Entertainment

Ambitions Executive Producer Jamey Giddens Previews Season 1 Finale

Published by

Michael Maloney

5 years ago

Ambitions, the nighttime soap that airs on Oprah Winfrey’s network OWN, is airing its Season 1 finale tonight. Will Titus (Kendrick Cross) survive the injuries sustained in last week’s episode? Viewers will have to tune in to find out.

Ambitions Creator/Executive Producer Jamey Giddens Previews

After watching so many prime time drama season finales, what did you want to bring to Ambitions’ first finale?
My number one priority going into the Season 1 Finale was to provide satisfying payoffs for many of the storylines we’d set up over the course of 18 episodes. I also wanted to kick off juicy, new tales to take us into a potential Season 2 and beyond. As with much of Ambitions, there are nods to the classic nighttime and daytime soaps we grew up watching and loving in the 1980s.

Stephanie (Robin Givens) appears to have the upper hand as of the last episode. Will she come out on top?
Stephanie is feeling fairly empowered going into tonight’s episode. She’s about to take her rightful place atop the Carlisle-Perkins law firm. She’s vowed vengeance on Bella [Erica Page] and is all set to divorce Evan [Brian White].

Granted, there’s that unfortunate business with Damian Collins [Alexander Mulzac] to attend to, but Stephanie is quite the multi-tasker. You can expect her to be riding high for much of the hour. However, don’t count her enemies out and Stephanie has more enemies than she has wardrobe changes!

Have we seen the last of Perla (Maria Legarda)?

We had so much fun crafting Perla’s descent into madness, or “Single Latinx Female” as we called it in the writers’ room. Maria Legarda is going places! When we last saw Perla, she was being injected with powerful sedatives while being restrained in a padded room in an Asian mental facility. Evan assured Bella her best friend-turned-worst nightmare would never hurt them again. You’ll have to tune in to see if that’s at least one promise Evan manages to keep.

Can you tease Ambitions’ cliffhangers?
This episode has quite a few epic showdowns: Darcia (Mara Hall), aided by Stephen Carlisle (Steven Williams), is finally in a position to get her big payday. Will Rondell (Brely Evans) be able to stop her crooked cousin before it’s too late to save Thelma’s Place?

Stephanie and Irene (Donna Biscoe) plan a lavish retirement party for Stephen, but the wily patriarch isn’t going down without a fight. Amara (Essence Atkins) is comforted by a dear friend, and vexed by the presence of a bitter enemy, as she awaits word on Titus’s fate. This will be a very emotional episode for Amara, not to mention Titus and Amara fans.

Also, Evan wants Bella to believe they have a real future together, one where he manages to keep Stephanie at bay. Bella isn’t so sure their fantasy can become a reality. She’s terrified Stephanie will make good on her threat to hurt her and Joaquin (Eli Daoudi). What does Bella do when pushed into a corner?

Any shoutout to the fans who’ve supported Ambitions?

Yes! Die-hard soap fans are the best. They showed up and showed out for Ambitions each and every week, helping us trend on Twitter and become Tuesday night’s top show in black households for much of our first season run. I’ve said it before — Ambitions is a love letter to soap fans.

Because this particular type of series is labeled a guilty pleasure, it isn’t generally treated with as much respect as its prestige drama counterparts. Well, I always say there’s nothing guilty about pleasure!

Ambitions Season 1 finale airs tonight on OWN at 10 p.m. ET. Don’t miss it because it sounds like soap heaven.