Stream It Or Skip It: ‘This Fool’ On Hulu, Inspired By A Comedian’s Attempt To Bring Hugs Not Thugs To South Central L.A.

Inspired by the life of comedian Chris Estrada, who stars and co-created the show, This Fool (Hulu) follows 30-year-old Julio Lopez in south central Los Angeles. Living at home still. On and off again with his high-school girlfriend. Working at nonprofit Hugs Not Thugs, where he’s supposed to help rehabilitate gang members once they’re out of prison. But what happens when one of those thugs is his older cousin?

THIS FOOL: STREAM IT OR SKIP IT?

Opening Shot: Exterior of a classic Los Angeles bungalow.
The Gist: Julio is enjoying making himself a cup of coffee. But he’s interrupted by one older woman, then another, in the house (presumably his mother and grandmother). Turns out there’s also a storm a-brewing.
So before he can go work, Julio must fix the tarp on the leaky roof, and navigate the guys outside his driveway too busy racing remote-controlled cars to move. Julio is the kind of guy who’d rather drive over his own front yard to avoid confrontation, and he arrives at his gig at Hugs Not Thugs, the nonprofit where he counsels former gang members and retrains them to re-enter society. We watch as he guides a new guy through the system, explaining the various services Hugs Not Thugs offers. Among them: Tattoo removal (They do “more than anyone else in Los Angeles!”), free legal counsel, solar panel installation classes, and a free mug. Along the way, they cross paths with Minister Payne (Michael Imperioli), who founded the nonprofit and reveals his penchant for profanity upon sharing the size of a donation they recently received from a billionaire.
In a flashback to 2005, we see the time when Julio almost got caught in a drive-by while rollerblading, only to find out the shooter was his older cousin, Luis (Frankie Quinones). Back in present day, Julio is about to pick Luis up out of prison, and yet he sees Maggie (Michelle Ortiz) “stealing” his car right in front of him. Is it really considered stealing if he gave her a car key, though?
Once Julio finally gets Luis home, it’s time to get him into Hugs Not Thugs. An initial cupcake-making session proves a tough sell, considering they were expecting to learn how to install solar panels.

The cousins come to blows. Verbal blows. And Luis storms out.
Eventually Maggie arrives back with Julio’s car to offer him a ride home. They spot Luis at the bus stop, reconcile, and then there’s another moment at confrontation or reconciliation when Julio sees the guys still (or again) racing remotes outside the driveway. This time he stands up to them.
Before we find out if that tactic will work or backfire on Julio, he’s saved not by Luis, but by that forewarned storm.

What Shows Will It Remind You Of?: Jonathan Groff is one of the executive producers on this show, and he also just helped Phoebe Robinson put out her own series inspired by her life and comedy, Everything’s Trash, on Freeform. They’re both ABC Signature Productions. For a comparison on Hulu, perhaps think of this as a big-city, grown-up Latino version of Reservation Dogs.
Our Take: Hugs Not Thugs sounds like a sketch, and looks very much like one when we first encounter it on the show. Fortunately there appears, at least at the outset, enough going on at the nonprofit to make it worth exploring further.
Even though he still speaks like a member of The Sopranos, watching Imperioli as the bearded spiritual leader of the nonprofit feels inspired casting.
It’s also a nice and necessary touch to have the elderly women on the show only speaking in Spanish (with subtitles provided), because this is still a realistic version of Los Angeles, mind you.
Sex and Skin: None.
Parting Shot: The two cousins standing in the street in the rain as Maggie drives away.
Sleeper Star: Jamar Neighbors brings his playfully chaotic energy to the pilot episode as the cupcake chef, but there’s no real sleeper here. Instead, it’s Quinones as Luis who brings the laughs throughout. There’s even a scene that evokes his CholoFit sketch idea from his HBO Max special which came out last year. He also has the best line at Estrada’s expense: “Why does your body still look 19 but your face looks 56?”

Our Call: STREAM IT. This is a winning portrait of two guys in South Central L.A. with opposing life philosophies who find they each have something to learn from the other. You like winners, don’t you? Then come along for the ride, since Maggie already has taken the car.

Sean L. McCarthy works the comedy beat for his own digital newspaper, The Comic’s Comic; before that, for actual newspapers. Based in NYC but will travel anywhere for the scoop: Ice cream or news. He also tweets @thecomicscomic and podcasts half-hour episodes with comedians revealing origin stories: The Comic’s Comic Presents Last Things First.

Watch This Fool on Hulu