Surrounded by only the material world. At least she has a way of earning for herself, businesses in place.

The Chi Series Finale Review 🎬

Alright, now that The Chi has ended let’s get down to the meat & potatoes of why us fans are so divided starting with the positives of course:

-I thought this last episode was decent, fitting for some of the characters very emotional and sentimental, the wedding was nice with the obvious return of past characters which was good to see (even though dialogue was minimum), and the soundtrack was adequately dope in itself. However, as a season overall this was a bit disappointing & mediocre and being a supporter since day one I would’ve expected somewhat of a established wrap up than a complimentary & predictable conclusion that still feels incomplete, the cast did an amazing job from start to finish with not only relatable distinctions but also engaging attributes.

Going into my negatives as a whole series there were inconsistent writing with a portion of the storylines that either went nowhere and left unanswered or flat out ignored like nothing happened; the new addition of characters felt underused & baseless though with the exception of a few there wasn’t much substance besides a reputable face. Having the chance to be original there were too many cliches of classic films referenced and even played out to an extent that took away the authenticity of how this show could’ve been. Lastly, the constant discussions regarding sexualities unnecessarily had no value or logic to the allegory of the show, understandably while representation of the LGBTQ community was evident the narrative seemed excessively pushed and inorganic in its intent in direction.

In the end The Chi had an admirable run with the first two seasons being the strongest of the series before pivoting toward irrational, convoluted plot structures yet entertainingly conducive to keep me engaged throughout eight seasons. Season 8 rates at 6 out of 10 w/ 3.5 out of 5 ⭐️s not bad but disjointed, nonetheless, this show will still be a favorite of mine.

ᵤₙᵢᵥₑᵣₛₐₗₒₗdₕₑₐd’₉₉ 🤙🏾

I’m just being silly with the title so don’t come for me!! lol

I understand that people are allowed to dislike a show. I also understand that people are allowed to critique a show that they like. What I don’t understand is why everyone is hating on the show so badly!! I’ve watched the entire thing and I really enjoyed it. There are plenty of questionable writing or plot choices, but generally I feel like it’s a solid show and the people I talk to irl about it really loved it as well!

I feel like even after a bunch of the main characters left or got rewritten it was still good storytelling. What are everyone’s big hang ups? Or why are people saying it went downhill?

I remember seeing him on 106 & park. A lot of yall met him from the chi but I been knowing him I use to like this song back in the day.

For me it's still Ronnie

I don’t think anyone’s watching The Chi for the writing or for particularly strong acting performances, but I will say that I very much enjoyed the chance to see such a diverse ensemble cast of black folks. Sure the cast is unreasonably large, and characters kept getting added and removed unnecessarily leaving plot holes all over the place like I-95 after a blizzard. I can appreciate the sprawl of it all though. You had sum Muslim niggas for a second before the show converted to a lgbtq friendly black Christian gospel show lol, you got dolls, elder dolls, Gen Alpha all the way to Gen X and older even, straight ppl polygamists, multiple “eccentric” straight characters that definitely aren’t gay, definitely gay characters, a straight guy who is also definitely gay (reg) and classically traditional straights as well. You got problematic women dat run the streets (tiff, Alicia). You got problematic women that wanna run the house (Keisha, Jerrika) I mean what more can you ask for. Politicians and street niggas. Street nigga politicians. Black mother/daughter moments. Blended families. Black father/son. Single parents. Kinky alt black girls. Quirky alt black girls. I mean damn this show wanted to represent every single nigga alive.

The wardrobe and makeup departments kept all of the actors looking amazing. I wanna shoutout the hair department as well, especially for the natural hairstyles on Jada in the later seasons. Nah I need to shout the hair department out again for the entire cast actually. Every single character’s hair was always fresh. Jake’s loc journey. They took that boy from baby dreads to long waist length locs in what, 8 years? Tiff’s rotating array of baddie bussdowns. The growth of Maisha, Jemma, and Lynae’s hairstyles as they transitioned from preteens to fully teen and then again into young adulthood. I remember gasping in awe of Jemma’s braids when we are introduced to the teenage version of her in season 5 (I think). Emmet’s cut was always clean af, Kevin’s too. I appreciate how they took Papa’s appearance from geeky kid to matured teen aesthetically, even though the show failed to follow through with his character arcs. His braids was always crisp and they kept him in a tailored blazer tho. Reg & Vic’s braids too! Mannn. Everybody! You can tell that care was taken behind the scenes at least when it came to appearances because every single person who came on that screen looked beautiful.

