Each week, William Lee and Nina Metz recap and discuss the fourth season of “The Chi,” which airs at 8 p.m. Sundays on Showtime.
To paraphrase The Kinks, paranoia will destroy ya. Such is Emmett’s reality these days. And when he finally confesses his affair to Tiff, he does it at the worst possible moment, coitus interruptus-style. Kevin and Jake go on a college tour, thanks to their swanky private school. Jada gets devastating news about her health. And Mayor Otis Perry has big plans for change when it comes to the Chicago Police Department.
As an aside, does it bother anyone that, between seasons, Kevin’s family moved from their apartment into a two-story house — and there’s no mention of it on the show? Did financial circumstances change for his mom and stepmom? Did the show’s producers simply get bored with the old set?
This week’s episode is titled “Cooley High,” coming off last week’s premiere, which was titled “Soul Fool.” Makes you wonder if the episode titles this season are referencing Black TV and films set in Chicago.
1. Mayor Perry announces he’s defunding the police
Nina Metz: That speech is pure wish fulfillment — imagine if a Chicago mayor, or any mayor, said this! I’m so intrigued. For a while now, I’ve been hoping (and I said this in a column I wrote a year ago) that someone in the world of TV or film would imagine for us what an alternative to our current policing systems might look like. Not sure that’s what we’re getting here, but I am excited to see how this will play out in a fictional setting. When he added the words “effective immediately,” I had to laugh — I’m pretty sure that’s not how it works. (I don’t think the mayor has the power to fire a police officer either.)
Otis Perry is a man who has always looked out for his own financial interests and now he’s taking an impassioned stance when it comes to violent and racist policing in this city. Will, what do you make of this turn of events?
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William Lee: I’m right there with you wanting to see where this defund story goes. It remains a hot topic in big cities dealing with the fallout of the George Floyd and Breonna Taylor cases and on online message boards by people who support police. You’re correct, Nina, that the mayor can’t unilaterally fire a cop. The city has long had systems in place that keeps rank-and-file officers out of the purview of politicians, though cops with clout get promotions despite criminal ties (look up former chief of detectives William Hanhardt).
I’m curious how the police will respond to Perry’s moves. The cop he fired alluded to knowing of his dark past. I would think that Chicago cops, real or fictitious, would take a stand against someone they see as their enemy.
NM: The CPD has already taken a stand now, in real life, against our current mayor, issuing a no-confidence vote, despite the fact that she’s done the complete opposite of her fictional counterpart on the show by funneling $281.5 million in federal COVID-19 relief money to the cops to cover personnel costs — and that’s on top of the $1.7 billion dollar budget the CPD already gets, a budget the mayor proposed and the city council approved.
2. Kevin and Jake’s misadventures on their college tour
WL: Kevin’s downward spiral brought on by his trauma continues in this episode as the brooding teenager takes his attitude on a college trip with Jake and Jemma following a salty exchange with his parents. He pushes away Jemma, who desires a challenging mate, while trying to repair his damaged relationship with Jake following the incident with police. The visit ends with Kevin throwing up after popping a pill and swigging beer (at a dorm, during daylight hours, during a college tour).
Not every moment of the trip felt real, but my favorite part of the episode was Kiesha lecturing her little brother about how college life was supposed to be hers and that he’s wasting his opportunity. It’s a moment that paid off early episodes that showed her trying to balance womanhood, school and track.
What did you make of Kevin’s anger, Nina? Did it feel like it came from a real place?
NM: I think Kevin is absolutely feeling caught between emotions — anger, disgust, a sense of “What is all of this for, anyway?” — and maybe that’s what is being conveyed by the surreal way the episode’s director, Gandja Monteiro, shot the bus ride scene. It’s such a stylistic departure from anything the show has ever done, and I feel like the series is a bit lost this year so far, in terms of how it wants to get across its ideas and emotions.
I want to circle back to that moment when Jake was packing his bag for the trip. Trig tells him it’s OK to feel whatever emotions he’s feeling after the police assault: “You don’t have to be strong all the time, bro.” Jake takes that in. And then responds: “Yeah, we do.” It’s a great moment, and Michael V. Epps’s delivery is just devastating.
3. Disruption comes to Trig and Imani’s cozy home
NM: Trig picks up an old friend — new to us — who just got out of prison, and right off the bat he’s trying to take the upper hand, assuming he’ll be the one driving Trig’s SUV home (not happening, Trig tells him) and then acts all kinds of creepy with Imani (I wish Trig had been as emphatic about that not happening). What is Trig’s connection to this man? And why is he giving him any leeway? That’s not Trig’s style, so there has to be more to the story. I’m frustrated to see the show spend so much time on a character we just met (and do not care about), when it spent so little time, comparatively, on something like Jada’s breast cancer diagnosis.
WL: A definite sore spot for me in this show has been the cast members introduced, sometimes with flair or intrigue, only to disappear when showrunners or writers change. Trig is still establishing himself as a character on this show after he was sloppily introduced as a replacement to Reg, whose character was killed off. It’s nice to see hometown actor Jason Weaver in a Chicago setting, but his entrance might have gone farther had they let us in on why Trig is so invested in this new person.
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