Netflix's 'On My Block' Season 3 finale: Why the show should end now
Netflix's On My Blockhas always ended its seasons on crazy cliffhangers. In Season 1, a shooting left Ruby unconscious from a gunshot wound and in mortal peril. In Season 2, all four of our heroes were abducted after finding and laundering the RollerWorld money.
Season 3’s ending leaves us with some questions, but for the first time it feels like a conclusion, not a cliffhanger. For the first time, it feels like it might be the moment to let this show go.
First, a quick recap: Season 3, episode 8 opens with the Monse, Ruby, Jamal, and Cesar trekking into the woods to lay low and find Oscar’s body — Oscar, whose death is not believable for even a second, but OK.
It doesn’t take long for this morbid wilderness adventure to turn into On My Block’s equivalent of Girls’ “Beach House,” as the group turns on each other and airs grievances that have been days and weeks, if not years, in the making. Jamal and Ruby blame Cesar for bringing Cuchillos into their lives and endangering the friends through his involvement with the Santos. Ruby and Monse both chide Jamal for his expert catastrophism, and for the first time he responds to a unanimous, “Shut up, Jamal!” with a loud “STOP TELLING ME TO SHUT UP!”
Respect this boy!Credit: Kevin Estrada / NetflixIt all comes back to Cesar and his guilt, even after he's bluntly reminded that Ruby was shot in the chest right before they all watched Olivia die. That Cesar somehow manages to be obstinate in the face of that anecdote stretches believability; it could be weak writing, or acting, or direction — or it could be a sign that maybe this group is fractured beyond repair.
Of course, it’s not Oscar whose corpse lies in the woods, but Cuchillos herself, murdered before Cesar could get to her and do something he can't take back. Oscar is alive if a little beat-up, with Abuelita tending his wounds. The squad doesn't find that out until later, but they return from the woods a changed group. They faced what felt like certain death at Cuchillos' hands, and even though they emerge unscathed, they can't shake the truth that they were ready to take a life themselves.
Related Video: The cast of Netflix's 'On My Block' play Gif Pictionary
That affects everyone individually. Ruby and Jamal can hardly stand to be in a room with everyone else. When Ruby splits, he pauses at Olivia’s memorial, realizing what he has to do. Free of the tangled threads of Santos and Prophets and RollerWorld and Lil’ Ricky, he sees his feelings for Jasmine clearly, and apologizes for lying and leaving.
Jamal, unburdened of his purpose as group leader in adventure and investigation, hits up Kendra, regretting his decision to give her up while he focused on the mission. Kendra is as weird and forgiving as ever, unperturbed by the constraints and anxieties of modern dating as she welcomes Jamal back into her life, or at least her curriculum.
I gotta side with Monse's dad on this one.Credit: Kevin Estrada / NetflixFor Monse and Cesar, the entire season has been an agonizing push and pull of their relationship. They clearly bring drama and destruction into each other’s lives, but can’t ignore the chemistry and history (high school, amirite?) when they’re together. No matter how much Jasmine or anyone else advises against it, they're drawn back to each other, in part because they don’t know anything different. When Cesar intimately tells Monse, “Tu eres mi vida,” in episode 7, it feels more performative than genuine. She is his life, along with Ruby and Jamal and the Santos, but perhaps everyone involved needs a slightly different life.
When he finally pushes for Monse to leave Freeridge, Cesar tells her, “We are burned into each other’s DNA. Wherever your heart beats, mine beats with it.” That’s true for all the friends as they separate, and for all of us regarding the people who stood by us in our formative years. We might not be friends for a long time, like Jasmine predicts for herself and Ruby, but we are part of each other even as we part ways and go out into the world.
Monse’s goodbye is classic, reminiscent of so many scenes we’ve seen over the years. The friends hug and linger, reverting to their old dynamic for a few minutes, but now it's more forced than natural. They are, all of them — Monse included — putting on a show, doing an impression of the friendships they left in the woods with Cuchillos' body.
These days might be over, and that's okay!Credit: Courtesy of NetflixAnd then it's time for the flash forward, which tells us as much. Two years in the future, Monse's Freeridge crew are in the back of her mind and on the back of the dresser adorned with photos of her loved ones. Jamal is back on the football team but apparently thriving socially. Jasmine and Ruby are still going strong, though that doesn't stop the latter from exchanging a loaded, lingering look with Jamal at school that no one else in the vicinity seems to notice. Oscar finally got out of the game to enjoy the peace and family he never had, and unfortunately, it's Cesar now trapped in the world of the Santos as a roughed-up gang leader calling shots and kicks, ostensibly to comfort that broken heart tattooed to his chest.
