I really enjoyed seasons 1 and 2 of The Chi, good story lines, great acting and was looking forward to season 3.
Have only seen first episode, but was so confused. Starts with wedding Of Kevin's mothers and he goes off to a funeral. We see casket then camera pans over to photo of Brandon, the central character. He was getting set to bring Douda down, and now is mysteriously killed off. Have since read he was sacked. So now there is no real story. Ronnie's grandma seems to have disappeared too with here house locked up and furniture lying out front.
An attempt is being made to start a new story with introduction of Reg's older brother, but it's not really convincing. Reg and Jerrica were also dropped last season.
The Brandon character was the glue, the main guy that everything And everybody seemed to connect to in some way. Now he's gone there's just lots of loose ends struggling to remain relevant.
It's very disappointing as it was a great show. I'll give it a couple more episodes, but not really hopeful.
152 Reviews
Can no longer support this show
Prophetik23 June 2020
After they fired Reg and Brandon and ruining the plot to this show out of nowhere this show will just be Season 1-2 for me and i won't continue to watch it in protest of getting rid of two important main character's that made the show. Had a Good run 👍
What happened!
Sounds_Shadey11 July 2021
The first 2 seasons were awesome! They were positive, insightful, real, and fun. Then the onset sexual harassment scandal hit , and since then, it went downhill, and It's unrecognizable. Either cancel it, or bring in a new storyline.
Starts strong, gets progressively worse, season 4 is an empty fart
sumtim3s00n1 August 2021
The moment you start watching "the Wire" pops in ones head. Which is a huge praise. The raw, real feeling of the world, characters, complexity and interconnectedness. Great show, cool. However...
With season 3 it begins to lose the spirit. But nothing like season 4. Abysmal. Crucial characters puf!...disappear, huge storylines fade off, melodrama turned up to 11 filling everything and we get these little pop farts of storylines instead of (a)strong ones.
Season 4 might as well not have been filmed. It was a waste of time. Big idea, big story plot point, big issues. All just...left and unresolved, pushed aside to favour stupid ever revolving love drama that gets SO SO tiring and boring constantly repeating same old thing over and over again.
Just stop... You have ruined it. If season 4 is the jump off for season 5 and the same talentless hack of showrunner remains, spare yourself the ridicule of filming more of this pathetic insultingly dull product you call a tv show.
Season 4 might as well not have been filmed. It was a waste of time. Big idea, big story plot point, big issues. All just...left and unresolved, pushed aside to favour stupid ever revolving love drama that gets SO SO tiring and boring constantly repeating same old thing over and over again.
Just stop... You have ruined it. If season 4 is the jump off for season 5 and the same talentless hack of showrunner remains, spare yourself the ridicule of filming more of this pathetic insultingly dull product you call a tv show.
This show has become trash
timothymadison14 June 2021
I used to like this show because it had a balance of depicting the good and bad side of Chicago. Now all the show is about is foul language, sexual immorality, & a Mayor that does not have a political or good bone in his body. This should have just ended with season 2.
The Series Got Worse
daddygracenyc26 July 2021
Ummmm
winecellarwomack6 June 2021
Without Brandon the show got worse and worse. A lot of the actors need work on their acting abilities.... It went from a pretty groundbreaking amazing show to a Tyler Perry movie that he decided not to put any effort in. I'm also certain that Lena Waithe hates white people.
call it The City
muzical-968284 August 2020
This is a show I was excited for because I have lived in or near Chicago most my life. Sadly the writers must not, because this could be any random city. There is nothing about this show that feels like Chicago. I like the story thread around Kevin and his circle, but again they could be anywhere. Season 3 has a totally different feel and it's going downhill fast. I will grind out the season and probably bail. UPDATE please turn this trash off and stop feeding the propaganda.
I can already tell season 4 gonna be some BS
vishamaebullock24 May 2021
Warning: Spoilers
Once again plotholes.. unnecessary drama. Emmit and Tiff zero chemistry... keisha gonna keep that baby and traumatize herself and bore the hell out of us... I just don't buy Trig as no gangsta... and Ronnie is gone.. it's not even about the neighborhood no more. It made it more raw and real.
When did this become a teen drama?
vus2922 July 2021
Enjoyed the first 3 seasons. Tried to get into season 4 and all of a sudden it's a teen drama. Where all the grown folks gone, they brought the real drama. Used to be great, even rated it 8 but I'm out. I will find grown up shows elsewhere.
