The Chi Recap: Farewell Tour

Kimberly Roots
·4 min read

Warning: This post contains major spoilers for Sunday’s The Chi.

Quick quiz! Did The Chi‘s Ronnie get a) exactly what was coming to him or b) an extremely ill-timed raw deal in this week’s episode? Your answer likely depends on whether you view him primarily as the man who killed Coogie in the series premiere or the man who has been trying to make up for that act ever since.

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Either way, Ronnie is real dead by the end of Sunday’s hour, killed outside of Emmett and Dom’s new restaurant just as he was about to leave town and start a new life.

The irony: For 99 percent of the episode, Ronnie is on a high. For his role in Kiesha’s return, he gets a cash reward from Papa’s dad’s church; Douda then buys some community goodwill by gifting Ronnie $5,000 on top of that. But the moment is marred by a man in the congregation standing up and yelling that the older man’s recent good deeds don’t mean anything: “You still a murderer.”

After church, Tracy and Ronnie have a nice conversation about how she’d like to take him to see his granddaughter (Jason’s daughter). The warm conversation just keeps going as they walk; he tells her he’s planning to move to Springfield the next day, because he’s got friends and a job opportunity there. As they head to scatter Ethel’s ashes, Tracy points out that Ronnie doesn’t have to leave town in order to make a fresh start, but he’s very peaceful as he mentions that he’s not running away from anything or anyone anymore. Then he empties Ethel’s urn into a brook, tearfully whispering that he’s going to make her proud.

The next day, Tracy takes Ronnie to see Jason’s daughter, and he gives the girl most — if not all — of the money Douda gave him. Then, Tracy invites him to the opening of Smokey’s, the barbecue joint formerly known as Sonny’s. He accepts. They eat. And when they’re done, they walk arm-in-arm out from the back patio, smiling.

That’s when the same guy who denounced Ronnie in church walks up behind him and shoots him twice: once in the shoulder and once in the head. “That’s for Coogie, motherf–ker,” he says before walking away. Tracy screams and kneels beside Ronnie, who bleeds out on the pavement.

Elsewhere in the hour:

* Kiesha is slowly trying to get her life back on track after her ordeal with Omari, though she has panic attacks a few times during the episode and calms herself with a guided breathing app on her phone. But it’s Nina who looks like she’s going to have to huff and puff into a brown paper bag when Kiesha comes out of the bathroom holding a positive pregnancy test. The teen immediately asks when she can have an abortion; later in the hour, though, she looks like she might be having second thoughts about ending the pregnancy.

* Emmett enlists his friends and family to help him ready the eatery — named Smokey’s — for its grand opening. But two minutes of being in the same room with him and Dom leads Jada to correctly deduce that her son cheated on Tiffany with his new business partner. Dom assures him that she hasn’t caught feelings for him (but I’m not so sure). And when he’s moved by Tiffany’s steadfastness, he goes to the pawn shop and buys her an engagement ring with $500 and the watch on his wrist. She says yes. Neither Jada nor Dom look excited about the prospects. At least the restaurant is a success!

* Jake breaks into Douda’s safe (with Roselyn’s help) and delivers a file he finds there to Camille Hallaway’s campaign headquarters.

Now it’s your turn. What did you think of the episode? Sound off in the comments!

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