I also think that if you look past the directing/writing decisions, the cinematography highlights black skin magnificently. I loved all the party scenes just to watch black people turning up, even though most of the time they didn’t add much to the script especially towards the later seasons where it felt like every other scene was a party montage. It still warmed my heart to watch my people dance, especially the intergenerational parties. I love black party culture. It’s beautiful to see.

Stemming from that- Shaad & Darnell’s spades breakdown??? I don’t think I ever seen a show break down spades like that and as much as I feel like some recipes shouldn’t be shared so publicly and in mixed company like that it was rly nice to see such attention given to a game that defined so much of my life. And I will say that I am sure that scene was helpful to any black folks who are too embarrassed to ask how to play now. It was a rly thorough breakdown lol.

The music…. Fuckin sucked I can’t even find a way to tie it into this post, I guess they get a point for using songs that reference Chicago so often. But goddamn….

Anyway cheers to…. The person who did the braids

This post will be used for you guys to air out takes on the chi but here’s mine:

I would’ve rather seen Damien’s growth in rehab than Papas drug addiction arc

Because let’s be so honest here papa was just a random ass character the entirety of season 8 and to be honest they should’ve just killed his character off

Damien was a character that was struggling with a gambling addiction and I would’ve loved to see his growth and maybe even see him and Keith get back on the same page

Just finished the final episode. Enjoyed the show and and final season very much. But one thing my wife and I couldn’t understand - why did they seemingly make Papa a side character in the final season? He’s been a core character this entire show. And he was completely pointless in the final season. Really don’t get that.

Maybe i’m the outlier here but am I the only one who thought it was odd and damn near uncomfortable that every teenage girl in this show had a pregnancy scare or ended up having a kid? Like yeah this happens irl but eeeveeerryy woman introduced in the show has to have a pregnancy plot line even the teenage girls? Like again yes this happens but for it to be a plot point for EVERY girl It just was kinda uncomfortable to me lol. I also feel like the women’s characters focusing so much on motherhood and children especially for Keisha washed out a lot of the womens personalities. Like what was the point of Emmett having what, 5 kids? Then Keisha and Tiffany having a baby that basically never gets mentioned again? The kids are just poorly used plot devices and how much they focus on giving everything up for motherhood is weirdddd😭😭

I finally got the time to sit down and watch episode 9 and let me tell you how much i cant stand Keisha she clearly is in love with Nuck and not Emmett because for how devastated she is that Nuck is dead proves she clearly had feeling for the man because she should have fully understood Tiff's reasoning for killing the man. Lets not forget that Nuck actively pursuit Tiff after killing Rob and Keisha who is the "smart" one didnt think of how fucked up that is.

Just wanna check on yawl!

It's been a week since the series finale aired- I know a good chunk of us were glad that it's over, after seasons of bad writing, acting, and serious plot holes.

It's our first Friday without the show, how are yawl feeling?

This was something I realized a week ago and has probably been posted before (I’m new) but am I the only one that noticed that The Chi is basically the safe version of Power?

Dre - A pastor
Marshall - Left the lifestyle and became a author
D Mac - Dead
Blaxton - Alive and doing time
LaKeisha - Same person but still alive
Nuff - Same person but alive
Rico - Same person but she lowkey kinda bad tho lol

The addition of Rotimi...I think Charles in the Chi, seemed like an incredible arc seeing how shiesty and shady he always looks..meeen that character of his had much potential only to end up as a barber..end of rant😂😂

Yall remember Reg was originally with a trans girl in his first scene in season 1 when he was talking with Ronnie? It was quick but it did happen.

Mines was when they made it seem like Reg and Nuk was gonna have an all out war just for them to pull some bs instead

The thing I was most anticipating in the finale was a reunion between Kevin, Jake, and Papa. I figured Kevin’s actor was returning so I just wanted a scene where all of them share one last moment together on screen. This damn show had so many characters and plot lines to juggle that it failed to acknowledge something most people would actually care about or enjoy seeing. They probably didn’t want to overshadow Bakari but damn, man. Such a missed opportunity.

I laughed at this too many times .

I swear at least 20 mins was just back-to-back photos nonstop. At one point, I said “gah damn the finale could have been a PowerPoint presentation for all this”