Written by John Edward Betancourt![]()
Caution: This article contains spoilers for the Season Finale of ‘Black Snow’. To revisit the previous episode, click here. Also, this piece was written during the 2023 WGA and SAG-AFTRA strikes. Without the labor of the writers and actors currently on strike, the series being covered here wouldn’t exist.
It is definitely safe to say that some season or series finales for crime dramas… are loaded to the brim with tropes and clichés. For some of them, love to inject a few shocking twists into the reveal of who done it, to really wow the audience and leave them besides themselves. Not to mention, they tend to race to the finish line and offer up one stunning reveal after another to keep that shock and awe going and well… while that does indeed bring forth some epic conclusions to a story, now and again, such tropes can harm a particular mystery. Because it can force the story to gloss over the emotional power that comes with the solving of a case, nor allow it to properly explore its impact and that is why the season finale of Black Snow on Sundance Now and AMC happened to be so refreshing. Just because ‘Spirits Speak’ ignored those tropes through and through and opted to bring forth a satisfying and complete conclusion to the case. One that was told to us through flashbacks and stunning revelations in present day. Wherein we came to learn that Steve was the man responsible for Isabel’s death, but not for the creepy reasons that have been inferred over the past few weeks. No instead, we came to learn that Isabel put two and two together regarding those missing boys on the day of the big dance, and when she stood up for them and did her best to free them… for they were alive, briefly, in Steve’s shed… she paid every price imaginable. She lost friends, she lost Anton and eventually she lost her life. Because Steve was worried, she would talk and expose him. Oddly enough… that worry caused the chaos in town in present day, since Steve was trying to tie up loose ends… but what he wasn’t prepared for was the guilt that Anton harbored. Because Anton saw the end of Isabel and was badly devastated because of it, and that left him in a broken place. One where he turned to Hazel and shockingly, fathered a child with her, Kalana. And the guilt of seeing the family line continue on through Hazel instead of Isabel… prompted him to take part in wild behavior. The kind that would push Steve to his breaking point and allow for James to put the pieces together and garner a confession and put this case and Isabel to rest at last. All of which, sounds akin to a traditional crime drama ending. Courtesy of the rapid fire reveals and surprises along the way. But even then… those were handled in a realistic and human manner. Where impact was felt and where fallout hung heavy and the wonder of that didn’t end with the closing of the case. Because in the days and months that followed the end of the case, Isabel’s family was able to finally process the truth, and grieve. For that was something they were unable to do previously, and closure also forced them and the town to process… the darkness it harbored within. For Steve was a cancer really, one filled with hate and vitriol toward anyone with a different skin color, and they let that darkness persist and grow until it exploded. Giving rise to an ending that wasn’t happy, but bittersweet. For evil won, since Isabel and good lads were dead, and there was no bringing them back and sadly… that feeling can be the price of justice when the crime is hideous enough. All of which did bring forth an amazing finale when all is said and done Since it wrapped everything up with a neat little bow and answered every last question we’ve harbored about the case and its quirks and mysteries, and it gave James a win and it did put one evil son of a bitch behind bars. Since Steve will never see the light of day, and this story also… explained why James does what he does. For it turns out, he is a family member that saw one of his own, go missing, and earn their own card, and that was powerful to learn and hopeful. Since it would seem his dear brother isn’t as lost as previously thought and that could open up this story to new possibilities if a second season is commissioned. But if not, it ended just right, with justice… realism and the understanding of what murder does to a small city, and its inhabitants, for all time. Watch ‘Black Snow’
1 Comment
LaKetria Brown
3/27/2024 05:44:20 pm
Thank you
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