The Snowfall saga comes to an end.The Snowfall saga comes to an end.The Snowfall saga comes to an end.
Devyn A. Tyler
- Veronique
- (as Devyn Tyler)
Storyline
Did you know
- TriviaTowards the end, when Franklin and Leon walk down an alley and into a film shoot, it is obviously a nod to the producer of the series, John Singleton, and his premiere film shot in 1990, "Boyz n the Hood (1991). That would be him sitting in the director's chair, 33 years earlier. Even the joke line "You're not going to win an Oscar!", was a tribute of sorts to Singleton, who passed away between seasons 4 and 5.
Featured review
Derivative End to an Uneven Series
I've watched Snowfall since the beginning. It was never in the same league as Breaking Bad or even The Wire, but the first few seasons were good. Then it wandered all over the place and got increasingly more tedious. I don't know that I've ever seen a show about drug dealers that spent so much time talking about what they're doing rather than, you know, doing it.
The show's creator, John Singleton, created an interesting group of characters, and he further cast the show with some great actors. They all did excellent work. But after those first few seasons, the writing really became more and more pedestrian. Derivative. Aimless.
This season has been all over the place. Some episodes haven't been bad, but the last few episodes have all seemed like they're rushing to wrap it up. Breaking Bad and Better Call Saul had a similar problem, but at least the previous seasons were all consistently good. Even if the last few episodes felt rushed, the argument could be made the series took some time to develop the story in a cohesive way.
So, this finale for Snowfall is what it is. We see Franklin Saint -- who never seemed to get to enjoy any of the millions he made outside a house he bought -- doing what he usually does, which is walk around in a jacket and square off against this or that person. Some of the characters are no longer around on the show, and it feels empty as a result. Sissy Saint is in prison for what she did to get justice for her husband and to save Franklin. Teddy got what he deserved if not in the way he deserved it. Things were never going to end well for him, but he was reduced to a two-dimensional bad guy in the last few seasons compared to how he started.
It's a little sad to see Steven Williams looking old and frail -- I've followed his work since at least The Equalizer.
The finale suffers from a lot of the same problems of the past few seasons, which is lots of dramatics and not much story. There are so many angry Franklin Saint exclamations of "So, you're doing this to me" to all the people he thinks betrayed him, you could have a drinking game. In fact, the characters in these last few seasons of Snowfall only seem to have one of two emotions: anger or regret.
The best scene in the finale is when a desperate Franklin tries to get into a safe. It's filled with genuine tension, as well as a sense of actual plotting instead of the usual stalling. There are some very modern references -- "anxiety" -- that weren't commonly tossed around in the 1980s, which take us out of the moment. Throughout most of the series, the writers have shown they either don't know or don't care much about the 1980s, as there's an inauthenticity to so much. But if you don't know, it won't change anything. When Franklin starts laughing over the irony of how little money he finds, it seems lifted straight out of a similar scene in Breaking Bad. How the scene ends is predicable but still shocking. And it tells us how things are going to end for Franklin.
But a time jump at the end is close, where we find out what the life has done to Franklin. Let's just say he's finally his father's son in some ways. In much the same way Jesse is a kind of moral conscience in Breaking Bad, Leon was a kind of moral conscience in Snowfall, and it's good to see his life turns out better. There's a kind of not-so-subtle cheap shot at Korean Americans at the end, though I suppose someone thinks they're making a poignant political message.
So, that's it. A series that started out not bad, sagged in the middle, and produced a finale that was like an encapsulation of that run. It ends on the right note, and that's good.
The show's creator, John Singleton, created an interesting group of characters, and he further cast the show with some great actors. They all did excellent work. But after those first few seasons, the writing really became more and more pedestrian. Derivative. Aimless.
This season has been all over the place. Some episodes haven't been bad, but the last few episodes have all seemed like they're rushing to wrap it up. Breaking Bad and Better Call Saul had a similar problem, but at least the previous seasons were all consistently good. Even if the last few episodes felt rushed, the argument could be made the series took some time to develop the story in a cohesive way.
So, this finale for Snowfall is what it is. We see Franklin Saint -- who never seemed to get to enjoy any of the millions he made outside a house he bought -- doing what he usually does, which is walk around in a jacket and square off against this or that person. Some of the characters are no longer around on the show, and it feels empty as a result. Sissy Saint is in prison for what she did to get justice for her husband and to save Franklin. Teddy got what he deserved if not in the way he deserved it. Things were never going to end well for him, but he was reduced to a two-dimensional bad guy in the last few seasons compared to how he started.
It's a little sad to see Steven Williams looking old and frail -- I've followed his work since at least The Equalizer.
The finale suffers from a lot of the same problems of the past few seasons, which is lots of dramatics and not much story. There are so many angry Franklin Saint exclamations of "So, you're doing this to me" to all the people he thinks betrayed him, you could have a drinking game. In fact, the characters in these last few seasons of Snowfall only seem to have one of two emotions: anger or regret.
The best scene in the finale is when a desperate Franklin tries to get into a safe. It's filled with genuine tension, as well as a sense of actual plotting instead of the usual stalling. There are some very modern references -- "anxiety" -- that weren't commonly tossed around in the 1980s, which take us out of the moment. Throughout most of the series, the writers have shown they either don't know or don't care much about the 1980s, as there's an inauthenticity to so much. But if you don't know, it won't change anything. When Franklin starts laughing over the irony of how little money he finds, it seems lifted straight out of a similar scene in Breaking Bad. How the scene ends is predicable but still shocking. And it tells us how things are going to end for Franklin.
But a time jump at the end is close, where we find out what the life has done to Franklin. Let's just say he's finally his father's son in some ways. In much the same way Jesse is a kind of moral conscience in Breaking Bad, Leon was a kind of moral conscience in Snowfall, and it's good to see his life turns out better. There's a kind of not-so-subtle cheap shot at Korean Americans at the end, though I suppose someone thinks they're making a poignant political message.
So, that's it. A series that started out not bad, sagged in the middle, and produced a finale that was like an encapsulation of that run. It ends on the right note, and that's good.
helpful•2537
- bkkaz
- Apr 20, 2023
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- See more company credits at IMDbPro
- Runtime1 hour 5 minutes
- Color
- Aspect ratio
- 1.78 : 1
- 16:9 HD
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