'The Chi' Season 3 Episode 4 Review: It's Camille vs Douda as mayoral race heats up, Ronnie finds his polaris
Spoilers for 'The Chi' Season 3 Episode 4 'Gangway'
The major scare comes when Dre (Miram A Hyman) and Nina Williams (Tyla Abercrumbie) walk with shaky legs and trembling bodies when they hear of a body found by the beach. Mercifully, it isn't Kiesha Williams (Birgundi Baker) and then tears of relief flood over. 'Gangway' introduces new characters, a purpose for Ronnie Davis (Ntare Mwine), and builds a stronger bond between Emmett Washington (Jacob Latimore) and Tiffany (Hannaha Hall) while Kevin Williams (Alex Hibbert) and Jemma (Judae' a) get their dating off to a steady start.
Those who caught the episode's promo featuring Lena Waithe as mayoral candidate, Camille Hallaway, weren't wrong when theorizing if she would be the biggest highlight of 'Gangway'. Her first introduction happens at Papa's (Shamon Brown Jr.) church where Hallaway delivers a rousing speech that immediately earns the respect of the congregation. However, it does seem like there's more to what meets the eye. Papa describes her to Kevin and Jake Taylor (Michael V Epps) as a woman with some "Lit suits."
Politics plays the second major role in the episode as Otis 'Douda' Perry (Curtiss Cook) uses Jake as a medium to garner attention and votes. Meanwhile, Jemma's father, another rad affluent politician is intent on making a mark is responsible for her elegant upbringing, something Nina and Kevin are in awe of. The best comes when a benefactor who is responsible for funding Kevin's scholarship dubs him to be the next Ben Carson and Nina aptly replies "I hope not."
'The Chi' offers a heartfelt tribute to the ones involved in the civil war in the form of a date between Kevin and Jemma to the museum. Civil rights activist Nina Simone gets a rich homage and so does her soulful, 'I Put A Spell On You'. Ronnie's new outlook on life by embracing the values of Christianity adds more depth to the character. His decision to find Kiesha comes in as a strong motivating factor for a man who was always at the receiving end of life despite having his heart in the right place.
The comic relief comes from Emmett and Tiffany where the former complains there's not enough intimacy between the two anymore. Tiffany wants him to help around the house and not expect a pat from her all the time, while the man listens to a cockamamie theory from his dad, Darnell (Rolando Boyce), about Tiffany probably cheating. This leads to a rift, however, the best advice comes from Sonny (Cedric Young) who just tells Emmett to do what she wants.
Rewards for Emmett as the episode sees him get what he finally wants. 'Gangway' has that one heart-in-the-throat moment in the form of the false alarm. However, the one takeaway is that she's alive and it's only a matter of time before Hallaway uses this to her advantage. 'The Chi' manages to be better than the previous seasons and a lot of that success can be attributed to what's happening in the present-day world. To sum this up, the series is on a roll.
'The Chi' Season 3 airs Sundays 9 pm ET on Showtime.