S05.E18: Decisions

[Trini]

Season *Series finale*

While on a romantic getaway, McCall and Dante are abruptly ambushed by Salazar and his army. Meanwhile, Aunt Vi finally decides to take the next step in her relationship with Captain Curtis, and Dee meets with her favorite author who may be able to help her get into her dream university.

Airdate: May 4, 2025

[AnimeMania]

[possibilities]

That definitely felt like a tv finale.

 

[Brown44]

Clearly Latifah and the writer's knew the writings on the wall and they gave everyone a happy ending if the show was gonna be canceled. 

[marceline]

That was a decent ending for the show and we got some lovely last wardrobe choices. Robyn engagement dress at the end was gorgeous. This show knows how to dress curvy women. 

I know they had to pull this together at the end but I wish we'd gotten to see the full blended family at the end including Dante's kids. I know he said they helped pick out the ring but that's a complete 180 from when Robyn asked Dante about getting the kids together and Dante said one of his sons was still holding out for him to get back together with their mom.

Also what happened to Miles? I guess he returned to his home planet.

[Brown44]

With that ending it seems that the pilot for the Atlanta Equalizer was gonna continue on it's own to continue the franchise and not be on at the same time with both Equalizer's airing together. 

[blackwing]

I enjoyed this episode, even if I thought the fight with Salazar ended a bit too quickly and easily.  This guy is an international crime lord and couldn't find a way to kill two unsuspecting people in a remote cabin in the woods?  Why didn't he just rig explosives around the house while Dante and Robyn were distracted?

The neighbour couple was so irritating and presumptuous that I thought they were for sure working with Salazar.  It didn't help that one of the guys on Salazar's team looked like the man.  

I am sad that the show has been cancelled, but I'm glad that the writers wrote a happy ending for all instead of just leaving things in limbo or on a cliffhanger.  Robyn and Dante get married.  Viola and Curtis find a house of their own.  Dee presumably goes to Howard.

Goodbye, Equalizer.  It's been a good run.  Wishing the best for all the actors, especially Latifah and the amazing Lorraine Toussaint.

[possibilities]

Huh. I guess people liked it? 

For me, I found it depressing that a show about badass women kicking ass and creating justice for people who otherwise would not get it, would end on the note of "but at the end, they all got their man!" It made me want to vomit that they thought that would be an appropriate "happy ending".

When a show about badass dudes ends, they don't make sure to give them a romantic ending. They usually imply he will go on fighting, unless his mission was limited to a particular question they could wrap up as resolved. We're not supposed to need to be told "he finally got love!"

I'm not opposed to badass women having partners! But I also never found the romance with Dante convincing and I found Vi's boyfriend to be actually offensive and not a credible match for her personality at all. And to imply that these tough women would need a squooshy ending seemed like a complete tonal shift and not really in character.

I did like that they course-corrected on the earlier message that Delilah's activism would exclude her from college or that it was an either/or proposition.

And, honestly, I'm relieved the show is ending because I was not really enjoying it anymore but I was finding it hard to stop watching because I find Latifah and Touissant themselves to be very compelling.

I feel guilty about being relieved, because I hate to wish people's jobs be lost or that a show others are enjoying would go away. It always annoys me when other people say they're glad a show is ending. So, now I am on the other side and I get it, but I feel like it's a bad look for me!

[AnimeMania]

Could Mel have picked worse shoes to be running around the forest in?

[possibilities]

I'd like to see male actors wearing ridiculous shoes as they run over rough terrain and chase suspects. 🤣

[Brown44]

4 hours ago, possibilities said:

For me, I found it depressing that a show about badass women kicking ass and creating justice for people who otherwise would not get it, would end on the note of "but at the end, they all got their man!" It made me want to vomit that they thought that would be an appropriate "happy ending".

TBF Aunt Vi was always looking for love that she was even a lesbian for a season, D was always boy crazy, Mel and Harry had a great relationship and the will they won't they from Robyn and Marcus was there from the start.

[marceline]

I want to give Curtis props for his joke about wanting to sweep everything off the kitchen counter just to be with Vi. Vi’s reaction of shocked laughter and her “Don’t you even joke like that!” was perfect. That said I feel like he was pressuring her to move in with him. My one (small) complaint about this is what I referenced above. People making big decisions without discussing it with their family.

Also, I’m glad that Dee will be going to Howard. I’ve spent my life watching TV characters celebrate getting into Harvard or Yale. I like having an HBCU be the brass ring.

