SPOILERS for S5E5 of Power 

If you missed a previous review, click here.

Power applied the Sith Lord’s “rule of two” principle to Kanan and Laces (played by a show-stealing Kendrick Lamar) and the results were stupendous.  I want more of this alliance NOW! In the 4 ½ seasons of Power we’ve seen Kanan do some low down dirty s**t, but to this date he’s only shown compassion for two characters: Tariq and Laces!  Anybody that comes on the screen yelling, “My n***a, my n***a, my n***a” and then proceeds to jump between two languages effortlessly has my attention.  What’s even funnier is the fact that he’d say some real profound s**t in the middle of his rambling that would make you stop and think.

Kanan used his newfound strung-out friend to take out members of the Tainos in comically deadly fashion.  Nothing can prepare you for how funny it is to see Kanan do a drive-by on a stolen bike that looks like it belonged to a little girl.  Then… THEN after Kanan kills they guy, Laces asks if he can have the victim’s wallet. Kanan responds by telling him that he can, while also suggesting that he should take the victim’s shoes as well.  Bruh… LACES LEFT BOTH BECAUSE HE’S ON THAT S**T AND PROBABLY FORGOT WHAT WAS GOING ON!!!

This team-up had me in tears from the onset, but at the end of the friendship I got something I didn’t expect.  After Laces helped Kanan with one last kill, Kanan pulled his gun on the loveable dope addict. Laces turned around and psychoanalyzed his would-be executioner in such a way that Kanan paused and contemplated what was being said.  When Kanan saw that Laces was not a threat, he let him go.

I WAS DELIGHTED!!!
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Kendrick Lamar was exceptional in this role, and 50 Cent continues to shine in a part he was clearly born to play.  I’m hoping we get more of Laces in the future. Especially if we can get another exchange between him and K that’s as funny as the vegetarian discussion!​

Drunk Ghost is HILARIOUS!!!

Man when he’s drunk, James St. Patrick is a whole FOOL!  I see why people were worried about him drinking again. James went the legal route to get Dre booted as head of the club, which also meant he stole the Queen’s Child Project event right from under Dre’s strong ass nose.  James was cool until Tate brought Dre to the event any way. Tate is so damn disrespectful. How are you going to walk over the man whose deceased child is the reason for the Queen’s Child Project?
Politics as usual, I suppose.

So after the project gets the funding it needs, Ghost takes all of the Henny to the head and turns into the drunk uncle at the cookout.  It started when Pastor Macedon (BRUH HIS NAME ISN’T “MASTODON”) offered counseling services to James and was met with “I’m not your son n***a!”  Then Tate tried to talk him down and James got up and choked him. After all of that, Ghost went home and almost got his ass whooped by his son because he was too damn drunk to properly square up.  All of this was hilarious to me.

Of course it all  ends with him going to the one thot who will accept his thottish ways… Angela.

The Rest

• I’m convinced Tasha doesn’t know what she wants.  Has anyone else noticed that in the beginning she wanted James to stay in the drug game but now she’s falling for someone who’s an honest man?  Like… BRUH!!!
  
• James flat out saying that he wished it was Tariq that died… man it was something heavy.
  
• Kanan has done a fantastic job of playing chess in everyone else’s game of checkers.  In comparison to the others, his plan to systematically take Dre’s operation down through deception has been the most effective.
  
• After James chokes him, Tate says “You know you done f****d up, right?”  As someone who watched Menace II Society not even 2 hours before watching the episode, I found this line hilarious.

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SPOILERS for S5E4 of Power

If you missed the last review click here!

Don’t you just love Kanan?  From his first appearance on season 1 to now, he has been a national savage treasure.  50 Cent’s acting career has had a lot of rough spots. I mean, he didn’t even do a good job playing himself in Get Rich or Die Tryin’, and we’re not going to talk about that movie that played on BET where he lost all of the weight.  (I’m not even going to type the name of it) But with Kanan, 50 has found the perfect role to match who he is as a real life villain.  Kanan was messy af for revealing that Tommy’s dad was out of jail to Ghost in the way he did. I loved the looks Kanan gave that revealed just how much of a piece of s**t he was when other characters weren’t looking.

K’s finesse game is official.  Somehow, despite the odds being stacked against him, he has gotten both Tommy and Ghost to trust him.  Ghost confided in Kanan a little in the beginning of the episode when he spoke on how worried he was about Tommy and Tommy’s father.  This is the second time Ghost has confided in him (is that what happened??) this season, and he still doesn’t realize that he is no longer in control of the situation with Kanan.  Tasha has pointed out several times that it makes no sense for Kanan to still be alive both to Ghost and Tommy;however, neither of them can provide her with an answer for why he’s still necessary.  That’s some GRADE A finessing right there. In this episode, Kanan sets two idiots up to pull a fake drive-by on Tommy’s newfound family, JUST so he could come in and look like a hero by killing them.  Furthermore, it looks like it may have worked… for now.
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There are a lot of people that I wouldn’t mind seeing die this season, but to me, Kanan can stick around forever.

