Since MGM+ took over the “Godfather of Harlem” in season 3, stakes have been noticeably raised and the Mafia’s 5 families have seemed almost invincible compared to bruiser Bumpy Johnson, who just wants to protect his people in Harlem…and get rich while doing it. The one glaring difference is the absence of Vincent D’Onofrio, who helped Bumpy (Forest Whitaker) rebuild his empire as Mafia boss Vincent “Chin” Gigante, with the two constantly at each other’s throats.
Bumpy and Chin’s complex relationship helped build the series, but the seasons from MGM+ have tried to compensate by raising the stakes, adding new characters and eventually knocking Bumpy down a few pegs. Warning, beyond this point there are spoilers for the “Godfather of Harlem” season 4 finale.
Bumpy and Chin’s complex relationship helped build the series, but the seasons from MGM+ have tried to compensate
by raising the stakes, adding new characters and eventually knocking Bumpy down a few pegs.”
The fourth season started off with Bumpy reeling from the loss of Malcolm X, which triggers his attempt to quit the game and increases his stress ten fold. This ultimately leads to Bumpy having a heart attack and weakening his position further.
The finale sets up a war between unstoppable Mafia boss Joe Colombo, who already stripped Bumpy of his club. Wild card Frank Lucas (Rome Flynn), who’s life was made famous on the big screen by the film “American Gangster” and played by Denzel Washington had some big shoes to fill, bite has done a powerful job so far. The Showrunner Chris Brancato has done a masterful job of pulling most of the strings together for the finale, with even the other family bosses fearing the power of Joe Colombo to the point where they finally give Bumpy the green light to kill the boss.
Bumpy’s second right hand man, Nat (Elvis Nolasco) betrayed Bumpy earlier in the season and this move leaves to tension and uncertainty in the final episode. Colombo seems unstoppable but also gets involved in a very public forum, which the other bosses dislike. This does mirror the real life Colombo, who was ultimately killed making one of his public speeches…but that was years after Bumpy’s death. For the sake of the story, Brancato has played with his universes timeline to conveniently allow Colombo to be vulnerable just enough for all of his scattered enemies AND Bumpy to make an attempt on his life. After the entire season of Bumpy trying to go straight, he ends up right back where he started…but life is cyclical after all.
Even though Bumpy and company succeed in knocking off Colombo with a little help from the writers, there is still a lot to be accomplished before Bumpy inevitably dies, if the Showrunner plans on giving him a similar death to real life. Brancato may decide to have Bumpy go out in a barrage of bullets or some other harrowing situation, but we believe ultimate will go out peacefully while eating a piece of pie.
The series has not been renewed for season 5, but Brancato is optimistic and is already planning for it. We are curious if the show could go on without Bumpy and dub his successor, Frank Lucas the new Godfather of Harlem. Although rating were not reported for this season, the RT score stands at a solid 83%, which is a strong number for any series and could indicate that a season 5 and even 6 is still in the cards for the Godfather.
There are still many prominent storylines that need to be tied up to make this series complete, including the Bumpy’s daughter in the Black Panther party and Stella Gigante (Lucy Fry) gaining complete control of her crime family in a time where women weren’t allowed anywhere near business. The Showrunner has played with timelines before, but in real life, Bumpy got out of prison and was dead 5 years later. If there is a season 5, does that mean Bumpy will die in the finale? Could Brancato stretch his final year into two seasons? With many series stretching out stories, we hope for a compact, action packed set of episodes before Bumpy blows out with a possible passing of the torch to Frank Lucas to set up some kind of season 6 or limited spin-off.
What do you think? Was the season 4 finale a good way to end the series if the show is cancelled? Will Frank Lucas take over as Godfather? Did Colombo get shafted buy the historical switch up?
Let us know your thoughts in the comments below!