Snowfall – Make Them Birds Fly

By: Jessica Wolff

Franklin Saint (Damson Idris) counts his money from his previous night’s deal.  Gustavo ‘El Oso’ Zapata (Sergio Peris-Mencheta) works under his car while Pedro Nava (Filipe Valle Costa) and Lucia Villanueva (Emily Rios) wait for him.  Franklin uses his money to buy a motorcycle from a guy.  Teddy McDonald (Carter Hudson) tells Alejandro Usteves (Juan Javier Cardenas) that they should find a new stash house for the cocaine, as this current house is too understated.  Alejandro reminds him that they have two deals to make, but Teddy puts his foot down and tells him that they will be leaving this house after the meeting tonight.  He tells Alejandro to meet him in a parking lot with the rest of the cocaine after Teddy finishes his errands.

Gustavo pulls up to the meeting place, and Pedro remarks that he’s late.  Pedro asks for the cash, and he throws the bag to him.  Pedro finds nothing but a family photo in the bag, and demands to know where his money is.  Gustavo responds that he’ll give him the money when he feels safe and asks who would hire someone to steal from his own father.  Lucia tries to explain, but Pedro points a gun at him.  She pleads with Pedro not to shoot Gustavo and they argue about it.  Pedro pulls away and Lucia stays with Gustavo.

Alejandro meets Teddy in the parking lot and Teddy gets into his car as they drive away.  At their meeting, they wait for Avi Drexler (Alon Aboutboul) to finish snorting his cocaine.  Drexler asks why he didn’t call them and Alejandro explains that he doesn’t have a phone.  Drexler corrects him and explains that he doesn’t like talking business over the phone and that he wants them to conduct business the way they agreed upon.  He points a gun at Teddy and demands that he strip.  Suspicious of Teddy, he wants to confirm that he’s not wearing a wire.  Teddy and Alejandro strip and Drexler demands that Teddy show him his ass.  Before he can pull his boxers down, one of Drexler’s men comes in severely injured.  Teddy suggests getting a doctor, but Drexler yells at him.  He orders them to get out and promises Alejandro that he will call them when he wants to discuss their deal.

Gustavo sets up a punching bag for his training and asks Lucia to tell him everything.  She tells him that she can’t tell him everything, but Gustavo asks who he killed.  She tells him that his name was Max and he worked for Pedro’s father.  He questions why Pedro would steal from his own father and Lucia explains that they were borrowing the money so that they could acquire a product.  Gustavo asks what the product is and Lucia says that the offer to bring him aboard their team full time still stands despite his screw-up.  He is in disbelief that she believes that he messed up and still is furious that she’d betray her family for money.  Gustavo’s manager yells at him to stop talking and get to work, and Lucia tells him to quit as he will have enough money to buy the practice ring if he stays with them.

Franklin arrives at Drexler’s home where Drexler and his men are arguing over the injured man.  He interrupts them to tell them that he has the money, but Drexler is in disbelief that he pulled it off.  Franklin asks for more kilos of cocaine and argues that he should be given more opportunities.  Drexler agrees, as long as he does something for him first.  After Drexler instructs Franklin to drive the injured man to the hospital, Franklin asks for the cocaine.  He promises to give it to him when he comes back and tells him not to mess up.  Franklin drives the car to the hospital, drops the injured man in front and drives away.

Alejandro drops Teddy back at his car and Teddy declares that they shouldn’t be doing business with Drexler.  Getting out of the car, Alejandro declares that he had everything under control until Teddy came along.  Teddy shows him the earring he found at the apartment and confronts him about lying about his partner’s death.  Using the evidence around the house, he pieces what happened at the party.  Alejandro denies it and makes him seem like he’s crazy.  Drexler gives Franklin the kilos and asks who he sold the first kilo to.  Franklin replies that it was a fairy godmother.  As he drives away, Drexler warns him to be careful, as he doesn’t want to lose his money.

