The turn of the second act in a three-act story is, generally speaking, where we will find the main characters facing some of the most difficult challenges set up by the central conflict of the narrative. Blake Snyder, best selling author of the Save The Cat series of screenwriting books and seminars, would refer to this point as “The Dark Night of the Soul.” Whether you subscribe to Snyder’s methodology or not, this turn from the second act to the third is a critical piece of the storytelling.

It is at this point where Ballers (2015) finds itself in Season One, Episode 7: “Ends.” Two thirds of the first season has aired and the seventh episode functions for the season story arc like the turn from the second act to the third. The characters have faced struggles and conflicts, but with this episode, the core of the issues are coalescing. The storylines for the characters have been set up in the first two-thirds of the season, and now the writers need to knock them down just a little more before season resolves. Spencer is in purgatory waiting for the results of his MRI. Ricky has (possibly) used up that last of his supply of nine lives with his girlfriend Annabella. While it appeared that Spencer and Joe had handled Vernon’s blackmail situation, that deal is crumbling around them. Even Charles, who has struggled in retirement, is on the cusp of making an effort to return to football.

Functioning like a touchstone to remind viewers of where the characters started, the writers bring us back to Rod, the retired player who died in an accident with a mistress in the cold open of the pilot episode. Rod’s widow, who set up the original conflict of the show in that pilot—“Go out there and figure your shit out.”—passes Rod’s ashes along to Spencer for him to find an appropriate final resting spot. In a conversation with Charles, Charles suggests Sun Life Stadium, the home of the Dolphins and the Miami Hurricanes. “A lot of good times,” Charles says.

“It was the good times that killed him,” Spencer replies.

The good times have been fewer and farther between for the ballers on Ballers. The season turns toward its final episodes moving into its third. The characters are poised to face their individual realities and hardships. Summer is ending. Training camp is moving ever closer. The blackmail pictures are threatening to blow up.

Spencer and Charles decide to spread Rod’s ashes on the community field that bears Rod’s name. A place where football was pure, before the money and the pressure complicated it.

Again Rod’s widow speaks to the underlying theme of the show: “It’s not about where you start. It’s where you finish.”