Spoiler warning: this interview covers Reasonable Doubt Season 4 through episode 6.
When we last saw Jax Stewart, she looked like she’d won. In Season 3 she took on the defense of Ozzie Edwards, a former child star accused of murder, uncovered the abuse he’d suffered in silence for years, and got him acquitted. Then he died of an overdose before he could get the help he needed. Jax walked away from her old firm, started The Stewart Firm with Daniel and Krystal, and seemed ready for a fresh start. Then Monica walked into the new office with a gun and opened fire.
Season 4 picks up in the aftermath. Jax survived, but the woman who came out of that hospital isn’t the same one who went in. Her family and her firm are shaken. Her biggest client, R&B star Eric Cropper (played by Tank), is in the middle of a media firestorm, and her old firm is circling to poach him. And Jax, who has always pushed through everything, is quietly turning to painkillers to get by. Fans have watched her slip a little further every week. The episode that had everyone talking ended with Jax so desperate that she snorted pills off a bathroom sink.
It’s been a hard season to watch, and that’s the point. I’ve been a fan of this show since day one, so I had to sit down with creator and showrunner Raamla Mohammed and ask her the question all of us have been asking: why is Jax going through this?
Her answer is that it was inevitable, and it was set up as far back as the pilot. We also talked about the casting decisions that make every character count, the addiction specialist and the bloodshot contacts behind Emayatzy Corinealdi’s performance, and why Raamla writes the music straight into her scripts. She told me about the song that didn’t clear and still haunts her, and what it means to name a show after Jay-Z’s Reasonable Doubt 30 years after the album came out. Then there’s Jax and Lewis’s marriage, the “Superwoman” pressure so many Black women carry, and why we get so uncomfortable watching someone we love fall.
Raamla’s message to fans who are struggling with the storyline is simple: this isn’t the end. Watch our full conversation below.
Reasonable Doubt Season 4 is streaming now on Hulu, with new episodes every Tuesday.