Who kidnapped Keisha on The Chi? Character's fate, revisited

Disclaimer: This article contains instances of s*xual violence and assault. Please be advised.

The Chi Season 3 aired back in 2020 and with unprecedented plot twists, the Showtime drama has kept garnering good traction over time. However, the third chapter had a number of dark layers in the plot and one of them was Keisha Williams' (portrayed by Birgundi Baker) abduction.

It is later revealed in the same season that a local man going by the name Omari had kidnapped Keisha and also s*xually abused her while keeping her hostage in a shady basement. Keisha's abduction had a deeper (yet sad) message while portraying the horrific side of numerous missing girls cases in the US - not to mention the kind of torture and trauma they go through.

Why did Omari kidnap Keisha in The Chi?

Lena Waithe's Showtime drama The Chi has brought to light how tough life can still get on the Southside of the city of Chicago - especially for youngsters like Keisha. She was attacked by a s*xual predator at the beginning of The Chi Season 3 while awaiting Nuck at a bus stop and later in the fifth episode, the name of the kidnapper was revealed - a local guy named Omari.

As eventually the plot unfolds, it is learned that Omari had a huge crush on Keisha and his feelings for her were neither acknowledged nor returned. Thus, he eventually became obsessed with Keisha Williams and it drove him to a state of despair where he ended up kidnapping her.

The latter episodes of The Chi Season 3 revealed that Omari used to closely track all of Keisha's movements and was waiting for the perfect chance to make his move. The consequence of it was Keisha's mysterious disappearance in Episode 2 of the third Season.

However, thanks to Ronnie's bravery and presence of mind that he is able to locate Keisha in The Chi Season 3 Episode 7 titled A Stain. Having been inflicted upon by s*xual abuse and mental torture, Keisha's desperation drove her to a point where she, in a move of self-defense, ended up killing Omari and escaped with Ronnie's help.

"I got chills": Birgundi Baker on the storyline of Season 3

Back in 2020, The Chi star Birgundi Baker had reportedly opened up to TVLine about what the aftermath of Keisha's abduction and s*xual assault would be like. She also mentioned getting 'chills' while reading the script and how it originated. To quote her exact words:

"So [the writers] thought of Black missing girls. Right now, there are [roughly] 75,000 missing Black women, so that was how they came up with the story. And I got chills when I heard this storyline, because I’ve been on this show since Season 1, and my goal from Day 1 was to be a series regular."

Baker further added that it was really difficult for her to initially shoot those intense sequences of assault and she would 'pray and meditate' every time the cameras started rolling. Per TVLine, her statement read:

"I started to just pray and meditate before every scene. And once I found myself in my groove, I would just work on just staying there."

Filming The Chi Season 3 was challenging for Birgundi Baker and as she mentioned in 2020, once each scene was cut the casts would sit together, talk, crack jokes and laugh to make the atmosphere lighter. Baker would even sometimes find a secluded place to go and "read updates on missing girls" and listen to the same "interview by Shaun King" on repeat.

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Also Read: The Chi: Does Emmett die in Season 7 of the Showtime drama? Details revealed

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