Sunday night’s episode “Deal With The Devil” was appropriately titled and can be seen two ways. There is the obvious interpretation, Keisha made a deal with the Feds aka The Devil. Saxe made a deal with Warner aka The Devil. Then of course there is the metaphorical interpretation. Dealing or reckoning with the devil is an overarching theme of the entire Power series. It is a warning for any of our characters. Based on their actions there will be consequences, and “dealing” with the varying degrees of “The Devil” are said consequences. The episode was full of action and the pacing was quick, but it was one of the better episodes of the first part of this final season. Yes, the midseason finale is next Sunday and the remaining episodes will air sometime in 2020. Let’s get into this recap!
We begin with Saxe, who’s on administrative leave for being exposed as what? Being a crooked member of the justice department, who’s also bad at his job? If you’re gonna break the law my guy, be good at it! He’s approached by Dre as he’s coming out of his apartment. Dre’s had enough of the monitor around his ankle, wants to sever ties with Saxe, and exact a little payback for Saxe putting his daughter in danger. Saxe then pays a visit to Tameika Robinson, his former boss and now his attorney? Tameika appears to have landed on her feet in the private sector after being scapegoated for the death of Angela. After some good natured ribbing at Saxe’s expense, she flat out tells him he needs to prove his theories about Ghost and Tommy or he’s going to jail. Sounds simple enough. Since he’s already on leave, and once you break bad you might as well continue, Saxe shows up at Tariq’s new school Callister Prep (sp?) Unlike Choate, this isn’t a real school. Couldn’t find any school in NYC with that name, unless I got the spelling wrong. There are so many NYC prep schools, they couldn’t get the rights to use any? But I digress… The scene with ‘Riq shows how ridiculous of a character Saxe is. He thinks he can show up at ‘Riq’s school and scare him into talking? This dude was trained at the feet of Ghost, Kanan, Tommy and Tasha! Try again Saxe. Saxe makes his way out to Long Island to confront Keisha about Tommy killing Angela and Proctor and her role in the criminal conspiracy. Damn he logged the miles in this episode, and we’re not even done with him yet! He visits Blanca Rodriguez and thinks he can get her to help him stay out of jail. Rodriguez, who is smarter than Saxe, uses him to get the information she needs but keeps her promise to Warner and gets Saxe officially fired. Once Ghost finds out Saxe is on suspension from work, he and Tommy head over to his apartment to kill him. He rolled up on ‘Riq and he tried to scare Keisha into flipping (more on that later). Ghost and Tommy could’ve killed him right there. But instead, to save his son, Ghost thinks he can use Saxe. We’ll see how that works out… Saxe is desperate and the fear of prison looming is making him more so. He’s grasping at straws now trying to get anyone to corroborate his story which is true for what that’s worth. That makes this so interesting. Have you ever been in a situation where you know the truth, but nobody believes you because of the unscrupulous nature in which you conduct yourself? Meanwhile the very people Saxe is trying to bring down, get away with lying and breaking the law constantly. It sucks for Saxe, but he’s still really bad at his job. Meanwhile out on Long Island, shit got real for Keisha. We talked about Saxe trying to scare her into flipping on Tommy. She’s also visited by Tommy’s mom Kate, who tells her what really happened to Holly. But the pièce de résistance was being pulled over by Blanca and Child Protective Services (CPS) of Suffolk County. Ok, so Blanca an NYPD sergeant can arrest and coerce someone into being a cooperative outside her jurisdiction? What’s the level of child endangerment necessary for CPS to get involved? She’s somehow affiliated with the eastern district of New York, a branch of the justice department, and she knows Tommy’s LLC is on all the books at her beauty shop? Huh? The police and the justice department oscillate between incompetence and genius in this series. It is part of what’s contributed to the show’s decline in believability the last few seasons. In any event Keisha is faced with the dilemma Kate warned Tommy about. When push comes to shove, she’ll always choose her son Cash, over Tommy. Which, as a mother is her duty. You can’t fault her there. That’s why she was never built for this game. When Keisha entered into this life she already had too much to lose, she was coming in from a position of weakness. Despite now being Tommy’s girl, all of this is new for her. Not to mention, she enters into the life when things are at their worst and heat is coming down on Tommy. In an effort to keep Cash away from CPS Keisha agrees to cooperate with the authorities against Tommy. But Tommy finds out and confronts her, and she manages to convince him that she’s “ride or die” with the information Kate gave her about Holly. Nice play by Keisha, but it was all for naught. |