Franklin greets his Aunt Louie (Angela Louis) and sees that Jerome Saint (Amin Joseph) beat her for helping him.  Jerome is pissed that Franklin got Louie involved in his dealings and Franklin promises that it won’t happen again.  He asks to stash the kilos at the house, causing Louie and Jerome to argue with each other.  Franklin sees his mother, Cissy Saint (Michael Hyatt) come to the house, and tries to hand the bag to Jerome.  He refuses to take it and his mother comes into the house and accuses him of standing her up.  He apologizes and she asks Jerome where Louie is.  He tells her that she’s not feeling well and Cissy responds that it’s because of his motorcycle.  Jerome covers for Franklin and claims the motorcycle as his and Cissy comments that he loves trouble.

Cissy and Franklin work on moving an evicted tenant, Doris Perkins (Karen Malina White) out of her apartment.  Doris is furious and yells at them as they move her stuff.  Cissy is suspicious and decides to take one last look around the apartment.  She tells Franklin to open a vent and he pulls out a jar with raw chicken and milk.  Cissy explains that the mixture would make the air toxic over time, and Doris denies putting it there.  They see Cissy’s boss (Mark Harelik) pull up and Franklin notices him touch his mother inappropriately.  Doris yells at the man and throws the chicken and milk mixture at his car.  Cissy fights off the angry residents as her boss gets into his car and drives away.

Gustavo works under his car and pulls out all of the money he stashed there.  Teddy calls about securing a warehouse for the operation.  Franklin and Cissy talk about the crazy eviction incident and Cissy asks why Franklin was at Jerome’s house.  He tells her that he was just visiting family.  He goes to his room and panics when his backpack isn’t on his shoulders.  Cissy brings it in and asks what inside.  Franklin says that there’s a hoodie and a book inside and tells her that he saw his father last night.

Lucia and Gustavo arrive at Alejandro’s place and he buzzes them in.  She asks Alejandro where his partner is and he informs her of his death.  Teddy comes in and introduces himself as Reed Thompson, but Lucia is suspicious of him.  Teddy tries to smooth things over, but Lucia questions whether this is an excuse to mess with their arrangement.  Once she is assured that the deal hasn’t changed, she sits down to being the meeting.  Lucia exchanges the money for the cocaine and Alejandro tells them that he will sell them more in two weeks.  Teddy shakes Lucia and Gustavo’s hand as they carry the cocaine out of the house.  Teddy tells Alejandro that he found a new stash house for them and leaves the house.

Lucia and Gustavo go through a church to a house, where several women are waiting for them.  Lucia takes them to a secret room in a closet and instructs the women to strip before they work on preparing the cocaine for selling.  She explains the business to Gustavo before Pedro arrives.  He tells Lucia that they need to attend a family meeting and tells the women to stop working for the night.  Lucia tells them to keep working and leaves Gustavo in charge while they are away.  Teddy goes to Drexler’s house, and tells him that they’re not doing business with him anymore.  When questioned, he reminds him he pointed a gun at him and demanded that he strip.  He tells him that he doesn’t want to do business with an unreasonable lunatic and Drexler apologizes despite not trusting him.  Teddy asks him to pour him a glass of wine so they can talk business in a reasonable manner.

Franklin runs into Mellie (Reign Edwards), who wants to hang out with him.  After some teasing, she grabs his backpack and the kilos fall out.  He avoids her questions and tells her to go home as he stuffs the drugs back into his backpack.  Franklin considers asking Louie for help, but he decides not to bother her.  Lucia and Pedro arrive at the family meeting where Ramiro (Jose Zuniga) informs them of the break-in and drags the dead body to the center of the room.  He identifies the body as Max’s brother and promises an investigation into everyone in the room if he doesn’t get his money back in a week.  After the meeting, Lucia talks to her father and then talks to Pedro about their next move.

At the club, Franklin gives the kilos to Claudia Crane (Judith Scott), who has her guard, Santos (Moe Irvin), confirm that the cocaine is real.  They negotiate the deal and Claudia orders Santos to give Franklin his payment.  Claudia asks about Louie and he reminds her that she pulled a gun on her last time.  Franklin tells Claudia that he hopes that this is the start of a long business partnership and she comments how young he is.  She talks to two men by the bar and Santos brings his money over.  On his way out, the two men pull up to Franklin as he starts his motorcycle.  After confirming he is alone, the two men beat him up.  They take his money and his motorcycle, leaving him bleeding on the ground.