'Wu-Tang: An American Saga' Season 1 finale is perfect setup for a potential Season 2 as Jake Hoffman shows up as Steve Rifkind
The final episode of what is hopefully the first season of Hulu's 'Wu-Tang: An American Saga' begins where the last episode left off: Attila has stolen Bobby's tapes and is holding them for ransom for $60k, Shurrie throws up signifying she may be pregnant with Dennis's baby - which is confirmed in the season finale - and Bobby is still reeling from being dropped by Tommy Boy Records.
Last week, Bobby hands over his tape of songs he's labeled 'Wu-Tang' to Tommy Boy Records to give it a listen, however, the tape ends up in a pile of other rejected music. This tape is taken home by another employee of the company and finds its way to a woman who works for Slim Jim Recordings, Tonya, who listens to it. Tonya gets the Wu-Tang tape to the WNYU radio whose DJ plays it several times, leading to the music getting popular on the streets. This tape had music Bobby made with Sha (Raekwon), the Genius (GZA), Ol' Dirty Bastard, Method Man, and Rebel. This week's episode is interspersed with the scenes of the group recording in the studio.
In the present, Bobby goes to Dennis to borrow his gun to protect himself from Attila, only to find out that Dennis's mom sold it. Dennis, Bobby and O.D.B. are walking in a park on the way to get a gun when one among a group of Five Percenters asks Bobby, or Prince Rakeem as he calls him, "what's today's mathematics?". Just as Dennis tells him that they aren't into that, Bobby starts by saying, "to build is to elevate the mentalities of self", proving that he's come a long way from when we saw young Bobby dissing the Five Percent Nation in an earlier episode.
Bobby's cousin Gary (GZA) is concerned about the former getting a gun and reminds him that he controls his fate and gives him five grand. Gary may be right as elsewhere in the episode, Tonya is trying to bring the tape to producers' notice, playing them up to be the next big thing. Bobby's older brother, Divine, seems to know this too as he begins taking economics classes.
Bobby meets with Attila to discuss the ransom and tell the latter that he never got paid for his time with Tommy Boy Records, but Attila doesn't care. Bobby and Dennis decide that even if they get his music back, they still need to kill him to end the threat. Meanwhile, Tonya meets with Steve Rifkind who is interested in meeting with them and signing them on to the new label he is starting - Steve then realizes he might know this guy - he met Bobby just as Tommy Boy Records signed him as Prince Rakeem, as we saw in an earlier episode.
As the episode rolls into its tense final moments, Bobby confronts Attila. Dennis was supposed to back up Bobby but is surprised by Shurrie who has come back to New York, possibly hoping to raise the baby with him. Bobby shoots Attila in the neck but fails to kill him and chooses not to finish the job.
As the episode closes, Shurrie, Dennis, and Bobby runs away to Ohio, with Dennis revealing to Bobby that he stole his tapes back, Divine is back together with Nia, Power talks to Shotgun about recruiting him to work for him dealing drugs, and Steve Rifkind leaves a message for Bobby suspecting that it is his music.
It is clear at this point that this is not the end of the story. Hulu's show has only begun to explore the lives of these young rappers as they transcended the situations in their lives to make meaningful music together. The finale has ended just before Bobby's trial, which if there is a season 2, will be covered then. As we wrote earlier, the trial was a major turning point for the RZA and the Wu-Tang Clan released their debut album just over a year later.
The final episode serves as the perfect setup for a second season, and fans would be hoping that the events of the finale mean that their wishes for the same are answered.
All episodes of the first season of 'Wu-Tang: An American Saga' are available to stream on Hulu.
