If you're a fan of FX's hit drama Pose, it's impossible not to be in love with Candy Ferocity, played by super talented actor and activist Angelica Ross.
But quick note: If you haven't watched the latest episode (season 2, episode 4), come back after you've seen it because this post contains some serious spoilers about Candy's plight.
Whether it's the Candy's acerbic wit, her inability to pick the correct ballroom category to do battle, or that hammer in her pocketbook, you root for Ross' character to not just win a trophy, but to win at life as well. But unfortunately, Candy was not long for Pose's fierce ballroom battles. In the latest episode of the drama, fans learned Candy's life was tragically cut short after her body was found in a seedy motel after performing sex work to keep herself, her family, and House Ferocity alive.
While we're definitely hurt over Candy's sudden departure — unlike other on-screen deaths of popular black characters, like Missandei on Game of Thrones and Tara on True Blood — her demise is treated with the love, dignity, and respect it deserves.
The latest episode, "Never Knew Love Like This Before," was a touching hour of television that gave the characters (and fans) time to grieve the shocking loss. It also allowed Candy's spirit the chance to read the girls one last time, tearfully make amends with her frenemies and estranged parents, and finally be the queen of the ball before she vogues over to the afterlife.
Though Pose tells a compelling and entertaining story, most importantly, this TV moment is a sobering reflection on the deadly violence black trans women face today. Just this year alone, 11 black trans women have reportedly been murdered across the U.S., and the life expectancy of trans women in the Americas is dismally low, clocking in somewhere between 30 to 35 years.
To unpack this, Shondaland spoke with Ross about saying goodbye to her character, Candy, the plight of trans women of color, the importance of celebrating trans women when they are alive, and how gender-affirming surgery changed her sense of safety.
Kellee Terrell: So damn Angelica, not Candy!
ANGELICA ROSS: Girl, I know! Everyone is going to feel that way because Candy was so loved and we all just wanted her to have time to grow. And yes, even I wanted to cut Candy, but I miss her already and her ability to keep it real. We were all waiting to see what she would say next.
KT: I hope folks don't riot like they did after they killed Glen on The Walking Dead.
AR: I know how fans can be super protective, but I just hope that everyone understands why this story needed to be told and why it needed to be told now.
KT: Looking at the first three episodes of this season, you could sense that Candy was evolving, which was clearly intentional, right?
AR: Exactly. And I couldn't tell anyone in the cast either that she was going to die either! So I was playing Candy in those earlier episodes with this fever pitch, as if she knew that death was around the corner. And it took a toll on me.
One day the press was on set, and Candy was dressed up as Madonna, and in between takes, I went to the bathroom and just broke down in tears. Mind you, those scenes weren't at all emotional. It was just knowing what was coming down for Candy, holding all that in and knowing I would be saying goodbye to a cast and crew I had been building a relationship with for over a year.
KT: How did you find out Candy was being killed off?
AR: Ryan Murphy called me was like, "So…I am just going to rip the band-aid off. We feel like the first season was great, but we viewed it through rose-colored glasses. This season, we want to dive into more of the realities that black trans women face. So, Candy is going to be killed."
Meanwhile, I'm sitting there silent and in complete shock. But he went on to explain how it was going to be done and how Janet Mock and Lady J (writers on the show) were going to be behind it. They also made sure I was going to see the script ahead of time and stressed that it was going to be done with respect. That, and [Ryan] told me he knew I could carry the emotional weight of these scenes.
KT: And carry it you did! I was blown away by those funeral scenes.
AR: Thank you! Ryan said no doubt he will be submitting me for an Emmy next year.
KT: He better, because those moments between Candy and her parents were amazing. When she told her mother she thought she had "seen her," I was bawling.
AR: You know, we didn't rehearse those scenes. I barely spoke to them before we started shooting.
KT: What?!
AR: Yes! I met the parents before we got to hair and makeup on that day of filming. When I saw Patrice Johnson, who played my mother, there was something in her eyes, the same with Danny Johnson who played my father, Darnell. I just knew there would be this connection.
So when a PA asked if we wanted to run lines, we were like no, we're good. I didn't want us to even speak before shooting because I wanted those lines to literally sit on top of my chest. With one take, we looked up and everyone on set was in shambles [Laughs].
I think for a lot of people there, every word the mother said felt like something they wished their parents had said to them at some point in their lives.
