NOTE: This article contains spoilers. Read at your own will.
The Truth of the Father
Average Joe Season 2 finale, “Teddy’s Dead—That’s What I Said,” takes you into Teddy’s world one week before Joe, Touch, Leon, and Cathy came to Cape Town.
And what we see is a man who’s out for one person and one person only:
Himself.
He confronts Jamila about telling Imani about Joe—the son in America that she knew nothing about.
Teddy’s true colors show as the facade of a husband fades, only to be replaced by the monster no one ever knew.
Not Imani.
Not Jamila.
Not even Joe.
But for every step Teddy carefully planned ahead, Sipho took one more—his men surrounding Teddy as he attempted to flee after killing his own wife.
“I ain’t nothing like that motherf—.”
Imprisoned and surrounded by a family he didn’t choose, Joe, Imani, and Teddy sit in front of Sipho—a man who pursues greatness at any cost.
A man who pursues the greatness of his father before him.
Father and son.
Son and father.
Sins and inheritance live within the confines of brick walls, each person burdened with the weight of the consequences of carrying both.
Leon and Cathy also sit imprisoned with the weight of the consequences of the many decisions and missteps within their marriage.
And it all comes to a head when Cathy confronts Leon with her reality:
“Joe and Imani are not a part of us!”
Years of frustration, years of being silenced, and coming in fourth place behind his friends finally lead Cathy to voice the root of her decision-making.
Feeling outcast by the man she chose.
Feeling alone.
But for Leon, the betrayal is too much, and he asks for a divorce…should they make it out alive.
In both Joe and Cathy’s present circumstances, family changes shape yet again as frays turn into full-blown fractures—pieces of what was once good in isolation now a tragedy when exposed.
But where one door in the family closes, another one opens, and it’s a relationship that is a matter of death or survival.
A relationship that neither Teddy nor Sipho sees coming.
The Inheritance That Keeps on Giving
“God visits the iniquity of the fathers upon the children to the third and fourth generations.”
Bound.
Broken.
Lined up one by one, Sipho demands to know where his heroin is and uses Imani as currency to get Teddy to talk.
Her life on the line, Joe pleads with Teddy to tell Sipho where the heroin is.
In a moment where he can show up as a father, he shows the man he truly is—the man who values himself.
And there would never be room for anyone else.
Instead of answering the question, he places the burden of his choices, his theft, and his lies back on Joe—a cycle of generational trauma that he actively inflicts so long as it saves him from facing the ugly truth about himself.
A cycle that Joe fights with all he has to break.
When Ahmale’s people come to assist Joe, chaos allows everyone to break free from capture, and all hell breaks loose.
Kill or be killed.
If there’s anyone who has nothing to lose, it’s Cathy.
And Imani.
Cornered, injured, and out of options, Teddy uses all that he has to manipulate Imani into turning her gun on Cathy.
But when she confronts him about his actions, about killing her mother, he immediately renegotiates terms with Cathy to kill Imani—willing to sacrifice his own family for the sake of securing his survival.
As the bodies pile up, so does the debt.
And the Afghans come to collect.
With Sipho dead and no successor named, the Lion has to seek another way to get her heroin or her money for the amount stolen.
The entirety of Season 2 of Average Joe has been about family and inheritance—relationships, fatherhood, the family by blood, and the family chosen.
Every decision one makes impacts everyone else, even when every attempt is made to shield someone from the consequences.
And in true Average Joe fashion, Teddy’s consequences are an inheritance that keeps on giving.
Stealing the heroin from Sipho didn’t end with Sipho.
Teddy inherited the product and the debt to the Afghans.
But with Teddy and Sipho out of the way, Joe once again finds himself the beneficiary of horrific circumstances because of the man he once called father.
And who would Teddy be if he didn’t leave behind more clues for Joe to find?
Maybe the apple didn’t fall too far from the tree. Maybe Joe is like Teddy.
Cars.
Money.
Heroin.
Joe unlocks the final clue to retrieve what he’s been chasing all season long. But if he thought it would be simple, he has another thing coming.
Cathy.
Once again, Cathy fights for her agency and autonomy by looking out for herself—fighting to build a future that no longer resembles her former self.
A fight Joe expects.
One he respects.
Joe realizes that if he’s going to participate in crime, it’s better to do it with the family he knows he can trust rather than go it alone.
“Either all of us are doing this, or none of us are doing this.”
A deal is made for Joe, Leon, and Touch to get the money and the gold while Cathy gets the heroin—a deal that pulls the family back together.
Even if it’s only for a moment.
Only for another season.
But the Lion threatens everything when she comes to collect Sipho’s debt.
Teddy’s debt.
Joe’s debt.
And the Lion knows exactly how to harm him.
Family.
Using his wife and daughter as collateral, gunshots ring out, altering Joe’s life forever.
And with the audience left assuming that Angela and Jennifer are deceased, we also have to wonder if Joe is like his father after all.
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Joe’s Dysfunctional Family
Kivonshe—founder of So There’s That—is a film & TV critic who explores compelling storytelling, fandom relationships, character psychology, and the impact of entertainment media through film reviews, episodic recaps, and in-depth theme analysis.
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