SPOILER ALERT: This story contains spoilers from “Dreams Deferred,” the Season 4 finale of “BMF,” now streaming on the Starz app.
It’s no longer “womb to the tomb” for Big Meech (Demetrius Flenory Jr.) and Terry Flenory (Da’Vinchi) on the Starz drama “BMF,” at least for now.
In an action-packed Season 4 finale, cracks between the Flenory brothers have now seeped into their BMF enterprise. Focused on expanding their notorious drug and money laundering organization outside of Detroit, their strained relationship has left the brothers divided.
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The fallout from their business trip to Mexico, with Big Meech resenting Terry for leaving him, caused more problems than they bargained for. As Big Meech’s ambition for more power collided with Terry grappling with his faith and morality of their actions, keeping their brotherhood and business intact was put to the ultimate test.
On top of fighting to keep their American dream alive, their troubling past caught up to them with the return of several familiar faces.
Season 4 revealed serial killer Lamar Silas (Eric Kofi Abrefa) in a rehabilitation center after being forcibly addicted to cocaine in Season 2 by Big Meech. However, his addiction to revenge didn’t subside, as he made it his mission to destroy Big Meech and Terry.
B-Mickie (Myles Truitt) also made a surprise return after Big Meech and Terry cut ties with the former BMF member in Season 2. Despite being exiled from the group, he returned seeking redemption from the Flenory brothers and an opportunity to earn his spot back in the organization.
His vengeance against Big Meech exiling him from the group consumed him, ultimately resulting in his death at the hands of the Flenory brothers’ biggest enemies: Lamar and Detective Bryant (Steve Harris).
Meanwhile in Detroit, the Flenory family faced significant changes in their household. The season picks up at Nicole’s (Laila Pruitt) high school graduation, where Big Meech and Terry come face to face for the first time since being in Mexico. Gearing up for college, Nicole’s plans were quickly derailed by an unplanned pregnancy, which caused her to defer her freshmen year after giving birth by the end of the season.
Charles (Russell Hornsby) and Lucille’s (Michole Briana White) relationship remained strained, with Lucille struggling financially and navigating her new pastoral role. At the same time, Charles battled with depression after an injury prevented him from working or returning to his band.
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By the end, the Flenorys go their separate ways. Nicole moves out to raise her family. Charles leaves Lucille to support Big Meech in Atlanta while Terry heads to Los Angeles to run their West Coast division.
The fate of BMF is left unanswered as the final moments showed Terry involved in a shooting at his restaurant and Big Meech arrested by Detective Bryant.
“BMF” showrunner Heather Zuhlke spoke with Variety about the explosive finale, goal of Season 4, her hopes for a Season 5 renewal and more.
I want to start by talking about the first big reveal of the season being Lamar’s return. His opening scene is in a rehab center where he talks about overcoming his addictions. But as the season unfolds, his addiction to revenge doesn’t end. What was the decision behind his return in a way that teased a redemption arc even though it doesn’t go that way?
Our theme this year was the enemy within for the writers’ room. We tried to touch upon storylines that hit those things, and they manifest themselves in physical and emotional ways. We know Lamar is a fan favorite. We were excited to bring him back in that way. His enemy within is that addiction to Meech, and that revenge piece. Lamar is a fun character who moves in the shadows this season. He hit in an unexpected way with his storyline. He had this clear revenge path, and we added some humanity to the storyline. The storyline with Vee is very emotional, because we’re able to humanize that storyline with what he went through with Monique and Zoe too. He lost everything because of Meech. In a way, you want the audience to be rooting for Lamar too like, “You know what? He’s right. He did lose everything.”
There’s a fan theory that whenever Lamar sings a song, it signals that he’s about to kill someone. Is that intentional?
No. We do have him sing, but the one time he sang in Season 2, when he was in prison with Bryant, he had just been arrested and didn’t kill anybody at that point. But Kofi is such an amazing singer. We just love to add that in because everyone loved the “You Can’t Stop The Rain” so much.
In the finale, B-Mickie betrays Lamar again by shooting him. I want to presume that he’s dead, but he seems to have nine lives. Is Lamar officially dead?
That’s a tough one. I know the audience loves him, but I feel like he has lived his nine lives. At a certain point, as storytellers, if we were to get a fifth season, we want to be able to have new villains. That being said, Lamar does have nine lives, so you never know until you see the body in a coffin and buried.
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B-Mickie’s return was another surprise this season. He had some unfinished business. What was the motivation behind bringing B-Mickie back for revenge and having him disguise it as an attempt to be accepted back into the group?
He fell into our enemy within the storyline too. He was a physical threat. It was a sad breakup between him and Meech, and people sometimes want to get back in. When there are breakups in friendships like that, you’re like, “I miss my friend. I want to get back in.” We had a lot of fun framing that around redemption for those first six episodes. Then the big reveal is that he was actually there for revenge too. That was an enemy within storyline emotionally for him as well because his wife was saying, “We’re good. Vee’s healthy now. We’re blessed. We have everything we want.” It’s those little things within us that can destroy us — that shadow self. We felt like that was a universal theme to write to.