Angela Did Something Right and Still Took a L

Angela got the leaders of the Jimenez Cartel, only for the DEA Thot to obstruct justice for the sake of plot and government.  I almost felt bad for Angela in this situation. She finally did something right and got hit in the mouth for it. I love the fact that Alicia was willing to let her brother take the fall strictly because she was sick of his s**t.  It’s a story that I quickly became invested in, and it must lead to her killing him. He’s far too reckless and sadistic to run an operation as sophisticated as the Jimenez Cartel. I can see Angela taking him out and appointing Dre, who she clearly has a thing for, as her new #2.  

​With this huge loss, Angela turned to the only person that knows how it feels to take a lot of successive L’s.  That’s right: the end of this episode brought us the Thot Reunion we’ve been waiting for. Angela called Ghost to meet, and we were give a very subdued but well done scene.  I’m sure she’s going to try and use him in some way, but I wonder how that’s going to go once he finds out she and Tasha have been bff’s for a while.
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Overall: B

And I just realized I didn’t give scores for episodes 2 and 3:

S5E2: C-

S5E3: C+

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SPOILERS for S5E3 of Power

If you missed our last review you can check it out here.

Ghost has got to be a Gemini.  I don’t know how I hadn’t seen it before now.  Think about it.  He’s hot and cold, has a dual persona, and has a swagger that serves as superior Thot Magic.  No, I’m not saying all Gemini’s are this way.  However, I AM saying that most of the Gemini’s I’ve met in my life share the same characteristics as one James St. Patrick.

This week’s episode saw James leave his Ghost persona behind in favor of the opportunity to show how a real man-harlot does a business deal.  Listen, I know women love Omari Hardwick and his hairline that just won’t give up, but Power has given the fellas some nice eye-candy as well.  We’ve gotten a chance to see Naturi Naughton and Lela Loren get it in several times, and the world was caught completely off guard when LaLa decided to show every man on the planet that has married her in their minds what she was working with.  Despite coming into this episode knowing that we were overdue for a love scene that wasn’t weird (more on that in a second) and having my own ideas on who would get the love scene we were virtually guaranteed, I DID NOT EXPECT GARCELLE BEAUVAIS TO SHOW THEM CAKES!!!

I grew up a fan of the Jamie Foxx show.  I’m going to tell you right now that I wasn’t a fan because of the comedy.  I wouldn’t rank that show in my top 10 black sitcoms.  However, if I had a list for the top 10 women from black sitcoms, Garcelle would probably be in the top 5.  I was crazy about Fancy and she still got the juice.  I’ve watched this episode twice now, but I’ve seen her big scene in this episode three and a half times (don’t ask) and I plan to watch it two more times before the end of this writing.

Seriously, though… I want her to come back and be James’ suga mama.

And Ghost finally checked Rashad on something only for Rashad to fire back by letting him know that he got played by Linda. (I know I’ve been using her real name, but that’s the name of the character Garcelle played)  The thought of Linda pulling a Lady Eloise on James is hilarious to me.
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If you didn’t catch that reference, your black movie card is under review.

Angela is Slow and Tommy’s Dad Ain’t S**t

The FBI is full of idiots, with Angela Valdez being chief among them.  Detective Rodriguez pulled up on her and asked her some questions about Raina’s death and the dude Tariq handled.  Angela was not only overly vague and defensive during the questioning, but she also decided the best thing to do was to use her authority to get all the evidence the NYPD had about the case taken by the FBI.  BRUH!!!

I hope she goes to jail by the end of this season.  She literally made the target on her back even bigger for Rodriguez.

That made me think of something.  What if the got d**n NYPD ends up bringing down Angela and Ghost.  That would be absolutely stupendous.  Why?  Because the FBI DESERVES NOTHING on this show.

Tommy’s dad has been playing Tommy AND the FBI since he hopped on the scene.  He knew Tommy was hot on the streets, got him to come visit him in prison, and built a bond with him all so he could get the FBI to come and offer him a deal… AND IT WORKED FLAWLESSLY.  It’s one of the best heel moves I’ve ever seen in any medium, and now savage walks the Earth again.  Furthermore, he’s such a gangsta that no one that he knows can fully buy in to him being a snitch, despite the fact that that’s exactly what’s going on.

