Spoiler warning: We’re talking about Norman and Horace, Roy’s overdose, Jules finding Sylvie, the attack on Rain’s club, and all those finale cliffhangers.
Baby, Episode 8 is called “Dancing in the Rain,” but nobody is dancing by the time this thing is over.
They are shooting.
Running.
Bleeding.
Threatening people.
And leaving me with approximately seventeen unanswered questions.
Season 3 really said:
Here. Hold all these cliffhangers until we come back.
Norman Has One Last Surprise for Horace
We pick up with Norman still bleeding after Mallory shot him.
Horace is standing over his brother basically waiting for him to die.
There is no sympathy left between these two.
Norman arranged for Horace to be poisoned.
Horace is perfectly willing to watch Norman take his last breath.
Then Norman somehow finds enough strength for one final act of sibling hatred.
He shoots Horace.
Sir.
You are already on the floor bleeding out and STILL found the energy to be petty.
That family resentment runs deep.
Horace is rushed to the hospital while Norman is left behind in terrible condition.
By the end of the finale, we don’t get a definite answer about whether either brother will survive.
So now both Bellarie brothers are hanging between life and death because apparently this family refuses to resolve anything with a conversation.
Roy’s Addiction Catches Up With Him
Roy is also in serious trouble.
After struggling with withdrawal throughout the season, he accepts drugs from another inmate.
He overdoses.
Roy is rushed for medical treatment, but his fate is also left uncertain.
This one was sad more than shocking.
Roy has done plenty of ridiculous things, but his addiction has been tearing him apart for a while.
Everybody around him has been too busy using his weakness, insulting him, or worrying about the Bellarie empire to really deal with what was happening.
Now he may have finally gone too far.
So at this point we have Horace in danger.
Norman in danger.
Roy in danger.
And we are not even halfway through the mess.
Charles Finally Chooses Himself
Charles gets one of the few genuinely hopeful moments in the finale.
After everything he has been through, including reaching such a dark place that he tried to end his own life, he finally follows through on getting help.
Varney takes him to treatment.
Charles is scared, but he goes.
And Varney makes it clear that he is still there for him.
I actually liked this for Charles.
For once, his storyline doesn’t end with somebody covering up another crime or handing him a drink.
He finally makes a decision that might actually save his life.
Now please leave that man in treatment long enough to heal before somebody calls him with another Bellarie emergency.
Jules Gets Out and He Wants the Truth About Glen
Meanwhile, Jules manages to get himself out of custody.
And Jules is not interested in hiding somewhere quietly.
He wants to know what happened to his son Glen.
That search eventually takes him to Sylvie.
Sylvie has been carrying the truth about Glen’s death all season, and eventually she tells Jules what happened:
Rain pushed Glen to his death while trying to protect her.
That is the answer Jules has been looking for.
Unfortunately, Sylvie does not get to walk away after giving it to him.
Jules shoots her.
Just like that.
And I hated that for Sylvie because this girl spent the whole season drowning in guilt and wanting to tell the truth.
She finally tells it…
to the worst possible person.
Jules and Gina Were Connected the Whole Time
Then we get the bigger reveal.
Jules and Gina are working together.
So Gina showing up at Rain’s club demanding money was not just some random side problem.
Jules has been using Gina and her criminal connections as part of a much larger revenge plan.
And once he learns Rain killed Glen?
Baby, that club is officially marked for destruction.
Rain has spent all season acting like nobody can tell her what to do because she owns Make It Rain now.
Well.
Ownership comes with expenses.
Apparently one of those expenses is Jules arriving for revenge.
Make It Rain Turns Into a War Zone
Kimmie and Mallory are at the club when everything goes left.
Gina gives the signal.
Armed shooters who have been positioned inside the club suddenly open fire.
People are dropping.
Everybody is scrambling for cover.
The entire place Rain was so proud of becomes a battlefield within seconds.
Kimmie and Mallory are both caught in the gunfire, and the finale leaves their conditions unclear.
EXCUSE ME?
Not Kimmie AND Mallory.
Those two just spent the season learning how to tolerate each other.
We finally got this strange little power partnership going and now both women are on the floor?
Absolutely not.
I need Season 4 immediately.
And Rain Is Trapped With Jules
While gunfire tears through the club, Rain is stuck inside her office with Jules.
And now she knows exactly why he’s there.
Glen.
Rain killed his son.
Jules knows it.
And Jules is not interested in hearing that Rain was trying to protect Sylvie.
He wants revenge.
That is where the season leaves Rain:
Face-to-face with the father of the man she killed while his people are shooting up her club outside.
Rain spent this entire season getting increasingly drunk on power.
She bought the club.
Changed the name.
Started bossing everybody around.
Ignored warnings.
Threatened people.
And acted like being the owner made her untouchable.
Now Jules has walked into her office to remind her:
You are very touchable.
So Who Actually Survives?
And here’s the frustrating part.
We don’t completely know.
By the end of Season 3:
Horace has been shot.
Norman has already been shot and is barely hanging on.
Roy has overdosed.
Kimmie and Mallory are caught in the club shooting.
Rain is trapped with Jules.
The one thing we DO know?
Jules is alive, angry, free, and suddenly one of the biggest threats on the entire show.
That man went from sitting in custody to practically running a revenge operation.
Talk about career advancement.
My Take
“Dancing in the Rain” was exactly the kind of ridiculous, chaotic finale Beauty in Black needed.
Jules absolutely owned this episode.
All season we had Horace and Norman fighting for power, Kimmie settling into her new position, Rain feeling herself at the club, and Mallory trying to hold the business together.
Then Jules walks back into the story and basically says:
None of that matters. I want revenge.
And blows everything up.
I hated what happened to Sylvie, though.
That girl was already traumatized and desperately wanted somebody to know the truth. Watching her finally confess only for Jules to kill her was rough.
Rain is also learning a very hard lesson.
Being the boss does not mean you control every danger walking through the door.
And as for Kimmie and Mallory?
Tyler Perry better not have spent an entire season making me enjoy those two together just to leave BOTH of them lying in a nightclub shootout.
SoulNeekTV Rating: 4½ out of 5 Tea Cups ☕☕☕☕½
A bloody, messy finale with enough cliffhangers to carry an entire new season.
Horace might be dying.
Norman might be dying.
Roy might be dying.
Kimmie and Mallory might be dying.
Rain has Jules standing in her office.
At this point, Season 4 is going to need to open in a hospital waiting room.