It was inevitable that the ending of A Man in Full would see the bad guys winning — and ultimately losing. Episode 6, “Judgment Day”, its very title redolent with Old Testament ferocity, doesn’t pretend to be anything other than a reckoning.
Everyone in this show is a bad guy, in one way or another. Some are narcissistic, greedy, and morally unscrupulous; others are fundamentally decent but aren’t above working for the wrong people or doing the wrong thing to better their circumstances. The best you can get is Conrad, who’s in prison for knocking out a cop and at serious risk of violent retaliation for breaking a gang leader’s arm.
The finale is divided, broadly, into two strands that deal with all of the above. In one, Charlie is set to be inducted into the Georgia Tech Hall of Fame and give a speech outing Norman Bagovitch as a sexual predator. And in the other, Roger’s habeas Hail Mary needs to get Conrad out of Fulton County before somebody kills him.
Let’s keep them separate for explanatory purposes.
Conrad’s Trial
Roger takes control in Conrad’s hearing and delivers another surprise — subpoenaed arresting officer Michael Smith is ready to take the stand.
This whole thing has been a sham from the start, but even a judge as flagrantly agenda-driven as this one can’t ignore the obvious. The body cam footage of the arrest clearly shows Officer Smith assaulting Conrad beyond the scope of his resistance. It shows the tow truck driver kicking Conrad half to death after he had been incapacitated by a Taser. It shows a Black man being afraid for his life and defending himself.
Not all of this sequence works. The judge’s turnaround seems too sudden — the details of the case were pretty obvious before — to be believed. But it’s a decent payoff for the impassioned speech Roger gives about Conrad’s right to defend his own life if he feels it is at risk; and why, as a Black man in Georgia being manhandled by two armed police officers, he had every right to suspect as much.
Conrad goes free.
Does Charlie Accuse Norm Bagovitch?
A Man in Full. (L to R) Christian Clemenson as Stroock, Sarah Jones as Serena Croker, Evan Roe as Wally Croker in episode 106 of A Man in Full. Cr. Mark Hill/Netflix © 2024
Charlie is feeling contemplative. His bionic knee hasn’t really taken, he’s beset on all sides by people who want to ruin him, and the only salvation he has is accusing an old teammate of being a sexual predator. But the woman whom Norm Bagovitch apparently assaulted — Joyce, who has repeatedly declined Charlie’s requests to come forward as a victim — can’t even remember the event in question.
So, Charlie makes a decision. He gets up on the podium at the press conference and accepts his golden football, endorses Wes as a better mayoral candidate than Norm and stops there. He doesn’t accuse Norm of anything. And he addresses his speech directly to Wally, with whom he earlier shared, quite candidly, that if his legacy is a sixty-minute moment on a football field that brought some real joy to the world for even that fleeting moment, he’ll take it.
Raymond’s Big Red Dog
Charlie’s triumph is short-lived, however. After the trial, while Charlie and Wally watch Wes’s ratings skyrocket thanks to Charlie’s endorsement, Wiz arrives with the news that Big Red Dog LLC, headed by Raymond Peepgrass, is trying to acquire a majority share in the Concourse by convincing Martha and Wally to sign over their 28% shares.
Raymond didn’t take the news that the bank would no longer be pursuing Charlie on Wes’s instruction, so this is his coup de grace. After spending several episodes trying to seduce Martha with advice from Sirja, he finally, after lemonade and chicken wings, gets his wish. And this is where Man in Full‘s ending goes completely off the rails.
Charlie races to Martha’s house, where she and Raymond are having exciting montage sex, and when he arrives he walks in on the pair of them in flagrante delicto. Charlie wants a word, but he gets more than what he bargained for — including Raymond’s mightily impressive, literally Big Red Dog (I guess he took a pill after all.)
A furious Charlie grabs Raymond by the throat, and his hand chooses just that time to seize up. He can’t stop himself from choking Raymond to death. And in his efforts to do so, he gives himself a heart attack.
A Man in Full ends with both Raymond and Charlie dead on the floor. As I told you at the top — a reckoning.
Okay, we want to know what you thought about the Man in Full ending, especially that final sequence, so do let us know in the comments below. But keep the Big Red Dogs to a minimum.
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