KT: Let's also talk about those moments with Pray Tell, which I loved. Because this season especially, I've wanted to fight him because of how much he rides you. We finally got to see why and see him apologize for that.
AR: It was always a read with him. [Laughs] But now, there's this recognition that for Pray Tell — and even Billy Porter himself — to be a man in a dress and be gender fluid is thanks to black trans women. But Pray Tell isn't comfortable in his own skin. He can stand behind a podium in his garb, but not in the streets in front of people and their opinions. Meanwhile, Candy lived freely in her femininity and her dark skin in the streets, regardless of what people thought.
And that colorism is real. Pray Tell looked at Candy and her skin, saw himself and didn't like it. Folks like him don't see our ability to succeed as a dark-skinned black trans girl, because of our lack of proximity to whiteness. Angel (played by Indya Moore) has all those things and can pass, but Candy didn't, and I feel for her. I wanted to see a girl like her succeed in the same way that Angel is succeeding.
KT: With few exceptions, I've rarely seen a black female character's death portrayed with such dignity and closure as Pose did with Candy.
AR: As an actor, I have never felt so respected and honored. The empathy, the love, and detail that went into this send-off for Candy was so beautiful. Being on set, being part of that, I was breaking down the entire time. Crying in the casket while playing Ghost Candy. Crying at the body double. [Laughs]. And then Ryan added these little touches that I didn't know were coming, like when he asked Blanca (played MJ Rodriguez) and all the girls pop out their lighters. I couldn't believe it. I just was in the casket crying me eyeballs out.
KT: How are you feeling about the send-off Angelica, the person, received?
AR: The cast and crew showered me with love and text messages telling me how great I am, how hard I worked on this show, and how my future is bright. They reminded me that I wasn't killed off as some sort of punishment, and as an actress, this was an amazing opportunity to show off my talent in the most challenging way. For me and Candy, this was really a celebration of life, which matters because this type of recognition isn't always the reality for trans women in real life.
Like Candy said in the first episode this season, we rarely get our flowers while we're living. When we die, we often become hashtags or watercolor paintings.
KT: Despite all of Candy's flaws, she still had so much to give to the world, so many gifts to give her children, so many dreams deferred.
AR: That's the same for all the trans women that we lose to violence right?
But then I think about when [the rapper] XXXTentacion was murdered last year and how his fans refused to hold him accountable for the past allegations [of domestic abuse and sexual assault] against him. They kept saying, "Oh, we will never see him grow." I'm thinking, why don't you keep that same energy for black trans women? When we die, there is such a final judgment and this blaming us for being murdered without even knowing the details of our death or our lives. But, folks in the [black] community want to act as if this man was a prophet? Y'all doing the most.
KT: Given the violence that too many black trans women face, what does your sense safety look like?
AR: My safety is definitely situational. I used to be naïve and have been known to be that girl "that walks alone and walks alone for a reason." But the reality is that can put me in danger because the outside world might be feeling a different way me than how I see myself.
Just last season I was doing a photo shoot for a magazine and afterward, I walked through a group of men, looking very fresh faced and L'Oreal cause I'm worth it, and I was nervous. These guys were blocking the sidewalk, and I had to walk through them. Some of them said, "Oh, she is beautiful," But then one guy said, "Oh, that's a dude." I kept thinking to myself, "Where?"
KT: Just being clocked like that can be dangerous.
AR: It sure can. In that moment, I was scared, I sped up walking.
KT: Recently during the BET Awards, Black Twitter asked why the cast of Pose wasn't there. And quiet as it's kept, I kept wondering would you all have even felt safe there if you all had attended?
AR: I don't even know if we were invited or not, but I honestly can't say if we would have been safe or not, which is really sad…and telling.
KT: Last year, you revealed that you had gender affirming surgery. Has that impacted your own sense of safety?
AR: Since my surgery, I have felt a freedom like never before, and it has made me feel safer and more comfortable in myself. I even stand up for myself more, and maybe that's due to having this cis-assuming privilege or being more free. I can't fully unpack it all yet, because I am still working through this journey of being pre and post-transition.
KT: Finally, what we can do better to love and support black trans women?
AR: Other than stop killing us, acknowledge our existence by saying cis and trans whenever you can. Make sure we are part of the conversation and make sure we are seen.
Kellee Terrell is a Los Angeles based writer. Follow her on Twitter @kelleent
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