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[Spoilers ahead]

In the same week that Ballers (2015) wrapped up its first season, news surfaced that Chris Carter, NFL Hall of Famer gave some very dubious advice to the 2014 incoming class of NFL rookies: If you have to have a crew and you’re going to get into trouble, make sure you have a fall guy.

Spencer Strasmore spent most of the first season in that “fall guy” role. He started with the loan to Vernon that cleaned out his bank account. Spencer risked his own reputation to get Ricky hired by the Dolphins. Spencer handled the blackmail deal with Angela. In sum, Spencer has been taking the hits for his entire team. The central conflict of the first season revolved around whether Spencer could reinvent himself off the field in retirement. This resolves in the finale with Spencer no longer in jeopardy but rather giving a toast at a celebratory signing dinner surrounded by family and friends. Even Reggie is contrite (Maybe Reggie was too contrite – this conflict petered out halfway through the season.)

For Ricky and Charles, their individual conflicts get resolved in and around the game of football itself. Ricky faces off with his long-absent father. He assumes his father is there to ask for money, but instead he’s there to give his son some unwanted advice. Ricky’s father takes credit for Ricky’s talent and fire on the field. “I put that chip on your shoulder, Son. I gave you that fire in your heart.” Rather than being contrite or empathetic, he is confrontational and unapologetic. Ricky feels the truth in what his father is saying and turns this inward. At the opening of training camp he gives up the number he has been fighting for all summer and starts off on a path of his own, shedding the constant reminder of his father.

Charles gets the good news that he has been invited to training camp. During the first practice, a rookie trash talks him and tells him to go back to selling cars. Charles lays him out and demands he learn some respect. Charles has shed the indecision and self-doubt. At least for the time being, he is confident and comfortable. Time will tell if Julie is foreshadowing something in the season to come when she’s talking about all of the baby stuff they have bought: “Deals like this won’t last.”

The core relationship for the series has always been the partnership between Spencer and Joe. This has been faltering in the final episodes of the season as Joe has found himself on thin ice at Anderson Financial. His firing and meltdown send him and Spencer into a difficult space. Spencer loves working with Joe and recognizes Joe’s value, but Spencer also gets his first glimpse of post-playing days security with Anderson’s big offer and his promotion. Despite Joe’s efforts to set up a small independent shop, Spencer can’t walk away from the stability. The resolution seems too easy: Spencer convinces Anderson and Joe that the team needs to stay together to succeed. He compares them to the Patriots’ Tom Brady, Bill Belichick, and Robert Craft.

The title of the episode is “Flamingos.” There is no subtlety in the metaphor. Vernon explains it in yet another example of the on-the-nose dialogue that continues to bog down the action. Spencer points out that they travel in flocks. Vernon says he likes that because there is “safety in numbers.” They are “protected from predators.” In case the symbolism wasn’t clear enough he then says at the celebratory dinner, “Reg returned to the flock.”

Ballers ended with all of the flock at home to roost. No loose ends remained and certainly no season ending cliffhangers. But with the new Anderson Financial Sports Division launch and Ricky and Charles starting camp with the Dolphins, Ballers has left itself with several premises that are primed to be mined for conflict and story in Season Two.