Left to right: Rolando Boyce as Darnell, Yolonda Ross as Jada, Birgundi Baker as Kiesha, Jacob Latimore as Emmett, Brett Gray as Damien and Karrueche Tran as Zuri in 'The Chi' season seven finale. Sandy Morris/ Paramount+ with SHOWTIME Share on Facebook Share on X Share to Flipboard Send an Email Show additional share options Share on LinkedIn Share on Pinterest Share on Reddit Share on Tumblr Share on Whats App Print the Article Post a Comment Logo text Glass ceiling-shattering Emmy winner Lena Waithe's love letter to her hometown, The Chi, became premium cable's longest-running Black drama earlier this summer. Surpassing Soul Food (the notable Showtime series that ran from 2000 until 2004), the ninth episode of The Chi's seventh season, titled "Last Respects," dug beyond the gangbanging, murder capital narrative often favored by mainstream media. Instead of running away from or ignoring the city's gritty reality, the series also showed the trials and tribulations that many everyday people face in such a challenging environment, or just in life. Related Stories TV 'The Chi' Stars Lynn Whitfield, Yolonda Ross Open Up About Their Dramatic Season 7 Exits Movies 'It's Dorothy!' Review: 'Wizard of Oz' Protagonist Gets a Deep-Dive Cultural Analysis in Wide-Ranging if Overstuffed Appreciation That ordinariness is what Waithe, who rose to prominence as both a writer and star of the Netflix series Master of None, emphasizes to The Hollywood Reporter. "It struck a nerve, because everybody knows a character in the show," she says of The Chi's core fanbase. "I hear from a lot of young guys that they really relate to Emmett. A lot of older guys will say they relate to Darnell. Jada [Emmett's mom and eventual wife to Emmett's father, Darnell] is also a reflection of every woman; there's something about her that is just very familiar. But even with Tiff [Emmett's ex-wife and mother of his son EJ] and Kiesha [a close friend of Tiff's as well as Emmett's current partner and co-parent] they feel like girls and women you know." From teenage fatherhood, gang life and brotherhood to cancer, motherhood and love, the series has tackled a lot over its previous seasons. Storylines around trans women and lesbian romance, alongside those of heterosexual relationships, as well as politics, the church and institutional corruption and gun violence have created a fuller sense of a Black community that hits closer to home than a lot of other shows. This season also featured intense storylines about the fallout of Rob's [former NBA player Iman Shumpert] murder and its impact on his woman and cannabis business partner Tiff [Hannaha Hall] who later learns she's pregnant, pushing her closer to his mother Alicia, portrayed by Lynn Whitfield, who, despite being determined to avenge her son's death, finds herself on the wrong end of the bullet in the season finale. Other highs and lows include Emmett and Jamal (Vic Mensa) being shot in connection to the harrowing return of Victor (Luke James) and Jake's (Michael Epps) criminal-minded brother Reg (Barton Fitzpatrick) who had been presumed dead after season two. His resurgence from the grave perhaps made the death of Yolonda Ross' character Jada, who had been an anchor for the show since its premiere, even more emotional. Kyla Pratt (Dr. Doolittle, One on One), Wendy Raquel Robinson (The Game, The Steve Harvey Show), Reagan Gomez-Preston (The Parent 'Hood), Kadeem Hardison (A Different World) and Phylicia Rashad (The Cosby Show, Creed franchise) - all from shows she enjoyed watching as a fan - helped Waithe tell these stories. "Why would we not have them there?" she says. That nostalgia and appreciation also seeped into various scenes with The Chi paying homage to Boyz n the Hood ("I'm always paying homage to Mr. Singleton. He's one of my biggest influences. If you look at Boyz n the Hood, The Chi is absolutely influenced by that movie") and New Jack City ("Some people caught when Reg is walking around the table trying to figure out who's down for him. Some people think it's a Martin reference because Martin was referencing New Jack City and [even] got a fake dog and shit!"). She also worked in a reference to her own film Queen & Slim. The Hollywood Reporter spoke with Waithe, asking her key questions about why some characters died and others lived, Reg's resurgence from the dead and what's ahead for the already renewed season eight. *** So why was it time for Alicia (Lynn Whitfield) to die? Considering she's been trying to kill people, and they haven't really been trying to kill her, it was kind of a shock. The key word you said is "shock." As a television writer, and as a person who's also a fan of television, that's what I often look for: Is something unexpected? The truth is that Roselyn's given false information. But what's interesting about that false information is that Alicia did want to kill Douda; she just didn't get the opportunity. There's something really interesting about that. What