The 'Pose' Finale Had Us in Absolute Shambles
Spoilers ahead.
Pose ended on a fabulous, emotional note last night. After three seasons, the series created by Steven Canals blended love, tragedy, friendship, and survival into one intense conclusion. Let's get to it.
The episode kicks off with Blanca continuing her work in the hospital, while Pray Tell discovers he has pneumonia again. This time, his doctors have told him his immune system won't be able to fight it. Pray thinks it's the end for him; he tells Blanca he wants to finish his panel for the AIDS quilt with her before he goes.
Blanca learns that one of her white patients has been getting better, because he’s part of a medical trial at the hospital. The drug is meant to stop HIV from attacking the rest of a person's immune system. However, only two out of 80 people in the trial are people of color. After she, Christopher, and Nurse Judy bring up the racist trial process, Christopher is able to get Blanca and Pray Tell slots in the trial.
“A pile of dead black people is bad optics. A pile of dead white people is a national crisis.” Whew. #PoseFX
— Dr. AGH (@DrAhmadGH) June 7, 2021
Sure enough, they both get better. Pray struts down the street in sequins when he sees Ricky again and even invites him to join the Gay Men’s Choir. Pray and Blanca celebrate their healing by making plans together. “The future is still something that we’re allowed to have,” Blanca says. But Ricky's HIV condition is worsening, as he reveals a lesion on his chest. Pray promises to support him.
At the hospital, Pray and Blanca learn that no more people of color were going to be accepted into the medical trial. They join a protest, shouting, "Health care is a right!" a phrase that's still eerily applicable today. The demonstration turns violent once police start exerting force on the crowd.
And in 2021, we are still demanding that healthcare is a right. #PoseFX
— Preston Mitchum, he/him (@PrestonMitchum) June 7, 2021
HEALTHCARE IS A RIGHT. DON’T LET ANYONE TELL YOU ANYTHING DIFFERENT!!! #PoseFX
— Rouge Archangel (@ny_archangel) June 7, 2021
Next, Pray and Blanca head to the ball for a special performance dedicated to Candy. They hit the floor together for a Diana Ross lip-sync to "Ain't No Mountain High Enough" in homage to her Central Park performance in '83. They float across the ballroom in gorgeous, breezy capes. They absolutely kill the choreography. They do outfit reveals! They dance in the rain! Nothing but elegance and pure friendship to see here.
I AM SCREAMING. DIANA ROSS. LIVE IN CENTRAL PARK. I AM SO SO READY FOR THIS OMG I AM SCREAMING Y'ALL KNOW HOW I FEEL ABOUT DIANA!!!!!!! #PoseFX pic.twitter.com/OOnIuW98iS
— it's angelique ????? (@AngieWorldOrder) June 7, 2021
Blanca. Pray Tell. Doing Diana Ross. It RAINED in the actual ballroom! #PoseFX
— Twiggy Pucci Gar?on (@SimplyTwiggy) June 7, 2021
BLANCA AND PRAY AIN’T HAVE TO EAT THE BALL UP LIKE THAT #PoseFX pic.twitter.com/tKEJWUQPip
— *DC Youngfly Screeching* (@Bellechan2350) June 7, 2021
Oh and it's RAINING IN THE BALLROOM! #PoseFX pic.twitter.com/m7lr23iVdi
— PoseFX (@PoseOnFX) June 7, 2021
Pray is smoking a cigarette after the show, which is not recommended for those on the medical trial. Before heading home, he sees Ricky, Blanca, and Christopher (a first-timer at the ball), and makes plans to see each other for dinner next week at Blanca and Christopher's place. He gives Blanca an especially heartfelt goodbye.
That night, Pray's bedtime ritual is a special one. In a dark, candlelit room, he looks at himself in the mirror as he slowly removes his makeup to Aretha Franklin's "I Say a Little Prayer." He struts to bed in a billowing white nightgown, like an angel. The next morning, Ricky finds him dead in bed.
Ricky breaks the news to Blanca at the hospital, who is completely devastated. At family dinner later, the whole group is distraught, unable to eat. Ricky reveals that Pray had been helping him recover by giving him extra pills from the trial. But then he realizes: Pray wasn't giving him extra pills, he was giving Ricky his only pills, sacrificing his own life in the process.
The writers on this show are brilliant and cruel. How y’all get my hopes up about Pray’s future and pull this? Musty. #poseonfx #PoseFX pic.twitter.com/wHXrT1eAlC
— “That ain’t enough for me.” - Keke Palmer (@Twinkee542) June 7, 2021
NOOOO, I KNOW Y’ALL DIDNT JUST GIVE US FALSE HOPE AND THEN DO THIS TO US! HOW DARE YOU?? ?????? #PoseFX pic.twitter.com/OVnHDuZI1d
— Schr?dinger’s Taco (@texasmoonwalker) June 7, 2021
Lorddddddddd #PoseFX not prey sacrificing his own life for Ricky Jesus pic.twitter.com/Oga50TfCl0
— Amir ?? (@a_renzzo) June 7, 2021
Pray Tell really loved Ricky #PoseFX pic.twitter.com/GxHiU4ZXTs
— Sunny ?? (@SunnyBunny_54) June 7, 2021
Pray Tell’s mother shows up to Pray's place; Blanca answers the door. "I know what you were to my son. His sister, his best friend, his real mother," she tells Blanca as the two talk on the couch. She gives half of Pray's ashes to Blanca and keeps the rest for herself. Pray wanted Blanca to put a little bit of his ashes in a number of heart-shaped lockets to share among those he was closest to. He even made a special one for Blanca.
