‘The Drop’: Isaiah John Explains Heartbreaking Reason Leon & Wanda’s Marriage Fell Apart

After Snowfall ended with Wanda (Gail Bean) and Leon (Isaiah John) making it out together, The Drop: The Snowfall Saga has shown us that staying together proved to be another challenge entirely. Warning: Spoilers for The Drop: A Snowfall Saga Episode 4 “The Big Push.”

Episode 4 “The Big Push” finally reveals the painful reason their marriage fell apart: Wanda and Leon lost a baby, and neither knew how to move forward from it.

For John, figuring out exactly what had happened between the couple was one of his biggest questions when returning to Leon.

“One of my main questions coming into The Drop was that I needed to understand what was going on with the relationship dynamic between Leon and Wanda because they’ve experienced so much, and there was so much history that I wanted to honor, even the negatives of the history as well,” Isaiah John told TV Insider about the evolution of their complicated relationship.

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“In The Drop, we find that, at least from Leon’s perspective, Wanda has put this dream that she wants so bad essentially above even her marriage. But I think that Leon also knows Wanda and knows her true intentions, and just sees this as a characteristic flaw. So he still loves her through it,” added John.

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That complicated history comes roaring back when Wanda visits Leon looking for money to self-distribute Lamar’s (Asante Blackk) music. Their conversation turns into a vicious fight before Wanda finally says what they have both been avoiding: “Things ain’t been right since we lost the baby.”

In fact, John revealed that the loss was an element he personally brought to the writers.

“The loss of the child was honestly something that I gave to the writers’ room because I, as an actor, needed an anchor to the relationship because when it came to the story and honoring everything that they’ve been through, I looked at it like, okay, yes, he loves her, that’s fine, but to take the fantasy out of the love, because I’ve been married for eight years, like there’s a realness to marriage and love and relationship. It’s a real dynamic,” explained John.

“To me, it’s just like, why would he still be here today? I needed that to be clear, and so I was like, you know, maybe they had, in this in-between time, had a child and lost it, and through that loss, they didn’t know how to communicate and move forward through that.” John clarified.

“So, you know, it’s really not too much back history on that, other than that’s just something that I came up with to need as an anchor for Leon in the marriage with her. Because to me, it’s like, why would I still keep doing everything that I’m doing just for the sake of love? I didn’t think that was strong enough, you know,” John continued.

“And to me, to have a woman who was about to be the mother of his first child, like, to me, that means something. Like, that’s something heartfelt, and, you know, that’s also something that I experienced. You know what I mean? So, to me, it’s just like, you know, I just needed that anchor for the relationship and the marriage, and I think that it definitely works for the world,” John stated.

Despite everything, Leon gives Wanda the money, and she puts it to work. With Lamar’s song pulled by the label, Wanda borrows from their old life, essentially treating the release like a dope deal. They distribute the music through neighborhood stores and barbershops before taking it directly to the streets and selling copies out of car trunks.

Ray Mickshaw/FX

It works. “Back to the Hood” starts catching on, and when Leon visits Wanda at the studio, the two apologize. Wanda shows him the money they’ve made and tells him, “Something is happening, Lee, and I’m at the front of it.” Leon agrees to fund the next step and help her scale up.

But John doesn’t necessarily see Wanda herself as Leon’s Achielle’s heel. Instead, it’s everything Leon still carries from their past. “I think his biggest weakness is allowing his guilt to overcome him. I think he feels a lot of guilt because this is his first love, and through the lifestyle that he introduced to her, you know, she experienced one of the hardest downfalls of her life,” John explained to TV Insider. “He loves this woman, but also, like, he feels like he has a huge hand in the fact that she was an addict, and, you know, it was by the grace that she was able to get out of that. So it’s just like, I think it’s more so a lot of guilt than anything, a lot of him trying to right his wrongs.”

By the end of the episode, Lamar gets his first taste of the club scene, where Wanda once again finds a way around a gatekeeper. When DJ Block refuses to play “Back to the Hood,” she gets the strippers to use it instead, leading Lamar and Artillery (Simi Sims III) to perform it for the crowd. DJ Block eventually gives in, playing the track on his radio show as cars around the neighborhood blast the song.

Ray Mickshaw/FX

And Leon and Wanda? They agree to be “friends.” But after everything Episode 4 reveals about their love, guilt, grief, and history, that word feels a whole lot more complicated than it sounds.

And there is one more little complication that arises: Dara (Aleyse Shannon), Artillary’s manager, who throws her hat in the ring as a potential love interest for Leon, as she boldly states she “needs a f***ing gangster in her life” and wants it to be Leon. And if Wanda isn’t interested, she wants to make him her man. “You might be afraid to choose, but I’m not. I’m putting my bid in.” But Dara represents exactly what Leon was trying to escape. Does her interest represent a new danger for the former drug dealer and bodyguard?

“I definitely see the danger in that,” said John. “And we’re gonna we’re gonna see how that danger unfolds.”

The Drop: A Snowfall Saga, Tuesdays, 9/8c, FX and Hulu