The story that they’re crafting here is worth the price of admission, and it gives us something interesting to follow besides the Ghost vs. Dre storyline, which is moving at a crawl.

I’m Just Going To Say It… Dre Has No Idea What He’s Doing…

I didn’t talk about this in the last entry because I forgot, but Dre’s story has taken a hard left.  Diego Jimenez is a savage, dawg.  And how did they get that point across?  By revealing that he has some… peculiar fetishes.  Diego came on the scene last episode BLASTING two chicks and forced Dre to stand and watch until he finished, but that’s not where the eye-brows raised.  Nah, later you find out that he sent one of the aforementioned women to smash Dre so he’d have the opportunity to walk in and see it going down.

All of this AND he enjoys killing and the sight of others being killed.
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One thing I appreciate is how the acting and writing show that Dre is in way over his head.  His inner circle is crumbling because his flunkies don’t know who should get all of the credit, Diego appears to be running out of patience with him, AND he’s trying to keep up a lie that he told to Diego that is surely going to come back with a vengeance.  I think he’s going to bite it this season, but my money is on Diego to do the deed now.
But for real, though… Can we get Fancy back for a few more episodes?

SPOILERS AHEAD!!!

If you missed the review for the first episode of Season 5, click here.

This week’s Power episode was uneventfully eventful, but I'll get to that.

Ghost turning back to drinking in response to the death of Raina got me.  I didn’t think the weight of Raina’s death was properly conveyed at the end of last season nor episode 1, but they delivered here.  Ghost reaching out to his #1 Thot, only to be sent to voicemail was rough, too.  He can’t lean on Tasha for support (his fault), and him needing someone gave way to a reminder of just how important Angela is to him.  One thing Power has done perfectly over the course of the first 4 seasons is the relationships between James St. Patrick, Angela, and Ghost.  I know two of those people I mentioned are the same person… Or are they?  James is the one that left that voicemail for Angela that’s worthy of a Drake album, not Ghost.  Ghost is the muff***a that turned into the Punisher and decided to shank that sorry ass drunk in an alley.

Real quick:  I love the thought of Ghost being so stressed out he becomes a serial killer.  Just have him take out s****y people and gangsters to help him quench his thirst for vengeance.  It’ll be like Dexter.  Think about it… Ghost never got to kill Raina’s killer, so there’s a void in his life that, no matter what he does, may not go away.  That would be a great direction for the show.  Ghost: The Crazy Ass Killing Gangsta Thot.

You know what else was sad?  Man Tasha broke my damn heart in this episode.  I can’t even talk about it.

 Oh, and somebody is going to have to run up on Tate…

A Lot Of Interesting Nothings...

Things happened, but there were no real jaw-dropping moments to speak of.  I feel like the writers are biding their time and playing around a little because the second half of the season is where s**t is going to get real.  A testament to this is Tariq barely appearing in the episode.  I’m not complaining because I hate that mf, but he was such a big part in season 4 it’s hard to believe he’s barely featured at all in only the second episode of the season.

What this episode did well was set up other issues for Tommy that, in turn, become issues for Ghost and Kanan.  I love when protagonists are faced with several issues over the course of a season.  It’s perfect for a show that only has 10-13 episodes and it keeps the viewer invested.  After Ghost was informed that he was wrapped up in the bulls**t Tommy started he looked stressed af and I loved it.  It's another reason why he can't properly grieve.  The game he's so desperately trying to escape won't leave him alone.

Seriously My N***a, Plead the Fifth

The once-aspiring attorney in me loves Joe Proctor.  He ain’t s**t, knows he ain’t s**t, and don’t give a good got damn about not being s**t.  He got up there and finessed the hell out of his defense to practice law and I took in every second.  He was whoopin’ ass, but of course Han… Wait, I mean John Mack had to hate on my boy and bring Tasha’s ole peanut head ass side-main dude waltzed his holier-than-thou HEAD ASS in there and lied in the court of law!  We all know he did some under-the-table s**t for Tasha in season 4 and there’s no way it’s not going to come back to bite him.  He’s a sucker for love and homie should’ve just plead the fifth man.  But nah, he want to act a fool and now he’s going to be a fool.

Lastly… I can’t be the only person trippin’ off the reverend’s name being Mastodon…

Overall Grade: C+

This is a review of the Season 5 Premiere of “Power”, “Everyone Is Implicated”, and as such will include spoilers from the episode.  You have been warned.

