Alert: This article contains spoilers for Bel-Air episode viii!

Bel-Air sets upward a twist on what happened to Will'southward father, Lou, which besides means a major change to the most heartbreaking scene from Fresh Prince of Bel-Air . While Fresh Prince had numerous episodes that tugged at audiences' heartstrings, the nigh famous case from the sitcom was in the season four episode "Papa'south Got a Make New Excuse." Volition's begetter, Lou, came back to run into him after abandoning him 14 years ago, with the two bonding earlier–only equally James Avery'due south Uncle Phil expected–Lou abandoned his son nevertheless again. The Fresh Prince episode concluded as Will broke downward to Uncle Phil and asked why his male parent doesn't want him, with the scene concluding equally Volition sobbed into Uncle Phil'south arms.

Will's dad, Lou, was never seen again on Fresh Prince, just Bel-Air is starting time his storyline very early into the series. In Bel-Air season 1, episode viii, Vy comes to visit for Will's 17th birthday, telling Viv and Phil that she plans on telling Will the truth about his father. Viv and Phil are adamantly opposed to this, not just because Lou could impairment the progress Will has fabricated, but because the 3 of them had done something mysterious merely clearly bad to Lou to keep him away. Bel-Air doesn't reveal what Vy, Aunt Viv, and Uncle Phil did, but Viv suggests that if they told Will, he would get aroused and virtually likely hate them.

Although Bel-Air episode 8 ends without revealing what Uncle Phil and the Smith sisters did to Lou, it suggests the reason for his absence in Will's life is very different from Fresh Prince. In Fresh Prince, Lou was a guy who simply couldn't be a male parent, so he left Will every bit a kid and never came dorsum. Bel-Air makes it announced that abandonment wasn't the existent reason that Lou left Will'southward life, but that he was actually a really bad guy, or at least engaged in dangerous activities. Vy, Viv, and Phil then had to do something unpleasant in lodge to proceed him away from Will. As such, if Volition breaks down to Bel-Air'south new Uncle Phil about his father, it won't exist a repetition of the heartbreaking Fresh Prince scene virtually him feeling unwanted. Instead, Volition's reunion with his dad may observe him feeling extremely betrayed by Phil, Viv, and Vy rather than past his dad.

With Bel-Air hinting that Viv, Vy, and Phil purposefully drove Lou away with whatever they did, Peacock'southward reboot may introduce a change in which Lou actually did desire to be a father to Volition all of these years. Vy suggests that Lou owed coin to a lot of unlike people and created terrible messes that she always had to make clean up, but doesn't state whether or not he was a bad father to Bel-Air's Volition. Rather than an exact repeat of the deadbeat dad storyline from Fresh Prince, Bel-Air is adding a layer of drama to Will'south nearly heartbreaking storyline that may bear witness everything he idea nigh his father was a lie.

Since the mystery of what Bel-Air's characters did to Lou is set equally a mystery in Bel-Air season ane, the reboot is suggesting that the painful story with Volition and his dad is apt to encounter more than than a one-episode arc. Phil ambiguously told Geoffrey to "do what he asked" to Lou fifty-fifty though Geoffrey was morally opposed to it, and thenBel-Air may see Fresh Prince of Bel-Air 's heartbreaking scene turn back on Uncle Phil equally a betrayal to Volition. Bel-Air episode 8 ended with Will asking Geoffrey to rail down Lou for him, even though this would hateful going backside Phil's back, to which Geoffrey agrees. With an imminent reunion between Lou and Will besides equally the inevitable reveal of what Viv, Vy, and Phil did to him, Bel-Air  flavor 1 is making the lamentable story of Will and his father far more than complex.

Next: Bel-Air's Aunt Viv Alter Fixes Her Original Fresh Prince Problems

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Jordan Williams (757 Articles Published)

Hashemite kingdom of jordan Williams is a Movie/Idiot box Feature Senior Staff Writer for Screen Rant. She graduated from the University of Oregon in 2020 with a B.A. in Psychology and a minor in Media Studies. Jordan is based in Seattle, Washington and enjoys exploring the natural dazzler the PNW has to offer. She runs on coffee and classic movies, taking pride in having watched every film on AFI'southward 100 Greatest Films listing and every All-time Picture Oscar winner.

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