OPINION: The big reveal at the end of the season finale left a whole lot of questions that the show is going to have to answer in season 4.
Editor’s note: The following article is an op-ed, and the views expressed are the author’s own. Read more opinions on theGrio.
Maaaaaaaaaaan … they really duped us out here in television land. Many, many episodes ago, Unique Mathis met what looked like his end at the hands of his big brother, Ronnie. The body was dumped off in the woods somewhere. Everybody thought he was dead. Pernessa. Ronnie. Raquel. Kanan. Marvin. Everybody.
Or so we thought. In what can only be described as a complete okey-doke, in a season finale where Ronnie and Det. Howard meet their makers, the show ends with Unique standing over the body of his dead brother. This begs so many questions. Like, so, so many questions. Let’s ask a few of them. Also, Lou-Lou is still alive, therapy can work and Jukebox is going to the Army for real now.
1. Who knew that Unique was still alive?
This is the big question. Clearly, Ronnie didn’t. If Raq did know (more on this later), she did an impeccable job of hiding it. She seems like the only one who maybe could know but even that is a reach.
2. If Raquel did know, why would she let him know where they were meeting up (where he ultimately saw Ronnie dead)?
Raquel did not know Kanan was about to kill Ronnie. She thought (or so we think) she was going to deliver $500,000 to Ronnie in exchange for her son. Why would Unique be told this is going down? Or did she call him after and say, Ronnie is dead as a doornail in the warehouse. Don’t stay long, though, just long enough for the camera to pan up on you.
3. Det. Howard didn’t deserve to die like that. That’s not a question.
I’m mad his last words were “Are you serious?” Granted he told Raquel that Marvin was going to have to take one for the team and go to prison, but arguably, he’s done more for the family than almost anybody else, Raq included. Lou and Kanan aren’t fans. Marvin is trying to do better, and Raq will, one day, get in the way of that. I’m just saying, maybe Det. Howard had to go, but they killed him in a warehouse with Ronnie and left him there. He deserved better.
4. Unique’s injuries looked fatal, and he definitely didn’t look like he could get up and walk to civilization to help. How did he start his healing process?
This will require some finessing. Unique was left for dead after being beaten to within an inch of his life. If the beating didn’t do it (let’s be real, it did; Ronnie is a killer, you think he wouldn’t finish a job?), the bleeding out would. But he had to recover enough to walk … somewhere to find … somebody. I’m just saying, there will need to be A LOT of explaining away how Unique came back to life. If it includes Raq somehow heading up there because it’s a dead drug dealer dropoff point, I’m going to be both annoyed and inspired.
5. What is the timeline of this show?
This is very important because I don’t know how long Unique has been out of the picture. But in order to be as healed as he was where he’s walking with bruising like that, it has to have been several weeks or months even. Inquiring minds would like to know.
I can’t wait for season 4; the amount of storytelling they’re going to have to do in order to explain this inexplicable thing is astounding. I read an interview with the creator, Sascha Penn, who said how this turn of events (bringing Unique back) has required a large-scale rewriting of season 4. That makes sense; for a time, the writers didn’t have to plan for Unique and now he’s going to be, at least early in the season, the only storyline folks (watchers and characters) want to know about. Pernessa, especially, probably wants to know where he’s been. I’d be 38 hot if I were her. Anywho, I guess that’s just how folks get down on that side.
Southside.
Panama Jackson is a columnist at theGrio. He writes very Black things, drinks very brown liquors, and is pretty fly for a light guy. His biggest accomplishment to date coincides with his Blackest accomplishment to date in that he received a phone call from Oprah Winfrey after she read one of his pieces (biggest), but he didn’t answer the phone because the caller ID said: “Unknown” (Blackest).
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