I'm bringing notes back for this episode.
-This episode justified the whole "five episodes from everybody's perspective" concept. It was the kind of episode that we only could have gotten with an established character. Dre's episode was decent, but the best part about it was his death. Paz's episode wasn't the worst this season (episode nine still takes the cake), but it was unnecessary and actually derailed her character by making her into an insane, pathetic idiot, along with featuring characters we don't care about (her "I need the tuition money so I can go back to school" son and her dad with dementia). This one, however, felt like a series finale with how it was written. It was one of the rare episodes with a happy ending, and it redeemed Tommy's character completely while making us sympathize with him. That's been a problem all season and they made it right in one hour.
-Elisa Marie is who the writers think Tariq is and constantly want us to see him as. They want a child on the show who's been negatively affected by the world around them and that world has caused them to make questionable decisions? Fine. Give us more of this girl. She's hardly been on the show, but she has the innocence, likeability, and emotional maturity that a character like that needs. The problem with Tariq (one of them, among many) is that I don't understand why he does anything that he does. His hatred for Ghost is irrational and unjustified, he constantly harms himself and the people around him, and he never learns anything from his experiences. He just continues to become a worse character and a worse person over time. With Elisa Marie, there's actually something to sympathize with. When she talks about how Proctor let Lindsay die, it's not like she reacts with hatred or resentment for Proctor. She understands why he did it, and why he did a lot of the things he did. She decides to let Tommy walk, but even if someone doesn't agree with her choices, they can at least understand them. Everything they try doing with Tariq, they did with her with less effort and more skill.
-Speaking of Tariq, they make it more and more obvious that he was the killer. It's not like it was ever hard to figure out, but this episode confirmed it. And if it wasn't him that pulled the trigger, he at least put in play so Tasha could do it. It was a two-man job without a doubt. First of all, why is he still talking to Tommy? The guy disowned you and almost threw you off a roof, you two should have no relationship anymore. Then this kid is so bloodthirsty, he can't even register Tommy's heartfelt speech about bringing the family back together and making things right. He just wants his father dead, for some reason. Then, if that's not enough, he gets Vincent and the Italians to try taking Tommy out, or at least delay him so Ghost still has a chance of watching his own soul escape from his body. I said it a hundred times and I'll say it again: Tariq is a fukking sociopath. I'm glad Aunt Dolores wasn't buying any of his bullshyt and saw right through him in five seconds.
-Tommy had one of the best face turns I've ever seen. I've either been 50/50 on him or outright hated him this season. I never liked the feud he had with Ghost and I knew that when it was time to show and prove, he wouldn't have the heart to kill Ghost. So seeing him realize that Ghost wasn't the enemy, that he was wrong to treat him the way he did and try saving him was one of the best moments in the entire series. I actually felt
when he saw Ghost laying there and tried avenging him by going after the killer, but Ghost already made peace with it and told him to let it go. They were at each other's throats all season, but their last moment together was spent as brothers. That was a great way to close things out between them, and I'm glad the writers decided to finally have a character wise up and let go of the hatred for once. It's way too late for a face turn from Tasha and especially from Tariq, but we got the one that mattered the most.
-I'm surprised this episode didn't end with Tommy dead or in jail. I thought it was a foregone conclusion that his character would go out like Kanan or Proctor did, but he survived. I guess since he literally had nothing, not even his mother, the decision was made for him to start a new life and get some happiness somewhere else. It's ironic that Ghost is the one that ended up with a painful death while Tommy was able to make it out alive. I don't know if I would have wanted it if Tommy didn't make the face turn, but since he did, I was actually hoping for him to survive. Man seriously outlasted them all. Not even Tariq and Tasha were able to stop him.
-Spanky's death was perfect. And Tommy running over the strawberry milk with his Mustang was a bonus. Spanky said, "I used to say 'fukk the police,' now I say 'fukk jail.'"
-The next episode looks really shaky to me. It's the second-to-last episode of the series, but I don't know how entertaining it will be. I like Tate's character, but I have my doubts on how much we'll get out of his story. All it will do is make me hate Tariq and Tasha more, but what direction will they go in? And they still have to end Saxe's story. Tommy should have gotten episode 14 and Tate/Saxe should have gotten this one. Wait, maybe this episode will finally put to rest the stupid theory that Ramona killed Ghost. So, that will be something.
I swear... no matter how simple CK makes this shyt-- nikkas still got the
face. I'm not saying it all makes sense. I'm just saying the way it's "supposed" to make sense, makes sense.
