Snowfall – Slow Hand

By: Jessica Wolff

Franklin Saint (Damson Idris) forces himself to stand up and vomits before limping back into the club.  He confronts Claudia Crane (Judith Scott) about talking to the two guys who beat him up beforehand.  He gets mad at her for setting him up and she responds that he is inexperienced in business.  She asks him what he is willing to do about it.  He follows her to her office and asks who the men were.  When she asks why she would tell him that, he says that he’s asking her nicely.  She makes him promise that he’ll be nice to her next time and identifies the men as Lenny (Craig Tate) and Ray Ray (Markice Moore) and tells him to ask around the Western Tribe.

Teddy McDonald (Carter Hudson) and Alejandro Usteves (Juan Javier Cardenas) receive their shipment of weapons.  Teddy questions if the weapons are decommissioned and the delivery guy explains that they were about to be decommissioned before he stole them from the Army.  The man shows Teddy one of the weapons, but Teddy notices the serial number and declares that the deal is off.  He explains that he doesn’t want and of the weapons to be linked to the US, but the guy is not happy about him rejecting the weapons after all the work he did to acquire them.  Alejandro pulls Teddy aside, and tells him that it’s not a big deal.  Teddy argues that the serial numbers can easily be traced, but Alejandro asks how he expects to fight the communists without weapons.  He promises that they will repackage the weapons and take off the numbers before they ship them off.  Teddy agrees, but insists that they take off the numbers themselves.

Lucia Villanueva (Emily Rios), Pedro Nava (Filipe Valle Costa) and Gustavo ‘El Oso’ Zapata (Sergio Peris-Mencheta) discuss who they can kill and frame for the robbery that they committed.  Pedro talks about one of the potential victim’s family and Gustavo asks to take anyone with a family off the list.  Pedro suggests a man named Tomas (Anthony L. Fernandez), as he is a deliveryman over a man named Enrique, a security guard previously arrested for manslaughter.  Pedro tells Gustavo to let them know when it’s done.  Gustavo asks why he’s doing it alone and Pedro reminds him that his murder is what landed them in this position in the first place.  Gustavo says he didn’t have a choice, but Lucia tells him that he doesn’t have one now.

Franklin walks to Leon Simmons’ (Isaiah John) house and Leon’s mother (Sonya Leslie) asks where he got the cuts on his face.  Franklin lies that he got them playing basketball, but Leon knows that he’s lying.  He tells Leon what happened and Leon is upset that he didn’t bring him with him.  Franklin tells him that he would have brought him in after a couple of runs, but that things got real too quickly.  He asks for help tracking Lenny and Ray Ray and Leon agrees to help.  Teddy and Alejandro work on removing the serial numbers, but Alejandro is frustrated that it’s taking so long.  He tells Teddy that his men need the weapons now, but Teddy insists on doing things his way.  Teddy gets a phone call and promises to take care of something.  He tells Alejandro that he will be back before running out of the warehouse.

Franklin and Leon look around the neighborhood and enter a backyard where several men are playing with an arcade machine.  J.J. (Lamar Usher) teases Leon, but Leon asks Dennell (Daniel Lee Robertson III) for his help.  He tells them that someone stole something from Franklin, but they won’t tell him what was stolen.  J.J. tells them to get out yet Dennell is interested in helping and knows where to find Lenny and Ray Ray.  He insists on going with them and they all get into the car.  Teddy visits his wife (Peta Sergeant) and son and is thrilled to be reunited with them.  After asking about their trip, Teddy kisses his wife on the couch.  He apologizes for being busy lately and suggests that they take their son to a park.

Franklin, Leon and Dennell pull up in front of Lenny’s house. Dennell assures Franklin that his stolen goods would be there and not at Ray Ray’s house.  They get out of the car and Dennell pulls out a gun.  As Franklin knocks on the door, Dennell points the gun at him and yells at Lenny to come get his bitch.  Lenny opens the door and Dennell busts in and pins Lenny to the ground.  Dennell orders Franklin and Leon to tie him up and they tie his wrists together.  Lenny taunts Franklin about beating him up as Dennell puts a gun to his head.  Gustavo pulls up to Tomas’ house and debates going inside.  He looks at a picture in his car and watches Tomas feed a parrot on the porch. He watches from the window and sees Tomas and his boyfriend eat dinner together.

