Last night was the penultimate episode in season 4 of the Starz prestige drama Power, and it was excellent. That Ain’t Me was light on the big action scenes, but left us with a shocking death and the St. Patrick family will be out for blood in next week’s finale. Tommy has lost control of his network, is snorting coke and being set up to get worked over by his dad. Dre is seemingly the man at the head of a drug network. Kanan is still lurking in the weeds. Ghost may have temporarily secured leverage over Simon Stern, but now has to deal with Councilman Tate. Angela received a promotion and is now the new head of Criminal Division for the eastern district of New York.
It finally happened! One of the St. Patrick twins got killed. But it wasn’t the one everyone was hoping for. In many ways, Courtney Kemp and the writers had to go here to give the show more room to flex its muscles. R.I.P. to Raina St. Patrick, daughter and sister, a good kid who didn’t deserve to go out like that. Her death will have a serious ripple effect. Tariq will have to live with the fact that his lying got his sister killed. What will make it even worse for him is the fact that his sister was going out on a limb to protect him. Despite how shitty he treated her, she still loved him and wanted to help him because he was in trouble. This lean addicted, lying, punk ass, disrespectful bum Tariq now sees the game for what it truly is. He thinks he’s hard and knows how to handle himself, thinks he ain’t shook. Well he’s definitely shook now. He really handled this entire situation poorly from jump street. Does he remain about that life? Or does the guilt eat away at him and he ultimately caves under the weight and kill himself? On the lowest of keys that Tariq has been the star of Season 4, because you have to be a really good actor to be as hated as he is. How clever was it of Angela to plant the seed in the new U.S. Attorney’s mind that she should be head of criminal division? In all honesty it is the right move. Saxe is too much of an ass kisser, Mak has too much hubris and as lead counsel botched the Ghost prosecution. Say what you want about Angela, but her tenacity and dogged determination wins the day. Does she do illegal and shady stuff? Absolutely. But everyone on Power does. She seems to be the best one at playing the game on the side of the justice system. At the Gala when it was announced that she would be the new head of criminal, it was the culmination for her and she wasn’t surprised. It was as if she knew she was getting the gig? Anybody else notice that? To many it seems unfair that she get rewarded after all that she’s done. But, that’s how the game goes. Mak and Saxe are clearly none too pleased and will be problems for her moving forward. The scene with Angela and Ghost at the Gala shows there is still chemistry between the two. Despite all the messed up stuff they’ve both done to each other, they have history. We learned Ghost had the option to go to Choate, but bailed. Interesting. That doesn’t fit the narrative that has been developed for us over the last four years. Angela got into Choate for a chance at a better life and left Ghost behind. Anyway, what’s next for these two? Will they reconcile? As the new head of criminal, Angela is a bigger threat to Ghost. But the directive from U.S. Attorney Robinson is to never speak the name James St. Patrick again. Tommy’s need for family is clearly making him blind when it comes to Teresi. Knowing that Teresi is indeed his father has obviously changed his relationship with his mom. The scene where he’s rummaging through her things is great. Tommy’s singular focus of finding the birth certificate that legitimizes him was packed full of emotion. In her mind, she was protecting her baby from a bad man. Tommy holding and ultimately smashing the limited edition Kate Moscatelli Suzie Jane doll was a nice touch. These are precious to Kate, but he wanted answers. When he didn’t get the answer he was looking for, he threatened her. Revealing he killed Holly made it very clear to Kate that he would kill her, if need be. This looks like the end of the road for Tommy and Kate. No way that relationship is ever the same again, right? Tommy is already “indebted” to Teresi. He had Sandoval killed while he was under lockup in the MCC and now Tommy is asking him for help in a war against the Jimenez drug cartel. At what point do we think Teresi starts looking to collect on these debts? Sure he’s Tommy’s dad and wants to help his son, but nothing is done for free. Keep in mind Teresi knows who Ghost really is. While Ghost may have beat the charges filed against him, Teresi is still a loose end. One that Ghost needs to tie up, and that will be difficult because of Tommy. Dre and Cristobal’s plan to torch the warehouse containing the product is crazy. But Dre is willing to push the envelope, and that ambition has him close to wearing the crown as the biggest drug dealer in NYC. The plan was thought out carefully and executed relatively well. Tommy played it out like Dre expected for the most part. The problem of course is still Kanan. Dre and Cristobal thought they had that handled, but Kanan managed to stave off his own attempted murder and will now tool up for war. Dre has no idea what is coming at them from both sides. Meanwhile for Ghost, he realizes Stern is screwing him over on the business end of the real estate redevelopment deal. Ghost reaches out to Tate for assistance who delays approval of the contract until it’s amended. Ghost tries to play it off like he was blindsided by Stern. When he reaches out to Tate for help, he plays the race card to get an already sympathetic Tate to do his bidding. But as is typical with Ghost of late, he underestimates Tate. He does Ghost a solid, but now wants something in return. Is Tate the clean cut politician he presents himself as? Besides, what politician isn’t dirty at some level? Ghost is finding out that the game is crooked on the legit side as well and he has just as many people looking to take advantage wherever there is an opportunity. Who do we think Alphonse, the “community liaison” is? This was a really good penultimate episode, the murder of Raina will drive next week’s finale. Ghost, Tommy and Tasha will go scorched earth. There will be some collateral damage along the way, but at what cost? Will their fledgling alliance remain intact or fracture even more? A few extra thoughts:
What do ya’ll think? Get at me on twitter @jshector Please share with your friends and people you think would enjoy the show. As always thanks for reading and visiting BSO. See you next week!
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