A Shocking Climax
After last week’s Divine-themed episode, we return to the unforgiving streets for another dramatic slice of drama, one that ends with a shocking climax and plenty of questions hanging over what direction the show is likely to go next. We begin with a pigeon flying through the air and into the streets. It’s something that acts as an artistic anchor to which all the drama revolves around and remains a consistent theme throughout the episode. This leads us to Randy’s Dad Jerome, who arrives at Linda’s door. As he heads inside, Linda hides her money in a tin at the back of the cupboard while Randy listens to his Father discuss a new house for them all to move into. He tells Linda that fairytales do come true sometimes and he has a project lined up that may be beneficial for them all. Meanwhile, Dennis continues to look after his brothers while we skip around to the different characters, courtesy of the rogue pigeon from before. Bobby’s song continues to do its rounds on the streets too as the various players are greeted by Bobby himself, who arrives to see how they’re all reacting to the song before continuing to hustle. Returning home, Bobby greets Jerome with suspicion before making sure his Mother still has the money stored away in a safe place. She takes the money straight to Fat Larry, who tells her that because the payment is late, she owes more now; an interest payment for her tardiness. He tells her to finish polishing the silverware and leaves her worried and despairing over how to pay him back. Bobby isn’t the only one annoyed with Jerome either, as Shurrie catches up with him in the streets walking with Randy while he should be in school. Jerome hits back though, telling her he can teach Randy the way of the streets, which he deems far more important than a good education. Given this is Shurrie we’re talking about, she’s understandably annoyed at his apathy toward school. Bobby pleads with the owner of the record store to continue holding the tapes for him. Given he’s short on money, he discovers a possible business opportunity as he sees two white kids coming in to score weed. He phones Dennis and tells him it’s easy money – money they need to prevent a nasty fate befalling Linda and to secure the tapes. Win/win. Divine heads home only to be greeted by Shurrie, who tells her brother what’s happened with Jerome and Randy. Having seen the inside of a prison cell, Divine tries to see things from Jerome’s point of view, before answering the phone and showing himself properly getting back into the drug game. Bobby and Dennis hustle, scoring extra cash until they take a slight detour and start chatting up a girl sitting at a table nearby. Unfortunately they’re attacked by two men who leave Bobby bloodied and beaten. Scrambling to leave, Dennis takes Bobby to hospital to get stitches before hurrying back home and giving Linda the cash they made. Before he leaves however, Shurrie tells Dennis she knows what she wants and that person is him. With Linda in over her head, she arrives at the rib shack and prepares for the worst with Fat Larry, only to find Jerome there, having paid off her debt. The only thing he needs, as it happens, is Linda to tell him she trusts him. She eventually says what he wants to hear, before leaving her ever-grateful that she’s no longer in debt. Meanwhile Divine finds himself struggling to get back into the game after a fruitless hustle up in an apartment building. Outside, a large group gathers in the streets. A rap battle begins as Raekwon goes up against Shotgun, just before police arrive at the scene and break it off. Unfortunately, Divine finds himself stuck inside, prompting him to quickly stash the gear he’s holding inside a bin. He does it just in time too, as an officer arrives and begins patting him down. Haze antagonises one of the officers outside, leading to a fight breaking out as he grabs him in a headlock and chokes him out after a swift taser hit to the back of the head. The gang beg him to let Haze go but, consumed by rage, the officer refuses and ends up choking him out. He chokes him so badly however, he actually ends up killing him. As everyone looks on in horror, we close out the episode with a final montage as our rogue pigeon flies across the streets and back into the air. Reaching the halfway point of this drama, Wu-Tang has, so far, managed to combine various different aesthetic influences with its drug and gang-related drama pretty well. All these different ideas – from hand-drawn animations and symbolised pigeons – all play into the general concept of the Wu-Tang Clan itself; an eclectic group of ideas and history coming together to form a cohesive whole. It’s such a clever idea and one that’s executed really well here, with the main narrative keeping everything tied together. The ending is certainly likely to turn heads though and while this police conflict is something that’s not wholly new, seeing someone who used to be from the hood as the perpetrator is pretty shocking and really typifies the balance of power in these communities. Plenty of questions remain hanging over this one though and quite what will happen next week remains to be seen.
