Snowfall – Pilot

By: Jessica Wolff

In a Los Angeles neighborhood in 1983, several kids run to the ice cream truck as it stops along the street.  While the man inside helps the kids on one side of the truck, two kids steal on the other side and run down the street.  Franklin Saint (Damson Idris) stops them, grabs them and forces them to drop the stolen ice cream.  They run away and he hands the stolen goods back to the ice cream man who yells after them as he chases them.  Two of Franklin’s friends, Leon Simmons (Isaiah John) and Andrew Wright (Marcus Henderson), come up to him and ask why he stopped the kids and he responds that they need to learn how things are in America.  They joke around and run down the street together.

In the ring, Gustavo ‘El Oso’ Zapata (Sergio Peris-Mencheta) fights his opponent as Franklin and his friends cheer from the crowd.  As his handler helps him, El Oso notices Lucia Villanueva (Emily Rios) talking to Pedro Nava (Filipe Valla Costa) in the crowd.  El Oso gets back up and is easily defeated by his opponent.  Franklin is not happy about the outcome and Pedro indicates to El Oso that he wants to speak to him outside.  Outside, Pedro claps for Gustavo as he walks up to him and suggests hiring his opponent instead.  Lucia defends him and Pedro introduces her to Gustavo.  Franklin runs up to Gustavo and asks for an autograph, which he signs after Lucia gives him a pen.  After Franklin thanks him and leaves, Gustavo asks Pedro to give him the names of people who owe Pedro and he’ll take care of it.  However, Pedro tells him that he has a different job in mind and that Gustavo will be part of the team if he pulls it off.

A house party filled with sex and cocaine snorting rages at a private home.  A woman remarks to Alejandro Usteves (Juan Javier Cardenas) how good the cocaine is and another woman inserts a straw into a naked man’s butt and the woman runs out of the room to watch.  Alejandro hears screaming and runs to find the man on the verge of dying.  The woman tells him to call an ambulance, but Alejandro refuses.  Teddy McDonald (Carter Hudson) gets ready for work and goes to his boring desk job.  As he makes a phone call, Alejandro comes in and asks to speak to him.  He tells Teddy that he was told to go to him if he had a problem, and asks him to take a ride with him.  He tells Teddy that he can bring the gun that Teddy has reached for and Teddy goes with him.

Franklin visits his uncle, Jerome Saint (Amin Joseph), who takes him inside his house.  Franklin greets Aunt Louie (Angela Louis), who is too invested in a TV show to get up so he goes over and kisses her head.  In the kitchen, Franklin and Jerome work on preparing the next batch of weed for selling.  A neighbor (Ro Lott) bangs on the door and yells at Jerome.  The argument escalates until Jerome asks Louie to beat her up, which she happily does after her show goes to commercial break.  Alejandro shows Teddy the Naked Guy’s (Eric Brenner) body and Teddy points the gun at him and demands that he put his hands up.  Alejandro tries to convince him that he did nothing wrong, but Teddy asks why he didn’t call an ambulance.  He shows him his enormous stash of cocaine hidden in the hot tub of his deck and Teddy questions why a CIA officer has so much cocaine.

At a diner, Alejandro and Teddy discuss their mutual contact and his role in Alejandro’s cocaine business.  Alejandro explains that his operation is to deliver cocaine to the soldiers fighting abroad and convinces Teddy to help him complete the operation.  Franklin hears his mother, Cissy Saint (Michael Hyatt), pull up in the driveway and hastily stuffs his weed and measuring tools away.  He greets her and notices that her shirt is ripped.  He asks her if someone hurt her, but she refuses to answer.  She gets a phone call and promises the person on the other line that she’ll take care of whatever they ask her about.  After she hangs up, she tells him not to judge her business.  He remarks that he’s impressed with her white voice and she asks him to give her a hug before telling him that she loves him.  Once in the privacy of her own home, she pulls out money and a gun out of her purse.

Franklin deals drugs into the night, Teddy considers Alejandro’s request and Gustavo falls asleep in his car only to be woken up the next morning by a police officer.  The next morning, Franklin waves to his neighbor, Mellie, and Leon says hi to her as he walks by.  Her father comes out and yells at Leon, but Franklin assures him that there’s no trouble.  Leon and Franklin ride the bus together and Leon blares his radio.  A passenger asks him to turn it down, but he turns it up.  The passenger argues with Leon, and Franklin walks away declaring that Leon is being stupid.  Rob Volpe (Taylor Kowalski) greets them as they arrive at his mansion and they walk through the set of an adult film to the pool at the back of the house.  After meeting Volpe’s mother, Rob tells Leon about Franklin’s good reputation in high school.  Rob tries a new drug and tells Franklin that he misses him and calls Leon his brother despite just meeting him.  As they leave, Leon questions why Franklin would want to leave the fancy lifestyle of LA to which Franklin responds that it isn’t home.

