After a disorienting cliffhanger at the end of season 3, Netflix dramedy “On My Block” delivered its fourth and final season on Monday, October 4. Reporter Maria Caamaño collected reactions from students on how it all shook out.
After leaving viewers with a suspenseful – yet confusing – cliffhanger in season three, “On My Block” is back for its fourth and final season. Fans of the show waited a grueling 20 months for the show to bring Monse, Ruby, Cesar, Jamal and Jasmine back together and watch them go on their crazy adventures for the last season.
Back in March 2020, the show left viewers off with a time jump where our fain main characters are not in each other’s lives – leaving viewers wondering what happened during those two years and hoping that season three’s ending would not be the last we see of the Core Four.
Weinberg sophomore Andrés Polanco Molina says the news season was unexpectedly emotional.
“I wasn’t expecting it to be as sad as it is. I cried halfway through the season.”
Without giving any spoilers, he said we have nothing to worry about when it comes to the relationship between the characters.
“I won’t spoil anything. But yeah, it’s just after the time jump you kind of just expected it to be more dramatic but in a way it’s like all the characters still love each other. They’re just like separated in a way for like a little bit. So, they find their ways to each other because you know they are united by the past three seasons of the show and all the drama that’s ensued in their lives. They’re connected in a way.
But the show isn’t only about four teenagers navigating high school. It’s been praised by critics for its diverse cast of young people of color and its storylines, which focus on real issues that happen in communities.
With the new season released during Latinx Heritage Month, the show celebrates diversity, representation and community. Polanco Molina explained why this is so significant.
“I think it’s important that it is released now because I think we are in a process of reclaiming it. We are calling it Latiné Heritage Month subversively. We are trying to claim more Black Latiné’s in prominent positions within the month. We are trying to tell the story of queer activists who have done so much work. Even claiming the term Latiné is because of queer acivists in all Latin America. People are just like coming together and I think that’s more the thing that it’s all about. It’s about community and how when you put a bunch of people who have been oppressed for so long together they eventually find their way to make something brand new. And I think this show is that. It’s like brand new.
I know the creators have talked a lot about how they’ve based characters on themselves – how they brought props from their own lives into the show. There’s like an interview where one of the creators’ grandma started crying cause she realized it was her cobija in one of the scenes. This show is for us, by us. It is like we will understand all the Spanglish without looking at the subtitles. We will understand what it means to be like in a position where you have to care about your family in a way that…like…putting it before school, you know. So I think that is the importance of it because this show…it should be…you know it looks like it would be a negative representation of us just on the surface level because it’s centered around gangs and poor neighborhoods – but that is like a big part of our stories too. It is taking parts of our stories and making it like…not even palatable to white audiences. It’s just making it fun for us. And I think that’s what Latiné Heritage Month should be about. It’s like stories about us for us.
Although “On My Block” has now ended, Netflix announced last month that a new spinoff series called “Freeridge” centered around new characters in the same neighborhood would be coming out in the future.
But, of course, I had to ask Polanco Molina the most important question: “Do you think Season Four was good?”
“Yes. I think I would not have cried if it wasn’t good. I put my stamp of approval on it. Don’t even do your homework for this entire week. Just like get it done, you know? It’s like they have a way of making you cry for like a solid 10 minutes, then make you laugh for five, then cry again for two.”
For WNUR News, this is Maria Caamaño.
