(WARNING: Spoilers for this week’s episode of Snowfall will be found below.)
Last week’s episode of Snowfall was dedicated to loss, mourning, and survival. The Saints were still reeling from Jerome’s death and some were doing better than others. Franklin was affected by the loss, but continued forward as business still needed to be taken care of. Louie was absolutely distraught, but to the surprise of no one, revenge was heavy on her mind. Others like Cissy and Leon also took Jerome’s death close to heart, but if anything, it made them want peace in their worlds now more than ever. Last week’s episode also saw Franklin and Gustavo inch closer to beginning their plan to take down Teddy, and while that went down, Louie left us on a bit of a cliffhanger as we had no idea who she would go after in the name of Jerome. Would it be Franklin or would it be Teddy?
Well, in the eighth episode of Snowfall season six, we get an answer to that. During the repast for Jerome’s funeral, Louie reluctantly agrees to keep her promise to Franklin and help take down Teddy with some assistance from Gustavo. The plan is to trick Teddy into thinking that Louie is giving up Franklin to him, all for Gustavo to arrive and help take down Teddy. Naturally, things don’t go according to plan after Teddy makes a few requests that make it harder for them to execute, but it’s when Gustavo is arrested by the DEA that it appears that all was lost. Luckily for them, the KGB agent arrives to break Gustavo free and take him to Teddy’s warehouse where Franklin is nearly hanging with a cable tied around his neck. By the grace of the powers that be, Gustavo is able to take out the KGB agent and handcuff Teddy to safely free Franklin to make their plan a near success.
Here are some of the biggest takeaways that we have after season six’s eighth episode, “Ballad Of The Bear”:
If Only Franklin And Louie Put Their Issues Aside Earlier
For the first time all season, Franklin and Louie are working together to complete a mission. Granted, neither of them wants to work with the other, but despite a few bumps and detours in the plan, things work in their favor. After Gustavo is placed under arrest by the DEA, the KGB agent, who’s been seemingly following them all day, attacks the DEA officers to break Gustavo free and bring him to Franklin and Teddy. To the KGB agent’s surprise, Gustavo turns on him and kills him to set free a tied-up Franklin. This is essentially the plan Franklin, Gustavo, and Louie had in mind: to trick Teddy is coming out of his hiding place so that Franklin could kill Teddy. Seeing that it worked, or so we hope it did, it makes you wonder what could’ve been accomplished and what lives could’ve been saved if Franklin and Louie stuck together. Maybe things were just meant to break apart, but still, it’s something worth thinking about.
Gustavo Was Ready To Fail, Franklin Was Not
One million dollars and new passports. That’s what Gustavo required of Franklin for him to give up Teddy and risk any protection from the CIA, DEA, or KGB. Franklin agreed, and granted that price was more than what the aforementioned agencies were willing to offer Gustavo to give up Teddy. That asking price was also not for Gustavo himself, but for his family, who he shipped away to safety in the first half of episode eight. When we examine the moments of defeat between them in this episode — Gustavo under arrest in the back of a DEA agent’s vehicle and Franklin dangling above the ground with a cable wire around his neck — you can see a slight difference in their demeanor. Gustavo doesn’t appear to be as worried as Franklin whose inner fears scream at high volumes in his eyes. That’s because Gustavo was ready to fail and prepared to do so, by making sure his family escaped the possible grasp of the DEA. Franklin’s own remained in Los Angeles, vulnerable to whatever damages were absorbed in this failed plan. The thing with Franklin is, the thought of failure didn’t seem to enter his mind. There was always a way out, but through luck and some sort of a plan, things once again fell in his favor. In this case, it appears that Franklin’s refusal to fail worked just as well for him as Gustavo’s preparation to fail worked for him.
Teddy Overestimated His Powers
Let’s just assume that Teddy did kill Franklin’s father, just for the sake of this section. You would think maybe Teddy would’ve realized that he bit off just a little more than he could chew at that point. But nope, next came stealing Franklin’s $73 million and turning half of his family against him. By season six, you got the sense that Teddy believed he was an impenetrable force. Yet, as he stood handcuffed to a forklift in the warehouse he planned to kill Franklin in, the realization that he is far from the force he believed he was begins to settle in. As Franklin looks at him while pondering his next move, Teddy is forced to accept that he is no longer the top dog. If we’re honest though, Teddy’s true power was only his government status. His ability to get Franklin and other families out of sticky situations and provide money, drugs, and arms gave the Saints a true once-in-a-lifetime opportunity which they indulged in over the last six seasons. And despite all of that, Teddy was alone in Los Angeles. If things were to go left for him, like they did in episode eight, there was no nearby backup. There was no guardian angel. He’d committed the same amount of wrongs that anyone he worked with did. The difference is, he had no family or nearby associates to come save him unlike Franklin. When it was needed, Gustavo and Louie were there to save Franklin and that wasn’t the case for Teddy. In the end, he’d simply overestimated his powers.
Franklin And Louie’s Relationship Ends Here
This isn’t much of a surprise truthfully, but with the way their relationship once was, it’s worth noting. From this point on, Franklin and Louie’s relationship will be as good as nonexistent. Yes, they saved each other’s lives with the presumed takedown of Teddy, but it was a mission they both had an equal hand in. It certainly doesn’t make up for Jerome’s death, something that Louie will forever hold over Franklin’s head. When Franklin requests Louie’s help to take down Teddy, her response is yes only because she also wants to be free from Teddy, not because she has it in her heart to help Franklin. With the nod of the head from Franklin, Louie storms back off to who knows where before they, along with Gustavo, reunite to set their plan in motion. The Saint family that we once new is no more, and any potential of a reunion is as good as any of us hitting the lottery simply because the leaders — Franklin and Louie — won’t see eye to eye, at least not anytime soon. There’s only two episodes left in the Snowfall series, so it remains to be seen what things look like for Franklin and Louie going forward.
New episodes of ‘Snowfall’ are available on FX on Wednesdays at 10pm EST/ PST.