[KWalkerInc]

I was in a bad frame of mind for a while during the episode because I was afraid that Dante would get killed, especially when Harry had to note how lucky they had been.  (I had read in one article when the show's fate was up in the air that the finale could serve as a series finale, but you never know, it could have been just their interpretation.)  I still thought Dante would flatline after Robyn accepted his proposal.

It was only when they had the engagement party that I was like, "Oh, okay, they did know they'd probably get cancelled."  I'm glad Harry and Mel didn't decide to give up equalizing (though it seemed like he kind of wanted to?).  I guess they just didn't want to pay the actors who played the sons to be in the episode, though seeing them interact with Robyn would have been nice.  I know they have met her before, but that was a long time ago under different circumstances.

The annoying couple bothering Robyn and Dante were getting on my nerves.  I wanted them to go away and just get on with the ambush already.  I figured they couldn't be working for Salazar because he and his people are too humorless to pull it off. 

Even though I was annoyed by THAT attempt at humor, I was laughing over Vi hiding all the good kitchenware so that Curtis couldn't use it.

This episode with the couples suddenly moving much faster than they had made me think of the fake series finale The Simpsons did where Bart became self-aware and was freaking out over everything suddenly changing.  I was very happy though that they did not get overconfident and put in cliffhangers like some shows do, and I found it satisfying.  I liked the final shot of Queen Latifah smiling.  (Her last show being one of those that had cliffhangers, so she was probably much happier with this.)

Finally, I guess this means that Fisk was really dead.  Also, Michelle is not going to pop up again.  I was afraid to even ever mention her name again out of fear that this would summon her and bring back that crap about how that task force was after Robyn (and Fisk).  It was very wise to drop that storyline.

[12catcrazy]

On 5/5/2025 at 4:00 PM, possibilities said:

 

When a show about badass dudes ends, they don't make sure to give them a romantic ending. They usually imply he will go on fighting, unless his mission was limited to a particular question they could wrap up as resolved. We're not supposed to need to be told "he finally got love!"

And, honestly, I'm relieved the show is ending because I was not really enjoying it anymore but I was finding it hard to stop watching because I find Latifah and Touissant themselves to be very compelling.

I feel guilty about being relieved, because I hate to wish people's jobs be lost or that a show others are enjoying would go away. It always annoys me when other people say they're glad a show is ending. So, now I am on the other side and I get it, but I feel like it's a bad look for me!

Actually, when NCIS:LA ended, they gave the one guy a happy romantic ending (actually had him and the woman get married).   There are probably other shows where they married off or romantically paired off a male lead at the end. 

I'm ok with the happy ending and I'm also fine that the show is apparently over.  I think that it's jumped the shark and hated that so many episodes turned into a violence-porn fest.  I really liked the cast but just really disliked the CIA and Drug Cartel storylines; I wish that they would've stuck to the stories about people with problems and nowhere to turn for help.  

[Brown44]

Well it was confirmed by Tvline that the EP gave the writer's the notice that most likely they wasn't returning for a new season. Which further more makes me believe that Atlanta Equalizer pilot episode was a last ditch effort to continue the franchise without the og show.

With tv Equalizer done and most likely not another Denzel Equalizer it seems the Equalizer is done on the medium for a long while if not done for good.

Edited May 7 by Brown44

[ribboninthesky1]

On 5/6/2025 at 1:13 AM, marceline said:

Also, I’m glad that Dee will be going to Howard. I’ve spent my life watching TV characters celebrate getting into Harvard or Yale. I like having an HBCU be the brass ring.

Agree, I thought that was a nice touch. 

The family dynamic was the best part of the show for me, so I'd love to see Lorraine, Latifah, and Laya team up again.  I always liked Dee and found most of the criticism against her harsh. I also didn't mind the CIA stuff that much and found many of the weekly cases tedious, especially in the later seasons. 

On 5/6/2025 at 6:55 AM, KWalkerInc said:

I liked the final shot of Queen Latifah smiling.  (Her last show being one of those that had cliffhangers, so she was probably much happier with this.)

Which show was this? I remember her being on a Fox show a few years back, but I never watched it because every clip I saw was featured her in a terrible wig. 

On 5/5/2025 at 4:51 PM, AnimeMania said:

Could Mel have picked worse shoes to be running around the forest in?

Ha! Mel is not known for practical footwear.  

