Snowfall 1×09 Review: “Story of a Scar”

“Story of a Scar” is the last episode before the season finale and once again, the build up of the episode did not deliver astounding results. After nine episodes of Snowfall, it doesn’t seem like the characters have progressed very far. Honestly, it has been one misstep after misstep the entire season.

Franklin has gone from a smart college prospect, to a coke seller, to now a soon-to-be cocaine businessman. He’s probably had the most growth economically, but character-wise not so much. Franklin has remained the same naive kid who thinks nothing bad will happen when, in fact, bad things are happening all around him.

Even after he got beat up, he might have bought a gun but he never did anything with it, Leon did. Now, Leon is recovering from two bullet wounds. Franklin doesn’t know when to stop. Even after his friend got shot he thinks it’s smart to strike up a deal with one of the guys who organized the jump. From Jerome to Louie, both have been trying to turn him away from the business, but he won’t listen. Franklin has even started to lie to his mom with more ease.

Speaking of Cissy, she deserves more screen time than she is given. Michael Hyatt wins every scene she is in. In “Story of a Scar,” she comes at Franklin and exposes him for lying straight to her face. You could see the hurt in her eyes when she notices her only son has no problem with the fact his friend was just shot in their backyard. Even when Cissy goes after Louie for corrupting Franklin, all you wanted to do was root for her. Hyatt brings something extra to Cissy and her character deserves to win every once in awhile.

Teddy is another character I was rooting for in the beginning, but now his life is a cluster of bad decisions too. His product has been compromised, his marriage is falling apart and his partner killed someone who Teddy now has to deal with. Unlike Franklin, where he could walk away from his situation, Teddy cannot. He had one of the more interesting storylines as a federal agent during the drug war of the 1980s. However, it’s just become a lot of complaining about his predicament and that does not make for enthralling television.

I’ve said it many times, but Gustavo is the character who deserves more overall. He’s the one who has moved up the ranks throughout the nine episodes, going from a poor wrestler to a co-partner in a top-of-the-line cocaine operation. He, too, gets pushed around constantly, but he stands up for himself. Franklin just outsmarts everyone to get out of a situation, but Gustavo physically proves that he shouldn’t be messed with. Maybe it’s because his character has the least to lose out of everyone that makes it seem like he’s come the farthest within his character’s growth. Whatever it is, Gustavo could carry an entire sixty minutes on his own with his character’s depth potential.

John Singleton does know how to choose a great song to encompass a scene or situation. Snowfall ends “Story of a Scar” with Solomon Burke’s “None Of Us Are Free” and it definitely paints the picture for the entire show. None of the characters are free. They’re all prisoners in their own personal hells and maybe by the season finale, they’ll figure out how to break free.