Sophia Michaels
Another one bites the dust in “Snowfall” season six, and for fans who have been following the show since the very beginning, it’s been a long time coming for this character. Earlier this season, the ’80 set crime drama — which chronicles the epic rise and fall of Franklin’s (Damson Idris) drug organization during the crack epidemic in South Central Los Angeles — bid farewell to Jerome (Amin Joseph) after he was shot and killed for trying to save his wife Louie (Angela Lewis). Now, in “Snowfall”‘s penultimate episode, infamous foe Teddy (Carter Hudson) has suffered his own tragic fate as his heinous actions have finally caught up with him.
As many “Snowfall” fans know, Teddy has been instrumental to Franklin’s drug operation ever since the latter traded in his college textbooks for a kingpin crown in season one. The former CIA operative — who’s been running an off-the-books assignment to fund the fight against communism in South America by selling cocaine in the states — became Franklin’s partner by acting as his drug supplier. Though their business relationship fell apart in season four after Franklin’s estranged father, Alton (Kevin Carroll), tried to bring their crimes to light by speaking to a local reporter. This put a target on his back and forced him to flee to Cuba with Cissy, though the latter promised not to go after them. However, Teddy quickly went back on his word and followed them out there in the season four finale, where it’s assumed that he shot and killed Alton (a surprise hiter).
If killing Franklin’s father wasn’t bad enough, Teddy also stole the kingpin’s multi-million-dollar wealth ($73 million, to be exact) at the end of season five, leaving him and his pregnant girlfriend Veronique (Devyn A. Tyler) with next-to-nothing. Thus, thrusting us into the middle of their intense war against each other in the sixth and final season. Through all of Teddy’sScheming and attempts to murder Franklin, he finally reckons with his actions in “Snowfall”‘s latest episode when his story arc meets a fatal end.
Another one bites the dust in “Snowfall” season six, and for fans who have been following the show since the very beginning, it’s been a long time coming for this character. Earlier this season, the ’80 set crime drama — which chronicles the epic rise and fall of Franklin’s (Damson Idris) drug organization during the crack epidemic in South Central Los Angeles — bid farewell to Jerome (Amin Joseph) after he was shot and killed for trying to save his wife Louie (Angela Lewis). Now, in “Snowfall”‘s penultimate episode, infamous foe Teddy (Carter Hudson) has suffered his own tragic fate as his heinous actions have finally caught up to him.
As many “Snowfall” fans know, Teddy has been instrumental to Franklin’s drug operation ever since the latter traded in his college textbooks for a kingpin crown in season one. The former CIA operative — who’s been running an off-the-books assignment to fund the fight against communism in South America by selling cocaine in the states — became Franklin’s partner by acting as his drug supplier. Though their business relationship fell apart in season four after Franklin’s estranged father, Alton (Kevin Carroll), tried to bring their crimes to light by speaking to a local reporter. This put a target on his back and forced him to flee to Cuba with Franklin’s mom, Cissy (Michael Hyatt), to get away from the CIA and Teddy, though the latter promised not to go after them. However, Teddy quickly went back on his word and followed them out there in the season four finale, where it’s assumed that he shot and killed Alton (a shocker that eventually comes back to bite him).
If killing Franklin’s father wasn’t bad enough, Teddy also stole the kingpin’s multi-million-dollar fortune ($73 million, to be exact) at the end of season five, leaving him and his pregnant girlfriend Veronique (Devyn A. Tyler) with next-to-nothing. Thus, thrusting us into the middle of their intense war against each other in the sixth and final season. Through all of Teddy’s scheming and attempts to murder Franklin, he finally reckons with his actions in “Snowfall”‘s latest episode when his story arc meets a fatal end.
Read ahead to find out the shocking way Teddy meets his demise and what it means for “Snowfall”‘s series finale.
How Does Teddy Die in “Snowfall”?
Episode nine of season six starts off with Franklin holding Teddy captive at a desolate site after the latter tried to hang him in the previous episode. For the majority of season six, the two have been busy trying to take each other out. They’ve gone tit for tat as they’ve both murdered each other’s fathers and robbed each other in some capacity. But a fed-up Franklin is determined to get his money back from Teddy, so he puts the latter through a torture session that involves a game of Russian roulette and a pot of scalding hot grease. In the midst of this, Cissy also tries to reason with Teddy to get him to reckon with not only stealing from Franklin but destroying an entire community with his drug operation as well. But their conversation takes a turn when Teddy pleads for his life and offers to finally tell Cissy what really happened to Alton.
Alton’s assumed death has been a mystery for the past two seasons as it’s never been explicitly stated what happened after viewers saw Teddy sneak up on him in Cuba with a gun. However, Teddy informs Cissy that Alton’s not dead, asking if she ever saw his body, blood, or signs of a struggle (viewers never saw any of these things either). Teddy then tells Cissy he watched her leave their building the day he approached Alton, found him alone, drugged him, took him down to a waiting car, drove him to an airport, and flew him to Puerto Rico where he put him in a jail cell. He, again, promises her that Alton’s alive but a skeptical Cissy initially dismisses the claim.
Cissy later decides to revisit the revelation after Teddy finally agrees to split the stolen money with Franklin by putting his half into an escrow account. The latter two arrange a plan to go to a handoff location in public so Teddy can have the money deposited and be set free. While Teddy speaks on a pay phone to make the transfer, Cissy walks up to him and demands to know which prison Alton is in. Teddy then bluntly tells her he was lying and confirms that Alton’s dead, saying that he shot him twice and dumped his body. In a fit of rage, Cissy steps back, pulls out a gun, and shoots Teddy twice, killing him almost instantly. She then kneels on the ground with her hands up as the police arrive to handcuff her.
What Does Teddy’s Death Mean For the “Snowfall” Series Finale?
Much of season six has been focused on Franklin’s desperate plan to hunt Teddy down and get his money back. But now that he’s dead, it looks like Franklin will now be left without a fortune or drug empire to fall back on. It also means he has no way of protecting himself against the feds who’ve been trying to get their hands on him.
Idris teased his character’s arc ahead of season six’s premiere on Feb. 22, telling Deadline that Franklin’s “really in survival mode.” “Snowfall” cocreator Dave Andron also touched on the parallels between Franklin and Teddy and how, despite their differences, their journeys for the last six seasons have intertwined. “I think for all the things that separate Teddy and Franklin, there are similarities,” he said. “These are two young guys who are incredibly ambitious and are very easily able to compartmentalize and say that the ends justify the means. They were aligned for a long time, both personally and professionally.”
Of how Franklin’s story ends in “Snowfall”‘s series finale, Andron added, “Finding the ending is hard, right? There’s a tradition in this genre about how anti-heroes stories have to end and I felt like we had to do something that subverted that a little bit but stayed true to our show and who Franklin is. I think we found it, a surprising and yet inevitable ending for him.”
The final episode of “Snowfall” season six airs on April 19 at 10 p.m. ET.
