This is one of my favorite episodes of this series. It uses humor to address a very serious topic (driving while Black - DWB).
The set up is that Philip Banks and his law partner, Henry Furth, are going on a retreat with their wives and some others to Palm Springs. Will and Carlton take responsibility for driving Mr. Furth's car the 2 hours out to Palm Springs for him. On the way, they get lost, and get pulled over by some local cops. Since they are not the car owners, the cops arrest them and take them to jail. The cops do not believe their story, even though every word of it is true.
Unfortunately, their telephone calls home and to Mr. Furth's house in Palm Springs do not get them the help they need, so they are trapped in a jail cell with a Bill Murray lookalike (Bob, played by Raymond McLeod) who looks scary but does some very funny musical numbers.
Will figures out a way to get through to Uncle Phil and Mr. Furth, who quickly go to the police station to get things straightened out. Uncle Phil reads the riot act to the cops, and Will and the Banks return home to Bel Air.
At this point Will and Carlton get into a heated discussion because Carlton, who is sheltered, thinks there was nothing wrong with the cops pulling them over (he says they were driving too slow), while Will says the whole arrest and the problems they faced were motivated by race: "Oh, OK, OK. I get it now. We were stopped because we were driving too slow. Yeah, we were breaking the slowness limit. Oh, OK, well you see, I've never heard of that law before, but I did hear this other law. It's called the "if you see a black guy driving anything but a burnt-out Pinto, you better stop him because he stole it" law."
(Note: on highways, there are laws that mandate the minimum speed in addition to the maximum speed, so that the flow of traffic is not impeded; but in this episode the arrest did not happen on a highway, but in a residential neighborhood).
Sadly, this episode is as relevant in 2020 as it was in 1990.
I like it because, as with most of the Fresh Prince episodes, the writing is excellent, the actors are a pleasure to watch, and a serious topic is brought to the public.
Review of Mistaken Identity
