"Pose" Is Done After Three Beautiful Seasons — Here's Where The Characters End Up

Parting is such sweet sorrow.

What a ride it's been with the beloved characters of Pose, who are unlike any we've seen grace our screens before. Three seasons is short, but definitely sweet.

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The finale leaves off with a quick jump to 1998 — here's where our favorites are then (though more than a few didn't make it that far).

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🚨Definitely major spoilers ahead for the final season of Pose! 🚨

1. Blanca Evangelista

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Throughout the course of season three, Blanca is working to get her nursing degree — and when the show leaves her, she's a full-on registered nurse! She's married to her lover, Christopher, and is living successfully with managed HIV. In addition to helping others navigate the disease (and more) at her hospital gig, she serves as Grandmother of House Evangelista. In the final scenes of the show Blanca wins a Legendary Mother award at the ball, and the last moments see her bestowing a struggling, upstart house with lived words of wisdom: "Ain't no secrets or shortcuts to success. You just keep trying... Reach higher and dream big until you triumph."

2. Pray Tell

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In a heartbreaking turn that many of us saw coming (doesn't make it hurt any less!), Pray loses his fight with AIDS, but not before giving Ricky the gift of life via his own experimental medication. Before series' end, Pray reconnects with his biological mother, instructing his ashes to be shared between her and Blanca. And, true to generous Pray fashion, he gives a bit of himself to his chosen family with ashes in heart lockets to remember him by. 

3. Elektra Evangelista

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At the outset of season 3, we see Elektra dipping her toes into the business world by running a phone sex operation. She gets assistance from an unlikely source (the mob!) and through that partnership she expands her empire and becomes a very, very wealthy woman (who quietly donates money to support her community in many areas). By series' end she mentions branching into the webcam world — we all know where that goes, so it seems that Elektra will continue having it made on into the future.

4. Ricky Evangelista

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We find House Evangelista going strong at the end of the show, with Ricky as house father! He mentions making time for ballroom by requesting off from being a dancer for Destiny's Child, which indicates that he's found great success on the professional front, too. 

5. Angel Evangelista

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We were swept into the magic of her fairytale wedding to Papi (thanks to Elektra's newly bottomless pocketbook), but everything was almost derailed when Papi's child with a previous partner entered the picture. Angel at first begrudgingly accepts full-time parenthood, but by the end of the series she is in love with her life as a mother, and is continuing to model on the side. 

6. Papi Evangelista

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Papi has been thriving as a model manager focusing on trans women ever since he started with Angel's career (and got his GED while with House Evangelista). After it's revealed that his former partner Marisol passed away, and had been caring for a young son of his, Papi steps up to the plate and decides to raise the child. He gets Angel on board, and when the show leaves off he's succeeding professionally and personally with his loving family. 

7. Lulu Evangelista

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Following Blanca's lead in heading back to school, Lulu studies to become an accountant. In addition to kicking the addictions she struggled with throughout the seasons, along with learning to navigate life after the death of her beloved sister Candy, when the series ends Lulu is loving full-time work as an accountant and just got moved to a department where she will help people with their taxes.

8. Nurse Judy

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She's been an ally and close friend of Blanca and Pray Tell throughout the show's run, but mentioned feeling constantly heartbroken that her path led her to patients who often passed on in the AIDS ward ("I didn't become a nurse to help people die"). As the show closes we see her in a new role in the maternity ward, where she brings new life into the world each and every day.

9. Damon Evangelista

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Damon appeared in just a couple episodes of season 3 before moving to South Carolina to live with a cousin following a relapse with alcoholism. Through Blanca, we hear a 1998 update that Damon is now living in Chicago with a man who owns three dance studios in which Damon is a teacher.

10. Cubby Wintour

JoJo Whilden / FX / Courtesy: Everett Collection

After being rejected from a new house created by former Wintour members in season 2, Cubby contracts HIV. Due to complications with AIDS, his is one of the first deaths we witness in season 3. Before he departs, his birthmother visits him — they haven't had a relationship since he came out, but he leaves the world surrounded by love from his biological mom and chosen family (although Lemar is noticeably absent). 

11. Candy Ferocity

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Candy may not have always seen eye-to-eye with her ballroom friends (especially Pray Tell), but she was a take-no-prisoners force to be reckoned with, always. We lost her back in season 2 when she was helping fund the House of Ferocity with sex work and was murdered by a john in a hotel. We see occasional glimpses of her as a ghostly visitor after her passing, though she lives on forever in the ballroom with the lip-sync category she always championed, named on her behalf as "Candy's Sweet Refrain."

How did you feel about the Pose series finale? Let us know in the comments!