @glennganges
