‘The Oval’ Series Finale Recap: Seven Seasons Later, and THAT’S How We’re Ending This?
SPOILER WARNING: This recap contains major spoilers from the series finale of Tyler Perry’s The Oval.
After seven seasons of murder, betrayal, poison, hookups, explosions and enough White House crimes to keep several federal agencies employed forever, The Oval has officially come to an end. Well, “come to an end” might be a generous way to describe what happened because this finale sure acted like Season 8 was waiting right around the corner.
The Season 7 finale, “The Filthy Rat,” delivered exactly the kind of chaos fans have come to expect, but actual closure was apparently optional. Instead of wrapping everything up neatly, The Oval left several characters possibly dead, possibly alive and definitely unavailable for us to check on next week, which is a bold way to end a seven-season series.
Jason’s Revenge Tour Finally Catches Up With Him
Jason has spent enough time terrorizing people that Hunter offering to help his son escape to Cuba probably should have sounded like the deal of a lifetime. Unfortunately, Jason is Jason, and revenge matters more to him than disappearing while he still has the chance.
His next target is Priscilla, who is trying to get Abrielle’s exposé out before Jason can stop her. Priscilla manages to email a copy, but Jason has already planted a bomb inside her home, and the house explodes before the episode is done.
The problem is that this is the series finale, and we still don’t get a definitive answer about whether Priscilla survives. Simone may also have been caught in the explosion, leaving yet another giant question mark hanging over a show that no longer has another season to answer it, and yes, that is as frustrating as it sounds.
Victoria Finally Gets Her Hands on Jason
Jason doesn’t get very far after the bombing because the Secret Service takes him into custody, which finally gives Victoria the opportunity she has clearly been waiting for. Victoria wants Jason dead, and patience has never exactly been one of her strongest qualities.
When the Secret Service refuses to administer a lethal injection, Victoria basically decides she’ll handle it herself. She grabs the syringe and begins injecting Jason, but naturally the finale stops short of giving us a clean answer about whether he actually dies.
It is a fittingly twisted final chapter for Victoria and Jason considering how toxic their relationship has been from the beginning. Still, ending the entire series without confirming Jason’s fate is certainly one way to make sure fans keep arguing long after the credits roll.
Eli Learns the Most Important Rule of ‘The Oval’: Never Drink Anything
At this point, everyone working inside this White House should know better than to accept a beverage from another human being. Eli manages to confirm Hunter’s crimes with Senator Harding, which feels like it could finally push some actual accountability forward, and then Cross offers him a pre-workout shake.
Eli drinks it, because apparently nobody on this show has learned anything in seven seasons. Minutes later, he is on the White House floor convulsing and foaming at the mouth after apparently being poisoned, and once again the finale leaves his ultimate fate unresolved.
There may not be a more appropriately Oval storyline than a man getting dangerously close to exposing the truth and then immediately drinking something suspicious. If nothing else, the show stayed extremely committed to its own brand of chaos until the very end.
Kareem’s Story Takes a Much Darker Turn
Kareem doesn’t fare much better after being kidnapped by gang members. Once they realize he can’t provide what they need, their solution is brutally simple, and there is very little ambiguity about how badly things go for him.
They shoot him multiple times in the chest and dump him in the street. Unlike some of the other cliffhangers in the finale, this one certainly appears much more final and gives Kareem one of the bleakest endings of the night.
Kareem has survived plenty of madness throughout the series, but getting riddled with bullets and left on the pavement is about as grim an exit as The Oval could have given him. It is brutal, messy and very much on brand for a show that never believed in doing anything quietly.
Lilly and Bobby Actually Get Out
Somebody apparently remembered that at least one storyline needed an ending, and Lilly and Bobby are the lucky ones. They get fake IDs, assume new identities and prepare to leave everything behind, which might honestly be the smartest decision anyone on this show has made in years.
When Bobby asks if Lilly is really riding with him, she tells him she’ll stay until the wheels fall off and then walk with him. Considering these two began with an airport bathroom hookup and somehow made it all the way to escaping together, their ending is unexpectedly sweet.
More importantly, they actually get something resembling closure, which automatically puts them ahead of half the cast. In a finale packed with uncertainty, Lilly and Bobby walking away together feels almost shockingly complete.
Donald and Kyle Get Their Version of a Happy Ending
Donald and Kyle also end the series in a surprisingly stable place. After Kyle is released from the hospital following his broken ribs, he prepares to move in with Donald and starts thinking about what their future might actually look like.
Kyle understandably worries that Donald’s career will push their relationship back into hiding, and Donald admits he isn’t quite ready to be completely public. Still, he takes a significant step by drawing up divorce papers for Lilly, which at least suggests he is finally willing to make some real changes.
After years of this relationship being messy, secretive and frequently played for shock value, seeing Kyle and Donald actually discuss a future together feels almost shockingly normal for this show. Of course, The Oval does not stay normal for long, because that would be asking far too much.
Sharon and Max Hook Up — Because Why Not?
Sharon and Max finally acknowledge their attraction and hook up after realizing that, well, they both really enjoy sex. Honestly, sometimes romance doesn’t require a 12-step plan, especially on a show where somebody could be poisoned or shot before dessert.
Their celebration doesn’t last long because gang members soon shoot up the living room. Sharon, Max and Nancy survive the attack, although Nancy injures her leg after Sharon pushes her down to protect her from the bullets.
Only on The Oval could surviving a barrage of gunfire somehow qualify as one of the happier endings of the evening. Compared with what happened to several other characters, these three practically won the lottery.
But Was That Really the Ending?
And that brings us to the biggest problem with The Oval series finale: it doesn’t really feel like one. A season finale? Absolutely. A wild cliffhanger designed to make everybody scream at their televisions before returning several months later? Definitely.
The conclusion to a seven-season television series is a little harder to see. Priscilla and Simone may or may not have survived an explosion, Victoria may or may not have successfully killed Jason, Eli may or may not survive being poisoned and Kareem appears dead, while several other characters simply move forward without the larger story receiving much resolution.
There is something almost hilariously appropriate about The Oval refusing to become calm just because the show is ending. This series built its identity on escalating every situation until somebody was either screaming, sleeping with somebody they shouldn’t, plotting murder or actually committing one, so suddenly becoming a tidy prestige drama in its final hour probably would have felt stranger.
Still, after seven seasons, viewers deserved a little more certainty about where these characters ultimately landed. The Oval premiered in 2019 and gave BET one of television’s most chaotic fictional administrations, and Hunter and Victoria Franklin were never going to quietly pack their bags and stroll out of the White House.
Maybe that is the most fitting ending possible, because The Oval stayed true to itself until the very last minute. The Franklins lied, plotted, poisoned people and probably violated every law imaginable, and then the show blew up a house, poisoned another character and basically told us to figure out the rest ourselves.
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