Snowfall - S1E6 - A Long Time Coming

Previously on Snowfall, “Seven-Four”

Regrets… Most of us have at least one, perhaps a couple. When it comes to the company of players that make up FX’s elaborate drama, they don’t have enough fingers and toes to count the issues they constantly face in their self-imposed struggle to be the kings and queens of the drug trade. In the latest episode, the focus is once more on the grit and hustle of Franklin and Gustavo and their shared desire to attain enough wealth and power to shape their worlds as they see fit.

Let’s get the frustrating parts out of the way first, namely Franklin’s best pals Leon and Kevin. From the second they opened their mouths in Claudia’s club, Saint knew he made a big-ass mistake bringing them into his business. How are you gonna talk shit about the woman who’s putting money in your pocket?!

Realizing his nephew is going to remain hardheaded, Jerome introduces him to Knees (Bokeem Woodbine), one of the last bastions of the old school. The O.G. tries to hit Franklin with some truth about who controls the yayo in LA, but the young blood wanted nothing to do with past grievances or a history he had no part in. No warning about disrupting the balance of things or possible loss of body parts will deter Franklin; Saint’s only interest is a name and location to create his own connect.

Unfortunately for the inexperienced entrepreneur, his perseverance throws him in a number of bad scenarios. This time around, Saint rolls up to the homestead of LA’s number one coke dealer, Stomper (Tony Sancho) and almost immediately gets jumped by his men… only to be saved by Oso. Finally, of all the characters that should have a more deep-seated connection, it’d be Saint and Zapata. Granted, it likely wouldn’t have been as satisfying a reunion if the pair met until less life-threatening circumstances, but it gives viewers the promise of more interactions between the similarly minded go-getters.

For the moment, all is good between Lucia and Gustavo… well, good for a pair of murdering wannabe drug lords that are working to usurp the cartel from under their nose. Short on cash, Oso reacquaints himself with an old friend (enemy? rival?) named Hernan (Michael Ray Escamilla) who’s undergoing dialysis. Obviously Oso wasn’t a paradigm of honor and integrity in his life before lucha; from the way Hernan sneered at his presence, Zapata’s dark side may have more depth than Lucia and Pedro realize.

In any case, Oso gained Hernan’s ear by claiming he’d be beholden to him - and also provide him stacks of cash if the meet with Stomper proves fruitful. After a quick fistfight for the sake of Lucia’s character, Gustavo and Stomper came to an agreement and soon after, Franklin arrived. Although it may have been a one-off meeting, one could bet safe money that Saint will be focused on Oso like a laser and use his partnership with Stomper to provide more keys through Avi, which if played right, may cut out Alejandro and Teddy completely.

Again, the least engaging segments of “A Long Time Coming” involved the aforementioned duo, which isn’t a sleight towards the McDonald and Usteves so much as they have little to do at the moment. For the past three episodes, it’s apparent the writers had been biding their time to dump a massive shitstorm in their laps, and it appears to have coming in the form of a concerned friend of Kristin Grelli, one of the women Alejandro “got rid of” during the series premiere.

Everything finally seemed to be going Teddy’s way: while in DC, Ballard (Nic Bishop) assured McDonald he can run the operation however he wanted, as long as they showed results. This gives Teddy the incentive to take a back seat and reconcile with Jules (Peta Sergeant) and become a doting father. Naturally, Jules is leery of Teddy’s promises which he had presumably broken in the past. Their assignment in Tehran - and his obsessive behavior thereafter - is still fresh in her mind. Nevertheless, she’s willing to give Teddy his first and last chance to prove he’s capable of applying the same energy in raising his son that he does in establishing puppet governments for the CIA.

Ironically, Alejandro may need his partner more than ever now that his recklessness could potentially wipe out the entire operation. Still, Usteves may see this as opportunity to prove to Teddy and the Agency that he can handle ground level responsibilities and neutralize the concerned friend as well. If this is the case, it would provide an engrossing challenge for both McDonald and Usteves, who are diametrically opposed in virtually every way, as proven by Teddy’s visit to Nicaragua and the fate of his young friend, Popeye. Between this and Franklin’s inevitable confrontation with the vengeful Lenny, our ambitious capitalists may face their greatest challenges yet in the coming episodes.

Regrets? They’ll be plenty.