As much as others might be saying, this episode is not a satire. Satire exaggerates something that is true in order to poke fun at the absurdity of it. This is true in some scenes, such as the "you were white yesterday" line. However, the goal of this episode is not to make you laugh at the absurdity of a white man losing everything, in order to say either "look how ridiculous reparations are getting" or "look how ridiculous white people's ideas of reparations are". The episode is shot and acted much too well for it to be a comedy: it wants you to empathize with Marshall. But why? The key is with White Earnest's speech, who in my opinion is simply a mouthpiece for Donald Glover/Black Earnest but put through a white man's mouth in order for white people to listen. If you can empathize with Marshall for losing everything due to what his ancestors did, then you must be able to empathize with black people who lost countless opportunities due to what was done to their ancestors.
Review of The Big Payback
