'Snowfall' Season 5 double episode premiere review: FX crime drama off to gritty start
Contains spoilers for 'Snowfall' Episodes 1 and 2
'Snowfall' saw its stocks rise midway into the first season. The 80s crime drama co-created by Dave Andron, Eric Amadio, and the late John Singleton grew darker and fantastic by the episode and has spawned four seasons since then. In 'Snowfall' Season 5, the storyline is all about precision and the relentless quest for power and moolah in a crack epidemic-riddled Los Angeles. The year is 1986 and NBA prodigy Len Bias had just been drafted by the Boston Celtics. Celebrations were in order, except Bias went overboard and OD'd on cocaine only to die a few minutes later.
Unaware of all this is Franklin Saint (Damson Idris) who has learned to fly his private plane, has a relationship with Veronique (Devyn Tyler) and while she tells him of the latest developments, he needs to get some business out of the way. He heads to Grady Williamson's party and looks to increase the buy to 300 kg per week, a steep rise from the $1K per kilo. It's all about competitiveness, something that is set to be the major deciding factor of the season. At the other end, Leon (Isiah John) cracks a worker's feet with a pipe for stealing his Jordans.
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It's all life as usual until murder comes knocking. A cocaine-snorting group takes offense to a new kid and one of the kids shoots the newbie. His friend, Rob, who is initially helped by Franklin and Peaches is later snuffed out just so there are no loose ends. If there was a moment that surmised that Frankie was a cold and ruthless leader, this was it. There are more developments with Veronique revealed to be expecting her first baby with Franklin and the season swiftly moves to the second chapter.
Much of the second episode is about Teddy and Grady and the death of the latter. The Teddy vs Franklin saga will continue to be one of the key storylines in 'Snowfall' Season 5. Perhaps now the gangster should have realized that killing Teddy when had the chance would have been a more prudent move. It's a gritty and tumultuous start to the character who has trouble brewing. This is more than deals and death, it's about family and hanging on to the gains gained over the last few seasons.
'Snowfall' continues to impress the way it does just like the last four seasons, and the focus will be all on Franklin as he grapples his way through the druig-riddled LA labyrinth. Only time will tell how it ends.
'Snowfall' Season 5 airs Wednesdays at 10 pm ET on FX.