It seems like an eternity has passed since we last saw the gangsta thot, James St. Patrick, and his criminal thotscapades in New York.  I forgot most of how season 4 ended and found myself having to pay attention to the recap that preceded the endlessly excellent opening credits to remember what’s going on (how is it that “Big Rich Town” doesn’t have a Grammy?”).  The main things I held onto throughout the year between seasons 4 and 5 are as follows:

1. Tariq needs his ass whooped.
   
2. There is no way Angela should have yet another job in law enforcement and I can’t stand her silly ass.
3. Dre ain’t s**t, further setting anybody named Dre back 20 years.
4. Ghost, Tommy, and Kanan have formed the Gansta Justice League and…
5. Raina St. Patrick is dead as F**K

Looking back on it, I guess I did remember enough. 

We start the season off looking at Angela’s goofy ass as she is present at a crime scene she shouldn’t even be close to.  She then goes on to call Tasha’s smart ass to find out what the hell is going on, and then CONSPIRES TO DO MORE ILLEGAL S**T THAT WOULD PUT THE JOB SHE JUST GOT IN JEOPARDY IN ADDITON TO HER FREEDOM!!! Boy, I tell you out of all the characters on this show, I only hate one more than Angela.  I think the show missed out on a more compelling narrative when they didn’t allow Tommy to carry out killing her in season 3.  Just imagine the story we would’ve gotten from the show if Tommy and James had to work together despite Tommy taking away the woman Ghost loves.  But, alas, the proverbial “N***a Plot Twist” (NPT for short) strikes again!

Note: A “N***a Plot Twist” is an event that occurs in a story (that usually has a ton of black characters in it) that makes no sense, yet happens simply to keep a character alive or story element going.  This happens quite often on shows like “Empire”, Tyler Perry programs, and soap operas.  As a matter of fact, soaps pretty much started the s**t.

So why is Angela being alive a NPT?  Well there’s no way she should’ve been alive AND free! Someone literally acknowledges that she can’t be trusted on the Ghost case because of past issues, yet this mf is free as Django with no consequences!  And then she has the AUDACITY to get an attitude with Tasha.  HOW DARE YOU YOU HARLOT FROM HELL?!
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You know who else should be dead? Tariq

THEY TOOK THE WRONG TWIN!!!

I remember the moment “Power” decided to inform us that Tariq and Raina were twins.  It was a scene where Ghost and Tasha were talking and the matriarch of this household of thots asked Ghost to think about the baby and the twins.  It was at this point I turned to my wife and asked, “Twins? Tariq and Raina are twins? Was that some s**t we were supposed to know?”  My wife was surprised by the news as well, so I reached out to the creator of NJL, Cherry, and asked her about it and she responded with, “Twins?! B***H WHERE?!”  It was at this precise moment I realized that the writers on this show don’t give a good hot damn about these kids.  Seriously, the baby has been off television so long I asked who tf she was when we got that glimpse of her in this episode.  She might be better off not being at the house because her daddy ain’t s**t and neither is her water-headed brother.

Dawg, Dre is just as responsible as anybody for Raina’s death, but you can’t tell Tariq, who’s DIRECTLY responsible for her death, a got damn thing about responsibility.  I was elated when Ghost flat out blamed him for getting his sister killed and my inner angry black father wanted to see James whoop his ass like buddy from “Fences” but it was not to be so.  However, it looks like James should’ve commenced the execution of the Kunta Kenta Willbreaker because his bobble head ass son took his ass right on and warned Dre that he was about to get that snatch-n-go treatment.

I HATE THIS CHARACTER!!!
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The producers of “Power” promised some big deaths, and Tariq has to be one of them.  I will quit a show if you don’t kill someone I hate.  Ask “The Walking Dead”…
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Baby Ghost is Feeling Himself

Hell nawl I ain’t talking about Tariq’s slaw ass here.  I’m talking about Dre, our clear antagonist for this season.  He has completely swagger-jacked Ghost and it’s hilarious to me.  I don’t know if he’s doing it on purpose, but Rotimi Akinosho is channeling his best Omari Hardwick and has started using Ghost’s mannerisms.  He has decided he’s going to pull a “Face-Off” and be a better James St. Patrick than James St. Patrick.  It’s even funnier when you realize Tariq likes Dre more than his dad!

My favorite scene comes at the end when Dre pulls up on Ghost with supreme confidence and threatens him and his N***a Justice League with the wrath of the Jimenez cartel.  We’ve heard about the Jimenez cartel for so long and I hope this is the season where we see why they are so deadly.  Dre has fully embraced his villainous role, but you get a sense that always looking over his shoulder is a heavy burden to him.  He seems like a kid that’s in over his head and it’s a story I’m looking forward to seeing play out over this season.

I know I didn’t get into the why’s and how’s of the quality of the episode.  Maybe I won’t be as angry next week as I was in this one.  The premiere did exactly what it was supposed to do.  Set us up for a LONG season of amazing, savage, hood insanity.

Overall Grade: B+