‘Snowfall’ Ties up Bloody Vendettas in a Final Season of Visceral Suspense and Tragedy

Alci Rengifo

FX’s “Snowfall” now begins its rush to the end, compiling along the way familiar twists. Like all crime sagas, the run of this stylish, gritty series has been packed with moral lessons and themes of power’s corrupting force. It tends to always begin with an outsider trying to get in. Now Franklin (Damson Idris) has been a major player for a while in the 1980s L.A. drug game. In very operatic fashion, he now wants to burn everything down and avoid the wrath of betrayed, vengeful family members. Underneath the service, burning in the subtext is the dark underbelly of American history. The real story all along has been how the CIA’s operations in Central America during the last, bloody conflicts of the Cold War helped fuel the crack epidemic in the United States. Those story threads also get more personal for this final run.

It is now October 1986 and Franklin is virtually at war with Aunt Louie (Angela Lewis) and Jerome (Amin Joseph). His accounts have also been wiped out by an irate Teddy (Carter Hudson). After robbing a stash from Louie in a violent raid, Franklin continues being a rogue traveler, finding a new stash house and selling the product at a cheaper price to Big Deon (Quincy Chad). He also needs to clean the money and finds the perfect launderer in Veronique (Devyn A. Tyler), the mother of his child who has excellent contacts in Miami. Eventually, Franklin would like to focus entirely on doing real estate, but there’s too much to clean up. He also has to settle scores with Teddy and Peaches (DeRay Davis), placing a quarter million dollar bounty on the latter. On the business end he instructs Black Diamond (Christine Horn) and Dallas (Taylor Polidore) to do a drop off with Deon. But a rampaging Jerome might just get in the way.

Keeping score of every vendetta and deal in “Snowfall” has turned into quite the story tree, but the series has never lost its energy and glossy style. Franklin joins recent narcotic anti-heroes like Walter White in “Breaking Bad” in transforming into a tragic parable of seeking financial strength, then having to face the consequences of doing so through a violent enterprise. We want to root for him even as he makes boldly criminal decisions. Nothing is easy in the underworld and this season promises to throw in cliffhangers and plausible surprises in every corner. Just as Franklin thinks he has a sure deal with Deon, Deon turns and tells Jerome he’s buying his own stolen product. In a brutal, cruel scene, Jerome intercepts Dallas and Black Diamond. He pins Black Diamond to a parking lot floor and beats her face in, demanding answers. It’s a powerful moment that captures when someone has crossed the point of no return. Teddy begins to try and go back to the CIA, despite knowing his actions have turned Franklin into a force bent on revenge. He too has burned so many bridges and is now left without gun running connections. Maybe his former bosses will take him back if he offers them his $73 million.

What always made “Snowfall” stand out from the usual crooks and traffickers spread out all over Peak TV is the insider historical angle. There may be civil war among the drug runners, but what helped spark the fire was the U.S. government’s obsession with interfering in the Nicaraguan Revolution and overthrowing the Sandinistas, by running a coke operation to help fund the right-wing Contras. The government is as scheming as the thugs in this show, with even more muscle. In the second half of the season premiere, Gustavo (Sergio Peris-Mencheta) decides to strike a deal with the DEA to get Teddy. He needs to convince Teddy he’s been absent because his nephew was in the hospital, not because he was in DEA hands. The agency will help him by forging the necessary documents. Caught in the crossfire of all this is Franklin’s unborn child, who has no idea the world it will be born into. There’s also Franklin’s mother, Cissy (Michael Hyatt), who is reeling from her husband’s disappearance and asks Franklin to make peace with Louie. Maybe Franklin’s best bet will be to strike a different kind of agreement, with the Soviet KGB. Is he willing to go through with what amounts to treason?

Riveting questions are planted at the beginning of what announces itself as a worthy final lap for “Snowfall.” While never garnering the kind of wild praise of other FX offerings like “Atlanta,” this show has kept its own momentum with characters that always felt real, a rich sense of environment and a fantastic sense of how to combine images and music. It also knew how to play with global politics, illuminating for viewers how distant events across the border do have major repercussions at home. We barely remember the history from three years ago. “Snowfall” found a suspenseful way of commenting on history from three decades back that is essential to understand how a city like L.A. has formed into what it is now. But aside from the grander themes, what is most alluring is the relatability of its characters. They live in the most powerful country in the world and chase after the dream of wealth the only way they know how, no matter the bloody consequences. That kind of story will never grow old.

“Snowfall” season six premieres Feb. 22 and airs Wednesdays at 10 p.m. ET on FX.