Until the Cesar scene, I thought this must be the end. It's bittersweet for sure, but so true to life. Even Cesar's arc, painful as it is, mirrors the lives of many who can't escape cycles of violence and misfortune because they were born in the wrong class or neighborhood. A fourth season will at least be a chance for On My Blockto rescue him from this, but that involves sucking Jamal, Ruby, and Monse back into the Santos' orbit and danger's path. The chances of every character getting a happy ending on this show were slim to none, ever since Olivia's devastating quinceañera. For now, at least, some of them have found a better life. That's as good an end as any.
On My BlockSeason 3 is now streaming on Netflix.
TopicsNetflix
(责任编辑:新闻中心)
- Tesla's big software update includes something called 'Night Curfew'
- 孙红男:“榨取”甘薯“剩余价值”,打造“变废为宝”产业链
- The Best AMD Ryzen Gaming Laptops (So Far)
- 普及科学睡眠知识 呵护市民身心健康
- Table tennis star Shin Yu
- Revolutionary grid
- N. Korea lifts respiratory illness
- Cool English teacher asked her students to make memes. They delivered.
- 兴农评丨以司法规范习俗,让彩礼回归初衷
- Smiley face on Mars is a telltale sign of its past
- Here's what happened with Beyoncé at the NBA Finals
- 茂名化州启动高素质农民培训计划,超200名农民参加
- Dell fixed the most annoying thing about its XPS 13 laptop
-
广州市白云区供销联社携手6所院校15支队伍,加力提速推进“百千万工程”
广州市白云区供销联社携手6所院校15支队伍,加力提速推进“百千万工程”_南方+_南方plus今年以来,广州市白云区供销联社与6所院校15支突击队结对,依托下属区级助农服务综合平台和镇村级助农服务中心, ...[详细] -
N. Korean media airs documentary touting successful COVID response
This image, captured from the Korean Central Television, shows a documentary film aired touting Nort ...[详细] -
Defector group says it will use drones for leaflet campaign against N. Korea
This photo shows one of the balloons containing 1 million anti-Pyongyang leaflets that Fighters for ...[详细] -
Migrant caravan: Trump tells Hondurans to turn around despite asylum possibility
Popular in News & Politics The Real Story of the Glamorous Prosecuto ...[详细] -
Sports minister says audits into football, badminton federations set to conclude in Sept.
Yu In-chon (right), minister of culture, sports and tourism, speaks during a plenary session for the ...[详细] -
Biden, Kishida call for denuclearization of NK, reaffirm cooperation with Seoul
U.S. President Joe Biden and Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida walk through the colonnade of the ...[详细] -
雅安日报/北纬网讯昨28)日,市政协机关按照“法律七进”中进机关活动要求,开展“民法总则宣导”讲座,旨在提高干部的法律素养和法治意识,牢固树立和自觉践行执法为民、公平正义的理念,带头学习、遵守、执行、 ...[详细]
-
邬金涛:以品牌农业引领甘薯产业高质量发展_南方+_南方plus“如何把甘薯的价格卖上去?唯一的答案就是做品牌!”在2024汕尾陆丰甘薯高质量发展研讨会上,中山大学管理学院副教授邬金涛如是说。农业要强, ...[详细]
-
17 Places That Harness the Power of the Sun
As we begin the journey down the path of totality in 2024, the eclipse offers the perfect opportunit ...[详细] -
“医生,我咳嗽2周了,有没有可能患上结核病?”“医生,哪些人群容易得结核病?我们如何防治结核病呢?”……3月21日,四川农业大学新校区食堂外,刚刚下课的学生围着市疾控中心结麻所所长王显贵问个不停。“勤 ...[详细]
New Grok response directs users to Vote.gov for election questions
Facebook unveils plan to fight interference in 2020 Census
- 海丰芥蓝入选全国名特优新农产品名录
- Woman captures perfect photo of a seagull brazenly stealing a lobster roll right out of her hand
- President blames predecessor for downsizing security meeting for 'fake peace'
- 举一反三一抓到底 加强整改见实效
- A Barbie flip phone is here from HMD
- 广东人记忆中的年味,都藏在这些年货里
- Kentucky Kroger gunman allegedly says "whites don't shoot whites."