While she treasures the gift, Blanca is faced with a difficult choice at the next ACT UP meeting. Her fellow members plan to scatter the ashes of their fallen loved ones on the mayor's lawn to protest the government and medical corporations' mistreatment of AIDS and HIV victims. (The demonstration is based on a real moment in history.) After some hesitation, Blanca and Ricky agree to join in; this is what Pray would've wanted, they say.
Blanca’s face when she said to drop their love ones ashes on the front lawn ?? #PoseFX pic.twitter.com/R5wwZhUFWR
— Nona Love ?? (@LipstickBandit8) June 7, 2021
Blanca distributes the lockets to the group and reads everyone a note that Pray wrote about them. They later join in on a protest at the mayor's house. In a harrowing demonstration, protesters pour ashes of their loved ones through the rails of the front gates. Some carry in dead bodies and lay them on the front steps. As the police violently intervene again, Blanca pours out Pray’s ashes. A montage shows that she also finished his AIDS banner.
A time jump takes us to 1998. Blanca is healthy and finally a certified nurse. Nurse Judy is now working in the maternity ward.
Blanca is a nurse bitch!!! MUTHAAA IS A NURSE! #PoseFX
— TheCakeDishPodcast (@DamnSheBADD__) June 7, 2021
At an HIV testing center, Blanca tells one patient that they tested positive. While comforting them, she invites the patient to a ballroom event that weekend.
This is so full circle. #PoseFX pic.twitter.com/5zuFPV40jo
— Erica???? (@pllelray212) June 7, 2021
Blanca was MADE to be a health care worker and i am so proud of her #PoseFX pic.twitter.com/IiFujHcEZR
— Young Guaperella ?? (@guaperella_) June 7, 2021
Lulu, Angel, Elektra, and Blanca are powerful as ever. As they strut down the streets of Manhattan together, it's tempting to say that they're having a Sex and the City moment (the show did just premiere on HBO at the time), but Elektra would think otherwise.
"I refuse to let a TV show about white girls define how we eat, drink, and gather as girlfriends," she says of SATC during lunch. "We always made our own rules, and we ain't stopping now."
Oof, this Sex and The City read. #PoseFX pic.twitter.com/fGkfWrRQhr
— Jada Gomez (@JadaGomez) June 7, 2021
From this day forth, I’m telling everyone this was the cast of SEX & THE CITY #PoseFX pic.twitter.com/hclXafn7KR
— Jumata Emill ?????? (@brownboywriting) June 7, 2021
Elektra’s phone sex business is now expanding to webcam interactions, which is extremely lucrative. But she’s also donating to medical trials and helping young people transition. Lulu is a successful accountant. Angel is loving being a full-time mother, and she also just modeled for a new shampoo bottle. Damon is in Chicago teaching dance. “Not only did we survive, but we are thriving,” Blanca says. She invites the group to the ball that night, but they all have excuses to not attend.
At the ball, we find Ricky as the new father of House Evangelista. He has a new generation of children walking. In a total surprise, Elektra shows up to present the Legendary Mother Award to Blanca. Lulu, Angel, and the rest are there to help her celebrate too. The patient Blanca met earlier shows up to the event. Blanca makes her walk her first ball.
Yassssss House Father @dyllonburnside #PoseFX pic.twitter.com/eHGzwe9Tx4
— Mr. W3st (@WakeUp_MrW3st) June 7, 2021
Outside the venue, Blanca finds a house frustrated that they haven't won a trophy yet. As she bestows them with some advice, she recalls what Pray first told her, Angel, and Damon at their first ball. "What you gotta do is work harder, reach higher, and dream big until you triumph," Blanca and Pray both say in intercut scenes. “My Love Is Your Love” by Whitney Houston plays in the background as Blanca walks away.
As the credits rolled, viewers reflected on Pose, the beloved characters' journeys, and the significance of the series as a whole.
This is the most gut-wrenchingly, honest, and beautiful series finales I’ve ever seen. This show. Oh I will sorely miss you. #PoseFX pic.twitter.com/jqlNyLk3bG
— Emily Schwartz (@emilycschwartz) June 7, 2021
I’m not ready for @PoseOnFX to be gone! What the hell am I supposed to do now on Sunday night, go to bed at a reasonable time?! #PoseFX pic.twitter.com/iJSw46pVgF
— Blackie Brown (@BlaiqueJLee) June 7, 2021
When I tell you HIV has come a long way. As a case manager who works with people living with HIV every resource available is vital to long and healthy living. So glad the research is getting better and better. #PoseFX
— Cee Thee Goddess (@HerMajestyC) June 7, 2021
Tonight #PoseFX taught us that when you truly love someone, you will go to any lengths just to see them fully live... True love is a powerful drug...
— Thee Cake Man! (@iamkakeking) June 7, 2021
Thank you @StevenCanals for existing and giving us this gift of a show! #PoseFX
— Kalen Allen (@TheKalenAllen) June 7, 2021
HOW AM I SUPPOSED TO GO ON WITHOUT THIS SHOW #PoseFX pic.twitter.com/WFZpxbDedB
— Janet ?? (@nostalgiaonfilm) June 7, 2021
You Might Also Like