Source: Ray Micksaw / FX
Since its debut back in summer 2017, the late John Singleton’s final directorial offering with the FX series
Snowfall has taken a hold over America in just a matter of six years —
Black America specifically if we’re being unapologetically honest. With captivating storytelling, nail-biting scenarios and tie-backs to events in real life that gave the acclaimed crime drama its gritty realism, the show has finally come to an end with the airing of its final episode last night (April 19).
While season-long loose ends were tied up and fan-favorite characters got fairly decent send-offs (given the circumstances!), it was the jarring performance of rising Hollywood star Damson Idris as lead character Franklin Saint that ultimately gave us the biggest life lesson worth learning in a very street smart show that even made sense of the title altogether.
RELATED: So Long, Saint: Reactions To “Snowfall” Series Finale
in Season 1, we see Franklin begin as a 19-year-old West Coast hopeful whose biggest faux pas in life is selling weed for his Uncle Jerome. By the Season 6 finale, Uncle Jerome is dead — a victim of the pride that comes with being loyal to street code — and Saint, now in his mid-20s and hopeless, has lost every major physical connection that he’s ever had in life. The harsh reality of him becoming a carbon copy of the alcohol-addicted father he once despised is heartbreaking to say the least, but his downward spiral is arguably warranted given his displays of greed, apathy and betrayal. Ironical enough, you see him enact those upon the three female characters that mean the most to him: momma Cissy, Aunt Louie and love interest Veronique.
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His apathy for Aunt Louie can on some level be rectified if you’re going off drug dealer logic, but it doesn’t explain his heartless approach in carelessly sending her into a life on the run. His mom got an even shorter end of the proverbial stick, being scolded on her mothering due to a homeowner’s deed that Franklin needs her to sign because, in his exact words, “I’m sorry but you’re never getting out of here.” The desperation in his delivery is award-worthy as much as it’s gut-wrenching.
Source: Ray Micksaw / FX
While momma and auntie gave Saint more than enough reasons to make him turn against them, the downfall of his life and business partnership with Veronique is where you realize that he’s literally got nothing left. For much of the past two seasons they’ve been the consummate dynamic duo, but it’s soon revealed that money and power played a much larger role in their union than physical love, or even a child, ever could.
Source: Ray Micksaw / FX
The final scene is chilling in its totality, with Franklin Saint and his last surviving friend Leon taking one final walk through the South Central streets they once controlled via a drug empire. Above all, his downfall is the ultimate cautionary tale into the downside to losing sight of what matters most — family, friends, freedom — in pursuit of power. What a lesson, it was!
Source: Ray Micksaw / FX
See what many are making out of Damson Idris’ performance as Franklin Saint in the Snowfall series finale below, and let us know what you thought as well:
