The End?
The finale of Wu-Tang: An American Saga sees a dramatic close to the duo of storylines here, with just enough left open to tease a second season. Given what we’ve seen so far, there’s plenty of scope to explore the later drama surrounding the clan and I’ve thoroughly enjoyed watching this one over the weeks. The best is most certainly saved for last too, with a cleverly edited episode put together to showcase the journey these different men have taken to form one of Hip-Hop’s best groups. We begin with people from the record label discussing the future sound of music. Midway through talking, Tonya puts the Wu-Tang tape into the record player as we cut back and see Bobby venting his frustrations the night he was dropped from the label. Banging a stick against the fuse box, we jump forward to the label where the tape is taken out while Bobby heads to Dennis’ house in order to get a gun. Unfortunately, his Mum happens to have sold it, leaving them in a difficult position given Attila’s rampage. It turns out the night Bobby was kicked out the studio, he made the most of the final two hours and squeezed every ounce of studio time into producing their Wu-Tang mix-tape. This happened to be a life-changing moment for these young men as the tape itself is played at WNYU radio before Tonya heads off and speaks to a producer about the tape. As she leaves, she hears Wu-Tang being played around the streets, learning soon after that the radio DJ played it several times that night. Divine starts studying economics, turning his back on the drugs game, while Shurrie heads back to New York after learning she’s pregnant. Meanwhile Bobby makes his decision and sits down with Attila, spilling the truth. He tells him that he doesn’t have the money but tries to come to arrangements another way. However, Attila is having none of it and refuses to buy into what Bobby’s saying. Getting nowhere, he sits down with Dennis and Divine instead and tells them it’s his turn to provide for the family. When Divine leaves, Dennis tells him they can get his music back but it’s not enough – Atilla will still be after him. Instead, he decides they need to kill him outright. As their plan starts to gain momentum, so too does the future of Wu-Tang music as Tonya shrugs off Slim Jim’s offer in favour of a new, hungry label starting up. As they ring through to Bobby, everything reaches its dramatic peak. Shurrie returns and surprises Dennis, telling him she’s pregnant while Bobby confronts Attila and holds a gun up to his head. He shoots him in the chest but can’t kill him, cursing his luck and hurrying off. While Bobby, Dennis and Shurrie jump on a bus together, intending to break the news to their Mum, it turns out Dennis managed to sneak into Attila’s apartment and grab the music. As the episode closes out, we hear the words of Steve Rifkind, a man from the record label, leave a message telling Bobby to call him back regarding the music where we end the season. There’s some clever editing this episode as we jump back and forth between the studio session and the different rappers spitting their home-felt truths. After 9 episodes of exploring the past for these characters, each of these verses feel more important than they initially were before and it plays into the entire idea of rap being more than just lyrics and words – it’s a reflection on life. Whether Hulu decide to renew this one for a second season remains to be seen but as it stands, Wu-Tang: An American Saga is certainly one of the better offerings on the platform. The writing is good and despite some initial confusion over the characters early on, the series has really come into its own the past few episodes and doubled down on its musical drama. With some cleverly interspersed rapping from the different characters, Wu-Tang: An American Saga is the perfect tribute to one of the best rap groups ever assembled and a perfect way to honour their memory.
