When audiences last saw Leon and Wanda in the series finale Snowfall, they were taking their relationship to the next level on a beach in Ghana together.
As the star of the show, Gail Bean plainly put it out there that “Leon went to Africa with a crackhead and came home with a wife.”
It was a media moment! I believe I was driving home from work when I heard Bean speaking about her tremendous character arc on Snowfall and, for years, that blunt one-liner stayed with me.
Because underneath all the realness, Wanda’s journey led audiences to a much bigger question…
What kind of man sees a woman at her weakest point in life and still believes there is someone worth loving through addition?
Perhaps an even more important question for women:
What does it look like when a man can see the potential in you that you can’t even see in yourself?
I recently had the opportunity to ask about that to Isaiah John, who plays Leon, and the executive producer of The Drop: A Snowfall Saga (and longtime collaborator of Snowfall’s late, great executive producer John Singleton) Malcolm Spellman at the red-carpet screening of their new FX show and Snowfall spinoff at the Smithsonian’s National Museum of African American History & Culture in Washington, D.C.
But first, let’s talk about Leon and Wanda
The Drop picks up the story with characters audiences already know from Snowfall, and FX describes the new series as a continuation of that world. The series premieres Sept. 8 on FX.
But this isn’t simply a story about what happened next in the drug game. Spellman told me that the new series intentionally leans into “soulfulness and aspiration.” More importantly, he said, the characters are trying to redeem themselves from what happened in the original series.
SViewers may find that Wanda’s story isn’t simply that she gets clean and snags a husband. It’s about whether society is willing to see a person who has survived addiction as more than the worst thing she ever did.
Spellman shared his personal connection to the storyline.
“Don’t write her off”
When I brought up Bean’s famous “crackhead to wife” description of Wanda’s transformation, Spellman said it was art imitating real life. He told me that he’s from the generation depicted in Snowfall and that many of the people he grew up with experienced addiction, but later…
“A ton of them grew out of it and fell in love and started businesses,”
Spellman said he believes it is important to show “a different side of what a former addict is” rather than allowing her to remain a “crackhead” in people’s minds.
The conversation with Spellman revealed that some men are actually rooting for women like Wanda and want to see that glow-up.
So, what kind of man roots for a woman when she is down and out?
Here’s where I think Leon becomes interesting. He did not romanticize addiction in the least. He also didn’t makes his woman’s recovery dependent on his love for her. Leon saw through Wanda’s addiction to the essence of who she was possibility of who she could become.
The Read: Even a halfway decent man doesn’t need you to stay broken
For any woman reading this who has struggled with this or loved someone who has, know this: a healthy partner doesn’t say:
“I’ll fix you.”
That is a broken person who may have a mental health condition called “Rescuer Syndrome.
But a healthy partner says:
“I see you. I believe you can change. I’ll respect the work you’re doing to become who you want to be.”
Recovery can involve clinical treatment, medication, peer support, family support, faith-based approaches and other pathways. It also identifies community, purpose, health and home as central dimensions of recovery, according to the U.S. authority on addiction, the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA).
Love can be part of that community. But love isn’t treatment and a boyfriend, partner or spouse shouldn’t have to become a therapist, sponsor, a financial plan, doctor or full-time crisis manager.
I asked Isaiah John what fans tell him about Leon
John gave me an answer that took the conversation beyond Wanda.
He told me that what moves him most is hearing from people who changed their lives because of how his portrayal of Leon moved them.
Then he told me about one fan in particular: a man who had battled drug addiction for years. The man told John that watching Leon’s trajectory motivated him to stay off drugs.
John told me that hearing these stories means the most to him because his artform has had a positive impact on people’s lives.
And that’s where The Drop, like Snowfall, has the potential to become bigger than simply a TV show.
What Malcolm Spellman wants us to see
Spellman’s comments about The Drop suggest that redemption is going to be one of the show’s central themes. He told me the series is designed so audiences can root for these characters as they attempt to redeem themselves from what happened in Snowfall.
This may be why that’s why Leon and Wanda’s relationship is so compelling.
We don’t know exactly what their marriage will look like, but John hinted that it’s on the rocks and that they are still married but not ‘married.’
That sounds less like a fairy tale and more like real life. Because marriages aren’t made up of perfect people. They’re made up of people who are ever evolving.
Who gets to be loved after they change?
That’s the question to dig into. Society is full of activists who speak about giving people second chances. But do everyday people really work to accept the new version of people after they’ve changed?
Do people ever really stop gossiping about someone by leading with the worst thing they’ve ever done?
Can a woman who battled trauma and addiction move through recovery without being reminded by some about who she used to be?
The Drop seems interested in exploring that dynamic.
But for every Glow Girl in the real world who has ever looked at her own past and wondered whether she had already messed up too much, I hope someone tells her this:
Your past can explain you, but it doesn’t have to permanently defining you.
Watch The Drop
The Drop: A Snowfall Saga premieres September 8 on FX.
Share this post with a woman who deserves to be reminded that she has a glow-up just waiting to happen in her life.