In the end, B-Mickie is killed by Lamar and Detective Bryant. What’s the significance behind them killing him instead of Big Meech?
Big Meech and Terry never went away for any violent crimes in the real story, so we are honoring that. Bryant had the smoking gun that B-Mickie used to kill Kato. We felt that that was very poetic. It was a tragedy, and it didn’t wind up the way he thought it was going to. His best laid plans got him killed. Our heroes don’t kill anybody on our show. They shoot guns.
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Throughout Season 4, Terry and Big Meech are feuding. How does that division play into the future of their enterprise now that they split the organization between coasts, and Big Meech was arrested?
In the real story, the brothers didn’t speak for years before they were arrested. It’s important to us to show that evolution. In the beginning, it was womb to the tomb. It’s heartbreaking for the characters, but also for the audience, because power does change people. Money changes people. We’re headed to that final breakup. It’s been fun this season watching them go behind each other’s backs. Our job is to create extra drama. In Episode 9, Da’Vinchi gave such a great performance. It was just a look when Meech was like, ‘Pops called and said B-Mickie was in Atlanta,” and the look on Da’Vinchi’s face said it all. Even though I’ve spent 56 weeks working on the show, I have enjoyed watching this so much as it’s been airing too. All good things come to an end, right?
Given that the show is based on true events and explores the dynamics of the real-life brothers, how do you find the balance between maintaining the origin of their story while also adding the dramatization for TV?
Our job is always to put obstacles in the hero’s way. The hero’s journey on this show is achieving their unconventional American dream. We have to put obstacles in the way to make it explosive, and even more entertaining. With the family elements, we want to pull at everyone’s heartstrings. The family is the heart and soul of this show. Everyone can relate to having complicated family issues. Not everyone can relate to being part of a drug kingpin family. Those stakes make everything heightened. An example is when Terry broke up Nikki’s party. It’s not just like, “Hey, your brother, who’s the star quarterback, broke up the party.” It’s the drug kingpin who threw the man down the stairs. We always want to take creative license and tell the most dynamic story possible.
The entire Flenory family experienced major changes in Season 4. Nicole ends up having a baby at the end of this season. During her birth and after, we get a few bonding moments between her and Lucille, where they seem to find some common ground. Given that their relationship has been rocky from the start, how has Nicole becoming a mother influenced the shift in their relationship?
She doesn’t need her mom anymore. She’s been part of a family that’s been very dysfunctional, and it’s created a lot of emotional damage and baggage for her. She wants to move out and have her family have a place and create her own culture within her home that will be different from some of the dysfunction that she saw. Laila just did a fantastic job. She’s just a phenomenal young lady, and her performance was great. I was in tears watching the scene with little Demetrius being born. That’s the juxtaposition. She needs her mommy in that moment when she’s scared that something’s wrong with the baby. She’ll be her own woman now. She’s been caught up in everybody’s drama, so this is going to be her fresh start too.
Lucille is an interesting character who has gone through a lot. It’s evident she has internal battles between her faith and earthly desires. With an empty home and resigning as pastor, she has a newfound freedom. When she put on the fur coat at the end, it felt like a moment of acceptance and rediscovering herself outside of the roles of pastor, mom and wife. What was the intended interpretation of that moment?
In Episode 1, she put on the pastoral robe. That was very intentional all season and had been planned for her to put on the fur coat. She has been just surviving, and she wants to thrive. What has doing the right thing gotten her? An empty house and being alone at a family dinner. We ended Season 3 with just her and Nicole there, so we wanted to bookend that moment. The expectation would be for her to be sitting at that table and crying. Instead, she went and put that fur coat on. She’s going to have a new adventure ahead too. When you get something new, you want to get a compliment on it. In the finale, we had Markisha compliment her on the superficial thing, the fur coat. But the fur coat means everything in Detroit. When I was writing Ms. Lucille, her theme song was Patti LaBelle’s “New Attitude.”
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Fans are eagerly waiting for a Season 5 announcement. What is the latest update about a potential renewal?
I am eagerly awaiting for news too. We want to finish what the creator, Randy Huggins, started. This show has been a labor of love. I’ve known Randy for 10 years, and he created the little engine that could. We’ve kept going. He had no idea that he was going to create something with such scope. Our hope is that we get to finish what Randy started because we have a lot of story to tell, and we have wonderful fans that we want to write for too.
Is there room for Big Meech making a cameo appearance now that he’s back home?
We’ll jump off that bridge when we get to it, but it’s nice to see him home, with his son and smiling.
If given a new season, have you thought about what themes you’d want to explore in Season 5?
No, but I’ll be ready. We’ll be there to answer the call.
This interview has been edited and condensed.
