Moral of The Story: On My Block

Stop right here, if you haven’t watched the series. [08]

What is On My Block really about?

It tells a story about a life-long friendship between four teenagers which is Monse, Cesar, Ruby and Jamal that changes completely the moment they got into high school. On My Block really takes a different spin from your typical teen series with the diverse cast, shocking plot twists and of course gnomes (yes, gnomes). There’s drama, romance, comedy, mystery, and yet again… gnomes.

From beginning to end, the audience really being put on the edge of their seat wondering how the story might end. And at last, here we are after four seasons long.

First of all, a quick review…

Personally, the first and last season of On My Block are the best ones — although there are some parts of the last season that didn’t hit me right. But to breakdown what got me stuck to watch the entire season is because of the strong characters and how unexpectedly funny it really is.

You can literally see the differences between the four main characters, but somehow they work and fit to one another. The goofy Jamal, the bossy Monse, the troubled Cesar, and the love sick Ruby. Those are just the tiny bit of their complex personality. Along the way, we also got to see more of Oscar, Cesar’s older brother whose the leader of the Santos, and Jasmine, Ruby’s loud and weird neighbor.

The character arc are really well-played by the end of season four. How Monse seemed outgrow the entire gang and becoming really mature. How Cesar got lost since losing his friends and brother. How Ruby finally found love and got carried away with its own predicament. How Jamal found another side of himself and realizing his full potential. How loving, caring and selfless Oscar’s true-self is. And how deep Jasmine is, that she’s more than just a loud and nosy neighbor/schoolmate, but also a human-being with flaws and dreams of her own.

For the plot itself, I think there are too many things going on at once. Especially in season four, a lot of the things seems urgent but weren’t really brought up as much. Like the aftermath of their entanglement with Cuchillo’s death, Oscar’s murderer, the Prophets’ return, the lost of roller world money, Lil Ricky’s truth, and do the gnomes can really talk or what?

Overall I love this series, it’s a guilty-pleasure of mine. Love how the ending refers back to the season’s pilot, and despite there are still a lot of unanswered questions, it’s comforting to know that they got back together as friends.

With that being said, let’s dive right in to the moral lessons of this series.

1. A reminder that we’re all still human with complex feelings and flaws

This is definitely the number one lesson that sticks with me the most. Mainly for personal reasons. But really, how many times in our lifetime do we get so angry about someone we forget that they’re humans too? Or we feel like someone is so intangible and intimidating, we eliminate their human qualities? We need a reminder that they too are humans. As complex as they may seem and as questionable their actions are, back to the premise, they’re still human so everything about them has patterns and perfectly explainable reasons behind them.

The first time we get to see Oscar, he seems like an insensitive jerk that got Cesar stuck into this world of unfulfilled dreams. But if we wait a bit longer, he shows his true color. He was lost too. He carried so much responsibility. He actually cares about Cesar a lot and blames himself for everything bad happened to him. And again, he’s still human.

Same as Jasmine and Olivia. Jasmine was first introduced in the series as an annoying and must-avoid character. And Olivia was like the third-wheel between Cesar-Monse’s blossoming romance. Then we realized that both of them are really nice, loving, helpful, mature characters with depth, insecurities, personal issues, and selfless agenda.

So if you had sensed someone to be abcde, hold that judgement until you actually try to get to know that person. Or if you grown apart with someone and feels like you lost sense of who they once were, hold that judgement until you give them a chance to tell their side of the story. Not everyone really has devilish intentions. Most of them are probably just lost. No babies in this world were born evil, life just got the best of them. Give everyone a chance, everyone’s still human too.

2. Don’t care about what other thinks, be your most authentic self.

I bet everyone is familiar with the act of filtering themselves for various reasons. Whether if it’s to get someone’s approval, to earn their love, scared of being alone, because of their insecurities, etc. We been taught to fit the society all our lives, regardless if we suffer, because why should it be part of the equation? We fit the society, that’s the goal.

We all like it the easy way. Screw waiting the right one to come along right? It’s easier to change ourselves to be accepted. Screw suffering alone, it’s easier to suffer with someone right? Even if that someone multiplies the suffering itself.

From early on in the series till its end, Jasmine shows her weird-self and live her own path. Life doesn’t always go according to her plan, but ain’t it always? The happiness that is coming from being truly accepted for who you are rather than constant acting out your filtered-self, feared of being rejected and bla bla bla. It’s so tiring. But it’s a process that a lot of people had to endure in their life I think, by the end of the line, we’d all agree that it’s not worth it to not to live our life the fullest by being someone else.

There’s also Jamal. He’s literally inside the gang since day one, unlike Jasmine. We get to see how he struggles to stay being his authentic weird-self, obsessing over Roller world money and crazy adventures, while his friends are on a different universe with various dramas on each of their plates. But once he stirs away and do what he wants, he achieves so much more and happier that way.

And that brings us to the third and last moral lesson of On My Block,,

3. Accept that we all have different paths

One of the thing that we have to experience in our lifetime is knowing that we’re all alone. Some of us tries so hard all our life to be loved, accepted, appreciated and wanted. Because of that, we tend to make a certain person our compass to decide where we’re heading in the future. But we have to accept that we all have different paths, and it’s beautiful that way.

Having a lifelong friendships like our beloved protagonists in this series, of course you’d hope that they’ll last forever, they would too.

“Promise me nothing will change?” asked Monse.

But life, as well as people are dynamic. They’re bound to change. As hurtful as it is, it’s also wonderful. Take a look at Jamal. He was hurt that he lost all his friends, but he accomplished so many things he never knew he could, have better understanding towards himself, and now know what works for him and what doesn’t.

Jasmine too, she got in to Berkeley — despite in the end she has to stay to take care of her dad. As much as she loves Ruby, as much as maybe you love someone too and wants to be with them at all times, we have to admit that there are expiration dates for it. You can choose your loved ones over your own wellbeing, tell yourself you’d never found anyone better and that you’d always be happy. But don’t we all familiar with how that ends?

Even if the times are passed, you and someone had outgrow each other, have to go to a different path, doesn’t mean that it is the end. Life can still have other plans for both of you to be reunited again someday. Cherish the memories you shared, then move on.

Sorry for making it seems soooo easy, but none of the above really is an easy process. After all, life isn’t just a series of montages with smashing song that lasts for 3 minutes. It’s a real struggle.

Thank you for reading till the very end.