They should have stopped after season 2!
dzeyez31 August 2020
Season 1 & 2 were Good
daze_r31 July 2021
What's The Chi without Brandon
raydavis-9645223 July 2021
What's The Chi without Brandon? It's not the same, I actually forgot the times that it came on anymore. The storyline seems to be forcing a way of life that that not all of us are not accustomed to. Yes,, I know that some people are cool with this but it's just too much for me,. The Chi used to be showing the lifestyle of Chicago but it's turn a lot of us off with this direction that they are going.
jumped the shark
zoombroom8627 July 2020
Wha' happened?? The first two seasons had me comparing this show with The Wire. Now it's just a confusing mess with horrible writing, wooden acting, dropped storylines, implausible plots, and non-relatable characters. Cancelled Showtime after trying to make it through the first five eps of S3.
Over a Cliff
chiltonsjillfreeport4 June 2022
Warning: Spoilers
There's having to kill off a central character and then there's HOW you do it. Logically, it makes no sense to treat it like a blip, miserably fail at any explanation, and eradicate a big chunk of cast and storyline with them. This is a neighborhood fans have been living in for 2 years. When you disrespect your own story, you disrespect them. Being pissed at an actor and taking it out on the show is for chumps!
The first two seasons were so good. The Chi was a place you could step into; the families, friendships, struggles, love, messiness, food. The battles to make or take a buck.
When it was hot, you sweated. The funerals hurt.
Two seasons of 8/10.
But season 3 was half a bottle of white-out atop it. If you're asking the audience to forget great characters and a chunk of what they knew about the story, the writers better deliver fresh gold.
Were there any sustaining new threads as interesting as several relationships the central character had in those first seasons? Because The Chi lost those peripheral characters, too.
Drama for drama's sake, more like. The real feel was getting thin on the ground. Half of where the story went headed down the drain before long.
Season 3 only looked good in comparison to season 4-when the show went all the way over the cliff.
Man, when even a liberal's liberal calls your season a ridiculous Wokefest, you got issues! What is uuup with the showrunners??? Did they seriously overestimate how much pretentious teen navel-gazing the audience is interested in, or is it me? They took a likable, interesting bunch of kids and made them annoying af. That'd be a subtitle of season 4: The Year The Chi Made virtually Every Character Irritating.
The larger problem is, the show got irritating. At times it felt like a systematic attempt to check off every woke headline or trend. Characters behaving against their character, contrary to any reason and/or relationship. A lot of plot just too nonsensical to buy. I won't be back.
Season 3: 5/10 Season 4: 2/10.
The first two seasons were so good. The Chi was a place you could step into; the families, friendships, struggles, love, messiness, food. The battles to make or take a buck.
When it was hot, you sweated. The funerals hurt.
Two seasons of 8/10.
But season 3 was half a bottle of white-out atop it. If you're asking the audience to forget great characters and a chunk of what they knew about the story, the writers better deliver fresh gold.
Were there any sustaining new threads as interesting as several relationships the central character had in those first seasons? Because The Chi lost those peripheral characters, too.
Drama for drama's sake, more like. The real feel was getting thin on the ground. Half of where the story went headed down the drain before long.
Season 3 only looked good in comparison to season 4-when the show went all the way over the cliff.
Man, when even a liberal's liberal calls your season a ridiculous Wokefest, you got issues! What is uuup with the showrunners??? Did they seriously overestimate how much pretentious teen navel-gazing the audience is interested in, or is it me? They took a likable, interesting bunch of kids and made them annoying af. That'd be a subtitle of season 4: The Year The Chi Made virtually Every Character Irritating.
The larger problem is, the show got irritating. At times it felt like a systematic attempt to check off every woke headline or trend. Characters behaving against their character, contrary to any reason and/or relationship. A lot of plot just too nonsensical to buy. I won't be back.
Season 3: 5/10 Season 4: 2/10.
Third season it's anything not The Chi
manolargacl10 July 2020
Cautionary tale, not entertainment!
jeersNcheers27 February 2021
Season 6 is ruining it all.
cindyrellaexists25 September 2023
Shooting, drawn out party music segment, over dressed family meal, partner frustration, weak ambition story....then repeat. The first 5 seasons had exceptional storylines and strong characters but the 6th season has the characters we love become watered down and a bunch of whiners. Pot growers? Rapper? Gamer? It's just so flat. It's as if all the sudden these bright articulate able to over come obstacle young ones just evolved into commoners. Very anticlimactic. Why? This just became the show that for generations has already been written. I had high hopes for this show but season 6 was a total disappointment.