Franklin and Leon look frantically around the house for the money while Lenny taunts them.  Frustrated, Franklin demands to know where his money is and Lenny jokes around before telling him that he doesn’t have it at the house.  Franklin and Leon continue searching while Dennell gags Lenny and tapes his mouth shut.  Dennell asks what they’re looking for and Franklin admits that they’re looking for a couple thousand dollars.  Dennell taunts Lenny and then grabs a baseball bat.  Franklin stops him from hitting Lenny with the bat and asks to talk to him.  Leon tells him that the time for talking is over and Dennell makes fun of him for being soft.  Dennell starts destroying the house with the bat and Franklin pulls off the tape and gag.  Once he is able to talk, he tells Franklin that he’s going to kill him.  Franklin tries to appeal to him, but Lenny spits blood in his face.

At the park, Teddy rides the train with his family and explains the cocaine business to his wife.  She’s worried that the business will end up like it did in Miami, but Teddy assures her that it won’t happen there and that it can change the entire course of the war.  She isn’t convinced, but he promises that he has a handle on it.  She is worried about the toll it will take on him mentally yet he insists that he’ll be fine.  She brings up his previous experiences, but he believes that things will be better this time.  They get off the train and his wife tells him to make his call.  He calls Alejandro, who is frustrated about the serial numbers.  He asks for more time and promises he’ll be back soon.  Alejandro hangs up on him.

Franklin and Leon continue looking around for the money.  Leon finds Franklin’s backpack, but it is empty.  Ray Ray knocks at the door and they rush to Lenny to prevent him from calling for help.  Dennell pulls out his gun and watches Ray Ray knock at the door and then walk away.  As soon as the coast is clear, Dennell attacks Lenny with the baseball bat.  Lenny has trouble breathing and Dennell brandishes a knife and cuts his neck bindings loose.  Dennell demands to know where his money is and then drags Lenny by the feet into another room.  The sight horrifies Franklin and Leon.

Pedro can’t believe that Tomas is gay and Lucia asks if Gustavo killed him.  He admits that he couldn’t do it and reminds him that he didn’t want to kill anyone with a family.  Pedro believes that Gustavo should have killed Tomas and his boyfriend since they are gay, but Gustavo insists that it wasn’t right.  Pedro suggests that he just go to his father and tell him that Gustavo robbed him, but Gustavo throws him the gun and asks him to kill him if he wants him dead.  Lucia tells them to stop while Gustavo insists that it should be Enrique.  Pedro reminds him that he’s a killer, but Gustavo insists and demands that they be there to watch him do it.  Franklin listens to Dennell torture Lenny and believes that Dennell is going to kill him.  Leon comes over and realizes that Dennell is not killing Lenny, but raping him.

Teddy is unable to reach Alejandro and checks in on his son.  His wife tells him to go, but asks her to have dinner with him.  She reiterates that she wants him to go and that they’ll be leaving in the morning.  Teddy is confused and she tells him that she doesn’t want him to say what he thinks she wants to hear.  She reminds him that she got pregnant when they were stationed together and he told her he loved her instead of telling her that he wasn’t ready.  He insists that he loves them and she says that she knows, but that she can’t stay while he’s involving himself in this business.  He tries to convince her that it won’t be a problem, but she is still worried about him.  She tells him to do it if he feels that it’s best for the country.  He tells her that he wants to come back to DC and she tells him that he knows where they are.  He goes in to say goodnight to his son and tucks him into bed, taking his drawing with him.

Dennell buttons his pants as he walks out of the room and Franklin sees that Lenny is in bad shape.  Dennell takes the money and Franklin asks for it.  However, Dennell just laughs and walks away with all of Franklin’s money.  Teddy arrives back at the warehouse and finds a note taped to the door that says, “Dear Teddy, Fuck You.”  He opens the door and finds all of the weapons are gone.  As Pedro sleeps in the car, Lucia asks Gustavo to go outside with her.  Lucia tells him that he can watch over the stash house and asks why he got into wrestling.  He says that he thought it would make him feel good.  They see a car pull up and they climb back into the car and watch as Enrique comes home.  Gustovo, Lucia and Pedro come up with a game plan and Pedro hands Gustavo a gun before Lucia heads towards the house.

Jerome Saint (Amin Joseph) asks Franklin what happened to him and he insists that it isn’t anything that he can’t handle.  Aunt Louie (Angela Louis) asks if Claudia is responsible, but he says it’s something else.  Franklin asks for a gun and Jerome warns him that if he takes a gun out of the house, he better be ready to use it.  He warns him of the risks before going to get him a gun.  Franklin sneaks into his home to avoid being spotted by Cissy Saint (Michael Hyatt).  Once in his room, he examines the gun and stashes it out of sight before changing his shirt.  He goes back out to speak to his mother.  She wonders where he’s been and he lies that he got cut at work.  She suggests that he find another job and he admits he’s considering it.  They lay and watch TV together as Franklin contemplates everything.