The Chi: The Sad But Truthful Reality Of Ronnie’s Death
Season 3 of The Chi has been all over the place. Well, that’s the feeling of most fans. It began with the unexpected death and funeral of Brandon and from there, it has never provided the balance needed to make a strong case to live up to expectations to shows like The Wire and Power.
Much like The Wire before it, The Chi has a chance to go down as one of the best African-American TV dramas in history. After the death of beloved and popular character Ronnie, it may have missed its chance.
Seeing Ronnie fall to his death was not as shocking as the director and writers tried to make it out to be. There were too many foreshadowing moments that viewers felt it coming. While some believe that he deserved it, others walked away thinking “why now”?
Why did they have to wait two extra seasons for this to go down? The answer to that is–it’s reality.
Ronnie came home from the war and expected to live a full life. His grandmother saw him as a hero and he wanted nothing more than to keep that image of him in her mind. He found a love interest in Tracy and even raised her child as his own. But then Ronnie found that life after the military is not rainbows and juice boxes. Finding work was hard and before Ronnie knew it, the bottle had taken his life over.
When Jason was murdered, Ronnie wanted revenge. In a blink of an eye, Ronnie destroyed two lives with one fatal mistake. In an argument, he took the life of young Coogie who he thought at the time had something to do with Jason’s death.
This is Chicago where murders go unsolved but Ronnie confessed, was jailed, did some time but was released after getting a shark of a lawyer on his side. The neighborhood still viewed him as a murderer but somehow, he was able to still walk freely minus a few run-ins with the family and harsh words from the rest of the community.
Homeless, beat down, and without hope, Ronnie gave his life to GOD. After losing his grandmother, Ronnie wanted to keep a promise to her to make things right. He managed to find and rescue Kiesha from her abductor. For his actions, the community embraced him but it was too late.
Where the writers went wrong was the story of a hero became predictable but short-lived. His character had gone through the most of anyone on The Chi and he deserved more than a few thousand dollars, a chicken lunch, and a bullet to the back of the head.
Ronnie was on his way out of town to begin work with his friends. That send-off should have been enough. The reason for his death was to show how a city like Chicago will get a hold of you and never let go. For all the fans of The Wire, this is not the same as the death of Stringer Bell.
Bell was a character viewers rooted for but his wounds were self-inflicted. His death came after he gave his best friend and business partner up. He got what he deserved. Ronnie made mistakes but the kind that we see and make every day. That’s why his death hit viewers so hard. He made a mistake, tried to own up to it, took the abuse from the community, and still found a way to redeem his demons.
He deserved better than what he got. But the sad part is, so do many of us. Life is not fair and while The Chi tried to get that point across, they picked the wrong time and character to make that statement.
Mark has been covering Sports and Entertainment for the past six years. His work has been featured on Bleacher Report, ESPN, Fox Sports, Teen Vogue, and many other websites.
