![]() Carter Hudson plays Teddy McDonald, a CIA agent who is also diving in headfirst-though, unlike Franklin, he has the support of the United States government behind him. One of the problems may be that the writers have, rather than investing more time with Franklin and his family, spread themselves thin with other story arcs that have little to do with Franklin, and more to do with the larger story of cocaine in America (although this clearly wasn’t their intention, I can’t help but imagine a series that had focused more on Franklin, while placing these other narratives in the margins, where they could have still been impactful). But if we never knew him well to begin with, how will we know if and how he’s evolving? And, most importantly, why will we care about anything that befalls him, when the writers haven’t done the work of making us become invested in their lead character? Sure, it’s upsetting to watch him catch his first major beatdown, just after scoring his first big deal, but such scenes are far less affecting when characters like Franklin have been lazily presented in the first crucial hours of a series. Who is Franklin, beyond the sweet boy with a hunger for real, American-dream-like money that we meet in the first three episodes of the series? This is important because one has to assume this new world and all the new problems (robberies, violence and the wedge driven between him and his uncle) will change him in some way. Snowfall writers have made the mistake of relying almost solely on the plotlines to drive the story. Franklin doesn’t need that character trait specifically, but he needs something that would make watching him experience the highs and lows of this business more compelling. But beyond that, George also had a bizarre, almost casual-like recklessness that explained his career choice. (Even as I pose this question, I can hear what I know Lil Wayne’s response would be in my head, but Franklin isn’t a rapper and even with characters for whom money is the motivation, the audience still needs to believe that they want more.) Consider the classic cocaine film Blow, where we met a young Boston George, desperate to never be poor-to never even be a middle class worker like his father. It’s somewhat interesting to watch as he ventures into this dangerous new world, but one gets the sense that there has to be another motivation, or another aspect to Franklin’s character-something that sends him diving headfirst into selling a drug his (much older, and at least street-wiser) uncle won’t even touch. Of course, Franklin wants money-more than he makes selling weed, and more than he could ever make, working as hard as his mother does. However, we never really find out why, and this is a key problem with the series. ![]() And although his uncle is satisfied with their current working arrangement, and things seem to be going well for the both of them, for some reason, Franklin wants more. But he also spends time in the wealthier parts of town, as he’s maintained some friendships with the white kids who he went to school with-kids he now deals to. In the pilot we learn that he lives in a modest but comfortable home, with a hard-working and attentive mom, but secretly sells weed with her brother-which often brings him to the hood. Like many others, I was most interested in the perspective of Franklin Saint, played by Damson Idris, who naively dives into selling cocaine in hopes of getting his shot at the American dream.Īnd indeed, Franklin has the most compelling narrative on the show-although it’s unfortunate that he’s not necessarily the most interesting character. ![]() Created by John Singleton, Eric Amadio ( After Sex) and Dave Andron ( Justified), the previews promised a distinctive take on the traditional drug story, and a new, mostly uncharted world to explore in episodic form. ![]() The premise is exciting: the origin story of L.A.’s early ‘80s crack cocaine epidemic, experienced through the eyes of a young black man. It’ll be easy enough to get audiences to tune into the first few episodes of Snowfall. This review contains light spoilers from the first three episodes of FX’s Snowfall
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