Teddy works on cleaning the scene of the Naked Guy’s death and finds blood splatters all over the room.  Pedro and Lucia meet with Gustavo and Pedro tells him to walk in and out of the house he’s breaking in to like he owns the place.  Lucia tells Gustavo that the only way he becomes part of their family is if they trust each other and wishes him luck before she leaves with Pedro.  Mellie bursts into Franklin’s job at the liquor store and asks him to party with her as she takes a bottle from the fridge.  He tells her that he doesn’t want to go to a high school party and he closes up shop.  She asks him what he enjoys and he says that he enjoys working and getting paid.  She asks him about his plans for school and he admits that he felt like an outsider at his high school.  She suggests an all-black college, but he tells her that they’re all located on the other side of the country.  He tells her that he wants to manage his own business and the freedom to do whatever he wants.   Franklin and Mellie are about to kiss when Leon and Andrew knock on the door and start an impromptu party inside the store when Franklin lets them in.

Teddy talks to his supervisor, James Ballard (Nic Bishop), about Alejandro’s plan and asks how badly the government wants the war to be funded.  Ballard tells him that congressional hearings are not fun for anyone, but Teddy asks to be put in charge, believing that he is the perfect guy for the job and that he wants back in the game.  At Rob’s house, his girlfriend asks Franklin to try some of the cocaine she is snorting, but he turns down the offer.  Rob swims over to Franklin and asks him to get more cocaine for his girlfriend and tells him that he knows a guy that can help him get it.  Franklin points out that he’s sending the black guy in instead of putting himself in danger, but agrees to help.

At the house, Rob tells him to get in and get out.  They hear a gunshot, but Franklin still goes in.  Inside the house, Franklin is disturbed to see that Avi Drexler (Alon Aboutboul) has shot a guy wearing a bulletproof vest.  Drexler asks Franklin what he’s doing there and Franklin tells him that he wants to buy cocaine.  Drexler tells him that he doesn’t sell to kids, but he assures him that he’s not a kid and can pay for it.  However, Drexler only sells kilos to rich people and tells him to scram.  Franklin tells him to sell him a kilo and that he can sell it in his neighborhood and get a new customer base for Drexler.  Franklin attempts to end Drexler’s skepticism and Drexler hands him the bulletproof vest.  He puts it on and allows Drexler to shoot him after asking him not to miss.  After promising that the deal will be worthwhile, Drexler tells him to sell the kilo for $12,000 in one day.  Franklin doesn’t believe that he’ll be able to do it one day, but Drexler tells him to prove his claim that he can expand his customer base or else.

Teddy calls his wife while he is weighing the kilos and checks in on his kid.  Franklin shows Jerome the kilo and asks for his help.  He tells him about the deal he made, but Jerome refuses to help him.  Franklin tells him that he’s learned that the game is rigged against them and that he wants to rewrite the rules.  Jerome tells him to get out, and he leaves.  As Franklin tries to figure out what to do, Louise knocks on his window and asks if the kilo is real.  Gustavo breaks into the house and disables the alarm.  He goes through the drawers and steals the money hidden in a secret compartment as well a picture.  He hears the owner come home and hides.  He sneaks up on the man and attacks him, throwing him over the stairwell in the struggle.

Teddy asks Alejandro about all of the assets in the operation and he tells him about Drexler and Lucia, who are both involved in the operation.  Teddy insists that he vet everyone to find whom they can truly trust and assures Alejandro that everything will be fine.  Alejandro asks if he is protected if anything happens and Teddy assures him that he is.  Teddy asks Alejandro about the blood splatters and he continues to lie about who was at the house party.  Louie takes Franklin to see Claudia Crane (Judith Scott) and shows her guard the kilo to gain entrance.  He takes them through the secret nightclub and they meet Claudia.  She is not happy to see Louie, but she allows Louie to introduce Franklin to her.  Claudia tells Franklin that her and Louie’s relationship soured and that he must be desperate if she’s bringing him to her.

Claudia is suspicious that they brought a gun, but invites them to her private office.  Once inside, she hits Louie and points the gun at her and Franklin.  Claudia tells her guard to try the cocaine to prove that it’s real and he confirms it is.  She asks Franklin where he got it, but he refuses to give away his sources.  She demands answers and he explains that he’s desperate and makes a deal with her.  She pulls away the gun and confirms the deal.  As they drive away, Louie warns Franklin that the money is not worth the trouble.  She suggests introducing Drexler to Claudia and getting out, but Franklin tells her that he’ll get nothing if he leaves the deal.  She warns him to be careful and Franklin stares at a homeless man walking by.  Louie tells him to go talk to his father, but Franklin tells her to drive the car instead.  Gustavo looks at the picture he stole from the house with Lucia, Pedro and their family in it.  Teddy finds a stray earring and realizes that Alejandro lied to him.