It’s showtime. Franklin and Teddy’s season-long chess game is in its final quarter, which I know is a mixed metaphor, but you get it! Regardless, it works because this episode is all about games, whether it be the round of Russian Roulette Franklin plays with Teddy as the target, the larger game of capitalism versus communism that is now referred to as the Cold War, or the never-ending game Black people must play to succeed in this country. And, after last week’s chaotic turn of events, everyone is forced to either show their hand or call someone else’s bluff.
Franklin has Louie, Teddy, and Ruben (sorry, I messed up last week, caught up in the moment again. He isn’t dead; he was just unconscious) in the palm of his hand. Always two steps ahead, Franklin waited until Louie helped with his plan to set her up with a DEA raid, alerting her over the phone literally as they were pulling up. She turns to her last ally: Buckley. Telling him that she has a house with cash and passports stowed away near Ojai, he acts as her getaway driver, requesting half of the money in return. Once they’re a good distance out of the city, Buckley pulls over to “pee†(hit his crack pipe), and a paranoid Louie takes his gun and demands his pager. Her paranoia is justified as when she looks at his pager and sees that Jerome did page him on that day Kane and his men had her in the warehouse. At gunpoint, she takes his keys, and he realizes there isn’t a house or money; this was her plan all along.
As for Teddy and Ruben, Franklin is holding them both hostage, chained to chairs with bags over their heads, and they each use whatever leverage they have to remain alive while still completing their missions. Ruben reveals to an angry and betrayed Cissy that he recorded his entire conversation with Franklin when they were at the museum. The KGB has access to these tapes; therefore, they have evidence of all of Franklin’s crimes. He says that if he doesn’t report back to his superiors within 24 hours, they’ll leak the tapes unless she frees him and gives him Teddy. Unsure of what to do next, she goes straight to Teddy for answers about Alton, saying in return she’ll make sure things “go quickly†for him.
Teddy has the most valuable information, so he receives the harshest treatment. Franklin starts out small, treating Teddy like a petulant child and giving him some hours before the banks open the next day to think about his life and whether or not he wants it to continue. He gives an ultimatum: in the morning, Teddy will either transfer the money or Franklin will kill him. Teddy asks Franklin to “be sensible†as if any of this has been sensible, reasonable, or fair. But that’s also the point: Franklin and Teddy have been playing this game, and the game of life, with two different sets of rules, and Teddy cannot fathom it being any other way. Teddy, who for the entire series has represented the government and “The Man†as a whole, is incapable of taking his predicament lying down — especially when the person calling the shots is Black.
The entire time Teddy is sitting in Franklin’s torture chair, he reeks of white privilege and ego. Even with the chance of death staring him in the face, he speaks to Cissy and Franklin like they’ll always be lesser than him, their lives insignificant to the greatness that is his America. Cissy clocks it first and asks him, “Do you even really understand the pain and suffering your actions have caused? Or is it all just moves on a chessboard for you?†Teddy acts as if he doesn’t know what she’s referring to and she breaks it down for him, pointing out that he’s a government officer flooding the streets with cocaine. Teddy’s whiteness leaps out and he says, “If these crackheads don’t have the self-control to not throw their lives away, you cannot pin that on [me]. What fucking world are you living in?†And then he has the gall to try and demonize her, asking what she’s been doing other than laundering Franklin’s money. Cissy can’t take this disrespect, gives up on bargaining with Teddy, and promises him, “I can only find comfort in knowing that you will die here, and you will never touch a member of my family again.â€
It’s obnoxiously obvious that Teddy’s mind cannot compute anything that doesn’t align with his white supremacist values. A world that doesn’t revolve around white men and capitalism is as foreign to him as Narnia. And, in order for the concept of whiteness to thrive, Blackness and the oppression of Black people must exist. Black has to be bad, undesirable, and beyond help. White has to be synonymous with purity, achievement, and order. Snowfall captures this symbiotic relationship between Black and white people through Teddy and Franklin’s relationship and by highlighting how essential the Black community was in the American government’s scheme to retain power at any cost. Although the specific scheme Snowfall explores is the Iran-Contra Affair, using Black people as a means to an end has been the cheat code since before the United States had a name.
Props to the writers of this episode for unfolding this dynamic through Franklin and Teddy’s conversations, starting with their specific beef with each other and gradually speaking on larger issues. Franklin keeps trying to torture the account numbers out of Teddy using tactics like water deprivation and a game of Russian Roulette but Teddy holds out, knowing how badly Franklin wants his money. In between the torture, they talk about their history, going back to when Teddy kidnapped him and Leon in season two, beginning their relationship. Franklin, now older, smarter, and more mature, tells Teddy he knows he was being manipulated. And, Franklin makes it known that these little bullshit hints about Alton (Teddy told Cissy that he’s alive and in a Puerto Rican prison for more leverage) might work on his mom, but it’s not working on him. Franklin knows what game they’re playing better than he ever has and is determined to win.
