Snowfall Hit Its Stride

It’s truly amazing to see when it finally all comes together.  When a show hits its stride, you really notice it.  Every element is operating at its full capacity and everybody is firing on all cylinders.  All the best shows have that stretch of time where thematically and creatively they just peak and every episode builds on the last until you step back and marvel at its artistic accomplishment.  Breaking Bad had season 4; Game of Thrones had season 6. (Entourage had season 2).  Snowfall now has season 3.

For those not in the know, and there are a lot of you, Snowfall is a series set in early 80s Los Angeles about the rise of the crack epidemic.  Notably, one of its creators is the late, great John Singleton.  If you know me well enough, you’d know a show like this is right up my alley. It checks all my boxes: set in Los Angeles, check; early 80s music, check; cocaine, check; the CIA’s involvement in foreign affairs, check.  And for the last three seasons the show has been delivering what it’s been advertising.  Consistently, Snowfall has been one of the most entertaining shows on TV.  It just so happens that a lot of people don’t know that. 

The series airs on FX, a network respected for its critical darlings like The Americans and Atlanta, as well its cultural phenomena like American Horror Stories and, well, Atlanta. Snowfall is probably neither.  While the series gets positive reviews it’s not racking up the awards. You won’t see this cast at this year’s Emmy’s brushing shoulders with the Game of Thrones cast.  And I try not to throw ratings out when talking about shows because of how the streaming era affects the way we all watch TV, but it’s worth mentioning that the season 3 finale was beat out by Basketball Wives on Wednesday.  And this isn’t a shot at Basketball Wives, but if you’re getting beat out by a reality show on VH1 then you’re not really being watched.  In fact, Snowfall didn’t even crack top 5 for that Wednesday. So, I was genuinely surprised, and ecstatic, when I read that Snowfall was renewed for a 4^th season.  There aren’t that many of us Snowfall fans, but those who are out there really love this show.

Snowfall just works on so many levels. People love antiheroes, they love historical dramas, and they really love drug shows.  The writing is superb, building tension with each episode and its central characters are fully fleshed out human beings. But the show has not been perfect by any means.  Its flaws held it back from truly reaching its full potential.  Its biggest flaw was it never fully leaned into what made the show great: its lead character, Franklin Saint.  The show was initially built off three main plot lines.  The first follows Franklin, played by Damson Idris, a young black man from south central Los Angeles who essentially brings crack to LA. There is also the Teddy McDonald character, played by Carter Hudson, the CIA operative who is trafficking the white into the States on behalf of the USA to fund a war against communism. And then there is Oso, played by Sergio Peris-Mencheta, a Mexican luchador who is trying to work with the daughter of a Mexican drug lord to import coke. 

All these characters are interesting and fully realized, and their story lines are all integral to each other and the greater tale at hand.  But not everyone is at the same level, and not everyone is as compelling as Damson Idris playing an quickly rising drug pin. Hudson and Peris-Mencheta are both good actors doing their characters justice, but they can’t match the charisma and intensity that Idris brings to the table.  And that’s not a problem if that’s the main character.  In fact, that is exactly what you would want. But in the first two seasons the show was essentially split in three ways devoting practically equal time to each character.  That’s like if NSYNC split mic time evenly and Joey Fatone had as many solos as Justin Timberlake or if Eric Bledsoe put up as many shots as Giannis.  Every time the show stayed away from Franklin to focus on its other characters for an extended period of time, I would get impatient. Teddy and Oso are necessary, yes, but Franklin is riveting.

Part of the appeal is in the writing. We get so much of the world that Franklin lives in.  It’s not the clandestine world of the CIA with its shadowy motives and Teddy’s vague patriotic obsession.  We don’t really know why Oso wants to slang yayo.  But we get to know Franklin and his relationships with his mom, his friends, and the girl next door. When we are riding shotgun with him, we know why this business matters to him, we know what these people mean to him, and we know when he’s lying to himself.  That’s just excellent writing. But great writing doesn’t mean anything if you don’t have an actor who can bring the character to life.  Idris is Franklin Saint and his nuanced but distinguishable performance turns what could be a one-dimensional character in an interesting world into the ethos of the entire series. He’s a conflicted man with an unholy mission, a loving son doing unspeakable harm to his community and his family, an opportunist in a world full of them, each one worse than him.  Idris is able to naturally glide through each side of Franklin.  He can be steely and when he’s the calculating drug king pin; he can play desperate and anxious when the drug game knocks him on his back; and he can be tender and thoughtful in the show’s more heartfelt moments.  The show never lets you forget that Franklin is doing atrocious things, but Idris never lets you forget that Saint, the drug czar, is still just a kid.  Damson Idris is somehow able to marry those two realities and become one of the most captivating characters on TV.

Which brings me to my point about season 3, the season Snowfall unleashed it’s full potential by finally becoming, really becoming, about Franklin Saint.  While Oso and Teddy are still important to the story at large, their stories took a step back while Franklin’s took center stage. Oso and Teddy’s plot served Franklin’s and thus we got the most interesting version of season 3.  One where we see Franklin reckoning with the consequences of his actions, where we see Franklin’s paranoia get the better of him and where we see him unhinged.  This is a version where we see Idris unleash this character’s full potential.  You see this in a scene towards the end of the third season where Franklin and Leon meet up with Man-Boy to discuss Man-Boy’s problem with Leon.  In the span of three minutes we see that cool, ruthless side, unbothered and completely in control and before long we see Idris let go and give us a seething rant, filled with pent up frustration and anxiety.  Like an ace pitcher, Damson Idris has complete command of his stuff and he was throwing heat all season long because he was finally given enough innings.

Not everything about season 3 worked.  While Melody devolving with her addiction was an important to the story and to Franklin’s development, I thought it happened too late in the game and seemed very sudden.  It slowed the season almost to a halt before finding its footing.  I also don’t appreciate being teased with the mention of the 1984 Olympics.  I personally would have loved to see them shoehorn that in, even if it would have seemed forced.  (This is why I don’t write shows.) And that finale was just something else.  I have a strong problem with dream/hallucination/alternative reality episodes in general.  They are an ineffective way to make a point or sell a theme that completely puts the brakes on a compelling story.  They can be done well, sure, but that is rare.  In this case, the first two thirds of the episode revolve around the idea of what would Franklin’s life look like if he made different choices and if different options were presented to him.  I don’t think it works and I don’t think it adds anything. To make matters worse it’s the season finale. And yet Idris is able to carry it on his performance alone. And the last 20 minutes of the episode, when we are finally brought back to Franklin’s reality, lay the groundwork for what seems to be an amazing season 4.

I don’t think Snowfall will be appreciated during its time.  The fact that it’s still going is a minor miracle and a testament to FX’s commitment to this show.  But I do believe, somehow, that in the years following this show’s end Snowfall will become this under appreciated gem and a new crop of viewers will give it a second life on some streaming app. You’ll see a swell of support on social media talking about how some things are only loved after their dead.  That’s essentially what happened with The Wire and Breaking Bad. (Not that I’m saying Snowfall is at that level.)  Damson Idris is going to be asked about his start on Snowfall while on some press junket for a big movie that’s coming out. And when that happens, I’ll be sitting at my table with some gold ropes around neck and some funk music blaring in the background, reading some think piece about this overlooked sensation. I’m going to take a sip of my coffee and say, “I fucking told y’all!”