The Banks Family Is Moving Forward in a New Direction — Our 'Bel-Air' Season 1 Finale Predictions

Warning: The following article contains MAJOR spoilers for Season 1 of Bel-Air on Peacock.

The penultimate episode of Bel-Air, the modern retelling of the classic '90s sitcom The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air, was jam-packed with drama.

Will (Jabari Banks) decided not to read a file Geoffrey (Jimmy Akingbola) compiled for him about his dad. Geoffrey didn't apologize to Uncle Phil (Adrian Holmes) about looking up Will's dad, even though Phil told him not to. What's more, Phil ended up firing Geoffrey after Geoffrey finally told him what he didn't want to hear: that he's been sacrificing the family's happiness for his own ambitions.

Meanwhile, Aunt Viv (Cassandra Freeman) was offered a prestigious art fellowship that would require her to lecture around the world. And Phil found himself at a crossroads when his political opponent for L.A. District Attorney found out Phil had called in a favor to get Will out of jail. Ultimately, Phil decided to drop out of the race to protect Will.

What more could possibly happen when the show airs its Season 1 finale? We have some thoughts.

Bel-Air has already been renewed for a second season, so the Season 1 finale can safely end on cliffhangers if the story calls for it.

Let's start off with Hilary Banks (Coco Jones). Hilary decided to quit working at the content creator house she was staying at in Bel-Air Episode 9. The problem? Hilary owes her content creator boss Kylo a $50,000 kill-fee for breaking her contract early. She was determined to solve the issue on her own, but we predict that she'll get some help on the down-low.

From who? Geoffrey of course. He made it clear to Phil during their fight that he loved the Banks family. Now that Geoffrey has nothing to lose, we think it'd be easy for him to help Hilary out by freeing her from her debts. But how will he do so? Geoffrey has his ways. He won't pay Kylo a cent, but he'll convince him to leave Hilary alone. Geoffrey doesn't have to stop protecting the Banks children just because Phil fired him.

Will made his own choice not to open up Geoffrey's file on his father, Lou. His mother Vy (April Parker Jones) told Will that Lou was a deadbeat, racking up debts that she always had to pay. Beyond that, Will's father was a mystery to him.

Of course, sometimes when we choose to let go of things, they end up finding us instead. Will can't seem to catch a break in Bel-Air so it makes sense that Season 1 would have one last wrench to throw at the new Fresh Prince.

Prediction time: Will's father finds Will and begs for his forgiveness. Episode 9 made a lot of not-so-subtle insinuations that Will finding the truth out about his dad could impact the whole Banks family. That's a huge mystery to introduce without giving us any answers, so ideally, the Season 1 finale will pay it off!

After Will realized how much he's loved living in Bel-Air, could his father make him question that? It's hard to imagine Will actually leaving Bel-Air for good (particularly because of the obvious elephant in the room — Season 2!)

Carlton's character development during Season 1 has been utterly phenomenal. He finally acknowledged to Will that he felt jealous of the way Will easily attained what Carlton had to work hard for: friends, popularity, and girls.

In Episode 9, Carlton admitted that he used drugs to cope with his terrible anxiety, and told Will he flushed the drugs after he had a panic attack singing at church. However, we think Carlton may have been fibbing here.

Carlton has shown a genuine interest in being a better man, but it's hard to believe he could quit drugs cold turkey, even with Will's support. Carlton has shown that he prefers to deal with his issues alone, especially when his anxiety overwhelms him.

So far, Carlton has managed to keep his drug use a secret from his parents. We think something will trigger Carlton to resort to his old ways in the finale, and he'll finally get caught.

For once in his life, Carlton might let go of the fear of his reputation being besmirched and volunteer to attend therapy or rehab. Uncle Phil and Aunt Viv have proven time and time again that they're willing to do anything for their children, so they'd certainly get Carlton any help that he needs.

However, the events have made Uncle Phil struggle with feeling like he's let Carlton down. He vows to continue to be a better father now that he's out on the DA race. And his first act? Hiring Geoffrey back.

Sadly, we don't think Will is destined for a happy ending with Lisa (Simone Joy Jones)... not for now anyway. The couple clearly has strong feelings for each other, but Will finds it hard to date Lisa after Uncle Phil gave up his DA dream in order to protect him.

We think Will and Lisa will break up on good terms and decide to be friends. But how long can they keep it up? Thankfully we've got another season to find out.

The Bel-Air Season 1 finale drops on Peacock on Thursday, March 31, 2022.