[KWalkerInc]

8 hours ago, ribboninthesky1 said:

Which show was this? I remember her being on a Fox show a few years back, but I never watched it because every clip I saw was featured her in a terrible wig. 

Yes, that was Star.  Sometimes I really liked it, but sometimes it was terrible (and her character ran a salon from her house and had a whole huge room full of those wigs).

[andromeda331]

I'm not really a fan of Dante and Robyn and I don't see Vi and Curtis lasting either. They are just two different. But for an finale it's okay everyone ended up happy. 

I liked Vi hiding her good cookware from Curtis and him telling her about sweeping everything off the counter but he wouldn't do that. That was great. I love Vi's expression about the latter.

I'm glad someone finally snapped Dee out of her being upset about Howard and encouraging her to apply again and how to go about it. I didn't think about it but that was a great idea. I liked Kara pointing out she was willing to get arrested for climate change but nothing after getting rejected by the college she wanted to go to. That was a good point.

I'm going to miss this show. I really loved Robyn, Vi, Mel, Harry and Dee (even though she drove me crazy at times) I'm glad at least this season went back to it's roots of helping regular people who needed help.

Edited May 9 by andromeda331

[KWalkerInc]

The two couples definitely moved at an accelerated pace because of it being a finale.  Vi and Curtis together hadn't been seen (or mentioned?) since their date in the squad car.  If the show had continued, they had to have run into obstacles over the fact that he hates the equalizing.  (If having to lie to Trish about Robyn created so many issues, it should have been even worse with Curtis at some point given his feelings about The Equalizer on top of having to hide things.)

Robyn and Dante had moved at such an incredibly slow pace that when Mel told Harry she thought Dante was proposing, I thought she had lost her mind.  I guess they needed more drama on top of him being shot, but wanted to show that he didn't only propose because of the near-death experience.

The engagement might have been a little less surprising if they could have had a time jump--which they may have had if they had been specifically told it was the final season.  But because they obviously couldn't change things with like a day and a half notice, they had to try to wrap up whatever they could when they finished the episode.  I'm just glad it didn't depress me like I expected!

[Trini]

Well, I assume they were hoping for another season, but still were prepared for this one being the last.

This was one of those times where things felt off because the A-plot was so wildly different in tone than the B- and C-plots.

Dee: We knew she’d get into college somewhere; I wasn’t invested in where or how. But I guess I’m glad she got in to one of her top schools.

Vi: Hee! It was funny when she was hiding her good equipment from Curtis. I also have ‘good’ pans that I don’t let anyone else touch. I think Vi and Curtis have good chemistry, but they sped up that relationship way too fast. (I know why, series finale — but still.) When Curtis was saying how they were ‘confidantes and partners’, etc., I thought: When did we see that?? I want Vi to be happy, but Curtis is still a cop, though. Not sure if they’re long-term compatible.

Robyn & Dante:
Gary, No! I was a little jarring to kill that guy off after that comedic interlude.
But it was actually nice to have a non-urban setting. And it’s been a little while since we’ve seen Robyn (/QL’s stuntwoman) do this much hand-to-hand fighting. And I know there’s no point to complaining about a show
 trope at this point, but it’s still hilarious how the team can walk away from a bad guy bloodbath with zero follow-up, or consequences.

Thanks for that 5-second sex scene, I guess? I didn’t mind Dante proposing — although again, it was obviously rushed because the show was ending — but I am disappointed that we never got any scenes with Robyn and Dante’s boys this season, especially when she’s about to be a stepmom. Or even just Dante and his boys, at all.

Aw, I did like the episode ending on Robyn/Queen Latifah’s smiling face.

Fashion highlights: Robyn’s Poconos outfit, which she managed to keep completely spotless even through the bad guy bloodbath! Robyn’s reverse french braid hairdo. Vi’s cooking date dress, and the blue paisley(?) coat she wore to the hospital. Robyn’s engagement party dress was also very nice.

—
Series finale thoughts:
Again, this show wasn’t perfect, but I’ll miss it. I liked seeing a Black woman, and Queen Latifah in particular, lead a crimefighting show. I liked the cast, although it took me a little while for me to warm up to a couple people. Glad they ended on a happy, hopeful note, even if some things felt rushed.

 

[tvfanatic13]

I really enjoyed the ending and will miss this show. Great family dynamic (and I include Mel and Harry in that as well). Bye Queen.