Episode aired on SHOWTIME Sunday, March 11
Ladies and gentlemen, we are at the season one penultimate episode of The Chi. It feels like this show just started, but it is now over. I am glad they will be coming back for season two because they have a lot more stories to explore. In the “Wallets” episode we left Papa angry at Kevin for not sharing what he had done to Ronnie, Reggie was in trouble with DQ and seemed like he had signed up to betray Trice. Hannibal helped Brandon get a food truck and Jerrika kind of agreed to get back together with him.
The “Namaste Muthafucka” episode begins with the mothers in a supporting group session sharing about their children and how much the deaths have affected them. We roll into the scene has Tracy gives a five-minute monologue about sexual abuse by her step-dads older friend. Listening to her narrate the trauma she went through to have her boy Jason was heartbreaking. When a lot of shows address abortion, it’s always from the perspective of the woman battling with the hard choice of keeping the baby or having a termination. Tracy’s story highlighted how women get pregnant within abusive situations, and the men still have power to control them and whatever decision they wish to make. It was painful to listen to Tracy explain how she negotiated her freedom from this abuser by agreeing to keep the baby. Laverne joins the group after hesitating and anxiously smoking outside. The session leader introduces her to everyone in the group including Tracy. The session leader calls Coogie by his first name, and Laverne lets her know that nobody called him Charles; his name was Coogie. I applaud the writers for not chickening out from making both women interact after the session. What Laverne told Tracy about Coogie not killing Jason was essential. Laverne needed to make sure she spoke for her son since she never got that opportunity. As for Tracy, I hope she can find some peace in the information she got, but it’s unlikely because of what Ronnie did.
The writing was solid for the young boys in this episode as well. Kevin decided to come clean to Papa about the situation with Ronnie, and they had a superb mature conversation. He didn’t hide anything because he loves Papa and values his friendship. They hug and decide to never keep secrets from each other again. Jake, on the other hand, is skipping school and hanging with Reggie trying to be a hustler. They check on him to find out why he missed the play and he proudly tells them he wants to be like Trice. If only Jake knew how much trouble Trice was in, he would envy his fake lifestyle. I knew they were going to get into some trouble when Reggie picked them up and promised to buy them some food. Kevin didn’t want to go but Papa the wise one decided to think with his empty stomach. I thought I was warming up to Reggie but the stunt he pulled and had Jake fight with another kid put him back on my bad hombres list. I don’t know if Jake has reached a point of no return, but I was happy Kevin and Papa made the smart decision to take the bus than ride with Reggie back home. I am guessing Reggie is now working for DQ since he had Trice in his trunk all this time. Jake seemed scared when he saw that, but he decided to be in the hustling game so the poor kid will have to put up with all the nonsense.
Emmett showed a little bit of growth this time and thank the heavens. Someone must have read my reviews lambasting the writers about that awful stereotypical trope they were trying to write about Tiffany. Her boyfriend also didn’t come off as threatening because if that’s what they were trying to go for when he talked to Emmet, it failed in a brilliant way. It’s sad to see that they are closing out on the Jada storyline and maybe not having her come back as a regular in season two. What was heartwarming was Ethel gifting her for taking care of her for so long. The conversation she had with Emmett was also loving so for a story wrap the writers did well by Jada. My plea would be to give Emmet a solid storyline and not have him all over the place as they did in season one. The final episode hasn’t aired so let me stop right there. The writers also softened Tiffany who had come off very vindictive in our initial encounter with her on the show and even when she took EJ. She is just a young mother who is trying to get the best life for her child and not make life more difficult for the child’s father.
Brandon and Jerrika had some romping time that was filmed quite well I must say. I don’t know how actors can do sex scenes in front of the Camera and give it a hundred percent. It must be very uncomfortable, but they did deliver, and it was fiery. Jerrika is in, and people in love do stupid things without any second thoughts. She hands Brandon all the money she had been saving supposedly to help him start his own restaurant business. I was yelling at my computer at this because just a few weeks or days ago they were not together. How does one night of good sex equal “here are all the savings go fix your truck.” The situation became worse when Sarah showed up and told Brandon that the Chef knew about their little dalliance. I hate this love triangle angel that this is going to take, but then again this is TV we watch for the juicy drama. Now I don’t know what will happen since Jerrika and Brandon both admitted to sleeping with other people, which but a well-acted scene by Jason Mitchell and Tiffany Boone. Brando has not even told her about the troubles he had that day with finding a location for his truck, I have a feeling all this will come crashing down, but I pray they make it through.
A couple of reviews ago I mentioned that Ronnie was breaking down and might eventually confess. The episode left us with a cliffhanger after he told Detective Cruz that was what he wanted to do. Killing Coogie and Tracy's rejection has been eating him up slowly, and I just didn’t see how he could hold on anymore. I hated how he falsely called the police on Ethel after she rejected Barry and Curtis as help us and Jada was leaving town he had to make a tough choice. If she would have let him confess to her I don’t think Ronnie would have made that decision, but I agree with his grandmother on this; she didn’t need more heartache from her one family member. Detective Cruz cornered Detective Wallace even though I am sure he was bluffing the entire time. Wallace's reaction is what made cemented Cruz’s suspicions; also it seems like on these south side streets there is no trust. Each person is on their own, so dominos fall left, right and center depending on who rattles. It was unsettling to watch how easy it was for DQ to corner Wallace and get information on who killed Jason. The bomb of the night was the reveal that DQ was Jason's father. I must confess they did foreshadow this during the street party episode so it shouldn’t have been a bit of a surprise to a keen viewer of the show.
Going into this episode I was expecting the same old slow development on all the characters but, it felt like I was watching an entirely different show. I was just okay with the direction from Zetna Fuentes; most of the scenes were not tight, and the pacing was uneven, but I have to give the writers Adam Glass and Sylvia L. Jones props for their superb script. I wish they collaborated more and wrote all the other episodes. They synced, and it turned out magnificent for all the characters. The main complaint I had in my previous reviews was the portrayal of women on this show. One or two earlier episodes gave them some airtime, but it wasn’t anything to write home about. This episode is the second time that they focused on the women and their struggles as parents of the murdered sons, and it was great. Their grief was not amusing or fun to watch, but their stories were told and moved forward I hope they do add more of this.
Don't forget to watch the finale episode of The Chi on SHOWTIME Sunday, at 10 PM ET/PT.
