The Wayans Bros. Episode: The Son of Marlon

First broadcast in early 1998, this is a touching episode, but still with many of the hilarious antics of Shawn and Marlon that we came to expect from them. The little boy will capture your heart and Marlon is superb in this episode. Not that Marlon hasn't been superb before, but that is usually in his comedic role, and this episode has a little more seriousness to it.  

For those who may have never seen an episode of "The Wayans Bros," Shawn and Marlon are brothers who share an apartment in New York City. "Pops" is indeed their "pop," but his nickname is "Pops" to everybody, and he owns a diner on the ground floor of a New York City office building. Shawn owns a newsstand in the same building, Marlon works for him, and Dee is the building security guard. 

Main Cast for this episode:

Marlon.............................. Marlon Wayans
Shawn............................... Shawn Wayans
Pops.................................. John Witherspoon
Dee................................... Anna Maria Horsford
Chrissy............................. Kent Masters-King
Dexter.............................. Jeremy Suarez
Barry................................ Rockmond Dunbar

Shawn arranges for his brother Marlon to meet Chrissy, an attractive young lady, who shares an apartment with Shawn's girlfriend. At their first brief meeting, Marlon finds out Chrissy has a little boy named Dexter. Their first actual date is at Chrissy's apartment, where she tells Marlon her divorce is now final, but that it wasn't a nasty divorce and that Barry, her husband, had been too consumed by his job to devote much time to their family. So the mention of the divorce and some flirtatious remarks leads Marlon to think he's in for a sexy evening. Dexter is asleep, or so Chrissy thinks, but he sneaks out into the living room, and he is chased back to bed by his mother. When Chrissy goes into the kitchen, the persistent little boy returns and tries to get Marlon to play with him, because "I miss my daddy." Marlon comforts the boy and the two begin some horseplay, only to be joined by Chrissy. Dexter is happy.

Dexter and Marlon become quite close, with Dexter planning on Marlon taking him to a "Pow Wow" event. Then one night when Chrissy sends Dexter off to bed, the boy hugs Marlon and says, "Good night, Marlon, I love you." This all alarms Chrissy, who is fearful that Marlon will break up with her and that Dexter will be badly hurt again. Marlon surprises Chrissy when he essentially says the two of them should get married, but she doesn't answer. Marlon tells his brother Shawn that he wants to marry Chrissy and Shawn is skeptical that the marriage would work. It turns out, Marlon doesn't even know Chrissy's last name. Shawn advises Marlon to actually get to know Chrissy better by going out with her without Dexter. Shawn offers to look after the boy while they're out.

While Shawn has his hands full playing with Dexter (he often gets the boy's name wrong, as Lester and Chester), Marlon and Chrissy stop in a little place to eat. Marlon only shows how little he knows about Chrissy when he orders her a hamburger, only to learn Chrissy is a vegetarian, or maybe he doesn't learn that, because when she tells Marlon she's a vegetarian, Marlon says, "I'm a Capricorn." Hahaha!  Marlon also expresses a desire for them to have lots of kids, but Chrissy tells him she wants to pursue her career, which leads Chrissy to bluntly tell Marlon that the only thing they share in common is a love for Dexter and that she can't marry Marlon. Marlon tells her the boy needs a father, but Chrissy replies, "Dexter has a father." The two of them part.

The next day is the day of the "Pow Wow" event for Dexter and Marlon shows up at Chrissy's apartment. Shawn is there to see his girlfriend and he is shocked to see Marlon. Chrissy comes into the room and she tells Marlon she thought he would not be taking Dexter to the "Pow Wow." Marlon tells her he got a replacement and he opens the door, and in comes Barry, Dexter's father. He speaks to Chrissy and tells her that Marlon contacted him about the "Pow Wow" for Dexter, and that he doesn't want the boy going without his father. Dexter enters the room, sees his dad and runs to him. The two say how they have missed one another, and Barry tells Dexter that he's there to take him to the "Pow Wow," and that he will be around more often for other activities. As perhaps only a child can do, Dexter asks his dad if his mother can come too. This makes for an awkward moment, but Barry says, "Sure," and he carries Dexter over to his mother as she agrees and says, "I'd love that." The three hug and then head for the door to go to the "Pow Wow," with Barry thanking Marlon. Shawn tells his brother, "That was really big of you," but Marlon is feeling down. Just then the door opens and in comes Dexter and he goes right to Marlon to thank him. He asks if Marlon will come along too, but Marlon naturally declines, but he does tell Dexter he'll walk him to the car. 

Photo is of the 2019 Warner Home Video/Warner Archive Collection 4th Season DVD set

WORD HISTORY:
Cartridge-This word is closely related to "card" and to "chart," two words borrowed by English by way of French, which had them from Latin, which had them from Greek. The modern English rendering of the second part of the word is deceiving, as it is NOT related to "ridge," a word from the Germanic roots of English. The ultimate origin of the word is perhaps Arabic or Egyptian, but transliterated Ancient Greek had "khartes," which meant, "papyrus." Latin borrowed this from Greek as, "charta," meaning, "piece of paper, paper with writing, map (paper with a diagram)." This gave Italian "cartuccia," meaning, "piece of paper," which then produced, "cartoccia," "a roll of paper, a scroll." French then borrowed the word as "cartouche," meaning, "decorative or ornamental paper with rolled edges," and the idea of the "rolled paper" began the word's use for "gunpowder rolled up in paper for a firearm (pistol?)" (later expanded in meaning for metal coverings of bullets/shells). English borrowed the word in the latter part of the 1500s, but seemingly with a misunderstanding of its pronunciation right from the start, with it rendered as "cartage," but by the 1600s the spelling was altered further to the modern "cartridge" (thus you see why it is not related to "ridge"). The word also gradually took on the expanded meaning, "containers to hold liquid or dry material that can be inserted into a device or easily removed therefrom."