Cissy tries to convince Franklin to stop the torture, hand Teddy over, and let the KGB handle it. But Franklin, whose transformation into a ruthless leader has given him permanent tunnel vision, says fuck all that; the Carnegies and the Rockefellers were killers, and so is he. Using those two examples perfectly encapsulates the difference between Franklin and Cissy; Cissy would rather protect her people and maintain her integrity, while Franklin’s biggest aspiration is to have what the white man has, which is money and untouchable power. And he’s willing to play dirty. Neither Cissy or Leon, who warns him that he’s crossing over into dangerous and hellish territory, get through to Franklin. He turns it up a notch with his better half (who is up and walking around despite the last episode’s pain).
Veronique is just as determined as Franklin after hearing from the bank that one of their mortgage checks bounced and they’re officially out of money. Together, they confront Teddy, this time with boiling hot oil. Franklin gets as far as pouring the grease down his neck and chest, and then Teddy, raw and vulnerable, is at his absolute worst, calling Franklin an animal, as if, as Franklin points out, he isn’t responsible for this. Here, the conversation continues to mimic real-life race relations: Teddy plays into the role white people have assumed as the self-proclaimed saviors of the universe, fighting communism and taking sole responsibility for anything good in anyone’s life. He’s a patriot who believes the white American way of life is a God-given right that needs constant protection, and the rest of the world just needs to fall in line. Franklin reads him for filth, pointing out that the Pentagon spends hundreds of billions of dollars a year on defense, so why does Teddy need his small fortune? It’s not about the money or the communists, it’s about keeping Franklin, a Black man, in line.
Finally, Teddy screams, “It’s not your fucking money … everything you have is because I allowed you to have it.†And there it is. All of Teddy’s actions stem from his inherent need to maintain what he believes is the natural order of things. Franklin sums it up precisely: “You wanted me to feel like nothing. Because you’re the hero in your own story. In any story, the guy that looks like you always wins. But not this time, nigga.†This might be my favorite delivery of nigga throughout the whole series. By calling Teddy that, while in this position, Franklin is turning the tables on their dynamic. Franklin says he’ll kill him right then and there, achieving the one thing that Teddy is scared of the most: dying insignificant, his whiteness not being enough to make him matter … he’ll be “not even a blip on the radar of history.â€
This is enough for Teddy to concede; he offers Franklin half of the money in an escrow account and then to go their separate ways. Franklin actually agrees, and they decide on the terms and conditions. They’ll decide on a public place with Teddy’s handler Stephen Havemeyer, do the final transfer, and be out of each other’s lives. He gives Franklin the account numbers from his wallet and Franklin prepares to get his money. Cissy hates the idea of letting Teddy go, feeling like it’s too good to be true, but she insists on going with them to get the money. She tells her son that she hopes he’s okay with never seeing her again after the handoff, and he says he can live with that.
Cissy, Franklin, and Teddy arrive at the agreed-upon meeting spot and meet with Stephen. Franklin reneges on the part of the agreement to bring Ruben, rightfully distrustful of anyone associated with Teddy, and says he’ll hand over Ruben if he gets his money or he’ll make a deal with the FBI. Teddy calls the bank on a pay phone, and while he’s speaking with the bank, Cissy asks what prison Teddy sent Alton to. Teddy aggressively tells Cissy he was lying and that Alton is dead, shot twice by Teddy himself. Right as Teddy is about to give the bank his password, Cissy turns and shoots Teddy, killing him quickly. Franklin tries to keep him alive long enough for the password, but it’s too late. Cissy drops to her knees and lets the cops arrest her, keeping her promise to Teddy that he’ll never touch one of her family members again.
Final Forecast
• So, is V’s pregnancy okay? She’s obviously not in labor, so what were those pains about? I feel like something bad happened, but she doesn’t want to tell Franklin.
• It was so bittersweet seeing Franklin and Gustavo say their good-byes. They have been on quite the journey together, and I’m happy Gustavo made it out (as far as we can tell). I wonder where he went since it only took a few hours to get there by plane. Wherever he is, El Oso will always be iconic.
• I’m also curious as to where Louie is going. Personally, I wanted her to kill Buckley then and there; I don’t trust him. But that would be a sticky situation to clean up (would someone come looking for him?) and there are already so many loose ends to tie up with only one episode left.