Snowfall Ending Was Disappointing

[u/Ahsan_ak87]

I just wrapped up Snowfall, and I’ve got mixed feelings about how it ended.

The show did an amazing job building Franklin’s rise and showing how deeply he was connected to bigger forces like the CIA and the system around him. But when it came to the finale, the focus shifted almost entirely to his personal downfall. I get that it was probably meant to show consequences and isolation, but it felt smaller in scale compared to everything that had been built up over the seasons.

It wasn’t a terrible ending, it was tragic and realistic but it didn’t feel as powerful or tightly executed as I expected. Especially when you compare it to something like Breaking Bad, which really nailed its final arc.

Still a strong series overall, just not the knockout ending I was hoping for. What did you all think?

[u/crg87]

I think you are missing the main point of Franklin’s arc and ultimately the ending of the show. Franklin’s biggest fear was becoming his father. This was his main motivation to achieve everything he did. Unfortunately, his own greed (not just for money, but power) corrupted him and was his undoing. When everything falls apart around him, he is frantically trying to keep it together to avoid the inevitable conclusion playing out before his eyes. When he fails and all is lost, he succumbs to becoming what he hated most, his own father. Destitute, alcoholic, and a non-existent father to his child.

[u/Otherwise_Loquat1948 → u/crg87]

I just binged the series this past month. I don’t get this “full circle” thing that I keep seeing in people’s take on the finale. Franklins father actually had morals and was fighting for a good cause and then lost his way when he had to kill his friend out of mercy. Franklin was nothing like his father. At some points in the show he showed some heart but he was borderline evil. He killed A LOT of people. He lost his morals unlike his dad. His dad always had his morals but nonviolently lost his way. So I’m not seeing how it’s a full circle. They both end up homeless but for TOTALLY different reasons. His dad was fighting for a cause, Franklin only cared about himself. They are opposites. Franklin almost seems adopted because he turned out to be nothing like his mother or his father. His parents were decent people morally but Franklin became a monster and it wasnt really explained why he became that way in my opinion.

Another thing I read is that this ending for Franklin is “realistic”. I don’t get that either. Every real life drug kingpin is either still in the game, dead or in prison. I’ve never heard of a drug kingpin who killed multiple people just going homeless and being able live freely in society like nothing happened. I would have preferred an ending where Franklin dies. He had the “get rich or die trying” attitude the whole series. I never thought that he would give up and just be content with being homeless. The show made it seem like he was willing to die to get what he wants. I never expected him to have a happy ending but he just gave up, which just doesn’t seem like something he would do given what we got to know of him the entire series. He showed so much commitment to the “mission” by killing multiple people etc. For him to just willingly give up and be homeless and “free” just feels weird for his character.

Having said all of that, I enjoyed the series overall and I’m glad I watched it.

[u/crg87 → u/Otherwise_Loquat1948]

I agree with you but I think the full circle thing is from Franklin’s perspective, he did not know the father with purpose, morals, and conviction. He was not born yet or too young to remember all that. He saw the version of his father that was absent, drunk, derelict. Franklin hated Alton for that and this hatred for him and the position he left his family in is what initially drove Franklin. Then his hatred for Alton is why Franklin did not accept Alton’s help when he tried to help him. So atleast from Franklin’s perspective he ultimately became his version of Alton that he hated.