The Chi’s Emmett Somehow Gets Himself in Deeper (?!) Danger With Douda — Read Recap, Grade Premiere

The Chi’s Emmett is a smooth talker, as he himself notes in this week’s midseason premiere. “I’ve got the gift of gab,” he confidently tells Jada and Darnell. “With women, not criminals!” his mother shoots back. It’s an important point, given the conversation that Emmett thinks he’s ready for by the end of the episode. (Spoiler alert: He has no idea how much worse things can get.)

And that’s really saying something, given that Emmett was already at a lifetime low, having just botched a murder attempt on the high-powered gangster who runs the South Side of Chicago. And did I mention that the gangster knows exactly who was responsible for the hit?

It’s been a while, so let’s see how everyone’s doing in Episode 9, “The Aftermath.”

EMMETT AND KIESHA | After Zay shoots up Smokey’s in a rogue drive-by (no one is hurt, thank goodness), a highly displeased Kiesha thinks the only way to protect their family from Douda’s wrath is for Emmett to settle his debt with him. “Please stop trying to be Superman. I don’t need that,” she says, hugging him and adding that she’s scared. “I just need a partner I can count on.” Emmett admits that he’s scared, too.

After a conversation with Darnell, Emmett forms a new plan: Use his talent of persuasion to convince Douda not to kill him. Jada is not on board with this direction, and Emmett knows it only has a small chance of working. Still, he promises her that he won’t do something stupid, hugging her as he cries.

Step 1 in Emmett’s plan: Sow dissent. So Papa helps him arrange a meeting with Bakari. Emmett argues that he, Papa, Shaad and Victor actually care about the teen — whereas Douda sees him as expendable — and wonders who in the former mayor’s crew “wants him gone just as much as I do?” Though he seems immovable, later, Bakari asks Nuck about his future. “You don’t want more for yourself?” the teen wonders. Nuck replies that he used to, but “everybody’s dreams can’t come true.”

By the end of the hour, Emmett walks into Douda’s bar, announcing, “I heard you were looking for me.” The younger man quickly lays out his reasoning for getting to live. First, Emmett argues that he’s “an important part of your ecosystem” as the public face of Smokey’s. Then, he suggests that those who want Douda dead are “some of the people you run with.” But after Douda grabs his gun and lazily considers killing Emmett right then and there, Emmett makes his final ploy: “If you don’t kill me, I’ll owe you one.”

And this? THIS Douda likes. “A life for a life,” he says, tossing a photo of Rob’s mother, Alicia, in front of a stunned Emmett. “Make her disappear, and I’ll let you live.”

ALICIA, ROB AND TIFFANY | Knowing that her son is definitely on Douda’s kill list, Alicia surreptitiously moves a still-unconscious Rob from the hospital to her house — thwarting Nuck’s attempts to finish him off. Rob eventually wakes up.

Later, Alicia’s friend Bianca — who is sleeping with Douda — stops by. She meets Tiff and compliments her product, hinting that they might be good business associates. Then Alicia shoos Tiffany away and has her own conversation with Bianca, wondering how close she is to the former mayor and saying she needs to cash in a favor.

ELSEWHERE ON THE SOUTH SIDE | Victor takes a gun and goes to settle things with Douda himself, but comes to his senses and comes home after he only runs into Bakari. Fatima is unsettled and leaves him, saying she can’t be in a relationship with someone who can turn into a killer “at any given moment…” Nina and Dre split because Dre was still in love with her ex, Nina tearfully tells Kiesha… Jenna confesses to Tierra that she kissed Britney and liked it… Jake accepts money from Douda’s minion, Zay, to help with his fledgling clothing business. “I know how to play the game,” the teen later tells Victor. “That’s what everybody thinks until they lose!” Victor counters… We learn that the money Britney fronted Jemma for her apartment originated with Douda, and that he’s paying the rapper to spy on her brother, Bakari… Maisha and Papa seemed to have a close moment while talking about their futures.

Now it’s your turn. What did you think of the episode? Grade it via the poll below, then hit the comments with your thoughts!