Summary
Do it Abuelita style.
This recap of Netflix’s On My Block season 4, episode 10 — the ending explained — contains spoilers.
It’s the final episode and end of On My Block, it’s been a long ride since 2018 and we finally made it. But that’s fine, our journey at Freeridge isn’t entirely over as there will be a spin-off, so we aren’t leaving the On My Block universe just yet!
On My Block season 4, episode 10 recap
Monse wakes up to a series of texts — Jasmine celebrating about going to prom with Ruby, Cesar apologizing and she scrolls on Facebook to see pictures of her and her mother. After that memory of her mother, she is seen reading her mother’s manuscript throughout and it’s good to know that she didn’t throw away her mother’s belongings.
Jamal is in fear of everything and installs security cameras in his house to realize that Chivo is the one behind the cars because the gnome wants to be with Jamal. He’s been so anxious and on edge, he didn’t expect to be so enthralled by everything, being on the prom committee and missing his old self and Kendra, the quirky ex in previous seasons.
“She was a contradiction and she knew it”, Monse explains to her father and Brian after reading her mother’s manuscript. In the manuscript, she admits to twisting the truth, how she never wanted to hurt the people that she loved the most but she always did. Monse reflects on her mother’s words and comes to conclude that “life is messy and people are messy” but this (her relationship with her father and Brian) doesn’t have to be messy and that they can make it make sense for them to come together as a family and “make a blessing of her death”. With that, she tells her family she has to get ready for prom and they are shocked as they assumed she wasn’t attending. The best part of the conversation is when she was asked “who is the lucky date?” and powerfully responded saying “me”. A relief! Seeing women and girls choose themselves in TV and film is the best thing.
In the next scene, Ruby is having a dilemma with his eyebrows and Jasmine comes to the rescue, emphasizing that her prom pictures will not be ruined because of this. Cesar calls Jamal, asking about the prom but is struggling with his tie. He thinks about Oscar and tears up as he’s with him, helping him with his tie. In the mirror, he cries and tells Oscar he’s going to be somebody and make him proud.
Jamal pays Abuelita a visit and tells her that he’s sad and feels like things are meaningless. He tells her he doesn’t like the new Jamal and he wants the old Jamal back. “There’s this… perversion to the struggle and I miss it. I miss being the underdog”, he says. He realizes when he had something to prove, it was never about proving someone wrong but about doubling down and proving himself right. It’s clear that he’s going through a crisis by placing his value in high school, he’s becoming more nihilistic, worrying about he’s going on the wrong journey and not knowing his purpose. Instead, Abuelita reminds him that his purpose comes after the journey, the purpose is part of the journey and not the motivation. “You don’t go looking for your purpose, your purpose finds you. The way you found me,” she tells him. Their relationship was unexpected but so cute as they have the same type of personality. Abuelita lets him know that Jamal and his crazy schemes gave her the will to live. Jamal seemed to need that pep talk from Abuelita.
At the prom, Jamal is being hyped and living his best life. Ruby and Jasmine are being Ruby and Jasmine. Cesar is with Vero and Monse is alone. Realizing they abandoned her, Ruby and Jasmine apologize. But she still feels “borderline traumatized”, she chose to attend prom so she wouldn’t miss out. As always, Jasmine gives her the bathroom pep talk, telling her that experiences don’t define us but we define our experiences. You can always count on Jasmine to say something supportive.
“Instead of saying the prom sucks, say it’ll be the best night of your life, and then freakin’ live like that. Fake it till you make it, Mama,” Jasmine emphasizes. On the other side, the boys finally made it. Cesar didn’t even expect to finish high school or even go to prom. In fact, Ruby won prom king! He thought he was never going to win and opted out of his prom king and queen first dance to dance with Jasmine. The group is back together, dancing at prom with Jamal living it up on the dance floor, Cesar attempting to dance and Jasmine and Monse having the time of their lives. Much to Jamal’s surprise, Kendra is back and turns up to the prom. Cesar is a frustrating character because he obviously wants to dance with Monse but is swept up by Vero and doesn’t chase after like they do in the romance shows. After Jamal chases Kendra outside, he meets his ‘idol’, Noel Aroma, who offers him a job.
The ending
Outside the school gym, they sit at the bleachers talking about how they anticipated prom. Monse never thought she would attend prom without a date meanwhile Cesar didn’t think he would even be here at all but now he sees a future… with Monse if he’s lucky. As prom ends, they decide to go to Ruby’s for an after-party only to be met with disappointing news of Abuelita’s death. It was expected but was so soon, she was one of the backbones of the CoreFour but to commemorate her death, they celebrate how Abuelita would want with weed and drinks. Ruby gives a speech and they all take a shot in honor of her.
At the event, Monse tells Jamal’s parents about her post-high school plans: deferring a year at Wellesley College — which she chose as it’s a woman’s college like her experience at Mayfield — and writing a book on her life experiences. All good things must come to an end though, Cesar thanks Jamal for believing in the unbelievable when nobody else would end, finding RollerWorld which led them to Lil Ricky, and lets him know that without Jamal, he probably wouldn’t have made it. And they find out that Abuelita left them a map, so RollerWorld 2.0 it seems?
All in all, this was a perfect ending to the show — everyone’s back together, celebrating life how Abuelita would have wanted. It’s sad that Oscar was killed off but it wasn’t exactly the biggest surprise either. I feel like the essence of On My Block was about focusing on life experiences, journeys, and all forms of relationships. Life experiences from going to different colleges, having responsibilities that might get in the way, or journeys with how Latrell grew up with them but went on a completely different path, like Cesar if his friends didn’t save him. Or relationships, Jamal and Abuelita’s cute relationship, Jasmine and Ruby, and the inevitable Monse and Cesar (my endgame). By showcasing the importance of life and friendship, the final episode is definitely worthy of 5 stars from me.
What did you think of On My Block season 4, episode 10 and the ending? Comment below.
