‘The Chi’: You Know The Answer When They Ask ‘Who Shot Ya?’ In Season 6, Episode 8

(WARNING: Spoilers for the most recent The Chi episode will be found below.)

We’ve reached the midseason finale for The Chi season six. In episode eight, titled “Who Shot Ya” the main event is Kevin’s departure from Los Angeles. Fresh off of high-school graduation, here’s prepared to move out west to pursue a video game opportunity. Throughout the episode, we see Kevin reminisce on his time in Chicago, looking back at memories with his friends Kevin and Papa, his mom and stepmom Dre and Nina, his now-girlfriend Maisha, and others. There are sweet moments all over the episode, especially during a going-away party. He shows his love to Lynae, who lived in the same home as him for some time, and his mother which turned out to be the sweetest part of the episode.

Elsewhere, Emmett decided that it’s time to take out Douda and connected with Rob, who also wants to kill Douda, to get the job done. They strike up a plan to get the job done, and while it looked like things would go according to plan, it went left and Rob was left with a bullet wound. This outcome is exactly why Victor warned them against going through with this plan. When Victor hears that Rob was shot, he decides that he has to get the job done himself. Fatima tries to talk him out of it, but it doesn’t seem to work as he sneaks out of their home to seemingly complete the mission.

We also see Papa’s deal with his grief following his father’s death. Through it, he makes some interesting decisions that, though they are in honor of his father, they’re choices that are completely different than what he wanted to do prior to his death. This includes breaking up with Kenya and setting his eyes on a career as a pastor. We also see that Jake decide to move out of his house and into Kevin’s apartment. This leads to an argument with Jemma when he tells her that the apartment is for him and not for the both of them to live. However, Jemma gets a $10,000 payment from Britney, who has feelings for her, in order to get an apartment of her own and it’s something that upsets Jake.

Here are some of the biggest takeaways that we have after season six’s eighth episode, “Who Shot Ya”:

For the last few episodes in The Chi season six, we’ve been building up to this moment of Kevin leaving the city to pursue his gaming career in Los Angeles. When you really think about it, this has been the trajectory that the adults in Chicago have hoped to see the youth partake in. The main kids that we see in the series have all been dealt bad a hand to varying extents. Kevin, along with Keisha, had their fair share of family issues. Jake doesn’t have his parents in his life and his brother Victor, who had a heavy criminal past, is left to take care of him. Lynae also saw her brother get locked up, and with her parents out of the picture, she ended up moving in with Kevin and Keisha’s family. Long story short, you get the point. With Kevin finding success unconventionally through video games, it’s proof of how the sky is the limit for the youth in Chicago. This also extends to the youth all over. They and anyone else can put their mind to anything and achieve their goals. It’s this hope that’s behind Victor’s pursuit of a city council seat, Emmett’s decision to clean himself up and get right in life, and even Keisha’s love for education. It can all be done so long as the children are given the chance and space to achieve.

Emmett was supposed to do whatever it took to free himself from Douda and ensure his family’s safety. His relationship with Keisha, and quite frankly, his own safety rested on him completing this mission. So when he connects with Rob for the ultimate task of killing Douda, it comes with the knowledge they have to get it done on the first try. Victor warns them that they’re not built for the task, citing both Rob’s and Emmett’s law-abiding pasts, but nonetheless, the duo goes through with their plan. Things quite literally backfire on Rob as he ends up being the one getting shot, leaving Emmett to rush him to the hospital to hopefully save his life. Even worse, they both failed to kill Douda who absolutely knows that at least Emmett was behind the shooting as he called to meet with Douda where the shooting took place. Emmett was supposed to put his family in a position where they were protected, but in taking a shot at Douda and missing, he put them in a worse position, leaving them in more danger than ever. Things are now in Victor’s hands, an event that can turn into a bigger mess that will be Emmett’s fault.

The five stages of grief are denial, anger, bargaining, depression, and acceptance. With this episode, it’s safe to say that Papa has left the anger stage and is now in the bargaining stage. In episode seven, Papa took out much of his anger on Bakari and Kenya. By the end of that episode, he’d cleared things up with Bakari but it was unclear where things stood between him and Kenya. We got our answer this week when Papa apologized to Kenya for lashing out at her, but he stood firm on his decision to end their relationship. Papa believes that he would be disrespecting his father by continuing his relationship with Kenya while his father being very clear about not wanting him to be with her. Though one might question the logic behind his decision, it’s clear that Papa wants to stay as connected to his father as possible and he’s doing all things possible to ensure that relationship is ever-present. Later on in the episode, he expresses his desire to become a preacher and honor his father as he did during his funeral with his speech. Kevin and Jake try to remind him that he’s allowed to live his own life, but in this moment, Papa believes his life is one that should be dedicated to making sure he becomes everything his father wanted him to be.

Ever since his arrival in The Chi, Victor has prided himself on being able to save loved ones in their time of need. It grew from loved ones to people in his community as he began to take on roles of leadership. Sometimes, however, Victor ends up in situations that are more harmful to himself than they do good to others. “Who Shot Ya” provides a perfect example with Victor stepping in to seemingly clean things up after Rob and Emmett failed to kill Douda, a task that Victor advised that they don’t do. After visiting Rob and Emmett in the hospital, Victor arrives home with the tunnel-visioned goal of heading out to kill Douda to ensure that Rob, Emmett, and anyone else won’t have to face retaliation from Douda. Fatima begs him to not go through with it, and for a moment it seems like she got through to him. However, instead of heading to the shower like he said he would, Victor slipped out the back door to seemingly make his way to Douda and this is where the episode ends. Fatima is fairly new to Victor’s life, and it’s through the events that eventually take place that night that she will learn about Victor’s superhero persona. For better and certainly for worse, Victor will do his best to be Superman for his people — even if it comes at a huge loss for him.

New episodes of ‘The Chi’ are available through the Paramount Plus With Showtime plan on Fridays at 3am EST/ 12 pm PST. Weekly episodes also air Sundays on Showtime at 9pm EST/PST.