Bitterly disappointed
junior_5075 March 2021
First two season was excellent, between an 8/9 out of ten but this third season i'm at a complete lost,it's like watching a different show,it in a way reminds me of Power or even Games of Thrones both being series that went on a season (or two) to long and totally lost what I enjoyed about them,I'll struggle through season 3 out of respect for a show I really enjoyed but won't watch a season 4 if it's made.
5 for what could've been 10
EdinBajric30 July 2020
Season one and two were flawless. Acting, story line, directing, music, mood... Flawless! And then someone decided to ruin it and burn it to the ground. Season three is like watching whole different tv show. Can't even be compared to seasons one and two. Congratulations to whom ever destroyed what could've been the best show in this genre. To those who worked on first two seasons I hope you will keep working on other projects. I bet my life that I could write better story while being hit in the head with a wet rag constantly, then the one they wrote for season three.
It started good
korbus30 August 2020
Finally Had Enough
regpasha1-320-55838819 July 2021
Because the first two seasons were so riveting, I have tried to give this season a chance to kick into gear. However, I just could not get through this last episode. The meandering narrative, the pedestrian acting ( I'm being kind) have beaten all the admiration I had for this show into the dust. A gutsy show has transformed itself into a mediocre melodrama focusing on the least interesting characters to the detriment of more compelling stories and actors who can actually ACT! If there is a season 4, the current writing crew must be dismissed ASAP as well as any actor whose acting skills would not get them past a middle school play audition. As for me, I'm too done and that makes me sad!
Easily one of the best shows on TV now
ksdouglas-2361822 January 2018
I'll tell you straight up, I'm from Chicago long time resident of the South Side and this show is by far the best portrayal of the South Side I have ever seen on TV. The Chi doesn't pull any punches and we get a show were the characters are so complicated and diverse, and the chemistry between them all is just so well balanced. The best way I can describe this show is like a fine tuned wristwatch. Don't go into this show thinking its all about gangs and poor black people living on food stamps.
As a citizen of Chicago living on the South Side, I am glad this show is showcasing how everyday life is. You watch the news and all you hear is "there was another shooting, possibly gang related.' Hence the words "Gang Related' this is the media's attempt to write off the violence that occurs in SOME not ALL of the communities on the South Side. Whenever I hear a shooting was a so-called gang hit on the news, I just shake my head. Most if not 100% of the time, shootings are the result of beefs or feuds between peoples that are not linked to a gang. And this show the Chi hits that mark square on with its first episode and its continuation. And also 100% of those shootings happen to be mistaken identity or what have you.
But moving away from the shootings and the gangs and all that, the South Side of Chicago is so much more than this. In the Chi. the creators of the show have highlighted these aspects, things people even living in Chicago do not know about.
If you're a TV buff with a taste for an authentic storyline, try the Chi. You won't disappointed.
As a citizen of Chicago living on the South Side, I am glad this show is showcasing how everyday life is. You watch the news and all you hear is "there was another shooting, possibly gang related.' Hence the words "Gang Related' this is the media's attempt to write off the violence that occurs in SOME not ALL of the communities on the South Side. Whenever I hear a shooting was a so-called gang hit on the news, I just shake my head. Most if not 100% of the time, shootings are the result of beefs or feuds between peoples that are not linked to a gang. And this show the Chi hits that mark square on with its first episode and its continuation. And also 100% of those shootings happen to be mistaken identity or what have you.
But moving away from the shootings and the gangs and all that, the South Side of Chicago is so much more than this. In the Chi. the creators of the show have highlighted these aspects, things people even living in Chicago do not know about.
If you're a TV buff with a taste for an authentic storyline, try the Chi. You won't disappointed.
What started out great has turned to a messy soap opera
dagur-836372 August 2021
Warning: Spoilers
Lena Waithe is maybe the worst writer on TV. This show had a great first season, season 2 was solid and then all downhill from that.
The Chi has no continuity except for Darnell's bluetooth headset and the black G wagon. Storylines are written in just to be forgotten and never addressed again, characters make decisions that go strongly against who they are and to be honesr I hope they cancel this show before season 5 comes out.
Like how are we to believe that a drug lord gangster cam run for mayor and win and then defund the police? He was under investigation for murder while running..
Then when he kills Jemmas dad the police dont check the cameras in the house? Lena are you high on opium while writing this?
The Chi has no continuity except for Darnell's bluetooth headset and the black G wagon. Storylines are written in just to be forgotten and never addressed again, characters make decisions that go strongly against who they are and to be honesr I hope they cancel this show before season 5 comes out.
Like how are we to believe that a drug lord gangster cam run for mayor and win and then defund the police? He was under investigation for murder while running..
Then when he kills Jemmas dad the police dont check the cameras in the house? Lena are you high on opium while writing this?
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