The Ending Of Snowfall Season 4 Explained

"Fight or Flight," the fourth season finale of FX's crime drama "Snowfall," is filled with twists and turns aplenty, as convenience-store-clerk-turned-drug-czar Franklin Saint attempts to protect those closest to him and secure his interests in the LA drug trade. 

The episode's final scene sees him confront Melody Wright, his former childhood crush, for the first time after she shot him in the back multiple times and left him for dead in the third season finale. After his brush with death, Franklin's road to recovery was slow, and he was unable to walk without the aid of a cane. Melody shot Franklin because she suspected Franklin had shot and killed her father, police sergeant Andre Wright. Indeed, Franklin had killed Andre when the man refused to back down from his investigation into Franklin's criminal enterprise. 

The confrontation between Melody and Franklin at the ending of "Snowfall" Season 4 is a tense moment that illustrates precisely the kind of man Franklin Saint truly is. We'll explain it.

As the pair talk in the church in Odessa, Texas, the tension slowly mounts. Franklin, still walking with his cane, lets Melody know that reporter Irene Abe –someone she'd been speaking with as she investigated the death of her father — is now dead herself, having died in a car accident. Franklin's remark that it "could happen to anyone" is an all but stated threat against Melody's life. He asks if Melody told the reporter anything about his criminal activities. Melody replies she's willing to leave Franklin alone and never bother him again if he can just look her in the eye and admit he killed her father. Franklin gives her a long look, but says nothing, turning to leave instead. For a moment Franklin pauses, simply standing there with his back to Melody.

After that exchange, it's not clear if Melody will leave Franklin be, and even less certain Franklin won't simply kill her to ensure her silence. After a long, long moment Franklin places his cane on a chair and proceeds to walk out of the church with no trace of his limp.

Over the course of "Snowfall," we've watched Franklin struggle with his moral compass, trying to do right by his friends and family even as the drugs he sells ruin people's lives. His humanity has been steadily draining away over the course of the show's four seasons, and as he places the cane on the back of the chair we see that he was using the cane as a diversion, a way of lulling his enemies into a false sense of security by playing at being more injured than he truly was. In the moment before he leaves, before he puts the cane down, it's clear we're meant to think that Franklin is going to kill Melody and leave the last of his humanity behind. But in placing the cane down and walking away, Franklin delivers an even more potent message: he's not weak in the least, he's a powerful, clever man who's been letting his enemies think they have the advantage.

In the final shot of "Fight or Flight," we see a Franklin Saint who's ready to reclaim his place as one of LA's most formidable drug lords, and there might be no stopping him.